Live Tweeting the Wine Festival

We’ll live tweeting the Wine Festival over the next two days. We’ll begin with the industry tasting that starts at 1 pm today. We’ll try to continue to tweet from the Grand Tasting this evening and I’ll do my best to tweet tomorrow in between pouring wine.

You can watch all the live tweets – from Kevin, me, Dilly Cafe and more – without even signing up for Twitter.

View the live tweets.

Come Find Me at the Festival

You can come visit me at the wine festival on Saturday. Make sure you say hello!

For the afternoon session, I’ll be pouring wine at Booth 70 – TGIC Imports.

That evening, I’ll move over to the Epiphany Cellars / Fortress table (Booth 46). You might also find me next door at the Fess Parker table.

• Epiphany Dry Riesling
• Epiphany Grenache Blanc
• Epiphany Gypsy Red
• Epiphany Petite Sirah
• Epiphany Revelation Red
• Fortress Finale
• Fortress Petite Syrah
• Fortress Sauvignon Blanc

• Fess Parker Ashley’s Chardonnay
• Fess Parker Ashley’s Pinot Noir
• Fess Parker Big Easy Syrah
• Fess Parker Pinot Noir Bien Nacido
• Fess Parker Pinot Noir Santa Barbara
• Fess Parker Riesling Santa Barbara
• Fess Parker Syrah Santa Barbara
• Fess Parker Viognier Santa Barbara

Consider Saturday Street Closings Before Your Friday Night Revel

I was reminded that on Saturday morning and afternoon, there will be a lot of streets closed downtown for the very long, but highly entertaining, St Patrick’s Day Parade. Of course, I was reminded in case anyone wants to attend the Wine Fest Auction and Luncheon at the Hilton. But you all know what I’m thinking. If you plan on ending up in a hotel on Friday night after the Grand Tastings, consider the street closings when parking. Since the parade also tends to last several hours, you also need to consider the street closings if you’re heading downtown for the afternoon Grand Tasting.

Starting at 8:00am  Saturday, these streets will be closed :

• Eggleston between Broadway and East 3rd St
• Reedy between Broadway and Court St
• All of Butler, Culvert, and Sentinel Streets

Starting at 10:30 am, the following additional streets will close:

• 5th St from Sentinel to Plum St
• Plum St from 5th to 3rd St
• West 3rd from Plum to Central

Last year we just embraced the parade wholeheartedly. I recommend a huge breakfast at Hathaway’s, then cut under the parade and through the parking garage to end up topside on Fountain Square. Then you can just relax and enjoy the fun and occasional oddity of the parade.

You can join us on the Square again this year, as we meet up with the Hoperatives, MommyBits, and several other bloggers. We’d love to see you!

Review: Tonic on 4th

I really didn’t want to like Tonic on 4th. In fact, I loved Twist so much, and was so mad that it was gone, that I was determined to never go to Tonic. Period. Then I met Josh Durr, the cocktail consultant for Tonic. His skill with a cocktail shaker swayed me, and later the same week I popped into Tonic. I sort of feel like I haven’t left since.

Josh trained all the bartenders (Benjamin, Maggie, Erin, and Mike), and every one of them has that vintage, craft cocktail thing down to the art that it is. Even better, they’ll explain anything to you, from how and why they make their own bitters, tinctures, and ice to the history of the cocktail on which you’re sipping.

Photo by Bob 5chw4r7z

For me, the test of any bar is the Manhattan. If you read my post earlier this week, you know that Josh made me a flawless Manhattan. I expect nothing less from the folks at Tonic, and they deliver. My request of “stirred and up” might as well be laughed at – how else would they serve it? And I love that.

The cocktail menu is large and eclectic, and the menu is divided up into several sections: Classical (e.g., Moscow Mule, Aviation), Classic Punches (e.g., Bourbon Milk Punch), Neo Classical Originals (e.g., The Liberal Liberal and the absinthe-included Lumberjack Frappe), and New Punches (e.g., Teachers Punch). The menu not only lists what is in each drink, but provides you with a history of each cocktail.

