Top Spots for Fall Foliage Fun | By Julia Green

Autumn is the perfect time to take a few days and bask in the glory of that beautiful woman, Mother Nature. We’ve provided five tantalizing options for a vacation filled with autumn eye-candy. From backwoods hiking to luxurious wine tours, romantic resorts to family fun, these fab five fall foliage adventures will provide mountains of color for leaf lovers.

A Toast to Fall | Charlottesville, Virginia
At the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, you will find a truly royal getaway: Charlottesville, Virginia. The town is named after Princess Sophia Charlotte, the wife of King George III of England (the one that inspired the American Revolution). The foothills surrounding Charlottesville are a feast of fall color, and to heighten the sensory delight, Charlottesville is home to some of the most flavorful wineries in the country.

Start with a visit to Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard, owned and run by Patricia Kluge and her husband, William Moses. The estate covers 2,000 acres and produces nine varieties of wine, including three varieties of sparkling wine and two rosés. Tastings are held at the Farm Shop, which also sells gourmet goodies and gifts such as kumquat jam and dulce de leche.

After you’ve taken in their luscious delights, head north on Route 29 to the Prince Michel Winery, which offers complimentary tastings in their wine shop, located atop the barrel cave and tank room. Visitors are encouraged to take a self-guided tour of the facility. The winery is home to both Prince Michel and Rapidan River wines, in total twenty wines that range from Chardonnay to Shiraz, Rose to Riesling, all cared for and loved by winemaker Brad Hansen.

On your way back, do not miss Barboursville Vineyards, which offer a stunning selection of wines carefully created by Luca Paschina, an award-winning Italian winemaker who produced his first wine at the age of 14. Here he produces seventeen wines, among them many award winners, including the Philéo, which took home the San Francisco Gold Medal for Moscato and the Monticello Cup, and the 2004 Octagon, which secured the Monticello Cup and the Critics Challenge International Gold Medal. Tours of the winery, which include an introduction to the history of Barboursville, are offered on weekends, and guests are invited to take a self-guided tour of the historic ruins of Governor Barbour’s Mansion, a short stroll from the winery.

West of Charlottesville, King Family Vineyards has been owned and operated by David and Ellen King since 1998. The tasting room is open seven days a week , and for $5 you can taste all the vintages on offer (around a dozen, depending on the time of year) and keep the glass. The winery, which produces roughly 5,000 cases of wine per year, boasts nearly 100% estate-grown fruit and offers tours of the barrel rooms.

About 45 minutes southwest is the Wintergreen Resort Winery, which offers tastings of its award-winning wines, including the 2005 Black Rock Chardonnay Reserve, which took the gold medal in the 2006 Virginia Governor’s Cup, and the Three Ridges White, which snagged the gold in the 2006 Wines of the South Competition. For the fruit enthusiast, there are also raspberry and apple wines to sample. They also have a tantalizing gift shop, full of delicious cheese and other nibbles perfect for a picnic on the banks of the Rockfish River.

When it’s time to sleep it off, you can depart the Wintergreen Winery and head down the road to check into the impressive Wintergreen Resort. Accommodations vary in size from lodge rooms to five-bedroom condos. Wintergreen Resort is the perfect choice if you want to take in the red, white and rosé while somebody else looks after your children: they have a wide array of activities to keep your kids entertained all day long, including tennis, golf, and horseback riding. If you prefer accommodations closer to town, book yourself in at the Boar’s Head Inn, which offers all the charms of a country inn as well as luxurious amenities of modern upscale accommodation, all just a few miles from downtown Charlottesville. The Inn boasts four restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, three outdoor pools, a complete indoor fitness facility and a full-service spa.