Taste the Wine and Take That Pearl

What’s good, Rochester?  Hopefully the fall weather and fall colors are treating you well.  As a University of Minnesota alumnus and a Minnesota Viking fan, my fall has been off to a rough start.  Unfortunately, it’s yet another year that my non-refundable plane tickets to Pasadena and Indianapolis (or Dallas last year, or Miami the year before that, etc, etc) appear to be un-wise investments.  But don’t worry about me, Rochester.  My adventures for the RCVB are the perfect antidote for the state of Minnesota’s poor showing on the gridiron, and I’ll been able to re-up on it every couple of weeks.

My latest adventure brought me to Salem Glen Vineyard & Winery for some wine tasting.  Both myself and my unpaid intern (read: wife) were excited for this, as we hadn’t been to Salem Glen since 2008, and we were very much looking forward to seeing all of the expansion that had taken place since our last visit.

For those unfamiliar with Salem Glen, it’s a “family-owned and operated winery specializing in crafting small batches of wine made from regionally grown grapes.”  It opened in July of 2007 and is located among the beautiful farmland and rolling hills only a few minutes southwest of Rochester.

Salem Glen currently produces twenty-one different types of wine (four red wines, nine white wines, three rosé wines, three fruit wines, and two fortified wines), and if you choose to do a tasting while you’re there, you will get to sample eight of them. 

As luck would have it, it was a perfect fall day when the unpaid intern and I arrived to Salem Glen.  During the winters here in Rochester, there’s probably 3 or 4 days when it’s absolutely brutal outside that I ask myself, “Why do I live here?”  And it’s days like those that answer the question perfectly.  So, in four months, when I’m complaining in a blog post about the winter weather, feel free to refer me back to this post.

After parking the chariot, we walked up to the tasting room, which is a new addition since our last visit and is absolutely gorgeous.  It’s the perfect relaxing atmosphere to enjoy some vino and carry on with friends, and I look forward to going back on one of the evenings or afternoons when they have live music.

After chatting for a few minutes with some of the staff, we decided to walk around the grounds for a little bit before starting our tasting.  The grounds and their surrounding area offer some wonderful views of the countryside (Think of Andrew Wyeth’s “Christina’s World”, but then picture Bob Ross taking over afterward and adding some happy trees and some more color).  Plus, it’s fun being able to walk right up to the vines and see the grapes growing.

A quick side note: You may have noticed in the photo above that your favorite local blogger is now your bespectacled favorite local blogger.  Yes, after <redacted> years living the good life of correction free vision, my bright baby blues (read: brown) now require some assistance.  It was a good run, but like sands through the hour glass…

After we thoroughly Lewis and Clarked the grounds, we headed back inside for our tasting.  We also ordered a bread and olive oil plate, just in case one round of tasting turned into two rounds of tasting.  Now, I don’t presume to know enough about wine to try and pinpoint the subtle tastes and aromas of each wine that I tasted.  I can, however, relay that I enjoyed each of the eight wines and present them in photo essay format.

In chatting with the staff members, one of the things I found most interesting about the grapes themselves is that, like the Honeycrisp apple, many of them are hybrids created by the University of Minnesota Horticulture Research Center (Go Gophers!), for the specific purpose of being able to thrive in Minnesota’s climate.  In fact, one of their grapes, the “Frontenac” red wine grape, is now the most commonly grown grape in Minnesota. 

After finishing the last of our wines, we stayed and soaked up the enjoyable atmosphere for a few more minutes and then headed back to the homestead (not before picking up a couple bottles of our favorite varieties, however).  It was an enjoyable afternoon, and I know it won’t be long before we head back.  I highly recommend finding some time to visit Salem Glen.  Whether it would be your first visit or whether they yell “Norm” when you walk in, you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

For more information on the schedules of tastings, tours, and live events, be sure to visit http://www.salemglenvineyard.com/.  You can also drop by their Facebook page and give it a “like” to be kept in the loop for upcoming events.Another important takeaway from the Horticulture Research Program, is that while NDSU may have gotten our number on the football field this year, they ain’t got nothin’ on The U’s grapes.  Ski-U-Mah!

Coming up in my next post:

I’ll be gearing up for Winter by getting my “chili on” at the Boys and Girls Club Chili Challenge.  I’m not sure how high the spicy-meter is going to go at this event, but you can rest assured that I’ll track down the hottest one there and go head-to-head with it… even if it means having to bring a cut man with me.  Until then!

