Visiting Pagans

We had a very pleasant surprise on Sunday when our friends the Pagans dropped by – they had been in town overnight after a funeral in Winchester, and after a stop at the Caverns they came by to see us at the Hawksbill Cabin. With a hungry 2-year old in tow, we thought a stop by our neighbors at Wisteria Vineyards might be a good idea before we headed into town for lunch at Artisans Café.


Wisteria was featured in the PN&C recently, in an article that highlighted some new vines that Moussa and Sue have planted. We got a glass of Norton and Traminette to share among the adults while we took a stroll around the farm. Since the vineyard is so close to us, Mary and stop by there often, but there were some nice surprises in the barnyard this time.

One of the Romney ewes had a lamb with her, and there were some chicks running around with hens in the barnyard. So we had a big-eyed two-year old fully engaged with the animals – and a full recap of these activities over lunch once we were downtown. We also walked down the little road between the fields to the back of the property, which borders on Upper Hawksbill Creek just down from the Beaver Run confluence (Beaver Run forms one border of our property to the south of the vineyard).

By the way, to my surprise, this section of the Hawksbill definitely looks like it could hold trout, although I didn’t study it long enough to see if there were any. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that some of the fry from downstream stocking have made their way up and naturalized, although that may be a stretch given summer temperatures in these fields.

We ended our visit in town at Artisans, where Mary and I had also lunched the previous day. The little one had the grilled cheese and fries – a lunch that looked pretty good to me too – which she drenched with ketchup. Not a bad outing and I hope we sent her away tired for their drive back to Potomac.

I’ve posted on Wisteria before and I want to say again how much we enjoy Sue and Moussa’s hospitality. Here’s a quick note, referencing the PN&C article, on the two wines we had while we were out this weekend:

• Norton – dry red from a native Virginian grape, spicy aromas, deep ruby color with full finish.
• Traminette – Dry white wine with a rose-petal nose and palate, crisp and light with a delicate finish.