Winery visit: AmRhein's

          There was a special event at AmRhein's winery today-- their "first annual 2016 sweetheart chocolate wine pairing."  A good friend of mine is having her wedding there in May, so we went to the event they had today.  The event cost $25, which included the tastings for two people, the chocolate, and a bottle of wine.

List of the Chocolate and Wine Pairings

          The above photo shows the list of wines we tasted and the chocolate snacks they were paired with.  How the process worked was really quite interesting.  Upon arriving, we checked in and got a ticket to redeem at the end for a complimentary bottle of wine chosen from the tasting list which was included in the ticket price.  We first grabbed our plate of chocolates, pictured below, and stepped up to a bar-like counter for the wine.  The men behind the counter told us which chocolates to try with which wine, and all in all the process only took about five minutes.  The first two, the Chardonnay and Traminette, were probably my favorites.  To be fair, I also preferred the chocolate snacks that accompanied them.  As shown below, the chocolates paired with the two whites were the cupcake and cheesecake.  Not only were they tasty, but they complimented the wines quite well.  All of the others were reds (which was unfortunate for me) but they were not even good reds in my opinion... Each one smelled strongly of nail polish remover, and it was hard to taste anything beyond that, even with the chocolates.  The wine is stored in stainless steel and the grapes are grown on-site.  They first planted in 1995 and the first grape crush happened in 1999.

Chocolates to pair with the wines
Top left: Paired with Melange, Top right:
Paired with Ruby, Middle: Paired with
Chardonnay, Bottom left: Traminette, Bottom
right: Paired with Petit Verdot

          It was interesting to experience wine and chocolate together.  Going in, I did not expect the treats to be so elaborate-- I kind of assumed there would essentially be Hershey's bars and similar chocolates.  It was far more involved than I thought.  With our ticket, we chose a bottle of the Chardonnay, while my friend and her fiancé chose the Traminette.  With this bottle in hand, we headed to their back room with our glasses to drink and spend time together listening to the live music!  Thinking ahead, my friend Jessica and I packed some snacks to drink with the wine.

We may have gone a little overboard for four people.

          We made tomato and avocado bruschetta on mini toast, reverse peppermint patties, cheese and crackers, and brought apples, grapes, and raspberries.  The prep before even going to the winery was a lot of fun, but once we got there and unboxed the snacks, we realized we sort of brought enough to feed around ten people easily.  Yes, the cheese is even cut into heart shapes.  Valentine's Day fun!

Pepper Jack, Cheddar, Monterey Jack

AmRhein's Chardonnay

          The cheese and grapes paired really well with the wine; the pepper jack spices were really amplified.  It did not taste great with the apples, but the tomatoes in the bruschetta made it taste less acidic.  My absolute favorite drink there was not on the special tasting list.  Their sangria was recommended to me by a couple of people, so I bought a glass for five dollars.  I then promptly bought two bottles to take home at fifteen dollars a bottle.  It tasted almost like fruit juice; it would have been perfect by the pool in the warm summer, so I can't wait to drink it in that capacity!  I accidentally drank it too quickly to take a good photo.  We also bought two wine glasses at three dollars a piece to commemorate such a lovely event.  

Live music

          The last comment worth making about this event is about the live music.  Pictured above, this is the man who sang all afternoon.  He sounded great and had nice stage presence.  I especially appreciated all the classic rock he sang.  It was a great sound to mix with the snacks and wine.  All in all, I really enjoyed this event!