Archive for the 'Anything Wine' Category
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The “other” Napa tasting
I’m talking about olive oil when I say the “other” Napa tasting. Well, to be honest it is not just Napa, but it is another popular product from Napa and other parts of California. Olive trees are quite common in California and some of the best olive oils are produced there. Much like wine, olive oil is tasted and rated. The varieties of olive oil available today is huge. Some restaurants even have olive oil menus similar to wine lists. Like wine, olive oil is rated on it’s appearance, aroma, mouthfeel and flavor. Most times a bland or “country” style bread is used for tasting purposes when sampling olive oil. Appearance is the color and clarity. Most olive oils are somewhat cloudy. The color can denote the zone of it’s origin or ripeness of the olives, how long the skins were in contact with the olive. Again refering to how long the skins were in contact with the oil reminds us of the wine making process when it is noted how long the grapes skins were fermented with the juice. Next is Aroma, which olive oils tend to give off scents of artichoke, tomato leaf, green apple, pine nut, basil, sage and even cinnamon or dried chili powder. If the oil smells musty or metallic at all, it is not recommended for consumption, it has become oxidized. Mouthfeel and flavor is a little more complicated and probably only done by true tasters as most folks do not simply take a swig of olive oil. While we may love olive oil, we typically cook with it, blend it for salads, dip it in bread, etc. True olive oil tasters actually take a small sip through a clenched jaw and suck it quickly to the back of the throat. They do not sip oil and allow it to linger as one would with wine tasting. Denser oils are usually from hotter climates, while fluid ones are from the more Northern regions. The olive oil spectrum is huge, there is extra virgin, flavored, mixed with herbs, you name it, you can purchase it.
Published by admin on October 27th, 2008 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »The Chadds Ford Trip
Having arrived home from our wine weekend in Chadds Ford Pennsylvania. I wanted to quickly get down my thoughts on a fun and educational trip. We began our trek on Friday afternoon leaving at around 4:00 PM. The weather report for the entire weekend was for rain heavy at times as a tropical type storm was quickly moving up the east coast. Having already decided rain was not about to dampen our weekend, we were off for a fun time. The drive down was a little on the frustrating side, the newly purchased Maggelin GPS unit was set to a selection of least use of freeways. You know, a nice, easy, stress free drive on less traveled roads. Well… that added about an hour and a half extra to the trip, we hit just about every red light in the state of Pennsylvania (at least it seamed that way) and the rain was coming down pretty heavy for the last hour. Although, I do have to remind myself it was rush hour on a Friday.
After a four hour trip we arrived at the bed and breakfast and were quite surprised to find it was located just inside a large new residential development. It was dark, but from what we could see it was a lovely old farm house on a beautiful piece of property, it just seemed to be in a strange location. We later learned from Shirley (the owner of the B and B) that the original owner had sold off all the farm land surrounding the house to a developer and kept the home intact as a bed and breakfast on the large piece of land. After checking in Shirley showed us to our room and reminded us to come for breakfast in the morning. We rushed out for our dinner reservation as we had called once already while stuck in traffic to get a later time. Dinner was at a local spot called the Sovana Bistro, a rather up scale place with very good seasonally inspired and locally sourced food. The restaurant is a BYOB so we were able to bring our own wine with the choice being a 2004 Silver Oak Alexander Valley, however, they also have a wine list and we were disappointed not to see any local wines on the list. After a nice dinner it was back to the B and B, and being quite tired from the drive we retired for the evening.
The next morning we went down for breakfast early and found Shirley busy making us a full breakfast starting with a fruit plate, pumpkin bread and apple tarts. The presentation of the fruit plate looked like it came from a five star restaurant, we were very impressed. We finished up with a mushroom and cheese omelet, toast, juice and coffee. Shirley also provided some great conversation on her life and local history. A nice start to our day and all included in the room price (which I must add was very reasonable). Shirley goes out of her way to make you feel welcome, so if you ever visit Chadds Ford, check out the Foxcreeks Farm Bed and Breakfast.