Photo by Bob 5chw4r7z

My first night there, Benjamin made me a Bluegrass Flip. It was a drink I’d never heard of, but really enjoyed. Honestly, I’m not overly sure what was in it besides some liquor mixed with a Bourbon Barrel Stout and some egg; maybe some bourbon? Trust me, it’s a lot better than it sounds, and it lives on their Specials menu.

My friends all have a range of favorites. One girlfriend swears by the Liberal Liberal, which is a slight twist on a Manhattan. The recipe calls for Wild Turkey 101, sweet vermouth, Amaro, and the house-made orange bitters. I know that a couple of the bartenders actually prefer the drink with different bourbon. I tried it with the Wild Turkey, but it wasn’t up my alley. I suspect I might enjoy it more with Four Roses. Another girlfriend is very attached to the classic Moscow Mule, which is simply Smirnoff Lime Juice and Goslings Ginger Beer. Finally, a friend of mine will always order an Old Old-Fashioned. I had to ask – what’s a New Old-Fashioned? Apparently newer Old Fashioneds have some fruit muddled in the bottom, but the older style focuses more on the bourbon.

Photo by Bob 5chw4r7z

Twice now I’ve ordered snacks. Tonic shares a kitchen with Local 127, but don’t expect to order off the Local 127 menu. Tonic offers light bites, but they’re quite tasty. Thus far I’ve tried a rather yummy plate of Stuffed Baked Potato Skins (so cute and tiny!), Ohio Kennebec Fries with Cheddar Sauce, and an order of Sliders. I’ve seen the Grass Fed Fox Hollow Burger with Cheese. It’s huge and according to a friend of mine, quite tasty. Because they share the kitchen with Local 127, Tonic adheres to the same policy of local foods from local growers and markets.

Oh the wine list? I haven’t paid much attention. Because Tonic is so focused on craft cocktails, I don’t expect them to have the world’s largest wine list. However, since they are a part of Local 127, I do expect what they offer to be top-notch. I was happy to see they still offer the Gruet sparkling wine from New Mexico, which is the bottle I always ordered at Twist ($8 a glass at Tonic). They also offer a nice Montfort Chenin Blanc ($5) and a rather eclectic red selection including Chile and South Africa. It’s a short list, all by the glass. I should probably ask for a wine list next time I visit, just to see what all of the options are on the off chance I order a bottle.

As for beer, they have a nice selection of bottles, including Lindemann’s Framboise and Bells Seasonal. Their tap includes Unibroue’s Maudite, La Chouffe, Delirium, several ciders, and the Left Hand Polestar Pilsner, among many others.

The prices at Tonic aren’t cheap. On a good night, it’s easy for two people to run up a bill of around $100. At the same time, you’re not drinking well drinks either. I’ve been to Tonic three times now, although I want to go more. Of course, I’m in Las Vegas now, trying to find a decent Manhattan in Sin City. But I’m actually home the entire month of February. Do you know what that means? It means you can find me at Tonic.

My review:

My thanks to Bob 5chw4r7z for use of the photos!

Post-Thanksgiving Winery Spectacular Spectacular

Really. Just avoid those malls after Thanksgiving and head straight to all of your local wineries. They’re waiting for you.

In Ohio, we have the annual barrel tasting. On Saturday, Nov 28, you can visit five Ohio wineries to try unreleased vintages and current wines.

Barrels @ Harmony Hill

You can visit our friends at Harmony Hill and Kinkead Ridge, along with Burnet Ridge Winery, Henke, and Woodstone Creek. Hours and costs at each winery vary, so make sure to double-check the web site before you head out on your winery journey for the day.

Barrels @ Kinkead Ridge

Additionally, Elk Creek is having an anniversary sale at all of their locations. (Disclosure: I do a little freelance marketing for Elk Creek and they advertise on this blog.) If you want to stay on the Kentucky side, Elk Creek is offering deep discounts on their wines and a party atmosphere at the winery in Owenton.

Now, don’t special tastings and winery sales sound better than crazed shoppers and long lines? I thought so. I’ll see you at the wineries.

