Saturday, August 14, 2010

SUMMER SATURDAY IN NW PENNSYLVANIA.....

Today we took a short drive to the "Conneaut Cellars Winery" for a tour and tasting. This is a display of oak barrels situated at the entrance to the winery.
Here you can see Roy at the tasting bar discussing the finer points of wine (like, its good, I'll buy it) and we did find two that we really liked.
One of the employees gave us a short tutorial on grapes and vines. When we told her we were interested in growing grapes, she cut off a clipping for us to take home.
Yeah we did. A split case of "Midway Blush" (a mellow rose blush wine), and "Colonel Crawford" (a semi-dry red).
Here is the vine cutting in a bucket of water, which is to be changed every day until a tiny root shows up. Then, we need to plant it in dirt. Apparently the very best grapes are grown in the very worst soil. We have a good share of gravel and rock so it should work out. Our biggest challenge is to keep the deer from eating it. We are putting up a greenhouse soon so that should take care of the problem. You can read more about this local winery by going to their web site at http://www.ccw-wine.com/. They have some wonderful recipes using their wines which I intend to try over the holidays. On September 12 they will be celebrating their "20th Harvest Picnic"; wine tastings and food and assorted activities. We will be there!

No comments: