wine Archives | A Thought and a Half | Southern Food & Lifestyle Blog

Chattanooga Tasting Club Builds Community Around Wine & Friends

February 23, 2017 By Kate 4 Comments

For the longest time, wine was never my first choice in a drink. I was told it was an acquired taste, that I’d come around to it. I started with sweeter moscato wines and worked my way up to chardonnay, and now I’m trying to branch into red wine. Apparently it’s better for you.

The Chattanooga Tasting Club, led by wine aficionado and world-class pianist Tim Hinck, is helping me refine my wine palate and find my favorite sips.

Tim started the Chattanooga Tasting Club earlier this year after wanting to share his love and knowledge of wine beyond his established wine groups. He noticed that there’s an active wine community in Chattanooga and he wanted a place for them and others to connect and enjoy some nice wines together. Whether you’re a wine newbie, an aspiring sommelier or anything in between, the Chattanooga Tasting Club has a spot for you at the bar.

A Galentine’s Afternoon at DeBarge Winery

February 18, 2016 By Kate 2 Comments

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for celebrating romance. It’s also a great chance to celebrate friendships and gal pals in your life, or just to treat yourself. Galentine’s Day is just as fun, I think.

This year for Galentine’s Day, a group of ladies from my work spent the afternoon sampling wine from the DeBarge Urban Winery on the Southside of Chattanooga. I’ll be completely honest, I didn’t even know it was there until the plans were made. But I love visiting wineries, and I was beginning to think there weren’t that many around here. Fortunately that’s not the case. Living in North Carolina had me spoiled, where I had five wineries within 10 miles.

Wine-making started as a hobby for owner Ray DeBarge. In fact, he made his first bottle of wine as a teenager. It eventually grew into a passion that has since evolved into a business that makes many Chattanoogans and visitors happy. The Southside winery has been in operation for four years. They took their time perfecting their wines and starting to distribute; now they’re up and running and ready to make their mark in Chattanooga.

Morgan Ridge Winery

December 7, 2015 By Kate 2 Comments

In my opinion, North Carolina is home to some of the best wine in the country. I really learned to appreciate it when I lived in Elon last year while I was in grad school. One of my favorite things to do on the weekends, when I needed a break from school work, was to find a new winery and check it out. I’d be lying if I said good wineries isn’t one of the top things I miss about living in North Carolina. They’re also inexpensive because there are so many of them. Light on the wallet is always good.

When I went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, my parents and I ventured out to find another awesome winery. We landed at Morgan Ridge Vineyards and Brewery in Gold Hill, in Rowan County. Yes, a winery and brewery all in one. It was the best of both worlds.

The owners planted the first vines in 2004 and opened the winery to visitors in 2010. They bottled their first vintage wine in 2007. The winery sits on 33 acres, complete with a pond, event room, a tasting room, a lovely patio and seven acres of vineyards. It’s North Carolina winery charm at its finest.

Morgan Ridge offers wine tastings and beer flights for super affordable prices. For $15 visitors can taste any number of their 15 wines (or even all 15), or 10 wines for $10. My mom and I both opted for 5 wines each for $5. Dad’s beer flight was $8 for 6 samples of craft beer. Even though the exact brews change week to week, there are always 6 beers available for tasting.

Most of the wines made at Morgan Ridge are drier reds, but they also offer some whites and fruit wines. I’m more of a white wine person, but I enjoyed the reds that I sampled. I even tasted a few of Dad’s beers and liked those, too.

My favorites were:

Bald Mountain Wheat beer.
River Dance Red ale.
Chardonnay (oaky with floral notes).
Red Dawg (red blend of Chambourcin + Merlot).

I also tasted a Jolie Blanc (off-dry white), Seyval Blanc (dry white) and a sweeter peach wine.

The fun doesn’t end at tastings, though. At Morgan Ridge, visitors can enjoy a lovely lunch on the patio Wednesday through Sunday. The menu evolves weekly. The day we went, I had a delicious burger, Dad had a pork loin with polenta and spinach, and Mom had fried shrimp. They also have pasta options. I can’t wait to check out their Sunday brunch, too. Reservations are recommended, but we stopped in without calling ahead and had no problems.

Morgan Ridge is also available for private parties, like weddings, receptions, corporate events and holiday parties. There’s more information available on the Morgan Ridge website.

I’ve visited my fair share of wineries, but it’s definitely safe to say Morgan Ridge ranks at the top. The delicious wine paired with the hospitality and scenery makes Morgan Ridge an ideal spot for an afternoon outing. I can’t wait to go back for another visit and wine tasting. Maybe I’ll branch out and try more reds next time!

