I know a lot of my readers are in California, but I know there are some that live near the Philadelphia area. But, if you are within driving distance or plan to come and visit me (hint, hint) you may want to check out this winery. Last weekend hubby and I went wine tasting at Chaddsford Winery in Chadds Ford, PA. Hubby is loving the fact that I'm in the "wine business" because he gets to benefit from my research. Now he's interested when I talk about my work. (Hmmm...I wonder if he listened before.)
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| Chaddsford Winery (Pic from chaddsford.com) |
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| Tasting Set-up |
Chaddsford
Winery hosts special events every month, including wine tasting, festivals, and
in the summer they have live music outside where you can enjoy a glass of wine
and listen to live music. January's event was wine and cheese pairing.
For $20, you get to taste 6-8 wines with 6-8 cheeses from a local dairy
farm (September Farms), and you also got to keep the glass. You also
get a person from the Tasting Staff to guide you through the tasting, along
with a basket of crackers to cleanse your pallet in between
tastings. Not bad for $20 bucks!
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Proprietors Reserve Red $14.49
(Pic from chaddsford.com) |
We got lucky and went on the day they were serving 8 wines/cheeses. Out of the eight pairings, there were two pairings that stood out. The first was Proprietors Reserve Red with September Farms Smoked Gouda. Proprietors Reserve Red is a light-bodied red wine with a red cherry and smoky flavor at the end. The smokiness of the gouda and the wine blended perfectly and it brought out the creaminess of the cheese. It was an excellent pairing. I could literally see myself sitting in front of the TV watching Bravo with a wheel of Smoked Gouda and a bottle of wine with a straw. Talk about heaven!
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Chaddsford White $11.99
(Pic from chaddsford.com) |
The second pairing was Chaddsford White with September Farms Baby Swiss. Chaddsford White is a light, semi-sweet white wine. If you like sweeter wines like Rieslings or a Moscato, you may like it. This wine would be the next step up from the sweeter Moscato and towards the semi-sweet wines. I think my BFF Cynthia would like this wine and she tends to drink the sweeter wines like Moscato. You can drink this wine by itself, but when you added the baby swiss a creamy, nutty burst of flavor exploded in your mouth. Another nice pairing from Chaddsford.
February's event is wine and chocolate pairings. The website has a list of events. If you happen to stop by, ask for Michael O'Donnell. He is one of the tasting room staff, and he was very cool and very attentive. We didn't wait when we finished a tasting, but we also weren't rushed. The best thing about Michael is that he explained each of the pairings in a simple, easy to understand, non-deer in headlights kind of way. I'm not a Sommelier, so I want wines explained to me in an "average consumer" way. Side note: Last week I went to a wine tasting and when I said the wine was sweet, the Taster Lady said, "the word is fruity not sweet." No B, it's sweet!!! Fruit is sweet! WHATEVER!
For those of you who aren't close, you can order the wine from their website. To try the pairings at home, I would get the cheese from Whole Foods or Wegmans if you have one near you. Trader Joe's may also have some good cheese as well.
Enjoy!
MommyReserve