WINNER - Carmen Howard! Please email for tickets.
The Philly Showcase of Wine and Cheese has asked us to spread the word, and are offering a free pair of tickets to two lucky readers who will have the opportunity to attend this amazing event, a $100 value. Not only will you get to gorge on hundreds of cheeses and wines, there is live music, gourmet food tastings, and a silent auction. Even better, the proceeds go to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia. Win win! If you don't get lucky enough to win, I highly encourage you to grab some tickets and take a date. Or just go by yourself and wear sweat pants. Either way, you will have a blast, and experience vino-lacto overload. I'll also be there, so who knows, you might get to meet Philly Phoodie, in the flesh!
Contest details:
Who - one winner will get two tickets to The Philly Showcase of Wine and Cheese (April 8, 2016 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center)
When - the contest will run from the time of posting (today 2/22) through Friday, February 26 at 12PM Noon ET
How - leave a comment on this post letting us know your favorite wine and/or cheese memory (eg- a time you had some amazing cheese at a dairy, that time you drank high end wine out of a Spaniards navel, etc)
How to Win - all valid comments (no spam) will be given a number and the winner chosen at random
Don't forget - if you comment anonymously, email me your contact info so I can get in touch if you are the lucky winner
Good luck!
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43 comments:
My favorite wine experience came in college. Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show was just gaining popularity to the mainstream. To me and my roommate, he was our god, and we were his disciples. There was a particular episode where he celebrated Calcotada, a Spanish feast after the onion harvest in the summer. The Spaniards char the onions over dried grape vines, dip them in romesco sauce and drink copious amounts of red wine. What made the episode so memorable was not just the shear amount of wine they drank, but what they used to drink the wine. The Spanish have a wine decanter they call a Porron. It looks a lot like many wine decanters, however, there is a long spout on it that they pour the wine from into each others mouths. After seeing this, I quickly scurried to my computer and to Amazon.com to purchase one of these incredible chalices. A few days later it arrived at our door. We opened the box and it seemed as if there was glowing light emanating from it as we gazed upon our new drinking vessel. We were lucky to have 4 very good looking young ladies as neighbors, and invited them over to partake in the Porron's maiden voyage that evening. White girls love red wine so it was an easy sell... We proceeded to go about the evening guzzling Malbec through the spout of the Porron. The Porron became the highlight of every party we threw from that day forward. Fond memories indeed.
My favorite wine experience was during my first wine tasting at a winery in Peddler's Village. My group was educated on food pairings via cupcake samplings with our wine. I was also enlightened to a style of wine I had never tried before, Beaujolais Nouveau. It was the first red wine my now wife had actually enjoyed!
The time I went to a rare vintage wine tasting party and liked the cheapest wine.
My husband and I took a 6-week intensive wine class together about 15 years ago and the instructor was the most knowledgeable person we had ever met. We learned so much from him. He could blind taste a wine and tell you the grape, the region, the year, what the weather was like during the harvest season and which direction the vines were facing. I'm pretty sure he could also tell what the harvesters ate for lunch and whether they had on sunglasses that day! He also taught us about food pairings to bring out specific elements of the wine. He introduced us to wines that we still drink today.
My husband and I took a 6-week intensive wine class together about 15 years ago and the instructor was the most knowledgeable person we had ever met. We learned so much from him. He could blind taste a wine and tell you the grape, the region, the year, what the weather was like during the harvest season and which direction the vines were facing. I'm pretty sure he could also tell what the harvesters ate for lunch and whether they had on sunglasses that day! He also taught us about food pairings to bring out specific elements of the wine. He introduced us to wines that we still drink today.
My fondest wine memory was from Mothers Day 2014. I organized a wine tour through several wineries in south jersey for my mom, mother in law, and I. It was one of the few times we could relax and enjoy each other's company without worrying about kids/cleaning/entertaining/etc during a family function. Sadly, my mother in law passed unexpectedly a couple months after this outing, but this memory always puts a smile on my face and I will cherish it forever.
With my wife and another couple at our home. Many bottles of wine and many types of cheese.
We moved to Philly in the dead of winter 2008 without knowing anyone. Our first weekend we ventured out on a cold afternoon and found ourselves in DiBruno Brothers on Chestnut St. Another couple was having a great chat with a cheese monger, and we joined in. We ended up spending several hours getting a world tour of cheeses and making friends. Before we left (with WAY too much cheese for two people) the cheese mongers clued us in to the fact that they have a byob license. So, the next weekend we came back with our new friends and a few bottles of wine. We repeated this for a few months before our cheese monger friend got a new job, but it was amazing to stand around in the shop getting a bit toasted and eating cheese. Best secret byob in town!
