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Wine-loving friends in Boston, there’s an opportunity this week to sip some great wines for an amazing cause. Please see below for more information!

Raise Your Glass for Jimmy presented by the Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston

Wine tasting event is Thursday, Oct. 23

BOSTON – The fifth annual Raise Your Glass for Jimmy presented by the Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston will take place at the Fairmont Battery Wharf in Boston on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Admission to the event includes a wide variety of wines to taste, hors d’oeuvres, live music, a silent auction, and a wine bottle drawing. Participating wine vendors include Ansonia Wines, Boston Bottle, Gordon’s Fine Wines and Liquors, Lattanzio Wines, M.S. Walker, and Plymouth Bay Winery. All proceeds support adult and pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Among the silent auction items will be a two-night stay for four at Benziger Winery in Sonoma Valley, Calif., with American Airlines tickets, two tickets to the Nov. 23 New England Patriots game against the Detroit Lions, a one-night stay plus breakfast at the Fairmont Battery Wharf, one cooking class and dinner for six at the Fairmont Battery Wharf, and a four-course chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings for four from Strega.

For $25, patrons can participate in the wine bottle drawing. Participants are guaranteed that the bottle they will win is equal to or greater than the $25 they contributed.

Tickets are $50 per person and the first 150 participants at the door will receive a $25 gift certificate from Tresca. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.jimmyfund.org/raise-your-glass. Please note all tickets will be held at the door on the night of the event.  

About The Jimmy Fund

The Jimmy Fund (www.JimmyFund.org) solely supports Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, raising funds for adult and pediatric cancer care and research to improve the chances of survival for cancer patients around the world. The Jimmy Fund is the official charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the Pan-Mass Challenge, and the Variety Children’s Charity of New England. Since 1948, the generosity of millions of people has helped the Jimmy Fund save countless lives and reduce the burden of cancer for patients and families worldwide. Follow the Jimmy Fund on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thejimmyfund and on Twitter: @TheJimmyFund.

Tags: Boston, charity events, charity raffles, events, wine, wine country, wine travel

There are a few repeat travel moments that give me butterflies just by thinking about them. One of the major ones is stepping out of customs in Shannon Airport after a Boston to Shannon flight, seeing family for the first time, and then stepping outside for our airplane-dried skin to be bathed in a fresh, light misty early morning air. The smell of turf and rain and jet fuel is etched in my memory, and it always makes me think “home”.

Another favorite moment is when we get to this crossroads on the way to Napa and Sonoma and make a left toward Gloria Ferrer and all of wine country. I feel like a world is opening up to me, like I close a door behind us for however long we are away. So much waits beyond that crossroads!

napa sonoma On our last Sonoma County trip, we decided to check out Cline Cellars as our very first winery. You may know how much we love Cline wines, especially our house Viognier, but somehow we always missed visiting the winery. Boy, was I glad we took the time to stop (And we were their first guests at 10:00 a.m.! Blame it on #EastCoastTime)

Cline Cellars

Cline is beautiful. The whole area of Sonoma County is stunning, but from the road it is impossible to tell how involved and lovely Cline’s property is. If visiting Cline Cellars, give yourself an hour to wander around before you taste.

Cline Cellars

Sonoma County vineyards Sonoma County vineyards

In addition to being surrounded by beautiful vineyards, Cline has exquisite gardens and ponds, one where you can even feed some very aggressive, large fish. I was like a kid again feeding them and the turtles around them. Cline also has a variety of interesting birds on property.

Cline Cellars property

 

pomegranates

Cline’s gardens are gorgeous. I loved all of the fruit and flowers and became more inspired for my next season of gardening. Their gardens were both wild and groomed, creating a perfect space of natural beauty, surrounded by the bigger beauty that is Sonoma County.

Cline Cellars garden

Of course, Cline’s wines are as beautiful as their gardens, and their staff is wonderful as well. Days before we arrived, Cline lost quite a bit of wine to the Napa earthquake, and they also had some bottles with damaged labels for sale.

Cline Cellars Earthquake Wine

It was their Ancient Vine Zinfandel, with a  gorgeous, intense burst of fruit and cocoa with a hint of pepper. Ancient vines are one of those things that make Cline so amazing. Kelli recommended I try the 2012 Ancient Vine Mourvedre which is seriously AMAZING. This wine is so rich and concentrated, lots of dark fruit and again those cocoa notes, which offer so much depth, slight sweetness, roasted flavors. Heavenly.

Peppery Syrah also made its way to my favorite list; we do love Cline’s white wines, quite obviously, but the morning we visited was before the fog lifted, and those deep dark reds were perfection. Cline Cellars tasting room

Cline Cellars is an iconic winery, one of those spots you could easily visit again and again for the scenery and people and to check out the latest vintage. Now that we know what resides up that long vineyard road from the highway, we will find it impossible to ever pass again on a Sonoma trip.

Tags: Cline Viognier, Sonoma, Sonoma County, Sonoma wine, wine, wine tasting, wine travel, Wine Wednesday

Minutes from the Cross Sound Ferry terminal in Orient Point, Long Island sits one of the North Fork’s newest wineries, and it is an absolute gem. Kontokosta Winery was our first stop after our journey across the Long Island Sound. When we arrived, a blanket of gray was draped over the North Fork, but that just added a little something special to the experience as we pulled up to the rustic winery and tasting room.

