Last night we participated in an early St. Patrick’s Day dinner that will benefit children in Tanzania. Tickets for dinner included Irish stew, salad, ½ corn beef sandwich and dessert. The event began at 6pm with numerous snacks including spicy mixed nibbles, animal crackers and pretzels. All of this for a twenty dollar ticket. Beer and wine were available for a small fee. The wines chosen to be served were boxed wines. I had a light, sweet wine that was okay but not memorable. However this was for a worthy cause and so I didn’t mind. A local band provided live Irish music and there was a performance of Irish music. It was a delightful time for everyone and all for a good cause – The Tanzanian Children’s Project.

The Tanzanian Children’s Project seeks to build a medical clinic that will provide health care to those living in Mahida, Tanzania. More information about the Tanzanian Children’s Project is available at the website: www.TanzaniaKids.org.

If you are looking for a way to help others in need, consider a fundraiser at a winery. Wineries are great places to hold fundraisers. Participants can have a delightful time and also help others in need.

Cheers! Kathy

Are you looking for an entrée to make for this weekend? We have added the recipe for Pistachio Encrusted Grouper provided by Wintergreen Winery in Virginia to the recipes on the Wine Trail Traveler website. While this recipe does not have wine as an ingredient, it does call for grape seed oil, which can be obtained at some winery tasting rooms and one of our partners, Après Vin in Washington. This particular recipe uses pistachio nuts, butter, grouper fillets and spinach leaves. Check out the recipe for all ingredients before heading for the grocery store.

We continue to search for more recipes that have wine as one of the ingredients. We are also interested in adding recipes that use grape seed oil or grape seed flour.

Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers!

Last night we participated in the Twitter Sauvignon Blanc tasting. We invited friends to join us in tasting five different Sauvignon Blancs and provided three appetizers. The wines included two from Napa Valley, one from New Zealand, one was from France and one from Temecula Valley in California with grapes from Washington.

Conversation was great and varied from wine related comments to any other topic anyone wanted to discuss.

The final wine of the evening was Sweet Surrender, a Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Keyways Winery in Temecula California. This is a deliciously sweet wine but not syrupy. The honey tones with summer fruit nuances of the wine was excellent with the paired appetizer – baked brie topped with honey and walnuts. Keyways Winery is a delightful winery to visit. The winery offers frequent events especially on the weekends.

Cheers! Kathy

The Twitter tasting event #SauvBlanc is already gearing up. Wine tasters from around the world are going to tweet about Sauvignon Blancs. A few friends will join us as we taste four different Sauvignon Blancs, one from France, one from New Zealand, one from California made with late harvest grapes sourced from Washington and the fourth from Napa.

Just to make things a bit more intriguing, I paired the Sauvignon Blancs with appetizers. Been in the kitchen for a few hours working on an avocado dip and a salmon and goat cheese on toast appetizer. Kathy is going to wrap crescent roll dough around Brie and drizzle honey and walnuts on it; then bake it. Yum!

Of course we didn’t plan on dinner and on the east coast it is nearing the dinner hour. So I’ll go with simple: pasta and pesto. This should actually pair well with Sauvignon Blanc.

For those with a Twitter account, follow #SauvBlanc and see what people from around the world are tweeting about Sauvignon Blancs.

Check out the 6th Annual Poverty Bay Wine Festival in Des Moines, Washington. The event begins March 5 and continues March 6 and 7. The event proceeds will go to the Rotary Club to fund their charitable projects and activities. For more information visit the website.

A visit to Charleston will give you the opportunity to participate in the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival. This event is scheduled from March 4 – 7. For details and ticket information, check the website

Will you be in Portland, Oregon this weekend? On March 6, there will be a Classics Wine Auction. This auction will help five local charities involved with children and families. More information is available at http://www.classicwinesauction.com/.

If you can’t visit a festival or auction this weekend, how about trying a new varietal wine or perhaps a wine from a winery you haven’t had before.

Cheers! Kathy

People are finding many uses for Twitter, among them a wine tasting. On March 4^th 2010, people from around the world are going to tweet about Sauvignon Blancs made anywhere in the world. What a perfect excuse for a wine tasting party. Sauvignon Blanc is a grape that can be made into wine with different tasting profiles. The recipe for this wine tasting party is to select a few Sauvignon Blancs, make a few appetizers and have some friends over. Every now and then, people can tweet.

