I was so enthralled by the tasting journeys with my husband I had to share the enjoyment with my girlfriends, so I gathered together three of my best gals; Lynn, Tanya, and Blenda (oh and Sandy, my GPS) for lunch and wine tasting. We headed into Idaho Wine Country and stopped for lunch at the Orchard House Restaurant in Caldwell, experience has taught me to always go wine tasting with a full belly. The Orchard House is a small charming restaurant on Old Hwy 55 in the middle of three wineries; Bitner, Ste Chapelle and Koenig . They proudly serve Snake River Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area) Wines and their food is delicious, well priced, and filling.
After lunch we headed to Koenig. The name always takes me back to high school German class and I can't resist thinking King in the back of my mind, but it is named after the founders, brothers Andrew and Greg Koenig. Their tasting room is tucked away in the middle of an orchard as well as a vineyard, if it weren't for Sandy I would never have found it. Koenig is unique in the valley because it is also a distillery. The Huckleberry Vodka is a local favorite and I hear their brandies are fabulous (the Cherry Brandy is on my Christmas Wish List for those that need to know ;-)
We weren't the only ones that thought an afternoon of tasting would be fun, as we walked up the stairs we found a buzzing tasting room. There were several couples enjoying the many fruits (and tubers) Koenig has to offer. This tasting room has a special permit to do tastings on their Huckleberry Vodka, which is absolutely divine. I found some drink recipes using flavored vodka on the internet that I plan on trying soon.
My goal when tasting wines is to try everything the winery has to offer, as Hubby puts it “I am not a wine racist”. Tasting wines with my friends is very different from tasting wine with my hubby. When Hubby and I are together we talk about the tastes, what we might eat with it, what we like about it, what we don't like about it, who's varietal is still our favorite or maybe this is our new favorite for that kind of wine. It's all about the discovery. When I'm with my friends there are several different levels of experience with wines, definite likes and dislikes. Lynn and Tanya both prefer the sweeter white wines, especially the ones that make you feel like you're about to go into diabetic shock (in a good way) like Reisling or an Ice Wine. Blenda, like me, will taste all of the wines, but really prefers the bold flavors of the reds. However, when it came to tasting the vodka, we were all up for the adventure and I'm pretty sure several bottles of Huckleberry Vodka followed us home (I know a bottle came home with me).
After Koenig we weren't quite ready to call it a day, so the ladies and I wandered down the highway into Marsing to visit Gina Davis of Davis Creek Cellars. Davis Creek's tasting room is in a small store front and has that coffee shop feel to it. We had the privilege of being the only guests in at the moment. My favorite Davis Creek wine is their 2008 Up a Creek!Syrah. It was a nice quiet, comfortable way to end our afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment