Wordless Wednesday 2/26/14

Wordless Wednesday 10/2/13

Presentation is important

On Saturday I went with my family on a riverboat cruise on the Rappahannock River. The boat left Tappahannock (yes, that’s the name of the town) at 10:00 am. We arrived at Leedstown Campground after about an hour and a half and rode buses over to Ingleside Winery, where we had lunch. We could either bring our lunch or pay extra to get food from the caterer they had there. We enjoyed the barbecue they had (although it was nowhere near as good as Parker’s Barbecue, but that’s a different story). After lunch we had a tour of the winery and a tasting, and then some time to browse the gift shop area before we headed back to the boat.

Beautiful day for a riverboat cruise

It was a lovely day. The boat ride was pleasant – cool, but pleasant. We saw a few eagles and waved to some other people on boats. Ingleside is a beautiful winery. It is on an old plantation which has a lot of history behind it. There’s a building called the pavilion where I could imagine a ball taking place. Outside the pavilion is a courtyard surrounded by buildings holding the gift shop and a small museum. Grape vines grow on lattice on the buildings and the courtyard is filled with small tables and chairs where guests can enjoy their wine. In the center of the courtyard stands a fountain. The sound of the gently falling water is soothing and relaxing. On top of all that, Ingleside has some good wines!

Ingleside Winery fountain and courtyard

My one suggestion to them would be – don’t serve the tasting in plastic cups! For the tasting included with the cruise, they used little, disposable, clear plastic cups. I’m assuming they did this to make things easier for themselves and the guests. However, wine tastes different in plastic cups, and I was not impressed with their wines during the first tasting I did. I mean, they were okay, but nothing to write home about. I wasn’t going to buy any. But then since we had some time to spare, we paid for an extra tasting (they have two levels, basic and premium, each is only a few dollars). The regular tastings they do in glasses, which made the wine taste so much better. I ended up buying some after that. Plus, we got to keep the glasses as a souvenir.

Let this be a lesson – don’t serve cheaply something that has value! Think about that. To how many other things in life could this be applied?