Wine Tasting on A Saturday..... Yum!

A Little Wine… and Cheese!

I had a really fun day, today.  I managed to sleep in a bit, fixed my coffee… twice, but that is another story for later…. And after waiting until almost noon for a friend who never came or called, I headed out to Twin Book Winery in Gap, PA.  I am putting together a wine & cheese basket for the Parkesburg Area Business Association dinner on the 19^th of April.  It is an annual dinner where the Association (small though it may be) honors a Business Leader of the Year with a plaque and we honor a student or students from the area with a scholarship to assist them with the expenses of seeking a higher education.  This year there is one senior from Octorara High School who will be getting a $1,000 check and a new scholarship in the amount of $500 to a graduate from the program at the Parkesburg Point.

We use the dinner, not only to honor the recipients but to raise money for future scholarships.  So, I am contributing a basket for the silent auction.  You may ask… why wine & cheese?  Why not some of your embroidery?

Well, my embroidery is more personalized, so finding something generic that would generate money in an auction is difficult.  And a gift certificate was just not satisfying for me.  So, I decided that wine & cheese would be fun and something that might generate some bidding.  So, off to the winery….

Twin Brook is just a few miles from my home.  It is a lovely little winery that has been under the management of Tim Jobe since 2003.  While having to deal with the temperamental seasons here in Southeast Pennsylvania, he has managed to develop several types of wines that are winning awards around the country.  I looked at the list of wines and with the help of the staff in the rustic wine barn, I selected 5 different varieties of wine for my basket.  One was a dry wine, called ‘2011 Chardonnay Reserve’.  Their description is: “A Pennsylvania Oak barrel aged dry white wine with creamy butter & vanilla overtones and varietal flavors.”  I am not a big dry wine person, but I enjoyed this one.  Another choice was in the Off-Dry category and is named ‘2011 Cayuga’, described as: "crisp apple aromas and pleasing semi-dry finish”.  This one was also tasty.  The rest of the choices were in the Sweet category.  ‘2011 Octorara Red’ is listed as: ” a sweeter, full bodied, well balanced Burgundy style wine with intense black cherry flavors & a long finish”.  The ‘Blossom Blush’ has a beautiful light, caramel color and is described as: “sweet, fruity, medium-bodied blush with hints of apple and pineapple”.  Yummy!!!  And finally, the sweetest of all of my choices is ‘Springhouse White’.  Also yummy (I bought a bottle for myself of this one) and described as: “sweet and fruity, made from the Niagara grape”.  It was described as grape juice with a punch!

I also bought a wine rack that holds 6 bottles as a bouquet and three small bags of chocolate that go well with all of the wines.  In the days just before the dinner, I will be heading to the Town Clock Cheese Shoppe.  This is a little local cheese shop that has all kinds of local and imported cheeses.  The ladies at Twin Brook said the owner of the cheese shop, Bill, has worked with them often and will be able to give me some lovely cheeses to go with the wines.

I am excited to be doing this and I will let you know how the bidding goes.