We try out the new Vacanti Wine Glasses with a wonderful wine for Virginia Wine Month.
Tag: gray ghost
Harvesting At Gray Ghost
Today we went to Gray Ghost Vineyards to help harvest the chardonnay grapes. We do this every year and have been for the last 12 years. They had a bumper crop this year. Al Kellert reported bringing in almost 50% more than they did last year. We had a great time as usual! Here’s what the grapes looked like this morning.
Celebrating Virginia Wine Month
How Are You Celebrating Virginia Wine Month?
October is Virginia Wine Month, and we are doing it right by enjoying Virginia wine with dinner, at restaurants, and at Virginia wineries. Here is how we kicked off Virginia Wine month:
Dinner at Al Dente in Washington DC: Pappardelle pasta with wild boar ragout braised in red wine paired with Breaux’s Nebbiolo 2007.
Harvest Salad as a first course at a dinner party: Crisp seasonal apples, chopped fennel, and slivered almonds tossed with a lemon vinaigrette then topped with crumbled blue cheese was served with Linden’s Riesling Vidal 2011
Steaks on Friday: We reserve Fridays as our red meat day. Filet Mignon topped with sautéed mushrooms was paired with Gray Ghost Vineyards’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2010.
Pumpkin Cake: My favorite seasonal dessert. Fall spices serve as supporting roles in this pumpkin-based delight. We enjoyed this with Naked Mountain’s Old Vine Riesling 2012 produced from the oldest Riesling vines on the property.
Need other suggestions to celebrate Virginia Wine Month? Hume Vineyards will release its 2012 Viognier; characteristic floral notes are accompanied by stone fruit elements and a white pepper undertone. This one should be perfect with poultry topped with a cream sauce. Planning to invite friends over for a hearty beef stew? We were impressed with the 2011 Petit Verdot with its whiff of violet as well as its brambleberry and dark fruit notes; it’s a bit chewy too!
So this is how we kicked off Virginia Wine Month. How are you celebrating Virginia Wine Month? We would like to know, so feel free to share with us. Visit the Virginia wineries mentioned in this post and mention that Virginia Wine Time sent you.
Harvesting Chardonnay
On Saturday we went to Gray Ghost to help harvest the chardonnay. As in past years, we do this every year and always have a great time. Here are some photos from our time harvesting.
We gathered early Saturday morning to harvest the chardonnay.
Al used his “Powerpoint” presentation to demonstrate how to harvest.
Amy put on a show to display this years harvest T-shirt.
Before heading to the vineyard Warren got a chance to talk with Al about the harvest.
We then headed to the vineyard and got a closer lesson on harvesting.
Here’s Warren harvesting some grapes.
After all the lugs were full, Al Jr and helpers collected all the lugs and brought them to the crush pad.
Here are some of the grapes we were harvesting.
After all the grapes were brought in, we toasted to this year’s harvest.