Paint & Etch Your Own Wine Glasses

I got a sweet email today from a local stained glass artist. Mary Jane Riggi has had a stained glass studio in Cincinnati for over 25 years. She has also been an adjunct professor in various aspects of stained glass at the University of Cincinnati’s Communiversity program for almost as long.

What does that have to do with the wine blog? Well, Mary Jane is hosting a wine glass painting class. Imagine painting your own stained glass wine glasses and giving them as Christmas gifts? I’m sort of in love with this idea.

The class is just one evening, Friday, 12/4 or Friday, 12/11/09, from 6:30 – 9:30 pm, at her studio in Mt Airy. You’ll receive 4 wine glasses and learn to paint and etch designs. As a bonus, you get to make wine charms for each glass.

The class fee is $45 per person and includes all materials. For more information, you can contact Mary Jane at 513-633-2788.

A Kentucky Wine Weekend That’s Close to Home

This weekend, which will hopefully be a lovely autumn weekend, you can experience a lot of Kentucky wine and you won't have to go much further than Covington and Camp Springs. 

Kentucky grapes? Yes, actually. Those tobacco fields aren't getting
much use now that smoking is being banned in many states and causing
cancer in general. But they do provide the perfect soil for growing
grapes. I admit, Kentucky wineries are still young and growing, but you
might be surprised about the quality of many of the wines.

Saturday

On Saturday, you can partake in the Northern Kentucky Wine Festival right down on Mainstrasse in Covington. The festival runs from 2-10 pm on October 17. Your $10
admission includes a souvenir wine glass and 4 tastings, although you
can buy additional tasting tickets for $1 each or 6/$5.If you find a
wine you like, you can purchase it by the bottle or by the case.

The N
Ky Wine Festival is all Kentucky wines, but not all of Kentucky's
wineries. Some of our favorites in the past have included Black Barn, Ashwood
Cellars, Elk Creek Vineyards,
Lover's Leap, Wildside Winery/Wildside Vines, and Chrisman Mill.

The wine festival isn't just wine though. It's an opportunity to try some tasty Kentucky Proud
snacks. I tend to buy a lot of these products at Remke; I'm a big Ky
Proud supporter because the food is just so good. In addition to food,
there will also be crafts such as ceramics, rustic furniture, and
jewelry. The last couple of years, these vendors were mixed in well with the wineries,
giving you a chance to enjoy your wine and keeping the wine tables from
being too crowded. I usually buy jewelry from several of the vendors.

Sunday

On Sunday, you can enjoy the 3rd Annual Camp Springs Herbst Tour. (Herbst meaning Autumn, apparently.) This is a self-guided tour. You'll pick up a map and start driving, and probably be surprised not only by how beautiful it all is, but by just how close our fair city is to the country.

You'll visit three working farms, six stone houses, a horse farm and equestrian center, four churches, artist studios & crafts, a daylily farm, plowing fields, a pumpkin patch, see draft horses and miniature Hereford cattle.  But the important things on that list are the two vineyards and wineries.

You'll get to visit the vineyard, farm, and tasting room of Stonebrook Winery. If you go, make sure you try their pomegranate wine. Additionally, you'll get to visit Camp Springs Vineyard, which is holding their grand opening the day of the Herbst Tour. You'll be the first ones to try their inaugural white, red, and fruit wine.

To get started on the tour, stop by the Camp Springs Firehouse and pick up your map. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!

Tonite? The Palace and The Bacchanalian Society

Rules (from the Bacchanalian Society web site):

The
Bacchanalian Society helps charities to conduct competitive wine
tastings where even the loser gets to take something home.  The
competition is based on what we call the "Rule of Three."  Huh?  Keep reading …

3 BOTTLES FOR EACH TEAM OF UP TO 3

• A
  different wine varietal (such as chardonnay, merlot, pinot noir, etc.)
  is featured at each event. Teams, consisting of 1 to 3 participants,
  are admitted by bringing 3 bottles of the same featured varietal to the
  event. For example, if the featured varietal is merlot, your team could
  bring 3 bottles of the 2005 Hess Select Merlot. The wine varietal for
  the upcoming event is a French Red.