I remember my first attempt at wine tasting. It was at a the beginning of a seasonal job at a fishing lodge in Alaska. The wine rep brought out about 20 bottles. I was unfamiliar with the concept of simply "tasting" and possibly still am. He did some heavy pouring and I did some heavy tasting. In hindsight I now realize what the spit bucket was for. While fairly sure I didn't even make it through the whites, I am quite certain I don't remember what a single one tasted like. The liquid collage of chaos in my stomach caused me to bow out pretty early in the night and head back to our harbor-front cabin. The back half of the house hung over the water at high tide. At some point in the night after everyone's return home I felt compelled to run to the back window of the house and firehose the menagerie of chardonnay, riesling and zinfandel into the water below. After the fifth heave I felt compelled to triumphantly announce "first one to puke into the ocean!." My wine sophistication has yet to increase.
Oh, and I probably ate some cheese that night.
My favorite memory of wine and cheese is...actually, I dont remember - but it was great.
I was upgraded to the Concorde from New York and London and they served an amazing stilton and vintage port.
My favorite wine and cheese memory dates back to a recipe my mom used to make for us on a weekly basis growing up. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either. We ate a lot of chicken patties. She would melt a few chunks of Velveeta in a saucepan, add a little bit of milk to loosen it up, and she'd finish with a heavy poor of cream Sherry to finish the sauce. She'd serve our plates with a patty drizzled liberally with the sauce, a side of brocolli and whatever the starch was that night. Halfway through the meal, my brother and I would re-up on our sauce and towards the end, everything would be swimming in that delectable sauce. It was amazing. I've made it for myself as an adult, and yes, it is as good (if not better) than I'd remembered it.
My favorite wine moment was when I received a bottle of wine at my holiday party two years ago. I was newer to liking wine, so I wasn't aware of the differences between them. Well one night, I brought that bottle over a girlfriend's house for a vent session. We drank that bottle like it was water, complimenting its taste. I decided to look it up so I could buy another bottle for our next time. I almost fell to the floor when I saw the numbers for one bottle! I thought I was having a vision problem. Well, let's just say I bought another bottle, but it is no longer a bottle I share. I now use it as a gift to myself when I am in need of a white and having a party for one.
My favorite wine memory is from an exchange trip from high school to France. I was underage in the U.S. obviously, but was free to have whatever wine I wanted while outside of Paris. We did a chateau tour. One of the chateaus we visited had been converted to a vineyard and museum. It was surrounded by a large-ish lake. I bought my first bottle of wine and sipped it with friends while paddling around the lake in a row boat. It just felt so fancy and so FRENCH, that it was just wonderful and decadent, and definitely my favorite!
Amazing little winery in Alsace, France, picturesque village with a big group of fellow students. It was a fantastic ice breaker and we closed the place down.
My favorite wine and cheese memory would have to be on my first visit to France back in 1995. I was a super small town girl, pizza and salad sort, visiting the South of France for my honeymoon. Sitting by the Mediterranean Sea I cautiously ordered my lunch, a salad au Chevre chaud...and we shared a bottle of Rose..very typical in the south in the warmer months. The warm cheese on the perfectly toasted bread was divine and the clear sky, blue water..I was giddy from the wine. My mouth was awash in new flavors. It was the first of many new wine and cheese and food pairings ..never hesitated after that and rarely have I been disappointed by wine and cheese. Love at first bite.
Hands down, my favorite wine & cheese experience was when I was visiting Lyon, France several years ago. Wandering throughout one of the large marketplaces there, I came across a delightfully quaint charcuterie bar. It seated ~10 people maximum, and offered various meat, cheese, & wine menus. My family and I settled on a full meat-cheese (and bread)-wine pairing, and it was absolutely phenomenal. Up until that point, I had never truly experienced how the perfectly chosen wine & food pairing can complement each other so well that each one's flavors are ridiculously heightened. We ended up just having cheese, meat, and wine for lunch because we couldn't stop ourselves.
