I visited 3 vinyards. (1) Johnathan Edwards Winery (2) Stonington vineyards, and (3) Chamard vineyards. There are a total of 20 vineyards on the CT wine trail. I like wine because it's like a puzzle - figure out what process makes what taste (and what tastes good). For these vineyards, Johnathan Edwards had the best reds, but they cheat. They grow and ferment their grapes in Napa Valley, then bring them to CT in a refrigerated truck for aging. Some of the grapes for the white wines are grown on the property. Aparently Chardonnay grapes grow well in CT. Their whites weren't nearly as good. The wines were also pricey - probably due to the transport. Never the less I bought a yummy Syrah.
I wasn't impressed with Stonington. They mostly do genetically engineered grapes for and make blends of different hybrids all aged in Steel barrels (which gives the wine a bit of a sparkle to it that I personally don't like unless the wine is a self described "sparkling wine"). The wine was the least expensive of all the vineyards and they let me keep my tasting glass... but I didn't buy anything. I wasn't impressed.
Chamard had amazing Chardonnays AND the grapes were grown on the vineyards or on Long Island. I'm not a big fan of Chardonnays, but I really liked these. They had 3 different types for the tasting - (1) aged in steel for 100% of the time, (2) aged in steel 60% of the time and oak 60% of the time, and (3) aged in steel 40% of the time and aged in oak 60% of the time. You could really taste the difference. I ended up with a bottle of Chardonnay #2. A lot of oak-ing tends to give a taste to white whine that I don't like (in reds, I don't mind the oak). All the reds at Chamard tasted very bitter to me, so I'd say stick to whites here. The prices are reasonable to.
Next on my way to the city of Brotherly love I stopped in NY for dinner with my lovely brother. He just moved to Queens/Long Island City. This neighborhood is the MOST confusing city ever! There are numbered streets, avenues, roads and places... and in addition to that, there are names blvds! I eventually made it and Nick and I had dinner.
The courtyard of the restaraunt where we had dinner had funny scenery, so we took goofy pictures of each other. Nicky game me antennas and I gave him a goofy hat. On our way out of the restaurant, we ran into a guy who had a blue painted face with dyed orange mustache eyebrows and hair. Nicky's "knee jerk" reaction was to say "Hey! Look at you!" To which the blue man said "Yah! Look at me!" with a big smile on his face. We laughed all the way down the block. I turned back to see if he was still there. I'd have loved to get a picture of this guy, but he was nowhere in sight.
I left Nicky with the Syrah, which we'll drink on his bday (July 10)
Next are scenes from July 4 in Philly, I want to right more, but I also want to get on the road to my next destination. All I have to say about Philly right now is WOW! I think I might have found another US city that I could live in a be very happy (they others are Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA and Boston, MA). I had a great time here. I started with a bike ride to town through Fairmount Park, followed by a trip to the Franklin Institute, then I got a Cheesesteak in South Philly, then I went Penn Landing, then I went to Old Town, then I went to the July 4 celebration parade, met a "Tree guy" from South Dakota and his summer intern from the Czech Republic and spent some time with them, then biked home... Lots of good stories, but no time to tell them - enjoy the pictures though. (FYI - I got to do so much because I had a bike, and I was able to get EVERYWHERE. Bikes are awesome!).
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