Every now and then, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I do something right. For now, we can avoid discussing the frequency of such occurrences and instead, focus on celebrating one of the times when everyone who knows me can not only not deny that I got something right, but also cannot figure out how I managed to pull it off. Yes, this week we are celebrating the 27^th anniversary of Mrs. Chump agreeing to marry me. At an average rate of 7.5 bad dad jokes/puns a day, that means she has endured 73,912 ill attempts at humor and has still stuck around. If that’s not love, I’m not sure what is.

In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to splurge on a nice dinner and chose Field and Main for our destination. Neither of us had ever been there before though we had both of heard it through different channels. We were both excited knowing it had received several awards for both its wine program overall (2026 James Beard semi-finalist) and its noted support of Viriginia wines. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that we chose their “Present” menu – a five-course meal with an available wine pairing option, that we obviously chose to partake in.

Before I get to the food and wine, a quick note on the ambiance. When we made our reservation, we chose one of Field and Main’s private cabanas, without knowing fully what to expect. As it was going to be on the cooler side, we were a bit concerned on whether we would be warm enough. We had no need to worry. The private cabana was incredibly quaint and at the perfect temperature (it has both heat and air conditioning and so can be used year-round). Additionally, it had a neat natural amplifier in which you could place your phone so that you can listen to music of your choice while enjoying your meal. I feel like the cabana added a lot to our enjoyment of our dining experience. On to the food and the wine.

As I mentioned, Mrs. Chump and I had chosen to get the “Present” menu, a five-course meal with the wine pairing (see below). We let our server Kyle know and then asked for an add-on. On their “By the glass” menu, there is a “mystery” wine option. You don’t know what the wine is, but if you are able to guess the grape variety, you get the glass at half-off. Looking to test our “skills”, we asked to try the “mystery” red (they have both a mystery red and white). Kyle was excited for us to try this and quickly brought it out for us to try. Sadly, despite our best efforts and a couple hints from Kyle (after we conceded to not receiving the discount), we were unsuccessful in our guesses. But we had a lot of fun trying.

You can tell how good a blogger is by their organization and preparation for their blog posts. Apropos of nothing, I forgot to take a picture of our first dish and wine, a smoked trout rillette paired with a beautiful sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon from Austria. And here is where Mrs. Chump and I learned our first bit of wine knowledge on the night. Having looked at the menu beforehand, we were expecting a regular Cabernet Sauvignon. What we learned is if you see the word “Sekt” on a bottle of Austrian (or German) wine, it indicates it is a sparkling wine. While we were surprised when it showed up as sparkling, it was one of our favorite wines of the night. To quote Mrs. Chump, “This is damn good.”.

Dish #2 was a delightful Rockfish, with broccoli, oyster mushrooms and asparagus velouté, paired with a Virginia wine, Glen Manor’s Sauvignon Blanc. Anyone who has known me over the past 54 years will know my aversion to absolute hatred of mushrooms. Yet, with the help of wine, I am beginning to overcome. Both the dish and wine were delightful in their own sense, but when paired together they were both elevated. Which was a bit of a theme for the evening. The food and wine pairings were absolutely magnificent and seemed to raise the enjoyment of each on every course.

Course 3 brought perhaps the most interesting wine of the night for me – an 8-year old Grenache Blanc from Priorat, Spain. Paired with a Nutmeg Gnocchi in brown butter, the wine arrived a beautiful golden color and had a surprisingly full-bodied feel to it. While we enjoyed it on its own, once we took a sip after enjoying a taste of the gnocchi, it was absolutely amazing.

Round 4 brought for me the most anticipated wine of the night, a Pinot Noir from Ankida Ridge. Having heard so much about this wine from Dan at My NoVa Wine Blog, as well as other Virginia wine aficionados, I was eager to taste it. I will admit to having had my doubts about whether Pinot Noir could be successfully grown in Virginia but this wine was fantastic and paired incredibly well with the Honey Glazed Duck Breast it was offered with.

As Kyle brought in our finishing round, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how good he was. With every course, he offered insightful comments on the wine, how it would pair with the dish, and just overall wine knowledge. He was friendly, enthusiastic and certainly added to our enjoyment of the meal(s).

Course #5 was delicious. Mrs. Chump and I both suffer from a severe case of “Sweet Tooth-itis” and this dish was a perfect remedy. Pawpaw Gelato with Banana Bread on top of Banana Foster compote. My mouth starts watering again just reading those words. Paired with a sweet wine based on Chenin Blanc (with Botrytis) from Loire, it hit the sweet spot. Pun very much intended. As an added on bonus, Kyle was kind enough to allow us to taste the previous 5^th course wine, a Madeira. Madeira is an interesting fortified wine in that as it is being created, it faces both heat and oxidation, which, in turn, make it nearly indestructible once it is bottled. There are bottles of Madeira over 200-years-old that are still drinkable today.

Needless to say, Mrs. Chump and I walked away more than completely satisfied. It was a beautiful dinner to celebrate 27 beautiful years. I am by no means a man of culture, but this was one of our top five dining experiences we have ever had. If any of you have a special occasion coming up, Mrs. Chump and I will both unequivocally recommend Field and Main. You will not be disappointed.

 It would be near impossible to choose one wine from this night to serve as the Wine of the Week and so I won’t. I would recommend each and every one of them. However, for those of you local to the Virginia area, I highly encourage you to try both of the Virginia wines when you have the opportunity: Glen Manor’s Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinot Noir from Ankida Ridge. These are two beautiful wines from two amazing wineries. Cheers!