Today I made a wrong turn and found myself in Virginia Wine Country, AKA Loudoun County.  While there, we stopped at a few wineries, some rude, some good, some closed and one that stood out as great.  Quattro Goomba's Winery in Aldie, Virginia was the great winery of the day.  We chose to go to this winery due to our love of Mario Brothers on the Wii and figured it would make for fun wines to drink while playing video games.  While there was no Mario or Luigi there, there were some serious wines available.  The first wine we tried was the Vino di Frascati a delicious white wine made of the Malvasia Bianca and Trebbiano grapes.  The wine had a crisp flavor with citrus flavors and a good balance, and was done in an excellent Italian style.

But the two drinks really stood out above all the rest.  The first was the Frappe Wine.  Yes that frozen coffee drink you love so much, but without the coffee and made of wine.  They sell a bag of additives to make this at home.  To make add a bag of the mix to one bottle of wine and a bottle of water and freeze for about 3 1/2 hours.  This makes a delicious wine treat on a hot day.

The second wine I got to try is not available to the public yet, but I talked the host into letting me try a barrel tasting.  It is a Merlot/Cabernet blend that was fermented in stainless steel for a year, then aged in barrels that were used to age whiskey.  The flavors of the whiskey and wine blended in a perfect marriage.  This is a wine to keep an eye out for and when it comes out be sure to drive down to Aldie, Virginia and get a tasting at Quattro Goomba's Winery.

The nominations for this years James Beard awards has been released. I want to take a minute to congratulate all local nominees in the Maryland, DC, northern Virginia area. So congrats to:
Jose Andres, Minibar DC- for outstanding chef
Amanda Cook, CityZen at Mandarin Oriental, DC- Outstanding Pastry Chef
Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve, Alexandria, VA- Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
Peter Pastan- Obelisk, DC- Best Chef: Mid Atlantic
Bryan Voltaggio, Volt, Frederick, MD- Best chef: Mid Atlantic
Johnny Monis, Komi, DC- Rising Star Chef of the Year
Tim Carman, Washington City Paper, "How Not to Hire a Chef/ The Canning Process"- Newspaper feature writing aboutr restaurants and/or chefs
Joe Yonan, The Washington Post- Newspaper Food Section

Congratulations to all and good luck. Hopefully in the near future we will see more chefs from the Baltimore area make the list.