6116. Go to Forgotten Fire Winery in Peshtigo

 I've been wanting to go to Forgotten Fire Winery for a while now. I never found myself up in Marinette county with time to spare to stop by it. The one time I was close, I was by myself and I know me and alcohol so that wasn't going to a be a wise decision. I proposedly added it to vacation so I could finally get there. 

Forgotten Fire Winery is located in Peshtigo, about a mile off I-41. The address technically is Marinette. It is open 10-5 Daily. 

Forgotten Fire Winery is named after the Peshtigo Fire which happened the same night as the Chicago Fire but killed a lot more people. Since it was the same night, it made little news. 

There have a variety of wines, meads, and ciders all made on site. They even have a homemade root beer. For $8, you get 4 samples.

I went with

Blackberry Burglar -- I am still in search of a good blackberry since I don't get to AZ enough to stock up on my favorite wine and who knows if they even carry it since it has now been sold and rebranded. This one was good... still not as good as Basil's but not too wine-y. It was good enough to bring home and try again. 

Mad Badger -- This is their cherry wine and it tasted like cough medicine. It was not my favorite. 

Hot Mess -- I tried this one just because I liked the name. It was too dry for me but still better than Mad Badger.

Walleye Oughta -- This was a lemon wine. I only tried it because it was sounded intriguing. I should have tried the Pink Hot Mess instead. It wasn't bad but it definitely could have been better. Lemon and grapes definitely didn't mix well for me. It was just a weird flavor combination.

Over all it was a good tasting. I would like to go back and try the root beer or at least stop and pick some up.

If you are headed to Michigan, I would recommend stopping for a some wine at Forgotten Fire and then head into town to check out the Fire Museum. 

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. 

5389. Hit all the wineries on the Door County Wine Trail -- Door 44 Winery

 I had great plans at hitting all the Door County Wine Trail wineries by my 46th birthday. Since my cousins didn't make their annual trip to Door County this year, I knew it wasn't happening. I only had 4 wineries to go and I figured I could knock off Door 44 Winery on our trip for cherries and apples since my cousins have been there before.

Door 44 Winery is a branch of the Parallel 44 Winery in Kewaunee. It is located North of Sturgeon Bay off of Hwy 42. It is open daily 10-6. I wanted to stop on way to Jorn's Sugar Bush but we got a late start so I convinced the hubby to stop on the way home. It is $10 for 4 samples

When you enter Door 44 Winery, a hostess will give you a run down of the winery and the wine tasting. I found it all very stuffy and pretentious. I was just there to try some wine and check it off my list. They are known for their Ice Wines.

I went to the bar and made my selections of wines. Many of the wines on the list were on the dry side and had no fruit wines. Definitely not my kind of winery. 

I struggled to find 4 wines to samples. I went with the following

Frozen Tundra White which is a semi-sweet wine that has tropical fruit undertones. It was too dry for me. 

Frozen Tundra Original which is a semi-sweet Rose with ac citrus finish. It is their biggest seller. It was better than the Frozen Tundra White but still too dry for me.

Frozen Tundra Red which is a semi-sweet red. For a red, it wasn't bad. I just didn't like it well enough to buy a bottle. I would probably have a glass if I would go back.

Pink Frosting which is a sweet rose peaches and apple notes. It was actually the best I tasted but I won't drink a whole bottle. It would be another one that I might have a glass of if I came back with a group.

Door 44 was not my favorite winery on the Door County Wine Trail. My cousins and Andrea said the same thing. However don't let our opinions stop you from trying it. It is a popular winery but just not my style.

7 down, 3 more to go to complete the Door County Wine Trail. Maybe I will get it before I turn 50. 

5389. Hit all the wineries on the Door County Wine Trail -- Lautenbach's Orchard Country Winery & Market

I have been to Lautenbach's many times. I may have even did wine tasting on my first trip there back in 2012. That was a whirl wind trip of fun and snacking I don't remember if we did the wine tasting or just sampled snacks. To properly ensure I have tasted their wines, I was bound and determined on our yearly cherries and apple run to do their wine tasting. 

