Massachusetts wine

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New England hibernates for long enough, and if you live here, this past Winter has felt particularly awful. When we woke up to blue skies and beaming sun on Saturday, we knew that a beach day was in order, even if it meant walking barefoot with a winter coat on.

We have been under a lot of stress lately that we can’t really control, so we decided to get away from the everyday and take a trip to Onset, which is a tiny village in Wareham, Massachusetts, a stone’s throw from Cape Cod.

About an hour from Boston, Onset is marked by stunning, calm beaches and sweet Victorian homes.

Onset, Massachusetts

The sun was strong enough to warm the sand, and it felt SO good to walk along the water’s edge barefoot. I went to the beach in Miami, but there is just something so different about a New England beach.

Onset, Massachusetts

You may already know that we are OBSESSED with the sea, so we spent a good amount of time wandering Onset’s beaches, building up quite the appetite. Unfortunately, Onset is very seasonal, and a lot of the places I scoped out were not open.

Onset, Massachusetts

Lucky for us, the pizza place we stumbled upon, Marc Anthony’s, was way more than a pizza place and was very cool, while offering ridiculously good, inexpensive food, great music, and friendly service in funky surroundings. I loved the long wooden tables and stained glass, and the soundtrack, which went back and forth between Grateful Dead and Beatles during our entire lunch.

Marc Anthony's Pizza

The seaside makes me crave seafood, and fried clam bellies, fries, and chowder were the perfect, cozy lunch to come inside to. Everything was delicious, and Marc Anthony’s had a steady line of takeout and sit down customers. Clearly, they are on to something.

fried clams

Onset, Massachusetts

After lunch we went for another walk on the beach and checked out some of Onset’s beautiful architecture before heading to nearby favorite day trip town, New Bedford.

Onset, Massachusetts

We never miss a chance to taste wine at Travessia Urban Winery, and while they were not quite ready yet, we loved learning about the new releases. I can’t wait to taste the latest wines produced by this wonderful winery, and I loved revisiting ones they had available. It’s crazy to see how wines change in the bottle. For example, the most recent vintage of Vidal Blanc was a little too sweet for my taste when it was released, and it has aged into a rich wine that is reminiscent of a Viognier, luscious stone fruit notes, delightfully weighty mouth feel.

Travessia Urban Winery

Our little jaunt outside of Boston reminded us what a difference a few miles – and a few degrees – makes. Massachusetts is one of the best places to live in the Spring, Summer, and Fall, and I am excited once again to be on the brink of the best times of year!

 

Did you enjoy the Spring weather this past weekend?

Tags: beaches, day trips, fried clams, Massachusetts, Massachusetts travel, Massachusetts wine, New England, Travel, wine tasting

I have never taken so many photos in one day before, but the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff at Truro Vineyards was such a beautiful and delicious event, I just couldn’t stop! As a result, I am splitting the day up into 2 parts, and I will post part 2 tomorrow.

Sunday started off gray and humid in Boston, but by the time we were on Cape Cod, the clouds had split, and a beautiful blue sky and cool, dry air had taken over.

On the way up, we stopped at a Cape favorite, Box Lunch, for their famous rollwiches. I’ll cover that in a separate Cape Cod food post this week 🙂

We arrived at Truro Vineyards early which gave us a chance to wander their beautiful property as well as the winding country road that the winery is located on.

Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod

The Truro Vineyards tasting room and tasting pavilion are surrounded by vineyards, and the tasting room/store is housed in a classic old New England home.

Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod

Their variety of wines, including those in their signature lighthouse bottles, fill the store.

Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod wine Truro Vineyards Diamond White Wine in signature bottle

Truro Vineyards signs

We eventually saw other people making their way under the tasting tent set up on the front lawn, so we went to check in as well. (For the sake of full disclosure, I did receive a complimentary ticket to this event.)

Of course, I found the winery dog, Betty, pretty quickly. I threw the ball for her oh, maybe 20 times, and she was still going strong when we left. She is exactly the type of dog I would love to have. There was food everywhere, and she didn’t try to eat any of it!

Naturally, our first taste of wine came from Truro Vineyards. My favorite was the 2008 Vignoles, but I also enjoyed their cranberry wine, which I tried at last year’s event.

 

Betty at Truro Vineyards image

Next stop, Newport Vineyards. You may remember them from the holiday wine festival that we went to last December.

Newport Vineyards wine

I am a pretty big fan of their (Atlantic Wine Competition Award Winning) Newport Riesling with its refreshing mineral flavors,  and I was excited to try it again. I loved their table presentation and its picnic like theme.

Newport Vineyards wine

Newport Vineyards

Newport Vineyards grapes

A couple of tastes of wine made us a little hungry, and luckily there was some delicious food on offer. I enjoyed several phyllo cups filled with mascarpone cheese and topped with specialty jellies and jams from The Chatham Jam and Jelly Shop. With its little bit of heat, I enjoyed the red pepper jelly the most. It paired perfectly with the very creamy cheese.

