Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Holidays are about family.

Holidays are about celebrating with good food and wine.

The problem with these two statements is in their intersection. How do you celebrate the holidays with family and good food and wine? Particularly with the younger members of your family.

Wine has been part of family dinners since I was a child.  Kevin and I have carried on the tradition with our family. The girls have received a little watered wine in order to join family toasts for a number of years now, but we find other ways to include them as well.

My younger daughter loves to open and pour the wine. Her older sister can do it as well.  This year she opened the champagne at dinner. They also get to tell us what they smell from each bottle as well as a take a sip occasionally.

What is the purpose of this? Well, in part to keep teens who normally would try to eat in 15 seconds at the table and talking, but also to teach them about wine and culture. The culture of hospitality… the traditions of family.

And isn’t that really what the holidays are about?

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

With Thanksgiving looming before us this week (Please keep your Christmas references at bay, please… I can only handle one holiday at a time), many people are trying to decide what to have for the big feast.

Turkey is the obvious choice (though venison would be traditionally correct as well, as the local Wamponoag people brought five deer to the feast)

One thing that we can be sure of? Those people celebrating their first feast of thanksgiving in Plymouth (or Virginia) dined on local food. There was no Beajolais Nouveau or Beaujolais Vieux for that matter…

What seems totally appropriate?  Drinking local.  During the colonial period, the Pilgrims would have had beer from home grown barley, or cider from home grown apples or even wine from from native grapes (fox grapes named for their flavor… think Concord and tell me if you can avoid thinking of grape jelly!) or other local fruit.

So my plan?

To drink as much local wine as possible…  The thing holding me back?  Well… my parents are hosting our feast.. and Dad does have all of those wine clubs that he is a member of…  I will do my best to bring more wine than Lionstone International can send my father.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

November is New Jersey Wine Month, and the local wineries are capping off the month with the Holiday Wine Trail Weekend!  Friday, Saturday, Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 27-29), local wineries across the state will be offering tastings, tours, and in many cases special events.  Many of the wineries offer gift baskets and gift certificates so you could also get a lot of your holiday shopping done at the same time.    Who knows?  Maybe it’ll be the start of a new “Win(e)ding Road” holiday tradition…

Personally, I’m liking the idea of winery gift certificates; knock out most of my holiday shopping in one fell swoop!

Holiday Wine Trail Weekend Participating Wineries include:

Alba Vineyard, Milford, NJ     **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Bellview Winery. Landisville, NJ

Brook Hollow Winery, Columbia, NJ

Cape May Winery, Cape May, NJ

Cava Winery & Vineyard, Columbia, NJ

Cream Ridge Winery, Cream Ridge, NJ

Hawk Haven Vineyard and Winery, Rio Grande, New Jersey

Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Pennington Vineyards

Laurita Winery,  New Egypt, NJ

Natali Vineyards, Cape May Courthouse, NJ

Plagido’s Winery, Hammonton, NJ

Sharrott Winery, Blue Anchor, NJ

Swansea Vineyards, Shiloh, NJ

Ventimiglia Vineyards, Wantage, NJ       **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Villa Milagro Vineyards, Finesville, NJ   **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Westfall Winery, Montague, NJ

The wineries listed are within a day trip from New York or Philadelphia.  Check out the Garden State Wine Growers’ Association website for wine trail “cluster” suggestions – mini-trails of 4-5 wineries.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer
The Drinkin’ O’ the Green!

In the spirit of the holiday, I thought it appropriate to celebrate Irish wine. Yes, I know – whisky and beer, not wine, are what first come to mind when one thinks “Ireland and liquor.” But Ireland is a wine-producing nation, and within the last 10 years has been officially recognized as such by the European Commission.