Kontokosta Winery North Fork

Kontokosta vineyards

Kontokosta vineyards

We thought the vineyards and bran-like wooden exterior of Kontokosta were beautiful, and we did not at all expect what the interior would bring. Both of our mouths dropped open as we saw the lofty, modern, and chic interior of the tasting room. It offers a contrast from the outside for sure, but it is most beautiful in a different way. I can easily say that Kontokosta, owned by brothers Michael and Constantine Kontokosta,  has one of the prettiest tasting rooms I have ever been to, and I have seen my fair share of tasting rooms in this life.  It is also one of the most green. From their sustainable farming practices to reclaimed building materials to wind power, everything about this winery is geared toward being a steward of the environment. As such, it will be one of the few LEED gold-certified wineries in North America.

Kontokosta Winery tasting room

 

Kontokosta Winery, North Fork

 

After a quick view of the tasting room, we met Polly Brown, the General Manager of the winery and all around interesting, kind, and wonderful person. We spent a couple of hours tasting and touring with Polly, and we both could have spent the rest of the day there.

Kontokosta Winery tasting room

As Polly shared with us the history of the winery and information on the building, we got down to tasting wine. Almost all of Kontokosta’s fruit is grown on the estate, with the exception of their Orient Chardonnay.

wine tasting on Long Island

I was talking and listening and enjoying our conversation so much that I didn’t want to look at my phone to take notes. However, these wines are just unforgettable. There was not one that was not beautiful, elegant, and expressing the unique terroir of the North Fork. The label on Kontokosta’s bottles says it all.

Kontokosta wine

wine tasting list

We tasted through the above list, and we came out with quite a few favorites.

wine tasting

Kontokosta Anemometer is a white table wine, a nod to the wind instrument  on the property. This wine is for everyday drinking with friends, super refreshing and summery, with citrus notes and nice acidity, this wine would pair perfectly with seafood and produce from the seas and land around the winery.

Long Island Viognier

You know I love my Viognier, and I was incredibly excited when it was time to taste this wine. This Viognier is lighter than some of the California and Virginia Viogniers I have enjoyed, but it is lovely nonetheless. It has those classic apricot/peach notes only with a much lighter, crisper texture than Viognier tends to have. This would be a perfect Viognier on a really warm day because it is still very refreshing.

We expected to enjoy the white wines, but the reds were what got us really hooked. I always think that cooler climates result in not-so-great red wine, but this is simply not the case with the North Fork. Cabernet Franc, one of my favorite grapes, grows unbelievably well on Long Island, and Kontokosta brings it to the bottle in an exceptional way. That spice that is so characteristic of Cabernet Franc gets you right away. I love spice in my food, and I love it in my wine. It complements dark fruit and earth in this wine, and it is simply delicious.

In addition to the Cabernet Franc, we really enjoyed the Blum Merlot, which is named after Ray Blum, who planted the vineyards and has since passed away. This wine was silky smooth with notes of cocoa and spice and luscious fruit, everything that is right with a good Merlot.

The Cabernet Sauvignon on the North Fork surprised and delighted us in general. It’s softer and easier than its often tannic California cousin, and it’s a much easier drinking wine which would go with a wider range of foods.

Kontokosta Cabernet Franc

After our tasting, we made our selections for wine to bring home, and while Polly got that together, we discovered another feature of Kontokosta not to be missed, their sprawling lawn that leads down to the sea.

Kontokosta Winery

Even on a cloudy day with a bit of drizzle, the scenery was breathtaking.

Adirondack chairs

Long Island Sound

There is no doubt that we need to return in the summer to experience this beautiful spot on a sunny day.

Long Island Sound

The final treat of our visit to Kontokosta was going downstairs to see where the wine is made and stored. We met Ron, who is, as Polly described, a wizard, working in the tank room. Ron made some of the beautiful furniture in the winery, assists with the winemaking, and is just an all around delight. We actually ran into him doing some work the next day at the Harbor Front Inn, a property owned by the Kontokostas and where we spent our night in Greenport. He remembered us and gave us a warm welcome once again.

winemaking

While at the winery, Ron let us taste some wine that was hanging out in tanks, waiting to go into barrels. The wine was unfinished, but as always with tasting before wine is bottled, it is so fun to se where it starts and how it changes along the way. The Cab Franc we tasted was delicious, yet lacked some of the roundness and richness that the barrel will bring to it.

tasting from the tank

tasting from the tank

It doesn’t get any better than touring and tasting with people who know a winery so well and obviously love it. Our afternoon at Kontokosta was an experience we will certainly never forget; we have several bottles of their wine to enjoy at home as we continue to reflect on our visit and start to plan a new one!

Many thanks to Polly and Ron and the whole Kontokosta team for hosting us!

Tags: Long Island, North Fork, Tasting Room, tasting room series, Travel, wine, wine country, wine of the week, wine tasting, wine travel, Wine Wednesday, winery tour

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