Drinking My Way Along the Parkway

 I wanted to go wine tasting in Gatlinburg and I was told I had should go moonshine tasting as well. Because I am a planner, I had figured out which winery and shinery I wanted to visit. I even wrote them on the spreadsheet that I emailed me so I could reference it on vacation. Instead of verifying the name of the winery and shinery, I assumed it was Gatlinburg Winery. I was on a mission on finding a new blackberry wine since we've not been to Basil's (aka Down Time Wines) in a few years and I'm out of blackberry.

Stop #1 Gatlinburg Winery

We hopped on the trolley after dinner and had them drop us off at the end of the Parkway which was a short walk to Gatlinburg Winery. We got there shortly before closing but I was still able to taste. You get three shots of wine for free. I tasted:

Orange Sherbet -- I picked this one since I never had a orange wine before and the hubby suggested it. It tasted just like orange sherbet. It was good but I don't think I'd drink a whole bottle.

Cotton Candy Peach -- I learned that it's not made from actual cotton candy but cotton candy grapes which makes the wine sweeter. I really liked this one and it came home. 

Blackberry -- It was not Basil's blackberry. It was too tart and dry for me. Basil spoiled me and it's going to be hard to replace it.

Stop #2 Smokin' Banjo Winery

After stopping here, I wasn't completely sure that was the right place. As we walked down the Parkway, I spotted Smokin' Banjo Winery and they were offering free tastings so I figured why not. Again it is 3 mini shots of wine for free. They offered sparkling wines, ciders, and even cream wines. I tried

Backroad Jam -- This was a strawberry and blackberry blend. It was definitely not what I was looking for. 

Granny Smith Cider -- It was okay but not a favorite. 

Sweet Cream Revival -- This is was a cotton candy cream wine. Think Baileys in as a wine. It was sweet and creamy. It was something different but really good. I wanted to sleep on buying it. We got about 5 feet out the store when I decided I might as well get it now. Yup this one came back with me too.

Stop #3 Tennessee Homemade Wines

As we continued down the Parkway, I finally found the winery I wanted to visit -- Tennessee Homemade Wines. Like the others, you get 3 shots for free. I went with

Blackberry -- This is Tennessee's best selling wine. It was good enough to get a bottle but Basil has me spoiled and I have a feel nothing will ever compare to Down Time Wines Blackberry Wine.

Mountain Chocolate -- This wasn't bad for chocolate wine. 

White Muscadine -- This was refreshing but I didn't really feel it call my name. 

I wanted Old Apple but it was sold out. I also had a bonus sample of Peanut Butter and Jelly. The PB&J was surprising good even though I don't like PB&J sandwiches. You definitely tasted the peanut butter. Do not wrinkle your nose until you taste it. 

Stop #4 Sugarlands Distilling Company

I was told I could taste moonshine all over the place. I wanted to go to Ole Smoky but for some reason, I couldn't remember the name and wandered in the first one I saw which was Sugarlands. For $5, you could get 12 mini shots of moonshine and it's in a group setting. You get a bartending that pours your group the shots and explains what each one is. After the tasting you get $5 off in the store. So if you buy something your tasting is free essentially. 

They start you off with the 120 proof original moonshine. It burned going down. It was bad but not horrible. 

We tasted various flavors including peppermint stick. They ranged from 50 proof (apple) to 100 proof (peppermint stick). Honest none of them were horrible. That just could be the wine talking too.

We also tasted sipping creams which are all 40 proof. This is more my kind of moonshine. We ended the evening with Eggo Brunch in a Jar.

If I wasn't already laden down with 3 bottles of wine, I would have seriously considered getting some sipping cream but I was on a budget and $30 for sipping cream was out of my budget. One day I'll get some.

There were even more places to try along the Parkway but we were pretty tired and decided to head back to hotel. For the record I had 9 shots of wine and 12 shots of moonshine and was still feeling pretty good but really didn't think I should try any more being such a lightweight even if we were walkign back to the hotel. 

I highly suggest sipping your way along the Parkway the next time you are in Gatlinburg. 

5189. Go to SoLu Winery in Cascade

A friend on Facebook liked an event at SoLu Estates Winery and Meadery -- a wagon ride wine tasting through the vineyards. That sounded like fun and it corresponded with Stacy and mine trip to Sheboygan. Stacy was game for this and we planned our day around being in Cascade for a 1:30 wine tasting.

SoLu in located outside of Cascade in the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine. It's a family owned winery that has been around has been since 2016. It is also part hunting club.

For $15, we got a vineyard tour on a wagon with three stops for wine. For an additional $20 you could add a charcuterie board. We opted to skip the charcuterie board since we wanted lunch before 1:30. Craig was our tour guide and he was amazing. 

