Week 32: Soapstone Wine Tasting Tour #2

August 7, 2010

The Soapstoners are back for round 2 of wine tasting North Carolina style. This time we rented a van to haul all of us out to Yappa Valley to visit and indulge in more wine. We were leaving at 8AM and I struggled to make it on time. To my joy, I was not the last to arrive and even had time to hit up the MAC for some cash before GC and LC (aka Betty) arrived. Too much Shotgun Betty for them last night, made getting there on time a little rough for GC and Betty. As we took off down the highway, GC turned on his “W” GPS. The voice on the GPS is George W. Bush. Along the way I made a very important phone call to Ma and Pa to find out what the purple boxes hanging in the trees in PA were. They are to see where the Emerald Ash Borers are. As we reach the first winery, W told us that we had reached our destification. No, that is not a typo. You have now reached your destification, Shelton Vineyard and Winery.

The grounds were beautiful at Shelton with roses at the ends of each row of grape. There is a reason for the roses. Do you know what that is? There was a pond with Weeping Willows (my favorite) and bridges and flowers. What a stunning view! We decided to take the winery tour. We are doing all this tasting but don’t know that much about the process. We start by voting on our favorite wine barrel. These barrels were painted by local artists. They are exquisite! We learn about the brothers that own the winery and head outside to see the start of the process. Pick, de-stem, press, ferment, barrel, taste, taste a little more, and maybe 12 more times, bottle, INDULGE. We finish with a tasting of some nice wines. Wild West and I ran through the many “S’s” of tasting and discussed Swiss chocolate. They had a great Riesling there.

Moving on to my favorite winery of the day as far as wine goes. (This was not my favorite stop of the day…more to come on that in a bit). The Round Peak Winery was amazing! Our tasting was outside, sitting on a patio, overlooking the vineyard with mountains in the back drop. Could there be a better place to taste wine? Perhaps, but we haven’t found it yet. Round Peak also makes a serious of wines under the Skull Camp. Both of the names come from the mountains that surround the winery. Kari was our wine server and owner of the winery. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when we were given our tasting options. After the rest of the group had tasted all of the Round Peak wines and I had tasted all of the Skull Camp wines, the rest of the group started tasting the Skull Camp. Much to my embarrassment, I then apologized for not knowing I could taste them all. Kari had to double pour everything due to my…er...ADHD. The Skull Camp wines had excellent names: Anticipation, Euphoria, Infatuation, Confusion, and Indulgence. Upon leaving, DY and Betty had to jump on the Opie bus (we were close to Mayberry) and get their picture taken. Getting back in the van, we noticed that JM had wine on her white pants yet again. But, I hear she is an expert in getting wine stains out.

Back in the van, GC turned W on again. This time W told us to “bare right. I’m not sure if that’s a grizzly bear or a black bear.” We went to the Old North State winery and ate lunch, but did not taste any wine. We gave PF her birthday card and a wine glass with fill-lines for how bad her day has been. PF is celebration the anniversary of her 29th birthday. We moved on to the Stoney Knoll winery, where the wine wasn’t very good and GC commented that “it’s all about the alcohol.”

The last winery and the best stop of the day, Stonefield Cellars. It may not have been every ones favorite, but they had some delicious wine. More importantly, there was some delicious eye candy that walked in to taste wine not long after we arrived. As soon as the guy walked in, CS was elbowing me in the side saying “look at him, did you see those eyes.” To which I respond, “does your son ever tell you you’re annoying?” I don’t mean this in a bad way, just that my cheeks look like tomatoes by this point. This is when the embarrassment started. All the Soapstoners were talking about this guy, telling me to go talk to him, offer him chocolate, etc. I was trying to quiet them because by this point in the day they have all had much to drink and are talking VERY LOUDLY! Even though they thought they were whispering. Finally PF tells me to trade places because she want to talk to CS. I do. This gets me away from listening to their match-making tactics and lands me right beside Blue Eyes. Turns out that Blue Eyes is from Sweden (that explains the blue eyes) and is here on business. CS continues to elbow me in the side as I talk to the guy. His English is excellent and he is beautiful as only a foreigner can be. Sorry guys, but they don’t make men like that in America. As we leave our wine tasting, Blue Eyes takes a group picture for us and we are on our merry way.

The ride home is crazy. Six people attacking me at once and running on and on about Blue Eyes. After all, PF says they are older and more experienced when it comes to matchmaking. They say they will find him on Facebook. I have no doubt they will try. Ahhh…the Soapstoners…couldn’t ask for a better church family. All families embarrass you at some point or another. That’s what families are for and you still love ‘em anyway. Salute!