New Experiences

So it's been a while since I posted.  Labor Day weekend, I experienced something I've never done: I went to an urban winery right here in Morrisville.  A couple of my friends and I decided it would be fun to tour Chatham Hill Winery.  For years, I've seen the grape sign while driving down Aviation to get to 40 and always thought, "Well how in the world do they have enough room to have a vineyard right in the middle of RTP?"  As you can see, I have little education about the wine business; I didn't even know the difference between a winery and a vineyard.

We took about a 30 minute tour where I learned that Chatham Hill Winery, established in 1999, was the first North Carolina urban winery.  Did you know that red wine gets its color from the skins of the grapes?  They stomp or press the skins multiple times into the juice so that it stains it.  That's apparently where the extra "health" benefits of red wine come from.  One little factoid I thought I'd share with you. I also learned that French and U.S. wine barrels create different flavors in the wine. I definitely learned a lot.

After the tour, we had a tasting.  They taught us how to properly taste wine.  First, you swirl it to start the oxidation process right before drinking.  Then, in no particularly classy way, you stick your nose in the glass and take a big whiff.  After, you take a small sip so that the wine could touch the variety of taste buds in your mouth.  Apparently, too many people just gulp wine and don't get the full experience and all the different tastes.  Lastly, you another sip and get the full experience of the wine.  They let us try 10 different wines and gave us a sheet with what you should taste and smell with each one and what types of foods would be good with it.  I greatly enjoyed the conversation us ladies had together while sharing this experience.

My lovely friends.

Yep, that explains their personalities. Wish it weren't blurry.

Love spending time with my new friend!

All of us girls. Some of my closest friends.