Tag Archives: sharpe hill

How I Spent My 23rd Birthday!

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday! I ended up having a great day (so great that I didn’t have time to blog :-P) and want to thank all of you that wished me happy birthday on Twitter and/or Facebook! So how did I spend my special day? Haven’t had time to upload cam pics yet, but I was tweeting a play-by-play of life, as per usual.

The day got off to a great start when I woke up to this. I love my mom!

My co-workers continued to make the day fabulous. My friend Steve got me these gorgeous tulips. The bow matches my St. Patty’s Day nails!

The fellow ladies of our sales row (of cubicles, ha) know me well. They gave me a bottle of local CT red wine from Sharpe Hill Vineyards! I haven’t had their wine yet and am super excited to try it.

Holy moly, look at this gem! It’s from Jim, a co-worker who has access to a pretty awesome bakery (he got another co-worker an equally awesome cupcake for her birthday last month). That chocolate-cake looking part is actually ALL icing. I am an icing freak. So let’s just say I’m gonna enjoy this. Saving it for tonight after dinner maybe!

I’m a lucky girl!

My boss was kind enough to give me a half day on my birthday, and good thing, because it was about 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky yesterday. Is this the new CT March? I’ll TAKE IT!

Obsessed with Vera towels.

No, this is not a summer ’11 photo, this is YESTERDAY. Amazing! I chilled with my best friend Lidia as we drank iced beverages (coffee for me, green tea for her), read magazines/books, and chatted. She was also kind enough to use my Goodreads to-read list to pick out a couple of new books for me as a gift – it used to be we were gifting each other off our Forever 21 wish lists, and now it’s Goodreads! Oh, how adult we are!

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Now I can see what all that hype is about!

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A classic that I’ve been curious about.

Call me weird, but I wanted to go to the gym despite the fact that it was my birthday. I completed 4.08 miles on the StepMill, Level 16, speed intervals AKA some kick-butt HIIT. Felt FABULOUS after! Read the issue of SHAPE with Kate Walsh on the cover. She is one amazing lady.

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I wrapped things up with the below workout created by the amazing Heather of For the Love of Kale (who gave me a birthday shoutout yesterday, THANKS LOVE). I’m not doing any upper body today so wanted to get some in yesterday. Quick and effective!

After showering my sweaty self off, I went to meet my friend Colin (of Taste of New Haven) at Mustard Seed Cafe, a cute local breakfast-and-lunch place, for a French Wine Tasting Class event put on by my favorite liquor store EVER, Sonoma Wines & Spirits. Apps were served to start and I put together a little tasting plate, but kept it light because I wanted to go out to a late dinner afterward.

Went back for seconds on the veg (obviously).

For a wine lover like myself, this was definitely an informative event, in terms of both tasting wine and its origins. I have to admit I found myself drifting a bit during the historical parts of the presentation, but I think that was because I was so excited to get-to-sippin…

Flight #1 (three total).

The most fascinating part for me was learning how to both properly smell and taste wine. Did you know that you’re supposed to cover the glass with your hand, swirl the wine around, and then just take a slight sniff from under your hand when smelling a wine? The whole swirl and stick my nose in the glass thing that I’ve had going on is NOT correct. Too bad I put on hand lotion right before the event!

The proper method of tasting wine is really cool and made a HUGE difference. I’m having no luck finding a video or series of photos on Google (I know, what?) demonstrating the method, but it involves taking a sip, tilting your head forward and letting the wine rest in the front of your “palate”, and then tilting your head back (it reminded me of taking a shot…) and letting the wine slide over the middle and back parts of your tongue before swallowing (or spitting, something I am not fond of, and I know, that’s what she said). The taste was SO much more intense. I kinda loved it.

My favorite flight obviously – three reds, how can you go wrong?

I had a few favorites, which I marked with stars on our info/ordering sheets, and ended up decided to purchase the Chateau Picque Caillou Graves Pessac-Leognan. I know – what?? Just know that it tasted sooo oak-y and fabulous. I also received a $25 credit with my admission, and the bottle was $30.59. How often do I have a chance to buy a $30 bottle of wine for $5?! Answer: never, so I leapt at it. I’m going to save this bottle for something very special!

