Fork & Cork 2014!

Today was Blacksburg's 6th Annual Fork & Cork food and drink festival. Wineries from all over Virginia come to Blacksburg, set up booths, and give tastings to festival attendees. There are also some food booths and cooking demonstrations from other Blacksburg establishments, and some craft and art tables; there was definitely more "cork" than "fork," from what I saw.

I'm generally not a wine-drinking person; I'll drink it on occasion, but I've never had a wine that I just absolutely loved. Shame, I know. I had never been to Fork & Cork before and decided it was time to check it out. Plus, I supposed I should start trying some so I'd have some idea of what I want at my wedding, whenever that happens. Jordan and Kevin went with me, and we had a great time sampling wines from all over the Commonwealth. And we got super lucky with awesome weather!
My complementary wine glass got lots of action today...we visited eight different tasting stations and sampled probably close to thirty different wines. Each winery offered white, red, and blush/rose wines that ranged from dry to sweet. I definitely preferred the sweeter, white wines. 
My two favorite stops were Attimo Winery from Christiansburg, and Peaks of Otter Winery in Bedford. I only sampled whites from Attimo. I especially loved their "Just Kissed" semi-sweet blush wine, and their "Sudden Downpour" dessert wine. "Just Kissed" had a really nice raspberry touch, and "Sudden Downpour" was an apple-grape blend that was aged in bourbon barrels. I made sure to buy a bottle of that before we left.

Peaks of Otter specializes in fruit-based wines. Each of the wines they had to sample were uniquely named and flavored. My favorites were "Strawberry Shortcake," "Pure Passion," and "Chocolate Cherry"; the latter smelled just like dark chocolate. Their big hit, though, was a "Kiss the Devil" spicy white wine, made with 30 different kinds of peppers. I declined to taste it, as spicy isn't really my thing, but Kevin and Jordan "kissed the devil" and tried it. They're much braver than I am. 

We got to "chase" one of the wines with EZ-Cheese. Classy, right?

It was so nice to spend the afternoon strolling around tasting booths with my favorites, and running into some other dear friends who I don't get to see often enough!

                               

After exploring at Fork & Cork, I definitely feel like I have warmed up to wine a little bit. And maybe I'll be able to make better wine-based decisions when my wedding comes around. 
Check out Fork & Cork's website and follow them on Twitter for more updates!