My favorite wine memory was when my Mother and I attended a wine and cheese paring in Philadelphia. We were running late per usual, but our Sommelier was incredibly kind once we arrived. We don't spend as much time as we used to due to our schedules, but the best part about the experience was finally agreeing on a bottle of wine that we both enjoy. She typically like dry wines while I prefer sweeter ones.
Although I have many amazing wine memories my favorite would have to be from 2005 when I was in Italy with my dad and grandmother. After spending the day in Mulan with my cousins we went back to our family farm where my aunt and uncle brought out homemade wine and cheese. We spent the evening sitting on the veranda eating homemade pasta, tasting fresh cheeses, and picking which homemade wine was our favorite. It was a great time spent with great family!
I have recently gotten into different wines by going to wine festivals at various vineyards in NJ and PA. I have met so many friendly people and I'm learning more about the different types of wine and which ones I prefer!
My favorite wine and cheese moment was in Boston at the 2015 wine expo at the seaport! It was Valentine's Day weekend. I tried wines from all over and was introduced to jam jar's sweet Shiraz and my favorite pecorino cheese which they paired with an apricot jam. It was so much fun and so delicious! ��
I never was a fan of wine until recently the fire company I was apart of help a wine festival every year as a fundraiser and my best friend is a huge wine drinker. Well I decided she knows my taste, what I like best, etc and I gave it a try. Now I'm buying bottles to stock up on, and exploring different tastes and foods to eat it with! I don't have just 1 favorite experience though, I have multiple, like the time my best friend and I drank 2 bottles of wine (one from Sand Castle Winery and the other from Chadds Ford) while watching the Bachelor and we bought a mix of many different cheeses to go with it. Another was during the winter storm of Jonas my best friend and I hung out because we got 3 feet of snow. But the most memorable experience was my first time going to a winery, we went to Happy Valley Winery and trying multiple types, sitting outside and drinking Sweet Cayuga wine, and munching on some green grapes and mixed cheeses.
I remember trying an entire cheese spread while in CLos Cabos. Overlooking the Sea of Cortez and watching the whales play in the distance. It was amazing.
Easy, one year a bit before graduation we had a wine and cheese get together as seniors that went way over the top. We were all told the hosts would have plenty of cheese and some wine to start off with and to bring something small if we wanted. No one payed attention to that last bit - at all. In the end I'm pretty sure we had more bottles of nice wine than attendees and by the next day I couldn't even tell anyone ate any cheese there was so much leftover. Needless to say it turned into a weekend long wine & cheese binge and we all gained ten pounds each. There was a pool involved at some point but I don't really remember but I'm 95% sure no wine glasses were harmed in the making of this memory.
Actually at the Boys and Girls Club Wine and Cheese event two years ago... being able to go back for seconds, thirds, etc. of the best wine I've ever tasted, Dick Vermeil's Cabernet!
My favorite wine and cheese experience was at Dartmouth College. A Greek house, Amarna, is famous for its annual wine and cheese party. It's all home made it organic and oh my God, it's tasty!
My most memorable time was probably the first wine and cheese tasting I went to that a friend of mine held. We were all about a 2 or 3 years out of college and still figuring out our lives. It was really fun time tasting different wines thateach if us had bought and tasting different cheese. Probably one of the first times it really hit me that I was in the adult world. This was definitely not something I did in college. It's also when I found my love of parmesean cheese. The real stuff not the kraft stuff.
My most memorable time was probably the first wine and cheese tasting I went to that a friend of mine held. We were all about a 2 or 3 years out of college and still figuring out our lives. It was really fun time tasting different wines thateach if us had bought and tasting different cheese. Probably one of the first times it really hit me that I was in the adult world. This was definitely not something I did in college. It's also when I found my love of parmesean cheese. The real stuff not the kraft stuff.
My best wine and cheese pairing was a Clos Haut Peraguey 1995 from Sauternes with a Roquefort on a nice toast. This is the best pairing ever !
My favorite wine and cheese experience was while I lived abroad last year. A friend and I took a long weekend to visit the Alsace region of France. We explored castles and winding roads, stopping at many of the small town along the Route des Vins d'Alsace. We even stayed at one of the wineries in Saint-Hyppolite, where the wine owner showed us around the winery and provided a free tastings. It was one of the best Gewurztraminers I had ever had!
Throughout the trip, we often paired cheeses with the local white wines. Our first night in Saint-Hyppolite, we sat down to a local cheese and wine pairing, enjoying everything the area had to offer. It was an incredible four days driving through the most scenic route I've ever seen.