I had a bottle of Sweet Surrender a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Keyways Vineyard & Winery in Temecula. I’m going to pair this wine with a honey, walnut baked Brie. The honey on the Brie should match with the honey nuances from this late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. I believe the grapes for this wine were sourced from Washington.

For my other selections, we went to the Wine Bin in Ellicott City, Maryland to purchase some other Sauvignon Blancs. A 2007 Domaine du Tremblay Quincy will represent the Loire Valley, in France. I plan to match this wine with an avocado based dip. Two wines will pair with a smoked salmon and goat cheese appetizer. A 2008 Culley Sauvignon Blanc is from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. A Honig Sauvignon Blanc is from Napa Valley, California.

The wines are ready, now its time to work on gathering the ingredients for the appetizers.

If you wish to follow and or post tweets on Twitter about Sauvignon Blanc use the #SauvBlanc hashtag.

Yesterday I wrote about the direct shipping bill in Maryland. This week is very important and anyone can submit written testimony on the bill. Written testimony must be received by Thursday at 12pm. No matter what state you live in, if you are experiencing successes with direct shipping please add your support to the proponents of Maryland’s House Bill 716. Shouldn’t residents of Maryland have the same rights that many other US residents have? If you have visited wineries in other states and enjoyed their wines wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have the wine shipped directly to your home?

For details on supplying written or oral testimony, visit this page on the Marylanders for Better Beer and Wine Laws. Maryland consumers can use your help. If you have questions contact Jennifer Levy, Director of Legislative Affairs for MBBWL, at jlevy@mbbwl.org

Cheers! Kathy

This week is very important for Maryland consumers. On Friday, March 5, the Maryland House will be listening to testimony regarding direct shipping of wine. Written testimony and oral testimony are acceptable. To find out the details and how you can help go to Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws or contact their Legislative Affairs Director at jlevy@mbbwl.org.

Visit Annapolis, Maryland and sign up to give testimony on Friday, March 5 in support of direct shipping. Help Maryland consumers succeed in overturning archaic wine legislation. 2010 can be the year of direct shipping for Maryland!

Plan on staying for the weekend and enjoy the beautiful capitol of Maryland with its history, fine restaurants, the Naval Academy, museums and tours.

Cheers! Kathy

After visiting more than 450 winery tasting rooms, we have not seen unruly behavior by visitors. While some tasting rooms are quiet others have more socializing. Each one has its own style and atmosphere. It was with shock that we learned one of the owners of Three Brothers Wineries, in the Seneca Lake wine region of New York State, was attacked and beaten for asking two unruly people to leave.

The idea behind the yellow and red cards is that if a visitor receives a yellow card, it is because their behavior is inappropriate. Receiving a red card means that they are no longer welcome at the winery or any other area winery.

The use of red and yellow cards was conceived of two or three years ago. However, one of the problems at that time was tasting room owners and employees deciding the difference between unruly behavior and a group enjoying themselves. Now that someone has been injured, will the wineries work together?

Obviously, the two people who attacked the winery owner were way out of line. A winery owner has every right to ask someone to leave the premises if they are not behaving in an appropriate manner. Rude and inappropriate behavior would make other visitors uncomfortable. Tasting rooms are meant to showcase wine and provide visitors an enjoyable time.

Three Brothers Wineries is an exciting winery to visit. They feature three separate tasting rooms and a brewery tasting room. They also produce an excellent non-alcoholic root beer! Each tasting room has its own atmosphere. When in the Finger Lakes region of New York, be sure to check Three Brothers Wineries out.

Cheers! Kathy

The Julia Cekala Charitable Foundation is sponsoring their 3^rd annual wine event on Friday, March 12^th from 7 to 11pm.  The event will be at Christina’s in Foxborough (Foxboro), Massachusetts. The event includes wine tasting, food, music, dancing, raffles and a silent auction. Tickets are $45 per person.

The Julia Cekala Charitable Foundation was created to remember Julia, a nine year old with many medical problems but a love of life. Visit the foundation’s website to learn more about Julia.

If you want to volunteer or donate to raffles and auctions, visit The Julia Cekala Charitable Foundation website.

Cheers! Kathy