Due to the recent rain and a last minute hunt on the hunting grounds, our tour was forced to a take a different route. It was still fun. At each stop, we got very generous pours of the wine. Nothing was overly impressive. The only issue was we really didn't know what we were tasting. The first one was a dry rose wine. The second one was more sweet. The last one was a dry red. I was not a fan of the red. 

Our wagon mates did opt for the charcuterie board and there was plenty for all of us. This is what is left after we snacked on it. It was a great idea and very tasty. They just need to offer a small version. 

As part of our wine tasting tour, we got a glass of wine after tasting. I opted for the apple wine and Stacy went with the ice wine. The apple was a tart green apple that hit at the end. It was okay.. nothing I would buy.  

Every weekend in late spring, summer, and fall, SoLu has live music. While we sipped our wine, we listened to the music. It's a great concept. Offer Live Music, a food truck, and alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages along with cornhole and people will come. The music was good. I kind of wish we had more time to enjoy it.

Although I'm not a huge fan of the wines, I would go back under the right circumstances.  I think my cousins would like this place. SoLu definitely has a good thing going and I hope they keep it going. It may be out in the country but that is part of the charm. It is definitely worth the drive to check out especially on the weekend.

5034. Do the Door County Wine Trolley Tour

 My cousins always go to Door County every August and depending on my work schedule, I try to meet them up there for a day. Since they like to do wine and alcohol tastings, I thought it would be fun to do the wine trolley. They have never done it and never have I. I gave them the option of doing the regular wine trolley or the wine, beer, and spirits trolley and the chose the later which I was fine by me.

Like the ghost tour trolley that Stacy and I did earlier in the month, the wine, beer, and spirits trolley tour is offered by Door County Trolley. It was an all day event with us leaving at 10 AM and getting back around 3:00 PM with a stop at a winery, a brewery, and distillery along with lunch. We didn't know which winery, distillery, or brewer we were going to until we got on the trolley.  It cost each of us $85 with taxes and fees. 

Our first stop was Harbor Ridge winery. Since the winery is next to Wisconsin Cheese Masters we actually had a wine and cheese pairing outside. We sampled 4 wines, 3 of which was paired with cheese and the fourth a chocolate wine was paired with homemade toffee. It was delicious. 

After our tasting, we had time to explore the wine and cheese shop. We opted to come back to the cheese shop after the tour so we wouldn't have to carry cheese or wine with us all day. While at the wine shop, we opted to split a flight so we could try more wines. We tried Savvy Blonde,  What the Heck? Malbec!, Cherry Crush, and Moo-scato.  Nothing stood out as ooh buy me but they were all very good. The cherry crush was probably my favorite.

Our second stop was Door County Distillery where we tried four different cocktails made with liquors distilled on site. I was glad we had mini cocktails as I am not a fan of straight liquor. The old fashion was good. The Bloody Mary was spicy. The tropical cocktail definitely had a pineapple flavor. 

Like Harbor Ridge, we had time to explore the Distillery and winery after our tasting. Of course, we tasted more wine. We have been to Door Peninsula Winery many times before so this was just a fun tasting. I tried wines I normally don't go for since I really like fruity wines. I tried the cherry Mimosa (meh), White Chaos (definitely would buy), and Rose Soiree (not bad) among others. Jeanne did do a shot at the distillery. Cindy and I passed.

Our last stop was lunch and the brewery. We had lunch at Sonny's Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria. We had to place our orders before hand and it was ready when we got there. I had garbage pizza and just picked off the toppings I didn't like. Jeanne and Cindy split a salad and the Hot Nashville Sandwich. All were very good. We also had a good view of the harbor and ship docks. 

After lunch we went downstairs to Bottoms Up Brewery. We each got a pint glass of beer. None of the choice appealed to me and I picked a bad one. I barely drank any of it. That might had to do with how full from lunch we were and how much we've drank already. None of us really drank our beer.

It was a fun filled day with another great driver. We are talking about the during the Murder and Mayham tour next summer. If you have time in Door County, definitely check out a trolley tour. They are worth the money. 

A Quick Visit to a Meadery

Stacy and I usually try to hit a brewery or a winery on our girls weekend. Due to COVID and where we went this year, our choices were limited. The winery in Ripon wasn't doing tastings but did have live music. We opted to head to Rushford Meadery & Winery in Omro.

Rushford Meadery & Winery is a small winery in an old school building. They grow apples and grapes on the land as well. We were a little shocked when we pulled up to find it was an old school building.

They have about a dozen different meads, wines, and ciders. The tasting included 5 samples. Mead is wine made with honey.

