When I go to buy a bottle of wine, I know that I am influenced by the sticker on the shelf that either give me a ranking (93 points!) or lists an award (Silver Medal Winner!). After the recent Pennsylvania Farm show, I have even MORE reasons to buy some of our local wines.
For those NOT familiar with the PA Farm Show, it takes place in Harrisburg every January, and boasts having over 6,000 animals, 100’s of exhibitors…and most importantly,,,a 1,000 pound butter sculpture. Who can resist that?
Part of the fun of any farm show are the contests, and wine judging is part of this huge show. Six of our local wineries won multiple medals at the show this year! So, being the curious person that I am, I ventured out to three of them to check out the winners. (Not to worry, I will get to the other three another day…this was my limit!)
Heritage Wine Cellars won Best of Show and gold medal for their Very Beary Blackberry–which is a tasty sparkling wine with a great blackberry flavor. It’s not too sweet! There were silver medals for Cranberry Wine (you know I love cranberries), Sweet Country White (which is true to its name–a sweet white wine made from a fruity mixture of local grapes) and Isabella (a hard to find grape–it is the first grape planted in our area). A bronze medal went to their Dark Cherry–which had a delicious deep cherry taste (another perfect match for Oreo tasting!).
Arrowhead Wine Cellars was also a gold medal winner; for their Concord and Chambourcin wines, I really liked the silver medal winner, Scarlet–which is a mix of several reds–I can taste Noiret, for sure..but there are also hints of dark berry. The Raspberry wine was another winner–luscious fresh raspberry taste! I am going to pour it over dark chocolate ice cream.
another winner of Gold and Silver medals. Gold for their Vignole, which is super tasty white with tropical overtones. And Silver for Wild Child–which has a really interesting story behind it. While harvesting Niagara grapes two years ago, they found wild grapes mixed into the harvester bin. They left them in, and what a nice mix with the Niagara! While there I tasted some of the seasonal beers, and really loved the spices and citrus flavors in Yeti’s Revenge and King Snipe!
So come and taste for yourself! It’s fun!
