Hey Hey y’all!   On Monday, I shared with y’all about our trip to Shelton Vineyards, and the cars!  Oh, the cars!  I want a Triump convertible and Andrew wants an old Jaguar {it really was gorgeous!}.

Today’s post is more about the experience we got with the actual vineyard tour, the wine and the FOOD!!!

The whole purpose/reason for this trip was for Andrew to do a tour and tasting with his wine class from USC.  Tough life I know.

So when we got there the first item on the agenda was a lunch at their Harvest Grill.  We were all there on time {I was impressed by this young group of students!} and we sat down at two very long tables.  There were 27 of us.

The Grill had a specific menu already planned out for us and I dare say that the hardest part for these young adults was picking out their wine choice.  One young lady kept saying that they were all “wine snobs” and that this shouldn’t be so difficult.  My choice?  A blackberry-fused-wine sparkler and it was amazing.

We had fantastic food – I had a smoked pork shoulder {what!?} and The Devil’s Triangle for dessert.  Don’t you want to eat right now?!  Y’all that ice cream had cinnamon in it…

After our 2 hour lunch – no lie! – we had a few minutes to go look at all those great cars again before our wine tour.

Our tour guide was Gill – the winemaker and vineyard consultant at Shelton Vineyards – he was the best of the best.  His profile on their website states, “With a 20 year background…he is uniquely qualified to direct the efforts of our vineyard staff…and grape production.”  So true.  He was quite fantastic!

He had a wonderful sense of humor and provided great knowledge to all of us on his behind the scenes tour of the vineyard and wine-making processes.

With our wine glass in hand

We started off on our tour…

I have to tell you that all of their wines are quite delicious.  Whites, reds, all of it.

After spending some time inside tasting, we went outside to look at the grapevines.  {That’s Gill up there ↑}

It really could not have been a more perfect day.  Do you see that sky?!

A few things that I learned…and that totally make sense are: 1. rows are planted north to south so that they get full exposure to the sun as it rises from east to west.  2.  they pick the leaves on the eastern facing side but not the western {afternoon sun is the hottest! and those little grapes need shade!!}.

Another something that I thought was interesting: 

Then Gill told us about the harvesting and pressing process and we went back inside for more tastings.

These are all the names of the folks who have bought a barrel like those pictured above…  You can get your own, with custom-printed plaque for $645!

Their oak barrels literally come from all over the world.  I learned what all the codes mean below ↓  AO= America Oak;  Mis=Mississippi; H=Heavy toast; TH=Toasted Head →these two mean that the insides and heads are charred; 2014=The year the barrel was made.

That is your wine lesson tonight.  Your welcome.

Our tour lasted about an hour and a half, and once we were done we were free to do more tastings in their shop.  Andrew and I opted just to purchase a couple of bottles to bring back home, and finish meandering through all those great cars!

Since we had made a short getaway out of this trip, we decided that we needed a great spot for dinner so we asked the locals where to go.  Of course they mentioned Harvest Grill but since we’d had that for lunch, we were looking for something else.

Wouldn’t you know it?  By the time we considered all of our options, we decided that the great food at H-G was what we really wanted so after resting for a bit in the hotel room, we went back to the vineyard for supper.  Just in case you were wondering, we rode with the top down the entire time we were there.

I didn’t take any pictures of our supper…though now I’m thinking I totally should have.  My meal was delicious and quite lovely – salmon with crab meat, asparagus and Parmesan risotto.  Y’all.  Andrew ate my food it was so good.  Don’t get me wrong, he wanted me to get the risotto so he could eat it!  He got his own tasty meal also!

After dinner we took a stroll around the grounds one more time.  Enjoying the quiet and the beauty.

And this is where I leave you…

 

The third and last post about our trip will hopefully come this weekend – when we’re in between birthday parties!  Reynolds turned 3 yesterday {how can it be?!} and our friends – Dana & DJ – will have a one year old come Saturday!  Whoo hoo!  Happy Birthday to everyone!

Good night!