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Wine

The wife & I are doing a wine tasting tour of some (5) of the Yadkin Valley Wineries in a couple weeks. Since we're staying at a bed & breakfast, we will have a driver to take us around. Looking forward to this!!

We've also done wine tastings at Chateau Morrisette along the Blue Ridge & Grove Winery in Gibsonville (thanks to Groupon). These are ALWAYS fun & very informative!

As others have said, pairings & mood od play a role in taste & keep track of what you like & what combos work.


There's actually some pretty good wine coming out of this region.

One small winery that we've enjoyed getting to know is Hanover Park, near Yadkinville. Sort of an "old country" kind of wine producer. Nice folks and a number of interesting wines from such a small outfit. Hope you enjoy your tour.
 
If you drink wine on a semi-regular basis I highly recommend The Rabbit Corkscrew. Makes opening any bottle simple and only takes a few seconds.

http://www.amazon.com/Metrokane-600...2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1301327260&sr=1-2

Also, for those of you that like Malbecs and Syrrahs, try a Chianti. Gabbiano is a decent one int he $10 range and Da Vinci is a much better bottle but can run above $20 depending on whether you get the regular, classico, or riserva.
 
A few nights ago I had the pleasure of doing a small tasting (only about 20 people) with Jacques Lardiere...winemaker at Louis Jadot. How great is it to do a Burgundy tasting with one of the most respected winemakers in the world? He was cool as hell too, when I told him my wife and I are headed to Burgundy this summer he gave me his card and insisted that I call his assistant to set up a personal tour of his winery.
 
Wine experts - what are some necessary gadgets for neophytes who want to enjoy wine? I'm talking decanters/aerators/specific glasses.

I like to have several glasses for each wine type (keep in mind, I love wine so I may not be a good one to compare to). We have both a aerator and a decanter. I actually find myself using the aerator more often do to the ease since I often drink just one glass. A decanter is great for parties when you are serving a lot of wine.

One thing that I think is a must is a good wine opener and wine foil cutter. I love the rabbit (or any knock off - we have a knock off) because it is very simple. I actually have purchased a knock off for my job because it is quicker for me (speed is a necessity).
 
are you in the business WakeGal?

As of February, I am on weekends and loving it! It is a new, small winery so there are only the owners and a few casual weekend employees. From now until August, I will be working basically every weekend with events, festivals, and the amount of customers. The fall will be interesting to balance the winery and football season.
 
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As of February, I am on weekends and loving it! It is a new, small winery so there are only the owners and a few casual weekend employees. From now until August, I will be working basically every weekend with events, festivals, and the amount of customers. The fall will be interesting to balance the winery and football season.

NICE! NC winery?
 
NICE! NC winery?

NC Winery in the Piedmont. Right now we have 5 muscadine wines; however, in June we will be unveiling 3 new muscadines (red, white, and a blush), 2 vinifera wines (red and white), and then 1 fruit wine. I love getting in with the winery at the very beginning!
 
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NC Winery in the Piedmont. Right now we have 5 muscadine wines; however, in June we will be unveiling 3 new muscadines (red, white, and a blush), 2 vinifera wines (red and white), and then 1 fruit wine. I love getting in with the winery at the very beginning!

Very cool...you'll have to give us details
 
FreeknDeacon said:
I don't know anything about wine, but I want to learn. Educate me.

Just popped open a bottle of Layer Cake Malbec, its pretty tasty.

Pretty good start.
 
Opened up a Donkey & Goat syrah last night. Probably my favorite syrah.
 
The wife & I are doing a wine tasting tour of some (5) of the Yadkin Valley Wineries in a couple weeks. Since we're staying at a bed & breakfast, we will have a driver to take us around. Looking forward to this!!

We've also done wine tastings at Chateau Morrisette along the Blue Ridge & Grove Winery in Gibsonville (thanks to Groupon). These are ALWAYS fun & very informative!

As others have said, pairings & mood do play a role in taste & keep track of what you like & what combos work.

UPDATE:
So we did our wine weekend (9 wineries!!) in Yadkin County and had a blast!! Checked in to The Belle House B&B in Hamptonville Friday evening & went out to dinner at Sanders Ridge just north of Yadkinville. They were not very busy at 8 & our server offered us a wine tasting at our table with our meal. Great meal & nice wines! My MIL is from Germany (Naha Valley) and Sanders Ridge had a white wine that was reminiscent of Naha wine that we've had from there so we got it and another.

One of the perks of Belle House is that with a 2 night stay, you get chaffeur service to the 5 wineries of the Swan Creek AVA so this was our Saturday. After a wonderful breakfast, we started off at Shadow Springs Winery. There was a bachelorette party there when we got there so we went to the tasting/banquet room downstairs that overlooks their lake & vineyard. We tasted with 2 other couples & this was our favorite winery of the day. Great rapport & attention from the owner as he served the wine...ended up with 2 wines here.

Next stop was Buck Shoals. They had some fairly common wines...good flavor but nothing out of the ordinary...until we got to the "dessert wines & meads." TREMENDOUS flavors with these!!! We ended up getting their "port" & apple mead. We are not really fans of traditional ports but this was wonderful!! This was our 3rd favorite of the day.

We then went to "The Amish Store" for lunch & some shopping. Pretty solid deli sandwich with a BUNCH of meat on my sandwich.

Next stop was Laurel Gray. Good wines & we stayed here for a little to enjoy a glass of our favorite wine. They also have 4 different sauces that have wine in them that accompanied our tasting....kinda unique and different. Good stuff overall and this was our 4th favorite. Ithkn we just got one wine here.

We then went to Raffaldini. Gorgeous facility but WAY too commercialized. This was the biggest & busiest tasting room which also meant it was the loudest. We tasted with another couple, late 50s early 60s, & they had a hard time hearing our server. Inevitably, they asked several questions about stuff she had just explained & the server was really rude. "As I just explained..." or "As I just got done saying..." Kinda wanted to slip away from that...not what we expected. Not surprisingly, this was our least favorite visit of the day and we didn't get any wine here. The wife wanted to try their montepulciano but they were out of the last vintage & wouldn't have more until the fall.

Our final stop was at Dobbins Creek. Doing the math you know this was our 2nd favorite. The server took her time & made us feel important. The wines here had good flavor & we ended up with 3....1 for that night, & 2 for later.

At each place we went (except Raffaldini), our chaffeur knew all the owners & was greeted warmly. The owners greeted us & made us feel special as well.

Breakfast on Sunday was again great, & we decided to hit 3 more wineries on the way home. Stop 1 was RagApple Lassie. Good start to the afternoon. They had 2 wines that we enjoyed more than others so we picked both of those and went on to Divine Llama outside of East Bend. We ended up picking up another wine here & they enjoyed a glass as we walked along their property chcking out the llamas. Earlier that day, they welcomed a newborn llama & we got some good pictures. Had a fun time talking to 2 of the owners.

Our last stop was Cellar 4201, right around the corner form Divine Llama. Fun times & good wines here as well that we also picked up.

Over the summer there are lots of events at many of these wineries & we are looking forward to going back for some of them. As we look at the map, there are still a TON of wineries in the area that we still need to get to!
 
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