You’ll want to book soon, as there are only a few seats on several of our wine tours; following is a schedule of this month’s tours:

• Oct. 8 Charlottesville Wine Tour Day Trip; Corcoran Vineyards & Loudoun Valley Vineyards; Notaviva Vineyards & Sunset Hills Vineyard
• Oct. 9 Hillsborough Vineyards & Loudoun Valley Vineyards
• Oct. 15 Swedenburg Estate & Three Fox Vineyards
• Oct. 16 Willowcroft Vineyards & Bluemont Vineyards
• Oct. 22 Corcoran Vineyards & Loudoun Valley Vineyards;Casanel Vineyards & Corcoran Vineyards
• Oct. 23 Hume Vineyards & Philip Carter Winery
• Oct. 29 Lost Creek Winery & Hunters Run Wine Barn
• Oct. 30 Notaviva Vineyards & Sunset Hills Vineyard

Click here to visit our online Calendar and make your reservation today!

If you’d prefer to take to the water to celebrate, our friends at the Washington Wine Academy are offering Virginia Wine Cruises on the Potomac River on Friday evenings this month. The 90-minute cruises, featuring the best of The Old Dominion’s vineyards and food products, will afford each guest the opportunity to try 15 different wines and savor Smithfield Virginia ham and Peanuts, Cabot Creamery and artisan cheeses, fruit, charcuterie and other specialties.

As always, we can get you there in style; visit our Virtual Showroom at http://www.restonlimo.com/showroom/ to choose your vehicle and make  a reservation!

If you’d like to venture beyond Northern Virginia, the Virginia Tourism Corp. offers a list of wine celebrations throughout the state. You can view the list at www.virginia.org/winemonth/.

2011 Wine Bloggers Conference – Charlottesville from Tom Plant on Vimeo.

On our Aug. 13 day trip, kick back and relax as we take you to two Charlottesville area wineries, then shop and dine in downtown Charlottesville.

To book your seat on this day trip, please click here to visit our online Reservations page!

Pack a small cooler with drinks and snacks for the ride, then kick back and relax while we transport you to two of the finest wineries  in the Charlottesville area. After your tastings, you’ll get the chance to visit downtown Charlottesville, where you a variety of shopping and dining experiences await, from the Raspberry-Zin delights at Gearhart Chocolates to beautiful recycled glass art at Branscome Glass to new and gently used jeans at Jean Theory denim boutique.

Be sure to visit http://shopcharlottesville.org/ before your trip to check out the latest deals and shopping news.

For dining options, you can’t go wrong with the Best of C-Ville’s picks: Downtown Grille for steaks, Ten for Japanese cuisine, Fleurie for French dining and Blue Light Grill for seafood. For a more complete list of restaurants, visit the Downtown Business Association’s website.

Got your itinerary set? Terrific, all you need to do now is book your seats by clicking here on our online Reservations page!

This month we visit wineries with special events, including St. Patrick’s Day celebrations!

Click here to hear a sample of Cool McFinn’s music!

Here are a few events of note at wineries on our tours:

March 12: Willowcroft Winery St. Patty’s Day Celebration
From noon to 4 p.m., a special tasting includes Wine Tasting & Irish Stew, crackers and breads. $15 per person.

March 12: Bluemont Vineyard features Cool McFinn Live
From noon to 4 p.m. the Celtic music combo plays traditional music with American drive and energy.

March 26 Sunset Hills Vineyard: Life’s a Beach
From noon to 5 p.m., enjoy live calypso performances and wine-a-ritas!

Next month, Reston Limousine resumes monthly day trips to Charlottesville, including visits to two Charlottesville-area wineries and to Downtown Charlottesville for some shopping or a bite to eat.

For a full schedule of our upcoming weekend wine tours, click here to visit Reston Limousine’s online Calendar.

Get some of the best tastings and tastes of Charlottesville on Reston Limousine’s stress-free day trip on Saturday, Aug. 21st!

Bring a thermos, cooler and snacks, and kick back on our comfortable mini-bus as we first take you to two of the best wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail. Then, it’s on to the downtown Mall, where you can sample some of the best of Charlottesville.

Not sure where to start? Here’s an idea from a recent article in The Hook:

If you like locally sourced food cooked exquisitely, Dish suggests you wander down to Brookville Restaurant on the Downtown Mall (above Escafe) and check out their lunch menu. Chef/owner Harrison Keevil says he’ll start serving dinner around mid-August, when he hopes to get his ABC license, but a visit for lunch now is a great way to get a taste of what this passionate chef has in store for us. …

“I consider myself a 100-mile chef,” he says, meaning the emphasis is on using ingredients grown or raised within a 100-mile radius of Charlottesville. So don’t expect to see the same thing on the menu every week, as Keevil only plans to cook what he can source.

To book your seat on the Aug. 21st Charlottesville day trip, please click here to visit our online Reservations page.

Atlantic City: Saturday, March 13th

Come with us to Atlantic City! We’ll get you there and back in a safe, comfortable minibus. All you need to do is bring your wallet and a little luck. We will drop you right at the Tropicana Casino and Resort and hand you $15 for the casino. If gambling is not your scene, check out one of the various restaurants – from Chinese to Mexican to upscale American, you’ll find something to wet your taste buds. As our guest, you are welcome to bring a thermos, smaller cooler or a few snacks for the ride. If you want a taste of the luck of the Irish, RiRa Irish Pub in The Quarter will feature a line up of entertainment from noon to 2 a.m.

Charlottesville: Saturday, March 20th
Relax and enjoy a trip to two Charlottesville-area wineries in a comfortable minibus. As our guest, you are welcome to bring a thermos, small cooler or a few snacks for the ride. Following the wineries, you’ll have the chance to visit Downtown Charlottesville, which will be flush with Virginia Festival of the Book activities that day, including appearances by mystery authors and sessions for budding writers at the Omni Hotel. For more information about the festival, please visit the festival Web site at www.vabook.org. For a cool map of downtown Charlottesville, check out Discovery Maps.

And of course, our perennial favorite — New York City day trip on Sunday, March 28th
It’s not too late to celebrate the lunar new year, and you can join the Big Apple’s celebration via Asia Week, the first-ever coordinated effort between New York City galleries, museums, art dealers and auction houses to devote a week to awareness and discussion of Asian art, the Asia Society-sponsored Asia Week will feature special events and exhibitions taking place at a variety of locations around the City. On March 28th, take in a guided tour and lecture at the Museum of Chinese in America. For more information on Asia Week, visit www.asiaweeknewyork.org.The bus also makes stops at Central Park and Times Square, so you’ll have a host of other opportunities to celebrate spring in the City!

To book your seat on any of these, visit our Online Calendar at www.restonlimo.com.

From January 25-31, diners get to choose from each participating restaurant’s special prix fixe menu and enjoy three courses— an appetizer, an entree, and dessert— for just $26. (Beverages, tax, and gratuity not included.)

Participating restaurants include the venerable C&O Restaurant, which is serving its signature “steak chinoise,” roasted vegetable Wellington, a mountain trout, and— in keeping with the place’s French Provincial origins– chicken cordon bleu. Appetizers include pâté and wild mushroom risotto with currants.

Also joining Charlottesville Restaurant Week is Keswick Hall’s award-winning restaurant, Fossett’s, which features expansive three-sided floor to ceiling windows with spectacular panoramic views of the Estate’s pristine landscape and the beautiful Southwest Mountains beyond. Among the tantalizing dishes on the menu are Hush Puppy-Crusted Blue Ridge Mountain Trout and a Berkshire Pork Tasting.

Reston Limousine can provide the transportation for your day trip to Charlottesville, where you can take in an art exhibit before dinner or enjoy live music at some of the participating restaurants.

Reston Limousine also has minibuses and shuttles if UVA alumni and other Cavaliers fans want to get a group together on Jan. 28th to watch the men’s basketball team battle it out under the hoops with the Hokies after dinner.

To reserve your vehicle today, visit Reston Limousine’s online Reservations page at www.restonlimo.com/reservations/.

For a complete list of participating restaurants and more information about Charlottesville Restaurant Week, visit http://cvilleyum.com.

Photo from candorestaurant.com

Within the wine trail lies about 20 wineries within 15 miles of Charlottesville, and Reston Limousine’s Charlottesville Wine Tour rotates minibus* tours to two different wineries every month. On Saturday, April 18, our featured Charlottesville Wine Tour destinations are Veritas Vineyard & Winery and Kluge Estate Vineyard.

After leaving the departure station in McLean at 9 a.m., you’ll arrive at about 11 a.m. for a private tour and tasting at Veritas Vineyard & Winery.

Located in Afton at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Veritas is owned by Andrew and Patricia Hodson. Their daughter Emily, who completed her master’s degree in enology at Virginia Tech, also helps to oversee the winery’s classic and traditional methods of making wine.

Upon arrival, guests will be taken on a 15-minute tour of the winemaking production process, and then will be led to an elegant tasting room that’s “truly the height of fashion and elegance” according to local wine blog Virginia Vine Spot.

Once comfortably esconced, guests will have a choice of 13 wines on the tasting menu, a winemaker’s showcase of six wines for $10, or a red or white flight, each for $5. Be sure to ask about their wines that will be showcased at the London International Wine Fair in May; all are available for tasting,

Next stop is Kluge Estate Vineyard, whose 2005 Blanc de Blanc recently was featured in bonappetite.com’s The United Plates of America as the Best Thing to Drink in Virginia.

Visitors will arrive at Kluge (pronounced kloo-gee) and enter the Farm Shop, a classic country store that offers a selection of artisan cheeses that best highlight the wines. At the Farm Shop, tastings consist of a full flight uniquely presented in glass cones placed on a rack.

The Albemarle Tasting for $10 includes the Viognier, ’08 Rose, ’03 Simply Red, ’04 Simply Red, Cru and Cru Cocktail. The Kluge Tasting for $12 includes all four of the winery’s sparkling wines and well as the New World Reds — Bordeaux-style blends.

Last stop on the tour is Downtown Charlottesville, where you can enjoy a late lunch and shopping before the bus leaves at 5 p.m. You’ll be dropped off at the pedestrian Downtown Mall. At the mall, you’ll have a world of choices for lunch fare: Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Himalayan and more. If you’re looking to satisfy a sweet tooth, C&O Restaurant & Gallery was the readers’ choice in the annual 2008 Best of C-Ville poll.

Travelers tip: Bring a thermos, small cooler or a few snacks for the Reston Limousine ride!

Cost: $40 per person (does not include tasting fees)
Schedule:

9 a.m. Depart 1650 Tysons Boulevard , McLean
~ 11 a.m. Arrive at Veritas
~ 1 p.m. Arrive at Kluge
~ 3 p.m. Arrive downtown Charlottesville for late lunch and shopping
5 p.m. Depart downtown Charlottesville
~ 7 p.m. Arrive 1650 Tysons Boulevard , McLean

To reserve your seat on this tour or for more information, please contact Kacy Norris at 703-478-0500 ext. 508.

*Vehicle type subject to change without notice