Lautenbach's Orchard Country Winery and Market is located on Hwy 42 just south of Fish Creek. It is open daily during fall and summer and Thursday-Monday during the off season. It is wildly popular for cherries and apples. They even have a cherry pit spitting zone too. That is fun.

The wine tasting is in the back of the main barn. For $5 you can choose 5 samples for your flight or $10 for you can get 5 regular wines/ciders. The problem is there is at least 40-50 different wines and ciders to sample so to pick 5 is tough. I didn't realize there was a back side of the sheet, despite it saying more on the back, so I ended up doing two tastings.

The first tasting I went with

Cherry Riesling -- This was a semi dry wine. It definitely was on the drier side. Not a huge fan

Cherry Blossom -- This was a semi-sweet cherry wine. It wasn't bad but I have a favorite cherry so it is hard to find other cherry ones I like

Lingonberry -- This was my first adventure into Swedish lingonberries. I would have a glass but definitely not worth buying an entire bottle

Autumn Harvest -- This was an apple cranberry blend. It wasn't bad but I am on a mission to find a really good apple wine. This was not it.

Cranberry -- It is cranberry wine. It didn't wow me. I would have a glass but again nothing I would buy a bottle of.

The second tasting I went with

Bing Cherry -- This was good but Cherry Bounce was still better. I contemplating getting a bottle but I still had a bottle of Cherry Bounce.

Pear -- This was quite tasty. I might have bought a bottle if it was for the pear cider.

Honeycrisp Apple -- It's a decent apple. Still not the really good apple that I'm looking for. I would drink this again. 

Hard Core Apple -- This was a hard apple cider. It was okay. Not anything spectacular.

Pebble Beach Pear -- The hubby tried this one first and was like you will like it. This was my favorite of the day. We bought a bottle of this. I can't wait to bust it open. 

Overall it was a fun tasting. It would be more fun with a few friends and not the hubby. I would definitely recommend this tasting to a beginner wine drinker as well as a seasoned wine snob. They have something for everyone. 

I now have visited 6 of the 10 Door County Wine Trail Wineries. 4 to go.. The goal is to get them completed by my 46th birthday in November. I have Door 44, Lake Fire, Red Oak, and Stone Throw's Winery left. Might be a challenge. I may have to push it back to my 50th birthday. 

Let's Go Wine Tasting -- Wild Hills Winery

 Besides Taliesin, my cousins wanted to go wine tasting. I am always up for wine tasting. I gave them a list of wineries near Taliesin and let them decide which one we would visit. They tossed around the idea of heading down towards New Glarus but decided it wasn't really worth it. They opted to visit Wild Hills Winery.

Wild Hills Winery is in Muscoda, which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Even it has a Muscoda address, it is in the boonsticks. Wild Hills is a fitting name as you need to take hilly, curvy roads to get there. I think we were in Richland County not Iowa or Grant Counties. It is all very rural and hard to determine which county you are actually in. The winery is open Thursday-Sunday starting at noon. 

Since they tout on being an Agri-Tourism business, the winery is in an old barn. They have 17 different wines to taste. You can taste 6 wines for $7 or get a flight for $14. We opted for the tasting. We were the only people in the small winery. 

I choose

Driftless Sunset -- A Semi-Sweet Orange wine. It definitely had orange under tones. I wasn't overly impressed.

La Crosse -- A semi-Sweet White with notes of pear. This one wasn't bad. It was probably one of my favorites of the day.

Wild Meadow White -- A sweet tropical white. It was definitely too tropical for me

Apple Cranberry -- This one wasn't too bad either. Cranberry was the bigger flavor.

Apple Blackcurrant -- This wasn't bad. If I had to pick, I would go with the apple cranberry.

