We’d gone to the Northern Neck of Virginia back in May and came back with three bottles of wine from Good Luck Cellars, near Kilmarnock. The bed & breakfast we stayed at, the Hope and Glory Inn, was wonderful and very professional and homey (though possibly owned by tea partiers; I snapped a picture of the bookshelf in the sitting room to confirm that, yes, there was a copy of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom lying around). The owners also had a vineyard, the Dog and Oyster. Not so good. The vines are very young and you can taste it. They try to make that into a virtue, eschewing oak barrels for

metal vats so that the newness is preserved and accentuated, but no, not really. It’s preserved alright, but it’s not a virtue. Not enough there there. Maybe in ten years. But they directed us to a wonderful, secluded beach for a picnic, which I highly recommend. Bring a book.

But Good Luck Cellars, which we stopped at, was wonderful. Great view of sunny rows of wines and a wide deck for drinking and watching.

Anyway, we left with three bottles. A 2010 Cabernet Franc for me. A Chardonnay whose year escapes me. And something sweet for the missus (I am not a fan of sweet wines, with rare exceptions).

It was fruitier than I remembered, but good and satisfying (no one is ever going to accuse Cabernet Franc’s of great sophistication, but they’re common in Virginia vineyards and I find them to pretty reliable drinkers).

We visited a colonial church, Christ Church, because I have to get my history fix. It’s not famous for anything particular in history, merely for being a good and well preserved example of a colonial brick church. My favorite bits were the way that the pews, rather than rows like in a concert hall were rather like enclosed pens, with the richest ‘owning’ larger, better positioned, and usually more comfortable enclosures. Also, having the pulpit be nearly as close to the center as possible. Just a different mindset, though apparently common among Anglican churches at the time.