While Ireland is not going to give France a run for the money over vineyard acreage or cases produced anytime soon, the Irish do have a wine heritage that began over a millenia ago with mead. Mead itself dates back to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and it appears most cultures, including the Celts, Vikings, Gauls and Romans all produced mead. A lush blending of honey, water, and sometimes grapes, mead is believed to possess powers that endow virility and fertility on its drinkers, and thus for centuries was the featured wine at weddings. It also has a rich heritage in the culture and history of the British and Irish isles, and one can imagine medieval feasts with men gathered around long wooden tables, wild pigs and game fowl roasting on large spits, and tankards of mead being passed throughout the hall…

I first discovered mead on a vacation to Ireland when I made a stop at Bunratty Castle, County Clare, home of the Bunratty Winery. Like the castle, which was finished in 1425 (and is a glorious example of a medieval castle and fortress), the recipe for Bunratty Meade dates back to the Middle Ages. There are other current producers of mead, including wineries in England and Wales, but Bunratty is one of the oldest – and likely one of the best known – meads being produced today.
But Irish wine is not all mead, and there are a handful of wineries scattered across southern Ireland. Like Bunratty, most are located in County Clare; undoubtedly the gulf stream ocean currents which run very close to the southwestern coast help temper the climate and weather and make this area one that is capable of sustaining vineyards. These other wineries are small and generally produce white wines from German grapes which are better suited to colder, harsher climates. Currently all of these wines are sold or distributed locally:

Blackwater Valley Vineyard – with only 5 acres under cultivation, Blackwater Valley grows Reichensteiner, and produces a few thousand bottles of white table wine annually.

Longueville House – Longueville House is a 20-bedroom Georgian country house, now operating as a hotel and restaurant. On the grounds, the owners have planted 1.1 acres of Reichsteiner and Muller Thurgau grapes. The wine is produced exclusively for the Longueville House hotel and restaurant.

Thomas Walk Vineyard – another small vineyard, Thomas Walk produces both a white and a red. Tomas Clancy, the wine columnist for The Sunday Business Post, in 2006 described the Thomas Walk Amurensis red as similar to a “light beaujolais.” Clancy, in the same article, also posits that Ireland’s late-entry into wine production is the result of their never having been invaded by the Romans. Interesting, never thought about the rise of wine production being a result of the spread of the Roman legions – chalk up one more thing to the Caesars.

Lusca – Finally, across the country in County Dublin, David Llewellyn has established Ireland’s northern-most winery, growing cabernet, merlot and chardonnay grapes. Llewellyn and his Lusca wines are currently “Ireland’s largest commercial wine producer,” according to an August 2008 article in the Tribune.

Bunratty Meade is imported into the United States, and most larger liquor or wine stores should carry it – if not, they can probably order it for you, or you can order it online through a number of sources. As for the others? Ireland is beautiful this time of year!

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

I am about to undertake a challenge the likes of which no wine blogger has ever undertaken.

I am about to give up wine for Lent.

Why? I have precious few moments left in my children’s lives to teach them about sacrifice and faith…

Plus, it requires me to exercise some creativity.

Lent is only 40 days, right? And with Aunt Maggie. I only have to write half of those, right? Piece of cake!

Look! I have written this post without talking about wine at all.

Now the only question is… CAN I DO IT!? Or will I will be experiencing the DTs by Saturday?

Oy. It sucks be a Catholic Mama. Gentlemen? Place your bets!

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Gretchen NeumanVinoVerve EditorA Post and A Prize for YOU!*’Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar plums danc’d in their heads,And Mama(n) in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap —Yeah, yeah.. Don’t worry this isn’t a Kevin post… I wouldn’t want you to all drop dead of surprise!This IS the way that I ended up looking last night while trying to get in one more post..Luckily, Santa took pity on me and woke me up and patted my head, and gave me some water and sent me to bed… at least I think it was Santa. I was a bit bleery eyed at the time.Either way, he told me that if I was a good girl that there would be wine for us all to drink on Christmas Day.. so I hope you enjoy yours!Merry Christmas from VinoVerve… and enjoy your Hannukah too!* A prize to the first person (non-VinoVerve, otherwise Aunt Maggie will win this in a heartbeat) to guess BOTH Christmas stories referenced in this post. To win, email your answer to me at:gretchen@VinoVerve.comGood luck and Happy Holidays! Save This Page

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