Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Fun Winery Hopping

One of my best friend's Kelly and I at Calvaressi Wine Fest.
It was also a car show.
A bottle of port and off we went to find a new car....lol,
this is not my car, or hers. lol.


This is a graphic image "borrowed" from Long Trout Winery


Where the wine is cool and the hippie chicks rule.

One of the most fun wineries I have ever visited!




My husband and I grab a few of our friends, we hop in the truck and head out to wineries in our area. There are so many and we have such a good time. The wineries we frequent have never charged us for our "wine tours". We don't go on wine tour weekends, we go on off weekends. We also come home with a case or two, or three of wines in all varieties.





My favorite wine comes from Clover Hill Winery. http://www.cloverhillwinery.com/ They make a few varieties that top any wine I have ever had, including wines friends from France have brought us. The Concord is a gold medal winner, year after year, and one of our favorites. It's sweet, but its great. They have so many wines that have won awards, I could talk about them all day. The Catawba is my absolute favorite wine in the world. No Catawba or blush wine I have tried can compare! I do not care where in the world I go, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Clover Hill Wine! Their Vignoles is wonderful, as are the fruit wines they make. I love the Red's too. There are so many that are great tasting, you just have to get there and try for yourself or call to order a bottle or two. There wine prices average 10-12 dollars a bottle.

I must say, I am extremely disappointed in the Mt. Hope Winery at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. They have superb wines, but took all of the romance out of it, by going with screw caps. I do not mind the faux corks wineries are using today, in fact, I prefer them. I just expect to open a bottle of wine with a cork screw not a screw cap and my last two cases I got there last fall, will probably be the last I buy from them, unless they resort back to corks. Their Blueberry was out of this world...better than any blueberry and what a great price, full size bottle was about 10.00. Unlike some wineries that go with a small bottle when they give you a fruit wine.
I realize that some wineries are going to screw caps, but I will not support them. I have many reasons for drinking wine and the romance of using the corkscrew is one of them. They should be going with the "fake" corks if they are having problems with mold on their corks.


Lastly, but not least, in fact,its a tie for first place in my favorite wines....is that Long Trout Winery that I mentioned above. http://www.longtroutwinery.com/ Talk about a fun winery! We make this our last stop. They have a bar you sit at, and goldfish crackers on the bar for in between palette cleaning. They have hippie memorabilia, and John Lennon's pics (even a nakey one of him and Yoko!). It's a truly amazing place you have to see. It's in a log cabin in the woods with a pond and disc golf available there (for those not aware, that is golf with frisbees)

The wine is not super sweet, but that is okay with me, I like all types of wine. Their wines are good and a bit odd, in a really good way...things like Burning Bra, which is a peach, Instant Chocolate O, a chocolate wine! Yes...chocolate strawberry, they also have Berried in Chocolate, which is chocolate berry, they have quite a few chocolate varieties. Delish! The Berried Alive is out of this world, mixing a few berries together. Waskfully Wrasperry another notable goodie. Their wine list is so long and there are too many great tasting one's to mention.
I do want to note, they have come cooking wines that really caught my eye and I have many of them here in my wine collection (collection is a fun term, as I don't hang onto them very long lol...dust does not collect on my wine bottles!). Old One Eye is a garden vegetable medley, Yellow Snow has hot pepper and garlic...yum, its not only good to cook with but fun to sip. check out their wine list and give them a call if you live too far away. I should note, their wines average in price around 10-12 dollars a bottle!



Berks County has many wineries and many Bed and Breakfasts to stay in if you want to come out and try some small wineries in our area. There are also many wineries close by in surrounding counties, as well as the Amish communities to visit in the Morgantown area and nearby Lancaster County.

No comments: