The Arrival
This weekend a group of my friends and I visited the Beliveau Estate Winery, which is about a twenty minute drive away from us. The windy back roads swaying us from side to side made a few of us a bit car sick on the way there. The windy back road nausea was forgotten, however, once we arrived up the long gravel road to a beautiful, mountainous, green estate with picnic tables and country aesthetics.
This is a photo of my roommate
right as we arrived at the vineyard.
Bridesmaids and wedding guests gathered around a pavilion for a ceremony happening later that day. The estate is a perfect place for wedding festivities, with its beautiful scenery, ample beverage options and a bed and breakfast conveniently placed at the entrance of the estate. The tasting occurred in a quaint room overlooking the wedding preparations and the mountainous backdrop.
I quickly snapped this photo right before we began
the wine tasting.
The Tasting
We were given seven wines to taste,
with a wide range of flavors. The best
part was it only cost $5!
The first wine was called Kaleidoscope, which was a dry Pinot Grigio. This wine smelled of peaches and apricots. It was slightly sweet and a well-balanced, refreshing wine that I ended up purchasing at the end of the tasting.
The second wine was called Mystique, which was a chardonnay. This wine smelled a little of metal and citrus flavors. It had sweet honey and apple flavors, a very tasty Chardonnay.
The third wine was called Pristine, which was a Chardonelle.
It tasted of apples and was a very crisp, refreshing wine.
The fourth wine was called The Reserve, which was a Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine tasted of cherry and vanilla flavors with a slight peppery punch.
The fifth wine was called Celestial, which was a Cabernet Franc Reserve. This wine tasted of strawberry, coffee and had a black pepper aftertaste. I did not like this wine at all, it had too many flavors and left a terrible, lingering taste in my mouth.
The sixth wine was called Soul Singer, which was a Chambourcin. This wine smelled very earthy, as if you could literally smell the soil in your cup. It tasted of plums and cherries. This wine had a bit of a musty aftertaste to it.
The final wine we tried was called Trailblazer, which was a merlot. This wine tasted of plums and was a very light, smooth merlot. This wine also had a bit of an earthy undertone to it.
After the wine tasting we had planned to take a tour of the vineyard, however because there was a wedding going on that day, they were too short staffed to give us a tour of the estate. They did, however, give us a little history of the Beliveau Estate. The winery opened up not too long ago, in May 2012. Everything from harvesting the grapes to bottling the wine happens on the ground of the Beliveau Estate. Apparently they have machines that shoot carbon dioxide into the bottles and they also have machines that cork the bottles.
The Picnic
After the tasting, a few of us purchased a bottle and we brought snacks with us to have a picnic on the beautiful sunny day. We brought four different types of cheeses, salami, sausage, crackers, pretzels and carrots. I noticed that the meats paired well with the red wines and the spicy cheeses made the sweet flavors of The Reserve come out. I also noticed that the creamy cheeses, such as the sharp white cheddar, paired well with the chardonnay.
At the end of our picnic, it started to get a bit windy and cold so that is the only reason we didn't stay here for the rest of the day! We had a great experience at the Beliveau Estate; tasting great wines and enjoying the beautiful landscape of the vineyard.