I went with the:

Northern White Pyment -- It was a semi-dry mead with hints of peach and pineapple. It was refreshing but not a must buy.

Aronia Berry Mead -- This was another semi-dry Melomel. It had berries, cherry, blackberry, and current undertones. It was very good.

Cider -- This was a semi-sweet cider with a clean apple finish. It was good and my second favorite.

La Brianna -- This was a sweet wine with a big grape flavor. It was by far my favorite.

Siren's Song -- This was a sweet Pyment. It wasn't bad but I preferred others to this.

The co-owner wasn't too friendly and didn't really engage in chit chat. I felt we were an inconvenience.

There is plenty of room to social distance and wine taste as well as enjoy a class. It was weird though being in a school building.

It was a different stop. I would give them another try with the right group of people. However I would urge you to check them out if you are in the area.

A Missed Turn Leads to Wine Tasting

Since there wasn't much on our agenda to hit in Kenosha, Stacy and I decided to go explore Bong Recreation Area. I've seen the signs for years as we would drive to Illinois and wanted to check it out. Well it didn't have a very clear address and we missed our turn. As we turned down the next road to turn around we saw a sign for AppelTreow Winery. Stacy heard good things about it and we decided to check it out. Why not? A random winery sounded good to me.

Appeltreow Winery is a small winery that produces small batch ciders, perrys, wines, and spirits. It is literally in a barn. The tasting room is probably no bigger than my bathroom but it fits the uniqueness of the winery. The apples came straight from their orchard and other local orchids. Just about everything is fruit based. It is only open seasonal as well. The ciders are all named after birds.

For free, we each got to taste up to five wines, ciders, or spirits with a limit of one spirit. You could taste the entire menu for $10. They do not offer a large selection but just enough of a variety to have something for everyone.

I chose three wines and two flavored ciders. I was advised to stay away from the spirits since I'm not much of one for straight liquor.

My samples included

Cyser Rose -- Crabapple Mead. I found this one a bit dry. It wasn't bad but too dry for my taste. It might have been the crabapples.

Pear Wine.  This was good. It had enough sweetness that I would bring a bottle home if I was looking for some more wine.

Summer's End -- Apple Wine. This was another good choice. It was also on the sweeter side but not too sweet. If I had to choose between the pear and apple wine, I would take the pear for something a little different.

Siskin Scrumpy -- Farmhouse Funky Cider. This was pretty good. I liked the name so that's why we tried it. It is a traditional cider.

Blackbird -- Black Current Elderberry. This was really good. This one would be coming home with me.

If we never missed our turn, we would have never found AppelTreow Winery. I am glad we did and I am glad we postponed girls' weekend until September because it probably wasn't open in June. I would definitely stop again next fall to pick up some wine or cider.

4310. Go to the Wollersheim Winery in Pairie du Sac

While Stacy and I were enjoying custard at Culver's in Sauk City, not the original but on the site of the original, I played around with Google Maps and discovered we were only a short distance from Wollersheim Winery. Since neither of us were quite ready to head home, we decide to head over to Prairie du Sac for a winery tour and tasting.

The grounds of the Wollersheim winery are gorgeous. You walk up past vineyards and can see additional vineyards up the hillside. The original wine cave is on top of the hill. The winery itself is still the original stone structure. It is full of history and charm.There is even fall tree that makes the perfect archway.

We paid $5 for a demi-tour of the winery and a tasting. The tour starts with a short video of the 160 year history of the winery and how hard it is to grow grapes in Wisconsin's harsh winters. After the video, our tour guide, who was still new, led us outside to the vineyards and then into the fermentation and aging rooms. It was very interesting especially when you realize that Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg and Wollersheim are the same winery.

After our tour, we had a wine tasting of 4 wines. First we learned the 4 "S" of wine tasting -- swirl to see the color, smell, sip, and swallow the rest of the wine.

We sampled the following wines:

Prairie Fume -- it wasn't bad but not really my thing

White Riesling -- this one was better but still not fruity enough for me

Domaine du Sac -- being a dry red, this is not my kind of wine. My cousins would like it

Port -- I'm not into Ports -- too sweet and not into sipping my wine

We could have had a glass for $5 but decided against it.

After exploring the wine cave and the grounds a bit more, we made our way down the hill to their new distillery. I am not into straight up spirits and really don't care for tastings at a distilleries for this reason. I did learn that brandy is just distilled wine though. Stacy did do 3 spirit flight tasting. They were still too strong for me.

I am glad we stopped. I would love to come back, grab a glass of wine, sit outside and relax. If you are ever in the Dells/Madison area go check out the winery if nothing else just to see one of the oldest wineries in the state. Besides the wine is good.