If you garden you wait for the first tomato, I recently saw a recipe for Tomato soup made with crusty Tuscan bread. I made it with store bought tomatoes. So much work and it was lousy. I just need a few more crisp nights and I'll make it with the fresh tomatoes.
This morning I squeezed the unripe chardonnay we drop to thin the crop and open the canopy to sun and air flow. It can be a substitute for vinegar in your salads. It has just a hint of sweetness and quite a bit of acid. Then I dropped a few cloves of fresh garlic from the garden to complete a tasty marinade.
I know when the tomatoes get ripe it's a sign that the vineyard will be close behind. It is also the beginning of my stomach flutters. Birds are souring even before ripeness, looking for moisture after this hot dry season. Harvest excitement brings for us some trepidation as we fear birds and deer munching before we ever get the nets on.
Every day the weather channel goes on and everyday we taste the fruit check the seeds for brown color , another indication of ripeness.
Season planning includes picking, preparing food for pickers, notifying retail stores and restaurants of imminent harvest,. Oh yes, the festivals begin at the same time... Our Songwriters Harvest Festival in the middle of the vineyard lush with grapes, the Maryland Wine Festival, Fells Point festival and on and on. Such excitement meeting friends enjoying the bounty of great produce in the fall, pumpkins. the international awards come rolling in... Showing well with Golds and Silvers, we feel success. We can continue another season.
Season, it means different things to different people. But a wonderful calendar to follow is to follow the Wine, harvest,crush, wine making, fall releases of 2010 wines (best year ever), Champagne release in November preparing of Thanksgiving, and mulled wine announcing the Holiday Season.
And then... we start the winter season, pruning in the cold and coming in to warm up and taste the wine silently sleeping in the barrels. Winter doldrums are never a problem at the winery, we invite people to come out and join in the sampling. Take the opportunity to evaluate the wine as it ages. Elk Run offers classes in the winter on wine tasting. You ready your taste buds so you're all set to try the new white release in the spring and the opening of Wine Down Friday in May.
The Season, it means so many things to different people. Ttry out our season follow the Wine.