After breakfast it was off to check out the Brandywine Valley. We started out at Longwood Gardens, with 1,050 landscaped outdoor acres and 20 indoor gardens including a heated conservatory, the main fountain garden, Italian water garden and an open air theatre, the place is a garden lovers dream. Of course time did not allow for us to see everything, so Longwood is on the list for a return visit. It was then off to our first winery visit of the day, Twin Brook Winery off of Strasburg Rd in the town of Gap about a half hour ride from our B and B. Arriving we learned that our visit coincided with a wine trail festival weekend, meaning you could purchase a pass to taste at all five local winery’s, all were having their own special events and needless to say were pretty busy. Prior to becoming a winery the most recent activity at Twin Brook was dairy farming. Four acres of grape vines were planted in 1985, later growing to 30 acres, and in 1989 Twin Brook became a modern winery. Entering the tasting area we were guided to the barrel cellar first, where we tasted a sample of unfermented grape juice and a sample of the same from a tank fermenting for about a week. After a short question and answer session, it was back to the tasting bar upstairs where we sampled a mix of about a dozen red, white, dry and sweet wines. All good, though none really stood out for me. I would have to say the Cabernet Franc was about the best so we bought a bottle to retry at home. Twin Brook is well worth a visit if you are in the area. The winemaker is a great guy, however, I think my personal taste did not allow me to enjoy as many wines as someone who is partial to sweeter wines. Our next stop was Kruetz Creek Vineyards located off Guernsey Road in West Grove, PA. The tasting room is in the basement of the owners home and was quite crowded with a bus load arriving while we were there tasting. Again we tried about a dozen wines and were not extremely fond of any except the Ruby K Port which was pretty good. We did thoroughly enjoy our host, a woman who normally works at the tasting room located about an hour away according to what she told us.
Leaving there we headed back to Kennetts Square to find a place for lunch. We had some time to kill before the reason for our trip, an appointment with wine maker/owner Eric Miller of Chaddsford Winery. Lunch was at Newton’s on State Street, a pub and casual dining restaurant. I think you know the type I am referring to, a bar along with dining room seating. We chose the bar side so we could watch some college football. A quick lunch of sirloin burgers and we were more than satisfied, and off to Chaddsford.
We arrived at winery which sits back off the Baltimore Pike about halfway between Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine River Museum, and met up with Eric Miller. Chaddsford is recognized as the largest and most respected winery in Pennsylvania, and the crowd confirmed that. Recent reviews in prestigious publications such as Food and Wine, Gourmet Magazine, The Robb Report, and New York Times, have helped the winery achieve a national reputation for excellent wines.
We spent just about two hours with Eric who I know is a very busy man. Our visit was both educational and fun as we tasted numerous barrel samples of his wines and toured the lab, barrel room and bottling line. My opinion of Eric is he has a strong passion for making wine, absolutely loves what he is doing and is just as happy to share that passion and knowledge with other wine lovers, not to mention that he is a fun guy. I believe he realizes the responsibility of being the states largest winery and has a clear vision of how the wine he makes will help to shape Pennsylvania’s status as a premier wine region.
Brandywine Valley is a stop you have to make if you love wine and make sure Chaddsford Winery is on your list.
The Fall season
The end of another great summer, yes, the fall season has arrived. Not officially though, that occurs on September 22nd, yet the return to school and college always tends to announce the end of summer. The weather may not agree with my thoughts as hot humid days are still upon us, but there is a feeling of finality to summer when the new school year begins.
