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Smith-Berry Vineyards and Winery
2020 has not been a good year for visiting wineries. As a Kentucky wine lover who loves to visit wineries, yesterday was a momentous day. We visited our second winery of the year. While running an errand in Henry County, we visited Smith-Berry Vineyards and Winery. We enjoyed a couple of hours sitting outdoors, tasting a flight of wines, and talking to owner and winemaker, Chuck Smith.
Smith-Berry has been one of our favorite wineries for many years. Chuck makes good wine and has a variety of wines available for all wine lovers. From a crisp Pinot Grigio to a dark purple Petite Sirah, his wines will appeal to someone looking for a good dry wine. A lover of sweeter wines will enjoy a Moscato or Chambourcin. The winery also offers some sweet fruit wines like Strawberry, Blueberry, and Blackberry that offer the sensation of enjoying the fresh fruits.
Being back at a winery, enjoying the views, the wine, and the ambiance was a great way to spend a couple of hours. It’s been too long and we look forward to visiting other Kentucky wineries soon.
A Wine Lover’s Week
For the first time in months, this week was more typical for this wine lover. Typically, we visit wineries and share wines with friends regularly. We visit wineries while on trips. Sometimes a visit to the winery is just because we are nearby. But, of course, this hasn’t been happening. This week I met a friend and over wine, we enjoyed ourselves talking the afternoon away with glasses of wine. Later in the week, my husband and I stopped for some wine after a trip to the farmer’s market. And, as an end to the week we are going to a winery to enjoy an evening of wine and music on the lawn. We’re still not traveling but with the wearing of masks and social distancing, we have enjoyed a week of wining at our local winery, Brianza Gardens and Winery.
by admin with No CommentsWine and Cheese Pairings
On National Wine and Cheese Day, we both wanted to enjoy a nice wine with one of our favorite cheeses but we couldn’t agree on the wine. I wanted white and he wanted red, but we both wanted a Kenny’s Farmhouse Swiss Cheese. We discovered that we could enjoy what we wanted. Sauvignon Blanc from Barboursville Vineyards and Winery and Syrah from Brianza Gardens and Winery both paired nicely with our cheese choice. I’d recommend either.
by admin with No CommentsNational Wine and Cheese Day
Wine lovers can celebrate their love for wine and cheese today with Kentucky wines and Kentucky cheese.
Kentucky is home to around 70 wineries and offers a variety of excellent wines. Some examples of excellent pairings are Cabernet Sauvignon and Extra Sharp Cheddar or Chardonnay and a Colby Jack. Of course, the best pairing is your favorite wine with the cheese you prefer.
Wine lovers know that wherever you are in the state you can find Kentucky wines by visiting the wineries or shopping one of the many wine stores that sell the state’s wines. But many may not be familiar with some of the state’s cheese makers. Three of the best are Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese in Barren County, Ed-Mar Dairy in Kenton County, and Wildcat Mountain Cheese in Laurel County. Look for these cheeses at Kentucky wineries as well as specialty food stores, or check their websites.
by admin with No Comments
Happy Independence Day!
Enjoy the day! As you celebrate, remember it is a day for equality and freedom for all! Take care, be considerate, and be safe!
The reds, like Cabernet Sauvignon, the whites, like Sauvignon Blanc, and the blues, like Saffire and the Uppity Women. (Sorry, I just don’t like the new blue wines.) We enjoy a lovely bottle of Claret, a favorite wine of the Founding Fathers, and the nerd in me re-reads the Declaration of Independence. (I taught Political Science, after all.)
Happy Independence Day to all!
by admin with No CommentsA Kentucky Vineyard
Spring of 2020 has not been what Kentucky wine lovers are used to. Wineries have just begun opening up for visitors. But here’s a sign of hope that Mother Nature is still at work. Here’s a small promise of what is to come. These Vidal Blanc grapes will become wine one day.
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- June in the Vineyard
“A Red Grape”
One of the funniest things that happened at a winery visit was one of the shortest. We were at a winery in West Virginia and tasted a red wine. It was labeled simply Red Wine. My husband asked what kind of grape was used in the wine. The woman who was pouring for our tasting looked confused a second, then she said “Red”. What else is there to say!
by admin with No CommentsBeware of Love at First Taste
When we first started visiting wineries and doing tasting, we believed that if a 1 or 2 ounce sample tasted great, it would be a good idea to buy lots of wine to take home. Talk about naive! We were tasting at a winery in Indiana and the wine we were given in tasting glasses seemed really, really good. So when it came time to leave, we bought a mixed case of the two wines we liked. When we opened one of the bottles a couple of weeks later, it wasn’t at all what we expected. In truth, it wasn’t even good. We didn’t learn our lesson quickly and this happened again with wine from a winery in Kentucky.
The moral of this story is that when you are tasting several wines sometimes the flavors blend together. A good rule at a new winery is stay a while and drink a glass of wine. If it still tastes good, it’s safe to buy more. We finally learned our lesson!
by admin with No CommentsHome Tasting Rooms
This one is one of the most unusual experiences we’ve had when going wine tasting.
Sometimes a winery doesn’t really have a tasting room but are open for tastings. I’m not talking about the ones who have a room with a separate entrance, like a converted garage, or even one that has a tasting room in their basement with its own door. What I mean is walking into their living room with a bar in the corner. The family bathroom is the used for visitors. It doesn’t even seem like it would be legal.
We’ve done wine tastings in each of these venues. The oddest experience was in Pennsylvania, don’t even know where we were, just on our way home from a trip. We had just finished a late lunch and thought a tasting would be a fun way to end our trip and start home. We found where the winery was supposed to be, drove up the drive and found two couples drinking outside of a house. We were sure the map was wrong and started to turn around and leave. One of the men comes to the car and asked if we wanted to taste some wine. Being adventurous we said sure and got out. What followed was one of the oddest tastings ever. Wine brought out in ice water glasses (often) without explanation of the grapes at all; a trip to the restroom gave us a view of “the tasting bar”, it seemed more like drinking at a friends home (but we were strangers).
Interesting experience, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
by admin with No Comments