Two Wine Chics on a Quest

Go Football!

It's Super Bowl Weekend!!! I'd be a lot more excited if my team (the Green Bay Packers) was in the game, but at least this way I can relax and enjoy the commercials and snacks.

Snacks need wine of course, and here are some great pairings for traditional football food:

German style summer sausage - try a German style wine, like Riesling or perhaps a Missouri Vignoles. Go dryer for mild sausage, and sweeter for more spicy varieties.

Mixed nuts - a light bodied, fruity dry to semi-dry red is great. Wenwood's Century Farm would be perfect.

Fresh veggies & dip - crisp and citrusy with a hint of fresh mowed grass, a Sauvignon Blanc is yummy. From Missouri, a Vidal or Seyval is a good choice.

Popcorn - a personal favorite of mine, because it pairs wonderfully with bubbly! I good Brut is ideal.

Hot wings - a good sweet white will really balance out the heat in the wing sauce. Try Peaceful Bend's Sweet River White.

And of course, the traditional wine pairing - cheese! Mix and match to find your favorites; it's hard to go wrong in this category.

Happy Trills and Go Football!

Laura

 

 

Need A Laugh?

If you are on any type of social media, you've probably already run across someecard.com.  If you haven't seen it though, it's a fun site where you pick out a design, add your own text, and then email or post the resulting card.  It's quick, easy, and entertaining.  And boy are people creative when it comes to captions for those pictures!

Here are 5 of my recent favorite wine or alcohol themed cards:

I hope these gave you a smile today!

Happy Trills,

Katie

Tree Love

My quest today went only as far as the shed where I feed my cats. But as I was walking out there on this insanely warm January day, I looked up in the tree by my sidewalk and saw this:

It's fungus, in the shape of a heart. I promise, this is not photoshopped into this shape, it was just there. So, I'm guessing... early Valentine's Day greetings? The tree loves this warm weather?? Who knows. But I think this may need to go on a wine label some day. You know, like for "Fungus Love Red" or something. Or not. But it was the definitely the most interesting thing I saw today, so I just had to share.

Happy Trills,

Laura

Welcome to Bland, MO

Well, I haven't been out questing too much this January, but I thought I might give you a little extra encouragement to make the quest to the home of Wenwood Farm Winery. We are located in the rural postal route of Bland, Missouri. Yep. Bland.

How, you ask, does a town anywhere get a name like Bland? So glad you inquired. You see, back in the mid to late 1800's, a gentleman named Richard P. Bland was a congressman (and presidential candidate) from Lebanon, Missouri, who was an advocate of retaining both a silver and gold standard in our monetary system, to protect "the common man" and silver miners. This stance earned him the nickname "Silver Dick." Yep. Silver Dick.

You can't make this stuff up. Here is the Wikipedia article.

Up until a few years ago, and I'm really not sure when they were removed, there were signs in Bland recognizing Silver Dick and welcoming travelers to our fair village. Here's one:

There was another one (I can't find a picture of anywhere) that read "Welcome to Bland, Home of Richard P. 'Silver Dick' Bland" with a really cool old old timey picture of him, similar to this one. Aren't they awesome??? Such a kick, and honestly, just about the only way that a tiny town named Bland could make it on the map. There was even a summer festival called "Silver Dick Days." That's the kind of festival I'd make a quest to, just to see what the heck it was all about.

But alas for Silver Dick and the town, apparently (as rumor has it) someone clued in the good ladies of Bland as to the somewhat inappropriate nature of the name Silver Dick in the modern vernacular, and the signs came down and Silver Dick Days was renamed Bland Heritage Days. Yep. Bland Heritage. 

I don't know if that story is true, and apologies to any good ladies of Bland who thought this was a good idea, but dang, I wish I knew what had happened to those signs. I've even considered reviving (the now defunct) "Silver Dick Days" as a festival at the winery. Could be fun, huh? But as it stands, the only homage left to good old Silver Dick is the Silver Dick Apartments building.

So, now that you know the interesting and unique history of the town of Bland, Missouri, home of Wenwood Farm Winery, perhaps you'll have one more reason to head out our way. Just be sure to check a map first; we are about eight miles from the actual town of Bland. And as if the awesome wine wasn't enough.

Happy Trills!

Laura

 

Thursday (and Friday) Freebie

January 24 & 25th you can get a free copy of this book for your kindle or PC.  Click on over to Amazon to get your copy!

I'm still getting over my cold, so I don't have too much for you today unfortunately. But here's a fun picture I found online this week:

Hope everyone has a wonderful (and healthy!) weekend!

