Holiday Wine Festival

After my great Saturday run, the hubby made me an egg and English muffin sandwich (yum!), and we got in the car for a rainy drive to Newport, RI. We made it in record time with no traffic. Arriving at Newport Vineyards, we saw that the holiday event festivities were in full swing, and I was excited!

First I stopped to snap a photo of the vineyard in the winter. We came here in July for my husband’s birthday; what a difference five months makes! It was neat to see the vines without the leaves.

The wine and food event was held all throughout the Newport Vineyards’ winemaking facility. Once we checked in, we were given souvenir glasses and a map, and we were on our way to tasting.

Newport Vineyards has a lovely tasting room and store with an extensive list of wines available.

Our first stop was in the tent covered wine garden where we sampled a spice-rich cranberry orange chutney with a bit of cream cheese. The flavors were warm and definitely festive!

We tried some Narragansett  Creamery cheeses and cheese spreads including their creamy, spicy Pirate Spread made with salty sea feta, sundried tomatoes, rosemary, and cayenne pepper. We tried Narragansett cheeses at the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff last summer, and they were even better than I had remembered!

The tent held the white wine tasting area, and as New England wineries are more known for their whites, we had a few tastes here.

I had tried many of these wines during our July visit, but it was fun to taste them again, and it surprised me how much I liked their “In the Buff” un-oaked Chardonnay.

We moved on to the tank room where the reds were being tasted, and I enjoyed a taste of the sweet Bellevue Blush which would make a delicious dessert wine or aperitif, and the Cabernet Franc, which was a bit peppery, a characteristic I really enjoy in wine.

The tank room also offered one of my favorites, Cabot Cheese. Once past the Cabot Cheese table, we encountered this:

Aquidneck Island Apiaries had a beautiful display of their pure, local, pesticide free honeycomb and honey. Yum.

As we made our way around the room, we tried light, crispy, spicy/sweet candied pecans from The Purple Pear of Providence. I tried the delightfully zingy ginger which would be amazing on a salad. . . or eaten by the handful. Don’t you just love ginger?

Our final food stop of the afternoon was at Aimee’s Bakin’, a baked goods table that benefitted the American Cancer Society. We tried and purchased creamy peanut butter fudge and peanut butter cup brownies which came in handy on the ride home and later while watching the snow fall 🙂

My final wine tastes of the event were at the dessert/sparkling wine station where I thoroughly enjoyed the 2003 Brut Sparkling Wine and the White Cap Port which sort of tasted like Welch’s grape juice.

On our way home, we decided to stop in New Bedford to pick up our wine club purchases from Travessia Urban Winery. I didn’t get any photos yesterday, but if you would like to see some you can visit my post from the summer wine club event.  I was particularly excited to stop by Travessia because they launched their first red, a Pinot Noir, the night before. Travessia’s Pinot Noir further solidified one thing that we already knew: that they make REALLY good wine. Marco, the winemaker and owner of Travessia, told us that the Pinot would be even better aged, so for now we have it on our wine rack and will likely open it around my birthday in March. I can’t wait! Marco recommended a few places for us to eat lunch in New Bedford, and we walked right next door to the winery to eat at Ginger Grill, a new Korean restaurant. I had a scrumptious curry full of vegetables, potatoes, and a mildly spicy sauce that warmed me right up inside. The staff was very friendly, and the prices were reasonable. It seems as though downtown New Bedford really has a lot of great places to visit and events going on!

A beautiful day ended with a relaxing evening eating the brie from Gypsy Kitchen and drinking a glass of Chateau St. Michelle bubbly while watching the snow fall.

I am off to do some yoga for runners and to maybe do some baking.

Have a great Sunday evening, and don’t forget to enter my Sur la table giveaway!

And if you need a good laugh, check out this funny Christmas tree video. Makes me laugh every time, but maybe its because I am from New Jersey 🙂