After the tasting wrapped up, Colin and I headed out to get some FOOD. It was almost 9pm, so we hit up the late night happy hour at Max Fish! I love going to these kinds of happy hours at nice restaurants because I get the chance to order and sample food that would normally be out of my price range.

Recycled image from my last visit but obviously I had to get the cheese plate again.

Colin offers a useful hand-size comparison for this ahi tuna with jasmine rice and lemongrass sauce.

Frozen not fresh (as our waitress honestly told us when we asked), but still so good.

Does anyone else dip fries into their ice cream and/or milkshakes? Colin thought I was a weirdo for that one!

I’m asking about ice cream because Colin not-so-secretly (I noticed immediately…) approached our waitress and asked her to send over a birthday dessert for me. I was still surprised because I had no clue what it’d be! I wish this picture hadn’t come out so blurry:

CARAMELIZED BANANA SPLIT

SO DELICIOUS. I realized it had been too long since I last had ice cream. And it had been way WAY too long since I’d made that an ice cream SUNDAE. The caramelized bananas and slightly-salty nuts on that whipped cream made it extra special.

Fabulous, fabulous birthday. And it doesn’t stop there – off to J. Gilbert’s with my family tonight!

How did you celebrate your last birthday? Do you have any go-to traditions?

Wine Battle: Sharpe Hill vs Jonathan Edwards

Please welcome Richard, the Editor of Connecticut Food & Wine, as he shares with us the second edition of his Wine Battle series!


Welcome to the second edition of Wine Battle! This week I chose two more local wines right off the shelf from an excellent wine shop called Seaside Wine & Spirits in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Sharpe Hill Vineyard’s 2008 Chardonnay came in at $14.99 and Jonathan Edwards 2009 Connecticut Chardonnay (an important distinction since they also produce wine in California) came in at $21.99. The challenge was to find two wines made from the same grapes, from two different local producers, that are also found in the same wine shop for sale- and put them to the test against each other.

First I opened both bottles and let them breathe at room temperature for about one hour. Some people prefer to drink white wines slightly chilled, but in order to really taste the character and subtle differences it is essential to taste at room temperature as the coolness dulls some of that complexity. Sharpe Hill is located in Pomfret, Connecticut and is the state’s largest and most award winning winery, earning over 250 medals in international wine competitions. Opening it’s doors in 1997, the vineyard is set on one hundred scenic acres and features an excellent restaurant on site.

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Their 2008 Chardonnay has 12% alcohol by volume or ABV, with a pale straw yellow hue and a slight haze. Take a sniff and you will find a wonderful toasty buttered popcorn aroma wonderfully crafted by the right handling in oak. The taste is smooth, creamy full mouth feel with a little sour apple on the attack, and a beautiful caramalized sugar flavor on the finish. This is like Halloween 1992 with a huge amount of buttered popcorn ball in the glass (do they still hand those out on Halloween?), but in a very good way! This delicious gem is our winner!

Jonathan Edwards is set on a beautiful piece of property in North Stonington, approximately 40 miles south of Sharpe Hill. They produce wines both with their Connecticut grapes and also with fruit they harvest from vineyards whom they have long term contracts with in Napa, California. Of course, I chose the appropriate CT variety to battle against Sharpe Hill.

This bottle from 2009 has an ABV of 12.5% very slightly higher than the competition, and was priced a hefty $7 higher. With much less oak, this Chardonnay was crystal clear with a lighter color hue and a very aromatic fresh crushed pineapple scent. A really wonderful citrus peel blast in your nose with a sweet, light body with crisp acidity. This is a totally different style of wine than the Sharpe Hill Chard, and is more of the new world approach aligned with what is popular today regarding wine making styles. Not everyone is a fan of the butter-ball oak monster, though Sharpe Hill executed extremely well.

Overall, based on how well made both of these wines are, it was very difficult to choose a winner because it’s almost like comparing two completely different wines that are both excellent in their own regard. However, everyone in our little tasting group over at Connecticut Food & Wine were all blown away by the Sharpe Hill Chardonnay.  I just visited Jonathan Edwards on Sunday the 19th, and will have an exclusive article with more tastings, photos and fun, coming up this week on our site!

Thank you Richard for the post – his tasting descriptions blow any of mine out of the water! Based off of each one, which of these two wines do you think you’d prefer?

Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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