Have you ever done a wine tasting? What kind of wine do you like?

Weekend Recap!

September 8, 2014 By Kate 3 Comments

Hey everyone! I know I haven’t posted much in the last week or so. Grad school is keeping me on my toes, that’s for sure. This weekend, though, I got to relax and have some fun and just be me. Kevin came down from Blacksburg and we spent the weekend exploring some fun places in my area.

Earlier in the week, I’d Googled some wineries in my area, as North Carolina is known for producing wonderful wines. The first result was a place called Benjamin Vineyards & Winery in Graham, which is only about 25 minutes down the road from Burlington. So Saturday, after I introduced Kevin to the experience that is Biscuitville for breakfast, we went to Benjamin for a tasting. We both loved it. The tasting was $5 per person, which included six samples and a souvenir glass. My two favorites were a Seyval Blanc and a semi-sweet white called “Magnolia.” Kevin prefers red wine, so he took a liking to the Norton and Chambourcin. I brought home a bottle of the Magnolia after having a glass of the Seyval Blanc after the tasting.

I think I have a new hobby: going to wine tastings and collecting the souvenir glasses from each winery!

After that, we went to a placed called Honeysuckle Tea House. My cousin told me about it and said it sounded like a place I needed to see. Kevin and I weren’t too far from it, so we drove toward Chapel Hill and checked it out. They grow their own teas and herbs, and they have some fruits and vegetables. Everything is organic and pesticide-free, which was nice, too. We each had a glass of iced tea and walked around the property for a little while. I’ll have to go back sometime and check out their awesome selection of loose-leaf teas and herbs.

And last night, we watched our Hokies do the nearly unbelievable and take down #8 Ohio State. There were so many awesome moments in that game, and I wish I could talk about all of them here. But I will leave it at this:

Needless to say, Kevin and I stayed up for the whole game and were more than happy when the Hokies finished with the win. And Blacksburg went absolutely crazy. The only thing that would have been better would have been celebrating with everyone on Main Street.

And now I just have to make it through two weeks–and one huge assignment–before I’m back in Blacksburg for a football game! Until then, it’s time to buckle down.

Fork & Cork 2014!

May 3, 2014 By Kate 2 Comments

Today was Blacksburg’s 6th Annual Fork & Cork food and drink festival. Wineries from all over Virginia come to Blacksburg, set up booths, and give tastings to festival attendees. There are also some food booths and cooking demonstrations from other Blacksburg establishments, and some craft and art tables; there was definitely more “cork” than “fork,” from what I saw.

I’m generally not a wine-drinking person; I’ll drink it on occasion, but I’ve never had a wine that I just absolutely loved. Shame, I know. I had never been to Fork & Cork before and decided it was time to check it out. Plus, I supposed I should start trying some so I’d have some idea of what I want at my wedding, whenever that happens. Jordan and Kevin went with me, and we had a great time sampling wines from all over the Commonwealth. And we got super lucky with awesome weather!

My complementary wine glass got lots of action today…we visited eight different tasting stations and sampled probably close to thirty different wines. Each winery offered white, red, and blush/rose wines that ranged from dry to sweet. I definitely preferred the sweeter, white wines. My two favorite stops were Attimo Winery from Christiansburg, and Peaks of Otter Winery in Bedford. I only sampled whites from Attimo. I especially loved their “Just Kissed” semi-sweet blush wine, and their “Sudden Downpour” dessert wine. “Just Kissed” had a really nice raspberry touch, and “Sudden Downpour” was an apple-grape blend that was aged in bourbon barrels. I made sure to buy a bottle of that before we left.

Peaks of Otter specializes in fruit-based wines. Each of the wines they had to sample were uniquely named and flavored. My favorites were “Strawberry Shortcake,” “Pure Passion,” and “Chocolate Cherry”; the latter smelled just like dark chocolate. Their big hit, though, was a “Kiss the Devil” spicy white wine, made with 30 different kinds of peppers. I declined to taste it, as spicy isn’t really my thing, but Kevin and Jordan “kissed the devil” and tried it. They’re much braver than I am.

We got to “chase” one of the wines with EZ-Cheese. Classy, right?

It was so nice to spend the afternoon strolling around tasting booths with my favorites, and running into some other dear friends who I don’t get to see often enough!

After exploring at Fork & Cork, I definitely feel like I have warmed up to wine a little bit. And maybe I’ll be able to make better wine-based decisions when my wedding comes around.

Check out Fork & Cork’s website and follow them on Twitter for more updates!

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