Monday, April 12, 2010

License to drink

Or something like that. At least it's a license to walk the streets of Clarksville a bit tipsy once a year. This was the 4th annual Lake Country Wine Festival but the first time I'd attended. And it was totally and completely awesome. I don't know, maybe it was all the tipsy-friendly people, all the great wine, people pouring you glass after glass, or maybe it was that the weather was awesome!

I found plenty of wines I liked but I only bought 4:

Chili Dawg, Peaks of Otter Winery, Bedford - this wine tastes like hot pepper jelly and they served it with a bit of Easy Cheese, just like you would do salt with a shot of tequila! Great for around the fire pit! And the 2 hippies they had selling and serving the stuff? I hope they get a raise! They were so cool! This booth had tons of people around it ALL DAY! 

Blueberry, Coltsfoot Winery, Abingdon - a sweet, smooth blueberry wine! And the folks at the booth were SO nice! In fact, all their wines were excellent, but I liked the blueberry (their sweetest) the best. They had a cranberry wine that would be perfect to serve with Thanksgiving dinner.

Late Harvest, First Colony Winery, Charlottesville - honeysuckle, roses and apricot. Tastes SO sweet. This is technically a dessert wine and it beat out Tomohawk's honey wine in taste for me, so I went back to buy a bottle.

Blackberry, Sans Soucy Vineyard, Brookneal - Most of the 15 wineries had their own special Sangria recipes on hand. I thought the best Sangria of the day belonged to Sans Soucy Vineyards, made with their blackberry wine! I went back for 2 glasses, and then bought the wine so I could make it at home! And the folks there? Super nice! And considered local.

There were many other wineries that had really good wines. I would have bought more but didn't think it prudent, being unemployed and all. Mattaponi Winery had an excellent strawberry wine, probably the best of the whole event. Peaks of Otter had a mango that was great, a peach that was super and good blueberry, blackberry and strawberry wines too. Tomohawk Mill had a great honey wine! Fincastle had a rose sangria that was a huge hit with the crowd. It was good, but I still liked Sans Soucy's blackberry sangria better! And of course, Chateau Morrisette had all their great wines out! They have a brand new blackberry wine that was awesome! The only reason I didn't buy any of their wine is because my two favorites of theirs (Red Mountain Laurel and Sweet Mountain Laurel) are sold in our local grocery stores!

The only downside to the day was involving some of the above-mentioned Sangria, which everyone was more than happy to give out samples of, just like their wine. Except for Hickory Hill Vineyards from Smith Mountain Lake. When me and my friend went up and asked to taste the Sangria, he told us only one sample per group. Huh? When every other winery is pouring sample after sample? At first we thought he was joking, but then he poured my friend a sample, but not me. Well, I'm not buying anything I haven't tasted myself, so I just walked off and tore up the brochure I had picked up. I won't buy their wine with that attitude. And why doesn't it surprise me coming from people at Smith Mountain Lake? I've always found people from up there a tad snotty. You have to understand I live in the only lakeside town in Virginia, next to the largest lake in Virginia, and yet Smith Mountain Lake thinks it's a super special place to be. More like, it's super crowded. You want to have nice, quiet, lakeside living, you come to Buggs Island Lake. You want to hear jet skis and power boats all day, you go try to afford something at Smith Mountain Lake.

Okay, forget my rant about lakes in Virginia, I still think that was a shitty attitude to have at a wine festival! The whole point is to show off your wine and let people taste it so they buy it. Won't be buying anything from Hickory Hill and I'll tell others not to, also.

But with that one minor exception, the day was awesome, the band rocked (ain't nothing wrong with good Bon Jovi covers at a wine festival) and the people were friendly! Thanks to Melinda, Linda, Mary, Charlie and all those other hard workers who make cool stuff like this possible in little 'ole Clarksville.
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1 Comment:

lisavanews said...

Great summation of a fabulous day!!

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