Wine Quote of the Week

"God made only water, but man made wine." -- Vixtor Hugo

Wine Quote of the Week

"Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages." -- Louis Pasteur

Wine Quote of the Week

"Up to the age of forty eating is beneficial. After forty, drinking." -- The Talmud

4th of July Wine Style!

With no particular plan for 4th of July weekend, Scott and Pam set out for the Brainerd Lakes area in Minnesota. We had no destination or reservations on arguably the busiest weekend of the year in this beautiful resort area. As it happens, we stopped at a fabulous resort on Gull Lake, Grand View Lodge. Although there was no room at the inn, we did walk around the grounds and enjoyed this very large resort in a rustic setting, but with all modern amenities as well as 2 golf courses. Scott had heard about a possible wine tasting at the resort on July 3rd and sure enough-- it was true! We entered the Gull Lake Center and proceeded to a tastefully decorated meeting room on the lower level and were pleased to see tables set-up for the wine tasting. The event was hosted by the Lodge's own wine sommelier, Timothy Edmunds. For those who don't know, a sommelier is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants who specializes in all aspects of wine service including wine and food matching. The sommelier is often responsible to purchase the wine for the wine cellars at fine restaurants.
Mr. Edmunds treated us to 6 wines, chosen for the occasion-- all American, in honor of the holiday. The wines for the day were: Chateau St. Michelle Riesling, Bontera Viognier, Hamacher 2005 Pinot Noir, Michael David 2008 Petite-Petit, Kunde 2000 Zinfandel, and the bonus wine, Hahn Estates Meritage (rhymes with Heritage). With each wine presented, Mr. Edmunds provided background information as well as general wine information, no doubt gathered through his training. We also had a tour of the extensive wine cellar at Grand View and a generous spread of cheese, crackers, and fruit to enjoy with the wine.
An unusual 4th of July weekend to be sure, but definitely fun!

Wine Quote of the Week

"Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

WineTimers as Parrotheads

Yes it's true, some of the WineTimers are also Parrotheads and we made our annual pilgrimage to Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI to hear our favorite musical hero, Jimmy Buffett. As usual, a great time was had by all. The tailgating party did not disappoint as very hot weather brought out all sought after body parts! The boys had a good time searching for the ever present breast flashing games.
All that aside, a few of us WineTimer/Parrotheads spent a night in WI Dells. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of golf at an incredibly beautiful course, Wild Rock Golf Club. Since we all had quite a workout due to "cart path only" golf, we treated ourselves to a fabulous dinner at The House of Embers. WineTimers agreed that the food was fantastic, but we also had some fun with bottles of wine that were all on sale at $17 each. As any wine fan knows, a $17 bottle of wine is a rarity in restaurants, so we were determined to see if any were worthy of the WineTimers. We ordered 3 bottles off the bat and were graciously served by our fantastic waitress, Holly.
First, we started with Boogle red table wine. We definitely thought this was pretty good for the price if not particularily complex. None of us had tried the brand before, and we thought the name was fun. Next we tried Cupcake Cabernet Sauvignon and were pleasantly surprised by this deep, red, rich wine. Once the second bottle was gone, we decided to compare with a second cabernet. Our next $17 bottle of cab was a 2007 Napa Creek brand. Again, this cabernet was enjoyed to the last drop with mixed comments about which cab was preferred. From past experience, we know that not all WineTimers agree on wine choices, but we do always have fun. It is a rare occasion that a bottle is not emptied, no matter what the opinion of the wine is. Many thanks to Holly who had extreme patience with the WineTimers. She must have had fun too, since she gave us her card and wanted to know about our group. I will be e-mailing our blog link to her and I hope she will check in to see what we're up to as we continue our wine adventures.

Featured Wine Club: Uncorked Ventures

Uncorked Ventures is an online wine store and wine club, offering high-wuality wine at all price levels.

Uncorked Ventures offers 3 different wine clubs, and offer them monthly or quarterly. Their wine clubs are the Wine Exploration Club, the Reserve Selections Wine Club and the Special Selections Wine Club. With choices like these, Uncorked Ventures is bringing new and delicious wines to your door when you want them.

Uncorked Ventures also offers a limited selection of some of their favorite wines for purchase on the website. This way, if you liked one wine, you can co ahead and order another bottle while waiting for your next wine club shipment to arrive.