As I get older, I love the fall season almost as much as I do the summer. We love sitting outside on cool nights by our fireplace listening to sounds and enjoy the crisp smells that fall has to offer. We live close to our local high school and many evenings we are serenaded by the school marching band practice. Football is another favorite and we have a television set up to view from the patio by our fireplace, what more can you ask for….. some good wine? Everything just tends to slow down a little from the hectic summer schedule of vacations, barbeques, yard work and such. Fall is really a time to relax and enjoy the outdoors. It is also harvest season and as wine lovers we always look forward to and anticipate the arrival of a new vintage. Although we enjoy a lot of different wines our hearts are really with the Napa Valley wines and this year I find myself wondering what the 2008 vintage will bring. After all this was a really troubling year for the Napa area weather wise. Remember back to early spring, Napa experienced some of the worst frost since back in 1972. Some growers lost their entire crops while others lost a high percentage. Most agree now that the overall crop will likely be down about 10 percent. A very hot summer arrived, with very little rainfall, not at all good growing conditions. Many vineyards had water shortages and had to truck in water. From what I have read some growers and wine makers are optimistic that the lower yield caused by frost will actually be a good thing. Lower production and smaller berry clusters could lead to exceptional wines. No one will really know until the finished product is ready. The other unknown is the effect of the many wild fires in the area this summer which caused heavy smoke and soot conditions. This may have affected the grapes negatively, or a positive spin by some is that the invisible cover of soot over the vines may have protected them from harsh conditions and diffused scorching sun. I guess we can only sit back and wait for the 2008 vintage reports. I am sure there are some very concerned winemakers in the Napa Valley this year praying for the best.
Bottle Shock
On a rainy Saturday this past weekend, we decided to hit the movies. Now, first let me begin by saying we have not been to a movie in years and what a change from the days of hard seats, sticky floors and small screens. We are probably one the last few in the world to experience stadium seating, so while we were still in awe of that we sat down in our extremely cushioned seats. I have to say it was quite nice. After settling in and watching some previews, the movie opened. Bottle Shock~in the heart of the Napa Valley. I think I heard my husband say he felt like he was home again looking at the panaromic view of the valley in the opening credits. If you are homesick for Napa it is a good movie to watch, it gives you the sense of being there again. The movie itself tells the story of the great 1976 Paris tasting where the California wines previously disregarded in the French wine world beat out some of the best French wines in a blind taste test. A 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay took first prize in the white category. The movie focuses mostly on Chateau Montelena and the making of the winning vintage. I do not want to go into too much detail about the movie and ruin it for you, but if you are a wine lover it is a must see. The movie offers some wine education, lots of beautiful vineyard scenes and some quirky comedy too.
Published by admin on September 10th, 2008 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Up coming visit to Chaddsford Winery
Summer is coming to an end and the Fall season is about to begin, and I am excited. Not only for the beginning of harvest and some great weather, now we have a weekend trip set up for the end of September and of course, it involves wine. If you follow our Anything Wine page then you read our day trip story down the page here. We visited Peddler’s Village in Bucks County Pennsylvania, and while there went to the Chaddsford Winery tasting room and were quite impressed with thier wines. Well, we did the write up about them and thier winemaker Eric Miller read it and sent us a nice Email thanking us for the story and suggesting we let him know if we were ever in the area. After our visit to the tasting room we had already decided to research the winery and possibly visit, so Eric made the trip plan an easy decision.
Chaddsford Winery is located in historic Bradywine Valley in the town of Chadds Ford PA. Brandywine Valley has a long history begining with the original inhabitants, an Algonquin Indian tribe who called themselves Lenape (len-ah’-pay), meaning “common people”, and later European settlers.
Brandywine was also the site of a battle between British and Hessian forces, and American Continentals and local militias under George Washington and a young Marquis de Lafayette in the largest land battle of the Revolutionary War, which was lost by the Americans. For more in depth history visit the Brandywine web site at:
http://www.thebrandywine.com/about/index.html
Chaddsford Winery is one of seven wineries on the Brandywine Wine trail so along with a chance to meet with a great winemaker we will get to visit some other wineries. So you can see why I am excited, it has been a while scince our Napa trip so I am ready.