O’Brenty Boy, The Fest, The Fest is Calling

Well, hello there! My recent travels to Denver and Chicago have taken me away from you longer than I would have preferred, but it feels good to be back in front of the computer TCB’ing.

Because of my recent travels, I decided to buck my annual tradition of heading out of town over the Labor Day weekend and stay put in God’s country, which afforded me the opportunity to attend Irish Fest, which was held on the Peace Plaza.

I was very excited about this for a few reasons:

1) The website mentioned their “Native Breeds of Ireland” dog tent, which meant the possibility of Irish Wolfhounds on-site.  I am absolutely crazy for Irish Wolfhounds.  My family had two of them when I was a kid, and I loved them so much that I promised myself that when it came time for me to get a dog, it would be a wolfhound. 

So, about two years ago, when my wife and I decided we were ready to become doggy parents, we made it happen.  And not to brag or anything (totally bragging), but she was “Dog of the Month” at Em’s Play Place in August.

2) Irish Style Mini-Golf.  I have to admit, when I read this on their website, I wasn’t quite sure what the “Irish Style” would be.  But any of you that read my Rochesterfest post know that I used to have a weeklong, torrid love affair with mini-golf every summer, so the opportunity to rekindle an old flame seemed like an excellent idea.

3) While my Irish heritage was muddied up quite a bit from the heavy Dutch influx on my father’s side of the family, my maternal grandmother was, as she put it, “Irish as Paddy’s pig.”  So I knew she’d be looking down from heaven and shaking her head at me if I didn’t go. 


My unpaid intern (read: wife) and I arrived to the festival late Saturday morning, and the first thing we saw was the mini-golf course, which pulled me in like a tractor beam.  I soon realized that Irish style mini-golf is just like regular mini-golf, except the obstacles on the holes are all Irish themed, and give you history lessons.  The gentleman working the course wasn’t sure what the previous course record was, but I’m just assuming I shattered it.

After signing a few autographs for the kids watching me play mini-golf, I went over to the Rochester Public Library tent, which taught attendees how to use the library’s genealogy resources to look back at their family tree.  While these resources will work with any heritage, we decided to keep it strictly Irish in honor of the festival and look back at my wife’s ancestors who emigrated to Canada, then the U.S. by way of Donegal county in Ireland.

There was also a map and pins for visitors to mark the city/county of their ancestors.  My wife put a pin in Donegal county, and I put a pin in Kilkenny, the city where the family of my aforementioned grandma came from.

After pinning the map, we finally made it to the dog tent, where we rewarded with the presence of two gorgeous wolfhounds.  Irish Terriers, Irish Setters, and I believe Irish Water Spaniels (didn’t get a chance to confirm breed) were on hand as well, but in my totally unbiased (read: completely biased) opinion, none were quite so magnificent as the wolfhounds. 

note: this photo courtesy of the Irish Fest Facebook page as dogs were both called by nature and taken off premises while we were chatting

At this point, the weather decided it was time for a break in Irish Fest, so we decided to head back at 8:00 p.m. to take part in our very first céilidh.

For those unfamiliar with céilidh (pronounced: kā'lē), it’s essentially an Irish style hoedown (or hootnanny) with music and dancing. 

In order to find your dance partner, all the men form a circle, and then the women form another circle outside of the first.  Then, as the band plays, the circles move in opposite directions, and whoever you’re standing in front of when the music stops is your partner.  Once you had a partner, the dancing could begin. 

The Emcee for the evening, sensing inexperience throughout his crowd, was kind enough to walk the group through a two-hand jig and another step whose name escapes me.  My mother, who was also in attendance, was kind enough to take some video.  Unfortunately, your fearless blogger, who drew comparisons to Michael Flatley during this céilidh, was on the other side of the circle and is barely visible in the video.  My sincerest apologies for depriving you of that pleasure.

   

After all the dancing, it was time to bid Irish Fest adieu.  And though I’m still not “Paddy’s Pig” level of Irish, I’m guessing my grandma was proud of me.

    

Coming up in my next post:

I’ll be heading to Salem Glen Vineyard & Winery to tour their vineyard and production areas.  Perhaps I’ll even try a few varieties of wine, as I’ve always wanted to be in a situation where I could repeat a phrase I once heard… “Mmmm, the nose is assertive without being pushy.” I’ve gotta get back to my history report, but until then, be excellent to each other.