We passed so many vineyards on the way to Breaux that we decided to abandon our original plan to pick out specific vineyards and just stop at the next ones we saw. Just down the road we came to
Hillsborough Vineyards, I hadn't heard anything about them but it was right in front of us so we stopped in. The view was also great at Hillsborough and their outdoor seating/porch area is decorated with dozens of hanging tea lights from the cross beams which I would love to see lit up at night. At first sight we thought the tasting room was just the front bar/register area you see when you walk in and we were a bit disappointed. We were quickly ushered into a large sunny dining room with white washed tables and light yellow walls. It was very inviting and we were glad to have a seat for the tasting. We were served two wines at time and each of their wines are named for a gemstone. We did enjoy the reds here much more than at Breaux; our favorites were the 2007 Garnet and 2007 Bloodstone both of which we categorized as dark, rich reds until we had the 2006 Ruby & 2008 Onyx. Now those were some dark, dry reds, I don't know if I've seen a wine as dark as the Onyx which was 100% Tannat (the others were blends). We also liked the 2009 Carnelian, a Roussanne which was new to me. It was very light and as our server described it a "porch pounding" wine. Very true, it was one you could just sit outside and drink without a meal. All in all we were pleased with the 7 wines for $7.
The next stop was lunch since we hoped to hit 2 more and I could not survive on bread & cheese alone that day. About a mile down the road at the one stop light in Hillsboro we found the
Stoneybrook Farm Market. We had passed it on the way out and it looked like a great little market, which it was & the food was great. It was like a mini country version of Whole Foods with homemade bread and chips. I highly recommend it for lunch if you are in the area, it may or may not be a hippie commune.
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| Deep, dark reds |
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