After talking with Eric my take is he is a wine guy who is very knowlegeable and passionate about his wine and on top of that he sounds like a real fun guy. He was more than willing to suggest places to try for our lodging and restaurants to visit. We will be meeting with him Saturday afternoon and I can’t wait. I will definetly provide the detail of our trip when we return.
To visit the Chaddsford Winery site go to: http://www.chaddsford.com/site/
Weekend fun
We hosted a gathering at our house this weekend in honor of a family engagement. What a great time! We met a lot of fantastic new people that we look forward to spending time with in the future. We had gorgeous weather, lots of terrific food and best of all, we had such help from everyone. Folks manning the grill, cooking the clams, cleaning up, helping in the kitchen. It all just ensured a smooth event. Just need to take a few minutes and tell you about the homemade sangria that the father of the bride to be made. A huge vat of red sangria, it had to be 7 or 8 gallons of liquid… well, let me tell you it had to be one of the best sangria’s I have had in a long time. Restaurant quality and then some.
It was a huge hit and only about 2 gallons were left. Of course, we had the usual red wine, white wine, beer, and mixed drinks, not to mention the Jimmy Buffet Margarita station, but we also got a special treat from one of the guests…home made red wine. Now, can I tell you I have not really been a fan of home made wines in the past, but this one was different. An uncle of the bride to be has been making home made wine for many years and I can tell you he has perfected his process. The wine was made from a blend of Cabernet and Zinfandel grapes. Deep ruby red in color with a long smooth silky finish and a hint of oak. If you want my opinion this wine would definitely compete with some of the big boys. Well the uncle will be making more wine late in September so I asked…OK maybe begged him to give me a call so I could come watch and maybe help out. What a great party it was and the home made wine was an unexpected treat.
End of the day
What is better than the end of the workday? Maybe the end of the workday on a Friday? The end of a workday on a Friday and you are on vacation for a week? Now I am talking, except today is Monday. Yep, Monday, but I still enjoy the end of the day. There is something to be said about the end of the workday, no matter what day of the week it is and being able to come home, relax and wind down with a nice glass of your favorite wine. Completely different than a weekend, just a glass to wipe the bad parts of the day away. Kick up your feet, relax and remind yourself, I work so I can indulge in a nice glass of wine once in while and forget the rat race. Now that’s what I am talking about!!
Published by admin on August 4th, 2008 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »The Response
If you’re here you read my wife’s somewhat whiney tale she just wrote about weekday wine and whatever else she was talking about. You know I love this girl, she is my soul mate and the best part is she has a knack for always making me laugh and many times we are laughing about something I did. As I do, she shares a love of wine, yet the big mistake I think I have made is introducing her to some fine wines. Oh boy, now we are hooked. We have agreed many times to curtail our wine tasting during the week to keep the cost down a little. What is funny to me is the excuses she can dream up as to why we should have a bottle on a given weekday. She without a doubt gets the award for dreaming up imaginative excuses. I mean the world is coming to an end? Sure, seems ok to me. I just have to be firm you know and stick to our agreement no matter how funny her reasons get. Well, I will just have to start tomorrow…you see tonight it is my birthday…not really it is in March. It sounded like a great idea, so I bit and we are drinking a 2004 Neal Cabernet. Have to go now…by the way last night was her birthday. Not really. Cheers!
Published by admin on July 29th, 2008 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »weekday wine and bad weather
I wonder how most of you feel about a glass of wine with dinner during the week. Is it okay? I think so, however, it is a big debate in our house. Mostly weekends are the time to drink wine, unless of course you are on vacation as we were last week, then everyday is Friday and we had wine each day. Well, this week is back to work and it is hard to get back into the weekday/weekend wine mode. I am reading on this page about the Chaddsford Chambourcin and it’s spicy Zin like quality and I am thinking I should be tasting that again to be sure how good it was. Especially on a night like tonight. We have severe thunderstorms in the area, a tornado watch in other parts of New Jersey, and on the news they said it was raining at a rate of 13 inches per hour in some parts of the state. Although it was not going to continue raining at that rate for an hour, that is still some extreme weather. Mother Nature is not happy with someone, you’d almost think the world is coming to an end, and I shouldn’t have a glass of wine? Go figure. I think I should be having the best bottle in the cellar considering the world is coming to an end. Don’t you think?