Wild Irish Girl -- I think this is the one we all tried which we saved to the end. It was bad but it was definitely too sweet for my cousins.

None of the wines wowed us enough to bring home. Our wine cabinets are overflowing with wine so we need to be selective on what we buy until we start knocking off some of what we each have. 

Even though it is it the boonsticks and the roads are an adventure, this is probably one of the few wineries in the area. If you find yourself at Taliesin or the House on the Rock, take a detour and check out Wild Hills Winery if you have the time. It is worth a stop for some good wine and chocolates. 

5389. Hit all the wineries on the Door County Wine Trail -- Anchored Roots

 It doesn't surprise me that Door County has a wine trail. The Door is full of wineries. I decided I want to go to them all. I have already been to several: Door Peninsula, Harbor Ridge, Simon Creek, and Von Stiehl. Now it's time to visit the other 6. I told my cousins for either an early or belated 45 birthday celebration, I wanted to hit all the wineries in Door County that I've not yet been to. Since they didn't go this year, it will have to be a belated 45 celebration. This gives a whole year to knock off a couple more.

The first winery that I decided to visit was one I never heard of. My cousin asked if I got up to Door County, if I would stop and get them a bottle of wine at Anchored Roots. I did know such a winery existed. I even asked Andrea who never heard of it. It is a newer winery just outside of Egg Harbor. It was founded in 2020. They are open 11-5 Wednesday-Monday. 

I wasn't planning on doing a tasting at Anchored Roots. I literally went in for a bottle. While I was waiting, I found out if I bought a bottle the tasting is free. I wasn't driving so it was a great plan. Free wine for buying a bottle. Tastings are normally $10 for 5 tastes. You can also get flights. 

They have 14 different wines to pick from on a laminated sheet. I had a tough time deciding on 5 wines because there were not a lot of fruity wines. It was definitely of a more developed palate type winery. I still love my fruit wines.  

I tried

2020 Rose -- which is dry rose. I don't mind rose but this one was definitely on the drier side. I'm still a sweet wine girl. It wasn't bad but not my favorite.

2023 The Ledge Rose -- This was an off-dry rose. It was better than the straight rose but still too dry for me.

2022 Riesling -- This was a bonus sample since the guy accidentally poured it for me. I wasn't complaining. Free wine is free wine. This actually turned out to be my favorite. It was nice and refreshing. I was tempted to get a bottle but not sure if anyone else would like it.

2023 Frontenac Gris -- This was a fruiter white wine with hints of pineapple and fruit cocktail. I got hints of the fruit but definitely too tropical for me. I am seriously picky of what wines I like lately.

2023 La Crescent -- This one is another semi-sweet white with hints of orange. I definitely got hints of orange. It was alright but not a huge fan.

2022 Petite Pearl -- This was a dry red with hints of blackberry. By the time I got here, I could remember what I was tasting anymore. Everything blended together. It didn't really stand out.

I did pick up my cousins' bottle of Chardonnay. They do have some pretty bottles.

I was not a huge fan of the place but I have a simple wine palate. Maybe it will grow on me one day or maybe Basil has turned me into a fruit wine snob. If your wine palate is more sophisticated, this is definitely a place for you. I would definitely check it out either way as they are a nice winery and you can sit outside and enjoy a glass or flight. Definitely not a pretentious place. 

7262. Have dandelion wine

 When we were in the Amana Colonies in March, we stopped at the Village Winery. I sampled a bottle of dandelion wine. I decided to pick up a small bottle for a girls get together. 

I chilled the wine for a few days beforehand. We also had ice on hand to keep it chilled.

The bottle was a screw top which was perfect for our get together. 

I don't remember my sample being so sickeningly sweet. It was very sweet. Janis, who likes sweet wines, said it was too sweet for her. Danielle, surprisingly, liked it but she had dandelion wine before. I was indifferent to it. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. It was just very sweet. 