• At
  the event, 2 of each team's 3 bottles are bagged, tagged and ranked by
  each participant. The 3rd bottle is set aside and left unopened. The
  teams that brought the 5 highest ranked wines divvy up each team's 3rd
  unopened bottle, except for the lowest ranked wine which will be
  returned to the team that brought it. If 2 or more teams bring the same
  wine, rankings can still differ depending upon the temperature of the
  wine, how long it has been open, etc.
• Please
  remember, teams can consist of 1 to 3 participants. Thus, a group of 4
  participants, for example, will be considered 2 teams and must bring 6
  bottles of the featured varietal to enter the event. Still don't get
  it?  Just remember, the "Rule of Three," which is visually depicted above. 

WBW #61: At the Source: Elk Creek Vineyards

Every month, wine bloggers the globe over participate in Wine Blogging Wednesday, where we all write to a specific theme. This month, our assignment is to go drink local, but to do it at the local winery, talk to the winemaker, and just get to know the place. Wine always tastes better "at the source."

This ended up presenting an interesting conundrum for me. I wanted to branch out and visit a Kentucky winery instead of an Ohio one. The nice folks at Elk Creek in Owenton invited me down for a tour and tasting (and even threw in Temptations tickets). So two weeks ago, I went to the winery, had a great time, and came home and whipped up this post (which has been patiently in my queue, waiting for WBW). Now for the conundrum: a few days after my visit, Elk Creek reached out to me for social media marketing. Effective today, Elk Creek is a client. I made the decision to go ahead and publish this post because it was written early, but I wanted to make my new relationship with the winery clear as well.

Now that we've got that out of the way …

I'd never been to Elk Creek, and I was surprised to find out it's only an hour from Cincinnati. In fact, it's only an hour from Cincinnati, Louisville, and Lexington, and it sits halfway between I-71 and I-75. To get there I took the scenic route from I-75, which had a lot of twisty-turny roads. I came home the highway, on I-71, which took about 15 minutes longer but was much more my speed.

The Elk Creek campus is lovely. It includes the winery, an outdoor amphitheater where they hold concerts, grape vines (of course), the Elk Creek Hunt Club (clay shooting), and a bed & breakfast with a small spa. Inside the winery building is an art gallery and a deli.

Vineyard and Lodge

While I got a great tour of the winery (they make over 220,000 bottles), what I really want to tell you about is the wines. They offer a lot of varieties, running the gamut from the popular and best-selling sweet wines to dryer wines.

Joe Hall took me through the winery and chose wines he thought I might enjoy. I'm not sure what Joe's position is at the winery, but he definitely has a handle on the production process as well as on what makes each wine unique. Joe also has his own watercolors on display in the art gallery!

Elk Creek grows some of their own grapes (about 45 tons), but they also bring in a lot of grapes for their wines. They source their grapes from farmers throughout Kentucky and occasionally bring in grapes from California and Oregon. Their current estate (grown on property) wines are a Chambourcin, a Chardonelle, and a Cabernet Franc.

Estate grown grapes

I tasted a fair number of wines, although not as many sweet wines as they offer. Not surprisingly, the sweeter wines, both white and red, are their best sellers. Here's is a quick run-down of the notes I scribbled:

2006 "Kentucky Blue" Vidal Blanc ($9.99/bottle): I tend to enjoy Vidal grapes, and this one was not too sweet, very light and tart. 

2007 Chardonnay (14.99/bottle): I was told that this particular Chardonnay is similar to their special edition bottlings for their US Open Chardonnay and the Ghostly White Chardonnay for this year's Halloween wine.  This vintage of the Chardonnay was oak-free. Despite my overall dislike of Chardonnay, this may have been my favorite of what I tasted.

2006 Kentucky Blue Riesling ($14.99/bottle): Light and sweet with apples and peaches. I have girlfriends who would love this wine. 

2006 Crazy Elk Blush ($9.99/bottle): I noticed at the Temptations concert that this was a pretty popular wine. It's not my thing though. The notes read that it's got a hint of strawberries – I'd say it was more than a hint. It's also really similar to a White Zin style, which explains both its popularity and why I didn't really care for it.

