Home is where the heart is. That is what “they” say. And for the most part, “they” are right. But it is also where daily monotony sometimes comes to visit from time to time. We all have those times when we get into a bit of a routine rut – go to work Monday through Friday, the ever-familiar activities on the weekend at the ever-familiar places. Sometimes you just need a change of scenery, even for just a short time, to shake you out of that rut. Enter “The Get-Away Day”! A quick day/night trip away from home to freshen up the sights and sounds and break you out of those routine doldrums.

Mrs. Chump and I recently found ourselves in need of a “Get-Away Day”. Between the holidays and the recent winter weather, we had had enough of home and wanted to get out and about. Not wanting to spend the entire time traveling, we opted for a quick trip down to Charlottesville. Besides being within an easy 2-hour drive of us, there are ample wineries in the area for us to visit (shocking destination, right?). So, with a pep in our step (or, more accurately I guess, gas in our car), we packed an overnight bag and early Saturday morning headed down Route 29 for a wonderful day of wine tasting and food (after a quick stop at Chik-Fil-A for sustenance 😊 )!

Our first stop on this brisk February Saturday was a winery that had long been on our lists of wineries to visit – Michael Shaps Winery. Michael Shaps is a bit of a legend within Virginia wine. In addition to owning/operating his own winery, he has been instrumental in helping other wineries get started as well, including noted names such as Kings Family and Greenhill Vineyards, amongst many others. So we were quite looking forward to trying his wines for the first time.

Our tasting began at the bar and was led by Theresa and Alayna, who were both very welcoming and knowledgeable (Alayna is studying for her WSETs). And by welcoming, I mean not only friendly and personable, but very patient with my many questions. I don’t know about you (probably b/c we have never discussed this), but I much prefer receiving “led” tastings at a winery versus receiving a flight to take back to a table to explore by yourselves. I feel like this allows for a more interactive experience, allowing you to learn more information about how the wine was made and other interesting tidbits. I digress – back to the tasting. Michael Shaps is a bit unique in that they not only produce wine grown and produced in Virginia, but they also own a winery in Burgundy, France (Maison Shaps). And that is where our first wine was from – a very unique wine that you do not see very often – a white Pinot Noir! It was definitely not your normal white wine – a much fuller body, a bit of tartness with some raspberry and cranberry flavors. Very enjoyable. We then progressed through the rest of the tasting (see below). I enjoyed being able to go back and forth between the  Virginia and French wines. And while all the wines were enjoyable, our favorites were the Mirage (white Pinot Noir) and the Cab Franc. I would also give a shout out to the Petit Verdot – while this is not my favorite varietal by any means, this particular one was very nice.

As we were not rushing on this “get-away” day, we stayed for a glass and a nice charcuterie board while trying to figure out our next stop. Theresa and Alayna both offered plenty of suggestions, as did the nice couple to the side of us also receiving a tasting. After much discussion, sipping and nibbling, we left with bottles of the Mirage and Cab Franc and headed for our next stop, Septenary Winery.

Septenary was just what the doctor ordered on a cold, February day. A beautiful grounds was made even nicer with their smaller, intimate tasting room. Which itself was made even more cozy by us finding a table right by the roaring fire they had going. Once we got settled, we strategically split up their tasting list so we could try as many of the wines as possible. I was particularly excited to try their Tavern port-style, as I have recently gotten into port a bit. With a side of truffle popcorn, we dove into our flights. While they were all tasty, our personal favorites were the Cloverplains, Carriage House and Gruner Veltiner. The Tavern was also very good, though a bit different (as would be expected) from the Tawny Ports I had previously tried. After a hard day of drinking wine (life is hard I tell you), we made our way to our hotel to freshen up for dinner. After a nice Italian dinner at Carmello’s (always nice to try a new restaurant on a “get-away” day), we headed back for a well-earned rest after all that hard work of eating and drinking. The grind is real.  

After a good night’s sleep and a bagel breakfast, we had one more stop to make before we began our trek home. And that stop was Gabriele Rausse Winery. Just like Michael Shaps, Gabriele Rausse has had a tremendous impact on the growth of wine in Virginia. He was involved in the founding of Barboursville Vineyards and has gone on to assist many other Virginia wineries, including Blenheim, Afton Mountain and Jefferson Vineyards before opening his own winery in 1997. So once again, we were eager to taste the wines of such a giant in the Virginia wine community. And once again, they did not disappoint. One of the most interesting wines to me was the VdB Cabernet France 2025 – I was shocked that a 2025 wine was ready for drinking and upon inquiring was told that it was aged for only 3 months and was intended to be drunk young. And so it was! It had beautiful fruit expression and was very easy drinking – perfect for pairing with a midweek meal or an impromptu get together. In the end, we left with a bottle of the 2024 Cab Franc, but once again enjoyed all the wines.

Having gotten the “get-away” we desired, Mrs. Chump and I headed back north on Route 29 in time to watch both the Puppy Bowl and, less importantly, the Super Bowl. But how about you? Where do you go when you are looking for that quick get away? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

I don’t have a wine for this week’s wine of the week – we tried too many great wines to narrow down to one. So this week’s wine of the week would be any of the ones you see in the picture of the tasting sheets – you can’t go wrong with any of them!

Cheers!