The Chatham Jam and Jelly Shop Chatham Jams and Jellies

There was also some cheesecake and flourless chocolate cake from Wild Flour Bakery. The flourless chocolate cake was one of the most chocolate-y decadent bites of dessert I have ever had. It was so rich that 2 bites probably would have made a completely satisfying dessert.

Wild Flour Bakery

The vanilla cheesecake with honeyed walnuts was also amazing.

 

Wild Flour Cheese cake Wild Flour Bakery Cheesecake

Of course, we had to stop to visit our favorite winery’s table. We first tried Travessia wines at last year’s kickoff event, and we have been big fans and wine club members ever since. The Bastard Rosé, as I have said many times on this blog, is my favorite summer wine.

It was also great to see Travessia’s owner and winemaker, Marco Montez. Marco is such a nice guy, and he has a lot of interesting information about his wines.

Travessia wine

I am looking forward to a visit to Travessia’s winery sometime soon for a barrel tasting of their newest red.

I am off to watch the finale of Lost, so I will leave you wanting more Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff deliciousness. Tomorrow I am going to a lunch with the CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farms, so I will have a recap of that as well. Lots of exciting things going on!

Have a great night everyone! I know all of the great sunshine, wine, food, and people we met today have tired me out!

Tags: Massachusetts, Massachusetts wine, tasting wine in Massachusetts, wine, wine tasting

A couple of months back when we attended the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff in Rhode Island, we had the opportunity to try several different wine from Travessia Urban Winery. Now, we like and drink a lot of wine, but I have to admit that up until recently that for the most part it came from Italy, Spain, France, and sometimes California or Oregon. I had tried Westport Rivers’ sparkling wine a few times at various Boston restaurants, Sel de la Terre, the Boston Harbor Hotel, but didn’t really know much about the great wine being made quite literally (well in comparison) in our back yard.  The kickoff was a really great eye opener, a lot of fun, and probably one of the nicest weather days we have had all summer.

One of my favorite wines that day was the rosé from Travessia, and after we returned home, we ended up joining their wine club online. The wine club is free to join, gives you 10% off all purchases, gets you invitations to fun tasting events, and all you are required to do is buy 3 bottles every 4 months. Last night we attended the first wine club event, and I think it was a great success in addition to being a lot of fun.

Store windows

Store windows

Travessia Urban Winery is located on a very cute side street in New Bedford, MA, about an hour from Boston and very close to the Rhode Island border as well as near Cape Cod. This would be a great side trip for anyone visiting Boston or the Cape as this lovely town seems to have a lot to offer in terms of food, art, and scenery. It really felt a million miles from Boston which was a much welcome thing after our normal rushing around.

The front windows are decorated in rich fabric, wine bottles, and candles, creating a really cool, modern vibe. Once you walk inside the store that rich color scheme is continued in a very clean and well laid out space that could fit right into any major city from Boston to San Francisco.

Travessia Shop

Right behind the register there are big wine tanks and barrels. It’s really cool to see where the wine actually comes from!

Travessia 3

The room that the tasting was in was a very cool open space with local art hanging all around. I wish I had taken more photos of the wall sconces, because they were all different creations from local artists.

Tasting setup

Tasting setup

Over the course of the evening I tried Travessia’s rosé again along with their unoaked chardonnay, vidal blanc, and vidal blanc that had been mixed with chopped strawberries about half an hour before. While I enjoyed all of the wines, the rosé was my favorite once again. It is a lovely pink color with a really fresh taste that reminds me a tiny bit of cotton candy, but not at all in a cloying, sugary way. It has just the right amount of sweetness and lacks the slightly vinegar taste that I have gotten from several of the French rosés I have tried. Without exaggerating, this is probably one of the most drinkable wines that I have had in awhile, and it is without a doubt my favorite rosé. Rosé is our summer go-to wine, especially with boulliabase, grilled veggies, and pretty much any other seafood dishes that we like to make.  We now have 3 bottles in our wine rack, and I am looking forward to enjoying them over the remaining weeks of summer.Love the color!

The owner and winemaker at Travessia, Marco Montez, is a very nice  and welcoming person, and to me it is a lot of fun to see exactly where the wine is made and who is responsible for it. Marco gave a short speech about Travessia and about the wine club in the middle of the evening. He is committed to making wine with Massachusetts grapes, and I am really excited to be one of the early wine club members and to be a part of an already great and growing business.If you live in the area or are planning a visit, I would definitely recommend stopping by this winery or checking out their events page to see where they will be next.

Tags: local wine, Massachusetts wine, wine, wine clubs, wine tasting, wineries

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