Last Tuesday, I had the unique opportunity to head over to City Winery DC and try their fall menu! (You may be familiar with City Winery from other cities—they also have locations in Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Nashville, Boston, and Philadelphia.) We were given a sneak peek of some of their upcoming seasonal dishes. Everything we tasted should be available to the public around the middle of the month—I’ll be sure to keep y’all posted when they are added to the menu.

Located in NOMA, City Winery DC is one of the coolest places I’ve been to lately. In addition to being a restaurant, City Winery also offers a rooftop bar and a music venue. The latter is amazing—when you book your ticket, you select your exact seat, and then during the concert, it’s full-service, meaning you don’t even have to get up for food or drink—a waiter comes to you.

One of the goals of the City Winery DC location is to offer as many local varietals of wine as possible—they buy as many grapes from the DMV area as possible, and their winemaker went to William & Mary. Since they are a new location in the City Winery family, their current wines are from other locations, but as of spring 2019, they expect to produce their own labels—including rosé and sauvignon blanc, my two favorites—using local grapes.

After we were given a tour of the nearly 40,000 square foot space—which, yes, is a very popular wedding venue!—we sat down to a wonderful six-course dinner. One of the coolest things about blogging is that I’ve been able to attend experiences like this one and share them with you all—this privilege is certainly not lost on me!

We started the dinner with a wine tasting—it is City Winery after all! Their beverage manager lead the tasting and she was SO knowledgeable. We tried two whites—their steel-barrel-aged Chardonnay (my favorite kind of Chardonnay since it’s more crisp than the oak-barrel aged!) and their Gerwurztraminer, which was a mild white with a spicy kick. For reds, both their Meritage and Pint Noir were delicious—and this coming from someone who isn’t a huge red drinker! I especially enjoyed their Pinot Noir as it was very fruity and light—it would be the perfect base for a sangria.

After the wine tasting was over, we moved onto dinner. (Don’t worry, we were given more wine to enjoy with dinner—I opted for the sauvignon blanc!)

Course One—What better way to celebrate fall than with a delicious pumpkin soup?! This honestly was one of the best soups that I’ve ever had—it tasted like a warm pumpkin pie. Topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, this would be the perfect appetizer on a chilly day.

Course Two—For the second course, we enjoyed a butter lettuce and prosciutto salad with whipped ricotta, toasted hazelnuts, and balsamic dressing. The fresh clementine was the “cherry on top” in my book, and as a big salad lover, this one was a great balance of both savory and sweet flavors.

Course Three—Y’all, I wish I could bottle up the smell of these wings and sell it as a candle. The buttery garlic flavor overtook the room and it was amazing. These chicken wings are marinated in wine and then covered in a garlic-honey hot sauce. Served up with with a miso buttermilk sauce—basically a fancy ranch—this was definitely my favorite course of the whole tasting.

Course Four—Next up was the ricotta raviolo! When you typically order this at City Winery, you’ll be served one large ravioli, but for the tasting, we had a smaller portion. It was topped with tomato, broccolini, mozzarella, toasted breadcrumbs, and micro greens—definitely one of the best stuffed pastas I’ve ever had!

Course Five—The last savory portion of the meal was short rib ragout served over polenta. By this point in the meal, I was (unsurprisingly!) stuffed, but for meat-lovers, this is definitely a must-order next time you’re at City Winery. It was melt-in-your-mouth good.

Course Six—To finish things off, we had a delicious milk chocolate mousse with a matcha topping. I’m not a huge dessert person, but this one was too good to pass up! It was so rich and creamy a few bites is really all you need.

Thank you so much to City Winery DC for having me! I was offered a free tasting of their fall menu and wine selection, but as always, opinions are my own. I will definitely be back soon—and especially look forward to attending a concert at this venue!