Published by admin on July 23rd, 2008 | Filed under Anything Wine | Comment now »Day trip
To end a vacation week of work around our always needy home on a high note, we decided to take a well deserved break yesterday. A day trip with two friends to a place called Peddler’s Village in Bucks County Pennsylvania. Bucks County PA is about an hour drive through some rural and very scenic areas of lower New Jersey across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Peddler’s Village is a country style collection of 75 specialty shops and restaurants in a large village setting all within walking distance of each other. Might I add that it is walking distance if the temperature is not in the 90’s as it was yesterday. We consumed a lot of water and took our time in the air conditioned shops. The 75 shops are mixed from arts and artisans, collectables and gifts, cultural, fashion, shoes, jewelry, lifestyle, home decor, specialty foods, candy, toys, sports and hobbies and of course wine. We had a great lunch at Hart’s Tavern which is billed as “The perfect spot for heartwarming libations”. Chicago style pan pizza, light meals and casual camaraderie. After lunch it was back out to brave the heat and hit some more shops. Our last stop was to check out the wine tasting room for Chaddsford Winery. You can bet we all prayed on the walk over that their air conditioning was working. The winery is actually located in historic Brandywine Valley PA in the tiny village of Chadds Ford, about a two hour drive south of their Peddler’s Village tasting room. The tasting room was quite a surprise set up in a double store front with loads of wine related gifts, wines for purchase, art work and posters. Our host directed us to a large room next door to where we entered that was recently renovated. The room had been an art store prior to Chaddford’s expansion. The tasting room is large, well appointed and yes, well air conditioned with a beautiful mural of vineyards behind the wine bar. We sat at a table and our host, a knowledgeable and fun young lady named Kimberly set us up with glasses and crackers. Let me just say here that if you visit our site regularly you know we are big fans of the bold reds, especially Cabernets. So, as you can guess I was a little skeptical as to what we were about to taste. I was about to be pleasantly surprised. The tastings are set up with a selection of your choice of red or white for $7.00 or a Portfolio Collection of premium reds and whites for $10.00. The guys went with the classic reds selection while the ladies split a classic white and portfolio collection. My first surprise was to learn that Chaddsford grows their own Cabernet grapes right there at the vineyard in Pennsylvania. Quite a surprise as the growing season here in the Northeast is not quite long enough for Cabernet. I guess their very southern location not far from Delaware allows for the longer hang time. We tasted red selections of Pinot Noir, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet, Chambourcin, Merican (take off on the Meritage name), a Bordeaux blend, Due Rossi a blend of Sangiovese and Barbera and Rubino a Super Tuscan blend. For the whites, a Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and a Proprietors Reserve white. I will not go into descriptions and tasting here, you can visit their web site listed below for tasting notes and pricing on all Chaddsfords wines. What I will say is I was quite surprised by several of the reds. The Cabernet is a nice fruit forward and yes, big Cab. The color was a little strange to me as it was not that dark deep ruby purple color of most Cabs, it was somewhat more translucent in color. The big bold cab flavor was there though and as said I was pleasantly surprised. The Merican was also a big bold red with a nice finish. The Proprietors White, a blend of Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc and Vignoles, all regional grapes was a light crisp wine great for hot summer days that reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc. My favorite of the day was the Chambourcin, very much like a good Zinfandel right down to the nice spicy finish. Chaddsford’s winemaker is Eric Miller, who also own Miller Estate Vineyards, gets credit for crafting some superb wines. We were all very happy with our tasting trip and vowed to try an overnight visit to Chaddsford’s Winery in the future. I highly recommend you visit their web site and the winery or Peddler’s Village tasting room, if you are in the area.
Visit Chaddsford web site at:
http://www.chaddsford.com/site/