I went to a wine tasting at linganore wine cellars and got sick from too much tasting and turned green but I learned a lot and discovered that I love marscapine cheese. Now I can't eat the cheese without drinking wine.
My favorite wine tasting was my first, with my mom at a vineyard in the Poconos. email-ktspil@yahoo.com
Cherry Grove Farm Cheese paired with Sharrott Wine a few years back on their porch with a friend, great time! Always great to enjoy local cheese and wine, Go New Jersey :)
Every wine tasting I've been to has been amazing. What's not to like? Recently myself and about 15 girlfriends went to a tasting at Rose Bank Winery in Newtown, PA. They have many great wines there. Of course I had to a purchase a couple of bottles to add to my collection! It was a great day with some great girls. -Michelle marilynmonroe770@gmail.com
My favorite wine and cheese memory was about 6 years ago. An ex boyfriend (I know I know) took me on a tour to Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars in Lehigh Valley. It was my very first experience at a Vineyard. We tasted so many great wines. The host actually taught us how to pair wines with cheeses. It was amazing! We left with a case of wine, wine openers and a couple different cheeses and spreads.
I love going to local vineyards. Any state I'm in, I will Google local vineyards and go tasting. My favorite wine moment thus far is going to Duplin Winery and Hynnant Winery in North Carolina. That's the only wine we would drink while vacationing in Hatteras. It was so much fun to be able to go to the vineyards and sit with a glass of wine in the NC sunshine!
Favorite wine and cheese memory.. how can I pick one. I'll just start from the beginning. You will be surprised to hear that my introduction to wine was a dreadful one. Imagine this: you are ten years old and summer vacation is finally here. You and your family are on your way to the trip you've been counting the days for! Obviously, you cannot wait to arrive but then wait halt... Mom sees something... what is it... uh oh its a winery. Next thing you know it you and your siblings are inside waiting for mom and dad, you can't touch anything, its not a fun place to play, and who knows when you will get out! Funny how tables turn because now I love it when my mom says lets stop at the random winery and I giggle at the memories my sisters and I made during all the winery stops through the years. This past fall I hosted a wine and cheese birthday party, everyone brought their favorite wine and pairing and it was a smorgasbord of deliciousness. I also received the coolest present ever, a cork style wine purse. It is so beautiful, I'd attach a picture to this comment if I could. I guess they are right when they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, thanks mom!
I'm not sure if this is my favorite memory but it's one of them! When I was studying abroad in Italy in 2014, my friend and I went on a weekend trip to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany. We staying in this little tiny town in the mountains and, on that day, we had walked a few miles down to the beach for the day. We got dinner at this little restaurant where they only spoke Italian (luckily, I do too) and ordered TONS of food that we probably couldn't afford but it all looked so delicious. The first thing we got was this huge plate of cheeses, many of which were fresh pecorino from the region. Pecorino quickly became my favorite cheese! We also had an amazing bottle of white wine (I don't remember what it was, unfortunately) that was recommended to us by the chefs, who came out to our table to sit and chat with us for a while. It was a great meal, and both the wine and cheese was truly memorable.
I was really first introduced while traveling abroad in 2007. I’m an Irishmen so up until that point I was beer and a shot guy. The only wine I enjoyed was when I was an alter boy and we would sneak sips from the wine in the rectory. So back to my travels, my first stop in Europe was in Rome. Once there, I immediately hoped a train to head south to Naples where I was to meet up with friends. Little did I know that my friends never made it as far south as Naples and I was on my own. Anyone who has ever been to the train station in downtown Naples knows how sketchy of an area this is. Between trying to find lodging for the night and guarding my wallet from pick pocketors, I was able to meet a couple fellow travelers from Spain. They took be into their group and helped me get situated. I ended up traveling Southern Italy with them for the next week. While I learned a ton from them, one of the lasting things I took home after my journey was a newfound love for wine. They had me drinking all kinds of wine from different regions of the world. In most cases it was “the cheaper the better”. They took the pretentiousness out of wine for me and really allowed for me to open up my taste buds to a new choice of sprits.
mfinerghty@hotmail.com
Valuable suggestions . I was fascinated by the information . Does someone know if I can get a fillable CA ICWA-030 form to fill out ?
Hi Roxanne ! my friend got a template IL DoR CPP-1 form at this place http://pdf.ac/2R6upY
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