River Valley Winery

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When I wake up, Pati and Ken are gone...they are walking the campground. I get up and make my latte. They returned a few minutes later, hot and sweaty although they tried to act like they weren't hot. Pati had yogurt, Ken had toast and of course I had my waffles (by the way, I eat them dry, right out of the toaster-the only good ones are the whole grain blueberry Egos). Afterwards we get ready to go....we are going to explore wineries today. I had no idea there were any wineries in Kentucky. In fact the owner of the winery told me the first one in the US was in KY. I found it hard to believe so I researched it. Wikipedia says: "The first commercial winery in the United States was established by an act of the Kentucky General Assembly on November 21, 1799. The vinedresser for the vineyard was John James Dufour, formerly of Vevey, Switzerland. The vineyard was overlooking the Kentucky River in Jessamine County, Kentucky"

We decided to take Pati's convertible. It's sunny and very humid but should be ok with a little breeze. We went to the "River Valley Vineyard". Pati's daughter recommended it. I've only been to California wineries which are beautiful so I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. It was beautiful. We drove up a winding country road and then turned off at a small sign. The road up to the winery passed small farms, fields of corn and rolling hills. We reached the top of the hill and the winery. There is a field of Llamas and sheep on the left. It is really pretty. Vicki (owner) greets us and takes us to the patio overlooking the vineyard. We are the only guests. She is friendly and tells us about the vineyard......from the owners, one from Kentucky, one form Bulgaria...

"While discussing our life on our honeymoon at the Black Sea, we began a romantic dream of vineyards, winemaking and farming.
Our Kentucky & Bulgarian heritage, experience, passion and love for agriculture just blended naturally. Can you imagine our excitement when we planted our first vineyard and established River Valley Winery in 2001!
We not only produce our own grapes, we also buy from other Kentucky farmers and are honored to be a member of the Kentucky Proud program. We are very proud of the fact that our International award winning wines are produced with 100%!K(MISSING)entucky grown grapes on our small farm winery here in beautiful Carrollton, KY."

Ken didn't taste any...he is driving. Pati and I enjoy tasting 3 whites and 3 reds and one blush. Pati likes the Vidal Blanc- a crisp dry white wine. I like the Shiraz. We both bought a bottle. You kind of feel obligated since she spent so much time with us and didn't charge us a tasting fee. (never happens in California). While we were there a couple on motorcycles came in for a tasting....is that a good idea? We say goodbye and decide to find some lunch. There are not a lot of choices here in Carrollton. I am trying to hold true to my 'eat local' rule. We drive down 'Main Street' and find a little place on the river...forget the name of it...we walked in and I truly feel like I am in the 'Deliverance' movie. We all 3 looked at each other and without saying a word, turned around and walked out. Across the street was "Down on Main", a Sports Bar...should be relatively safe, but it doesn't open until 4 pm. By this time we are so hot, Ken's head is burning and I need sunscreen, so we decide to go back to the campground and get the truck. Now that I think about it, we could have just put the top up on the convertible but it is a little cramped for whoever sits in back. For lunch we settle on 'Hometown Pizza". It was pretty good...we shared a pizza, Ken and Pati got BIG beers so I ordered a diet coke. I am now the DD.

Pati had another winery in mind and she put the address in her GPS (she is using WAZE). Now either WAZE is horrible or Pati drank too much because we end up in Madison, Indiana which is a nice little town and it was a nice drive in the country, but not where we want to be. She 'regroups' and we turn around and head back to 'Bedford' where the winery is supposed to be....but we never find it. A storm is coming and it is getting late so we decide to head home. We stop at Kroger's to pick up a few things. Pati and I prepare a 'Board'-cheese, meats, olives, sundried tomatoes-similar to what we had last night. I made the 'good salad' and we sat outside under the canopy and watched the rain come in. It was nice. After a while, it began raining so hard, we had to go in...gotta love an RV...poor tent people. (It stormed heavily most of the night). We got our jammies on and watched the movie "Disturbia" - it was good. Afterwards, we said goodnight and went to bed. Fun day!

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