Happy Trills,

Katie

January - Blah

Apparently, Laura has taken the week off.

I've been completely out of whack this week and just can't seem to keep anything organized! This usually happens to me in mid-January. The lack of sunshine and the post-holiday let down just puts me in a funk. I know this happens to a lot of people so I hope you all understand. (And at least I'm not sick, like poor Katie.)

Anyway, here's a smiley sun to brighten up these short, gloomy days, with apologies for my inattention to TWCQ. A few quests are probably what I need. My father always called a rainbow-y looking thing near the sun (like in the smile in this photo) a sun dog, and it meant colder weather. Colder I don't mind; just going to take advantage of any sunshine we have, and get out in it one way or another. I'll keep you posted, and in the meantime, stay happy and healthy all!

Happy Trills,

Laura

A Sore Throat Could Use This....

Maybe because I'm sick on the couch, maybe because something cold sounds perfect to soothe my throat, maybe because it's just such an original idea, but for whatever reason I think I need me some 'o this influenza sorbet!  The flavor is based on a grandmother's home flu remedy - a blend of ginger, cayenne, whiskey and other spices to cure whatever ails you.  Even if what you need to cure is just a sweet tooth!

Of course, at $12 a pint, it's probably a good thing I'm too sick to get up and go get my credit card.

What crazy ice cream flavor(s) have you tried lately?

Happy Trills,

Katie

 

Out Sick

Sorry to miss my quest post yesterday.  The only place I've headed out to this past week is the pharmacy for cold meds though!  Laura's headed out to the Augusta area wineries this afternoon with a group of friends, so she'll have some neat things to share later this week, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, I'll work on minimizing these oversized sinuses!  Anyone out there have good remedies for sinus congestion?  So far, I've eaten a teaspoon of honey twice a day, tea with lemon, saline nasal spray, and a decongestant/antihistamine recommended by the phramacist, and hooking up the vacuum cleaner to my nostrils.

O.k., just joking on that last one, but I have seriously considered it as an option!

I hope you are all healthy this week.  Go on a quest for me!

Happy Trills,

Katie

Understanding Wine Labels: Part 2

On Tuesday I posted the first in a series about wine labels.  I focused on the front label for that entry, and today I'll focus on the back label.

To start though, not all wineries include a back label.  If they have included all the legally required information on the front label, then they might choose to forego the expense of a second label on the bottle.  

But the back label gives a winery a way to include whatever legal information that wouldn't fit on the front, plus extra room to give you a description of the winery and/or the wine.  Generally, the back label is where you'll want to look for a more in-depth understanding of the wine in the bottle.

Here's an example of Wenwood's back label, followed by the Peaceful Bend's back label:

You can see on that both labels have the winery's name and the wine name on the back label.  Plus, we both added a description of the wine and information about our respective wineries.  Laura even has a convenient map to Wenwood on her back label.  This is all information that isn't legally required, but we hope helps you as you decide which bottle of wine to purchase.

Wineries are legally required to have the following information somewhere on our labels:

• 'produced & bottled by...' statement, 
• 'contains sulfites' statement, 
• alcohol content, 
• bottle size, 
• and the surgeon general's warning. 

While all of this information is required by federal law, the exact placement isn't dictated to us.  So you might see much of that information on the front or the back. Speaking of legal info....currently we are not required to have nutritional information available on our labels, but that might change in the future.

And jumping back to non-required information - you might also find a bar code and/or a QR code on the back label.  The barcode is pretty much a requirement for wines that are sold in major retailers and grocery stores these days.  The QR code is nice for customers with smartphones, as you can go directly to the winery website to find out more information about the wine before you purchase it.

Of course most wineries will be sure to include their website addresses on the back label too, even if they already have a QR code.  You might also find other bits and pieces of information that the winery feels you might like to know.....did anyone notice who the artist was for Wenwood's Kran Rose?  

That's right - Laura herself!  She is one multi-talented lady.

I hope today's post helped you navagate the back label on a wine.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Trills,

Katie

 

 

Tractor-tini!

I have a great new cocktail recipe! One of our most popular wines is Creek Bed Red, a traditional sweet red that is a concord and catawba blend (mostly concord.) It is well known as "tractor wine," due to the antique tractor stuck in the creek bed mud on the label. So here we go, a martini style drink with just a touch of fruit juice. Shake it up!

 

Tractor-tini

2 oz. Creek Bed Red Sweet Red
 Wine

1 oz. vodka


1/2 oz. cranberry juice


1/2 oz. lime juice

Fill your shaker with ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake until cold. Strain into a martini glass & garnish with a lime. Cheers!

Happy Trills,

Laura