Wonderful Wine

Since this is my last week in SC, instead of a cocktail post we're going to discuss the wineries I've been to in South Carolina and Georgia.

I'm rather proud of my current wine collection. There are several Georgia wines, a few South Carolina wines, some PA wines, and a German wine I got at the Outer Banks, NC.



I've found three new favorite wineries in and around upstate SC. Since I just took my parents there yesterday, we'll start with Habersham Winery. It's located in Helen, GA at the Nacoochee Village. They're pretty fairly priced, and have a complementary tasting of up to 4 wines in their tasting room. That's also where I got this:



It's pretty much the best thing ever. Also in Nacoochee Village is an amazing antique store in an old 3-story mammoth farm house. It's a never ending maze of gorgeous antiques and collectibles. There are also a working river-powered grainery, and a little coffee shop in the Village. Down the road is a Pizzeria/Tavern. We didn't eat there because we didn't want to fight the horrific traffic.

The first winery I found when I moved here was Victoria Valley Vineyards in Cleveland, SC. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this, but it's a gorgeous winery - very European looking. They have free tours of the winery and vineyard, and tasting is (I believe) 5 wines for $5, and you can buy your tasting glass for $2. They have a lot of wines that I loved, and this is where I discovered Viognier and White Merlot. Loooove.

The last winery that I went to around here is the Boutier Winery in Danielsville, GA.



The woman who was there is one of the owners (the other is her husband - the winemaker), and is from Ireland. I could have stayed all day just to listen to her accent. The tasting is 6 wines for $6, but I was the only one there and she kept telling me I had to taste this and that, and I ended up trying about 10 for $6. I was pretty much tipsy by the end. The wines are a little pricier, but amazing!

Yesterday with my parents, we also stopped at Sautee Nacoochee Vineyards and Yonah Mountain Vineyards, both in Sautee, GA. The first one allowed free tasting of up to 10 wines, and had this slushy wine mix stuff that was AMAZING. The woman who did our tasting was a super-nice Italian lady with a fun accent. We got some of the slush mix and a couple of bottles of "Red Headed Stepchild".

Yonah Mountain had tastings of 4 wines for $4, or 10 wines for $10, and you got a free glass with the latter. We just did the 4 because by this time, I was probably already 3 glasses of wine in and had barely eaten all day. Their wines were good, mostly dry, and pretty expensive. I did get a bottle of the Bearly Sweet Red because it was delicious. Mom really liked their Dolce Bello wine that actually had chocolate extract in. I wasn't really a fan of that one, but it would probably be amazing with something like chocolate cake or fondue.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the wine scene around me. Once I'm back in PA, maybe I'll do a post on wineries up that way!

Big Berta

Since I didn't post a new cocktail this weekend, here's a mid-week one for you. I found it in my Bartender's Black Book. It's called the Berta.



It's 2-oz. tequila, 2-oz. honey, and 1-oz. lime juice stirred until the honey dissolves. Add lots if ice, and fill the glass with soda water. It was surprisingly amazing. You couldn't taste the tequila at all. It was just sweet and light and very summery. Highly recommended!

Ginger Ale Cocktail

In keeping up with my cocktail posts, I have the best one yet. I'll post about today's hiking adventures soon, but I have to share this.

When I got home today, I made homemade ginger syrup. (Thanks, Joy the Baker!) I had my stove turned down a little too far, so it took twice the time for it to cook down, but it's cool - I took a nap.

Once it was done, I let it cool, put it in a pretty bottle, then made a ginger ale cocktail.



I did about 3 Tbsp. of the ginger syrup, 1 1/2 c. club soda, a dash of bitters, a shot of vodka, and a lime wedge, over ice. Stir it up and enjoy the best summer drink ever. It was just as good without the vodka... but sometimes you just need vodka... like after four hours of hiking. :-)

Oh my God, Orange Blossom

So in keeping with my desire to try new cocktails, as well as trying to improve my bartending skills (I'm a notoriously bad drink-maker), I made an Orange Blossom. It's absolutely delicious.

1 1/2oz. gin, 1oz. orange juice, 1/2oz. lime juice, and 1/2oz. simple syrup. Put all in a shaker with ice, shake, and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with lime or orange slice.





I used store-bought orange and lime juice, but I can imagine it would be even more awesome with fresh-squeezed. The funny thing is I used to hate gin, but it's quickly making its way up my list of favorite liquors. I especially like it with citrus juices (Orange Blossom, Tom Collins, etc.).

I got the recipe for this out of a Southern Cocktails book. Many of the recipes in there call for Simple Syrup, so I made some to keep on hand. It's just 1C. water and 1C. sugar, brought to a boil and stirred until the sugar is dissolved. As long as you store it in an airtight container in the fridge, it will keep pretty indefinitely.

I realized that this post quickly turned into a tutorial on drink-making, but maybe that's the direction my blog is going!

Martini Mania

So I've decided that I need to branch out in my cocktails. I'm tired of going to a bar and ordering a screwdriver or tequila sunrise because I know I like it. So I'm stocking up my home bar and I'm going to make new cocktails to try. I just made a simple vodka martini. I've had delicious flavored martinis out before, but I've never just ordered a martini. My Bartender's Black Book said that the perfect (not dry) martini is 3 1/2 oz. vodka or gin and 1/2 oz. vermouth, so that's what I did. I garnished with maraschino cherries since I don't like olives or cocktail onions.



All-in-all, it's not terrible. I feel classy drinking it, so it could be a good alone-at-the-bar drink. It's pretty freakin' strong, though. I have to concentrate to not make a face when I take a sip. I was going to try a gin martini tonight, too, but I'm only halfway through this vodka one and it's getting a little warm in here.

Stay tuned for more cocktail adventures. I'm considering working through my Periodic Table of Mixology instead of choosing random ones from my Black Book, but the periodic table is a poster, and it doesn't look real classy hanging up. :-P

UPDATE:
Tried the gin martini, with the same measurements as the vodka martini, and I loved it! Gin is growing on me. It was less "kick-in-the-mouth-y" than the vodka variety.