Danielle said she remembers having homemade dandelion wine from the bathtub. That stuff had a kick. Guess I will need to add have homemade dandelion wine to the bucket list. 

I'm glad I only got the small bottle otherwise I would have way too much dandelion wine to finish myself. It was definitely not what I remembered and probably not get it again. 

2459. Visit the Amana Colonies in Amana

 Planning a road trip with the hubby is always fun. I must check every bridge to make sure it isn't too high. I have to check freeway interchanges to make sure they flyover ramps aren't too high. I have to make sure there aren't any crazy switchback through the mountains. Sometimes I miss something or Googlemaps hasn't caught up to the construction yet. The latter is how we discovered the hubby doesn't like the flyover ramp going from I-80 East to 380 North and we now needed to avoid that interchange. I realized by going to the Amana Colonies, we can afford the interchange and it adds 5-10 minutes to drive. That's how I convinced the hubby to go to the Amana Colonies on our way home this year.

The Amana Colonies were German communal villages that started in the mid 1850s. Everything was shared among villagers. Life continued this way until the Great Depression. Today they welcome visitors into their community and their stores to learn about the past and enjoy their stores and restaurants.

Knowing we only had a little time to explore, I wanted to go to the Chocolate Haus and maybe the general store both were in Amana. The hubby initially wasn't too thrilled about going but once we got there, he definitely showed some more interest. We ended stopping at several places in Amana. All the buildings are German style buildings. There are parking lots by some of the buildings otherwise public parking down various streets. 

Chocolate Haus -- The chocolate store. We had samples of homemade caramels which were very good. They had many good treats that it was hard to decide what to get. I played it safe and got a truffle. The hubby got a truffle and a bag of caramels. There was fudge, truffles, chocolate covered cherries, peanut butter cups just to name a few.

Bakery and Coffee Cafe -- I am a sucker for a good bakery. Their baked goods looked amazing but the hubby was being cheap and refused to pay $5 for a single treat. Little does he know that most cafes that is about the going rate. A whole pie was like $15. The cookies were reasonable but nothing special. I felt bad for leaving without buying anything. 

Amana General Store -- This is your typical general store. It has a wide variety of items including local made food products and a whole wall of cookie cutters. There was even an entire Christmas store on the one side of the building. There was plenty I wanted to buy but wasn't sure what I would actually like. The hubby was far less impressed than I was with the general store. Apparently he needed to go on vacation with mom and dad as a kid and experience the general stores of the south to truly appreciate a good general store.

Amazing Grace Antiques and Gifts -- Antique stores are big in the Amana Colonies. Neither the hubby  nor I are big antique shoppers but we wandered in this one just to see what they had. They also were a soap store and you could buy many scented bars of soap. The smell was not overwhelming which was surprising.  

Village Winery -- I really wanted to hit a winery in the Amana Colonies as there are several fruit wineries. I figured the hubby really wasn't into wine tasting but he was like we are here so we might as well stop. Nothing like a little wine tasting at 11 AM. I sampled about 6 different flavors of their fruit wine. The cranberry was a surprising favorite. I even tried dandelion wine which was also good. The apple was sweet but that might have been because it wasn't chilled. A good apple wine is hard to find. Basil has ruined any other blackberry wine but his. The rhubarb wasn't bad. I did come home with 3 small bottles of wine. 

Amana Meat Shop and Smokehouse -- The hubby wanted to stop here. I am glad we did. We picked up some summer sausage and ring bologna. They even had knockwurst but $16 it was staying in the colonies. Everything looked good though.

We had a good, short visit to the Amana Colonies. The hubby says he wants to visit all seven villages. Since it's only about 4.5 hours from us (still closer than going to the Apostle Islands), it is easy to get to. I'm sure we will be back and explore more of the shops. Personally I think March was a perfect time to visit. It wasn't too crowded, parking was easy, and there was plenty of things to do. If you have never been, check them out when passing through Central Iowa.