I love fall. Beautiful colors, cool evenings, bright blue skies, spooky Halloween, traditional Thanksgiving.
I love the retail business. Providing a great product, helping people get the perfect thing for their needs, chatting with customers, creating beautiful displays and choosing fun merchandise.
I hate retail corporate conglomerates. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. As I was walking around our local Wal-Mart last week preparing for the weekend at the winery, I was crushed to see the Christmas items going out. This was still September, mind you. On top of that, I wanted to buy some pretty fall napkins - nope, not gonna happen. Apparently, those must be purchased in, like, June.
So I've decided to stand in protest. I WILL NOT, under any circumstances, play that game any more. Halloween parties are a great time to have wine!!!! I want to welcome in this fun holiday in it's own right. Even more importantly, I'm going to make a big deal out of Thanksgiving. After all, Thanksgiving is a time to gather around the table, enjoying family and friends with good food. It is the perfect wine holiday, and often completely overshadowed by Christmas (mind you, I love Christmas - in December.) So as a winery and retail business, I'm determined to embrace Thanksgiving to its full potential.
I haven't worked out the details in my head yet, but every weekend in November before Thanksgiving I'm going to plan some sort of Wenwood wine and Thanksgiving food pairing to share with everyone, to help you pick the perfect wine - or wines! - for your autumn table. Whatever you are serving - traditional turkey? Try our Country Estate White. But you love reds? Maybe something a bit lighter and fruit forward, like a Chambourcin - especially good with a smoked turkey. One of my favorite family stories is about the Thanksgiving when Tom and I served about 30 friends and relatives in our big old country farmhouse. We'd just opened the winery a year or two before this, and Tom (hubby/winemaker guy) was playing sommelier and pouring different Wenwood wines for everyone as they made their way to the table. We had a buffet line set up, and some of the guests had gone back through for seconds before he was done pouring, and when he got through the line - gasp!!! - there was no stuffing left. The horror!!!! As of that year, we have always, no matter how many people at dinner, had our Kran Rose' for Thanksgiving dinner, so that Tom is sure to get his fair share of stuffing. Thankfully (pun intended,) it is a very appropriate choice, a white grape blend that is infused with a hint of cranberry.
So count on Wenwood to keep our autumn decorations up until after Thanksgiving Day, to offer advice on wine and food pairings, traditional or otherwise, and to give Thanksgiving, Halloween, and autumn the respect they all deserve.
And thanks for letting me vent.
Happy Trills!
Laura
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