2006 Sweet Owen Red ($12.99/bottle): When I tried this the first time, I didn't really like it. It's a Norton, which is perhaps my least favorite grape on the face of the planet. Again, this is one of their top selling wines because it's a sweet red. However, I tried it again at the concert and this time, it was chilled. While still not my favorite, I thought chilling it showed a marked improvement. 

2007 Estate Chambourcin ($19.99/bottle): These grapes were grown right on property. I'm a big fan of Chambourcin in most cases and this was no exception. It was aged in oak for 1.5 years, but I thought it was well balanced.

2006 Viognier ($19.99/bottle): I wanted to like this one a lot, as I love a good Viognier. This one was too oaky for me, but it was very round, and filled my whole mouth (as it should). But I definitely needed less oak. 

2006 Chardonnay ($17.99/bottle): While I have girlfriends who would love the heavy feel and oak of this Chardonnay, I preferred the "naked" Chardonnay I had earlier. This one was too much for me.

2006 Sangiovese ($24.99/bottle): This is an enjoyable wine, although in the past I've tried what I think was the 2005, and its even better. The 2006  is a soft summer red, fairly dry. Apparently it pairs well with Italian (which makes sense) but I'll need to try it out. 

2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ($19.99/bottle): This wine is supposed to be similar to the US Open and Halloween Bone-Dry Red limited edition bottlings. The Cabernet is a bright young wine, a bit tangy, and would probably do well to be saved for about a year.

2007 Estate Cabernet Franc ($34.99/bottle): This is a really good wine. Is it a $34.99 wine? I don't know. I understand the price point based on the work that goes into an estate wine, but I tend to get extra picky when the price crosses $25. That said, it's a soft Cab Franc and my exact notes are "not a lot of pepper, really enjoyable," which is saying something. I usually can't stand Cabernet Franc. 

If you live nearby (as in Louisville, Lexington, or Cincinnati), Elk Creek is certainly worth the hour drive. The people are incredibly nice, the wines are good (and in many cases local), and there's a lot to do. The view from their patio is gorgeous. It's a perfect excursion for a nice autumn day.

Elk Creek at Sunset

View all my photos from Elk Creek.

My big thanks to my friend Lenn at the newly renamed New York Cork Report for hosting this month's edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday.

Restaurant Week & Zincinnati Oktoberfest

This week is Restaurant Week!  Unlike the Restaurant Week we recently had, you are not limited to downtown. This time, you're limited to independently-owned restaurants.

The Greater Cincinnati Independents, a group of more than 30 locally owned restaurants, are offering prix-fixe menus of $26.09 per person. This generally includes 3-courses, including dessert. Beverages and taxes are not included, but many places are offering paired wines or wine flights for a special price.

The point of all this, of course, is to give you a chance to try a new restaurant and to support the little guy while you're at it. After all, why eat at a chain when you can eat at a unique-to-our-city cafe? Before you roll your eyes at me, Restaurant Week includes places such as Dilly Deli Cafe, Mesh, Hugo, York Street, Lavomatic, and more. Restaurant Week runs through Sunday, so get out there and give it a try!

While you're debating on the restaurant you want to visit, you can enjoy the early start to Oktoberfest. The Goodwill, er, Gemuetlichkeit Games start on Thursday with the Beer Stein Races at noon on Fountain Square. Contestants race across the Square double-fisted with full beer steins that weigh around 35 lbs. The winner is judged by both best time and the amount of beer left in the container. A second is added onto each contestant's time for each ounce spilled.  After the Beer Stein races, you're treated to the Pretzel Toss. Basically, it's cornhole with pretzels.

I love Friday's event, however. It's the Weiner Dog Races, again at noon on the Square. It had to be one of the cutest – and most hilarious – things I witnessed last year. You can bet I'll be there again, camera in hand, to snap those adorable dogs running (and aimlessly wandering) while dressed as hot dogs. I'm a little bothered by the hot dog vendors on the Square during this, but Kevin finds it wonderfully funny. 

Enjoy!