We recently took a trip to visit Neil’s family in Erie, Pennsylvania and decided to make a trip out to their Wine Country, http://www.lakeeriewinecountry.org. What a strange feeling it is to be driving around “up North” and feel like you are in Wine Country. I remember a past trip to visit and asking why there were so many grapes and finding out that Welch’s is based nearby. As you may expect, this would mean that many of the grapes are the Concord varietal but there are quite a few different varietals that thrive in this climate near the lake. There are over 25 wineries available to visit in this region but we limited ourselves to just one, Heritage Wine Cellars, http://heritagewine.biz.
This was our final “Swiss” cheese. Benno said it was another cheese that he really liked in Switzerland but we didn’t have a chance to taste it until after they left. Since it wasn’t a cheese we had heard of before, we took a wild guess that this French Chardonnay might pair with it. This wine is from the French Wine Tasting that we attended at BevMo so we have tasted it before but maybe it’s changed since then. (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/114788359563/french-wine-tasting-at-bevmo-in-order-to) Let’s see how we did with the pairing.
It’s been over a year since we visited any Sonoma vineyards so we took a trip out when Benno and Nora were here. We had a chance to visit a few places that day but today’s entry will be about Wilson Winery. (http://wilsonwinery.com) We heard about Wilson Winery from the lady at the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce and saw that they had food available too so we planned to have lunch there that day. This was our first time visiting the Dry Creek Valley region of Sonoma so we were excited to taste another area’s terroir!
After reading the Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and Emmentaler entry, http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/121356608301/bodkin-blanc-de-sauvignon-blanc-and-emmentaler, maybe you wondered if Benno, our dairy farmer friend, would share some other cheese knowledge? Well you are in luck because this is the second entry featuring our Swiss friends with more Swiss cheese! Neil and I were both excited when they brought us both a young and aged Gruyere cheese so we could taste the difference. What a great idea for WineAndCheeseFriday. They knew the cheese better than us, although we have had a couple Gruyeres* in our time, so we asked what type of wine would pair well with both cheeses. It seemed a Merlot, not being too heavy or too light with a smooth taste should do the trick.
When we visited Healdsburg at the beginning of the month for the Sapphire Hill Food and Wine Pairing Lunch, http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/120785672765/sapphire-hill-food-and-wine-pairing-lunch-we-had,
we did a wine tasting at the Hawley Wine Tasting Room (www.hawleywine.com) to start the day. Neil and I have visited Healdsburg a few times and knew there were many wine tasting rooms but it’s so hard to choose when given that many options. We headed over to the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce for some advice. The woman there was so helpful! She not only had suggestions for tastings in Healdsburg, but also gave us an idea for dinner, charcuterie, and vineyards North of the area. What a great idea to head there upon arrival to Healdsburg! One of her favorite places was Hawley Winery because they have nice whites and reds and we were all looking for something a little different.
We played Zinzig about a year ago (http://mferraro73.tumblr.com/post/90778737878/zinzig-and-gjetost-neil-and-i-were-invited-to ) and couldn’t wait to have a rematch! The funny thing is that we really didn’t remember how to play. After another look at the rules, we were off. This time for an added challenge we all chose to bring a Zinfandel wine.