Crozet, Va.
Thursday, April 27, 2006; Page T33
Why: Mares, mountains and merlot.
How Far: About 130 miles, or about 2 1/2 hours from the District.
  Owner David King is a regular polo player at the King Family Vineyards. (Rob Garland Photographers) |
If polo brings to mind fancy dresses and huge hats, think again. In the Virginia countryside the sport is more down-home than debonair. Proving that polo is for the people, King Family Vineyards hosts free matches at its Crozet estate at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "This is not Palm Beach or Windsor Park," says David King, who founded the vineyard with his wife, Ellen, in 1999. It's horse folks "riding around a green piece of grass. You don't have to buy a hat before you come. It's a tailgating thing."
The Kings have a decades-old love affair with the sport and purchased their property in 1996 because it had a flat stretch. The 18-person club -- including David King -- plays on Sunday afternoons (field conditions permitting) from June through September.
If you don't know that a hooter is a bell that sounds at the end of a chukka (or period), check out the list of polo terms on the winery's Web site, http:/
The trip to Crozet provides plenty of ways to spend a day in the great outdoors. In Remington, take a trail ride at Kelly's Ford Equestrian Center, part of a 500-acre property along the Rappahannock River. Continue communing with nature at Culpeper's Mountain Run Lake Park, where bird watchers can go to town looking for the ruddy duck and pied-billed grebe. Crozet's Beaver Creek Lake is stocked with sunfish, catfish and largemouth bass. The fresh air and pastoral views will get you in the mood for sipping wine alfresco and watching polo at your final destination.
-- MEGAN LISAGOR
