Wine: Nimble Hill Reserve Gewurztraminer

I have talked about Nimble Hill before. It's a delicious vineyard, winery and brewery in Tunkhannock Pennsylvania.  Every time we visit my in-laws, we either stop here or have my in-laws get a couple of bottles for us.

Buying wines outside of that grapes growing region can be tricky. Red wines don't always grow well in Pennsylvania and can be watered down in taste. But that's not the case with this winery, and certainly not with this wine since we are talking about white wines. Gewurztraminer grows in this region, and it grows well.

Typically, we chill our white wine glasses, and take our white wine from the wine fridge to the refrigerator for optimal chilling.   It helps keep the wine as cold as possible for as long as possible and maximizes your drinking experience.

I had the Hubs pick a bottle of white to pair with dinner - spicy chicken pad thai  - and he did an excellent job with this pairing. I am not sure if he is paying attention when we go wine tasting or if he just got lucky in his pick, but he paired this meal extremely well.

ingredients for the pad thai

This Gewurztraminer was light and easy to drink. Initially, it's a little sweet on the tongue, but soft with notes of lychee and a little peach.  The mouth feel is velvety, and there is a crisp finish that is slightly dry down the throat.  Not too sweet. Not too dry. Perfect.

Salute!

Winery: Grovedale Winery

Going through my wine paraphernalia  I realized I never did a review of Grovedale Winery back in September (when i did the Nimble Hill Review).

Let's take a trip down memory lane (well, memory lane for me anyways).

Grovedale, Grovedale, how I did adore thee, Grovedale! There's is nothing like enjoying an afternoon wine tasting with your hubby and in-laws (if you have cool in-laws), Mostly, I am just gleeful if I am drinking wine between M-F 8-5 whilst on vacation!

After tasting at Nimble Hill, we mozied on over to Grovedale Winery to further explore Pennsylvania wineries [The Husband was our DD while my mother in law and I were very toasty in the back seat].

Grovedale does not necessarily arrange the tasting from Whites to Reds, but rather Drys to Sweets. We started with a Chardonnay which was dry, with subtle fruit notes. It wasn't too dry,and had a crisp clean finish.

From there we all ventured to try the Seyval/Chardonnay (in the semi-dry) category. This wine had a very pleasant mouth feel and slight apple taste. We ended up buying a bottle and sharing it after the tasting, a lush and velvety wine experience.

I took the lone road and tried the Fontenac Gris. And oh-em-gee I die. I die of happiness. I die of candy in a bottle. This wine, to my utter surprise and befuddlement on the tasting notes, was the wine embodiment of COTTON CANDY! Intoxicating?  Yes. It was very soft, and sweet, but still a semi-dry wine and no where near the sweet wine category.

The dry Merlot was a true Merlot; dry and rich in tannins with blackberries, berries, blueberries, with a hint of chocolate at the throat.

I quickly embraced the semi sweet and sweet reds; Grovedale Red and the Susquehanna Sunset. The Grovedale was remarkably balanced with it's sweetness, very raspberry/cherry jammy in taste almost like a jammy Shiraz (but not quite like my beloved favorite Jam Jar!). This was a smooth wine and it must be a crowd-pleaser because they turned it into a wine slushie!  The Susquehanna was a true sweet wine, very easy to drink. It was much like the "Hot tub wine" - Harvest Moon, from Nimble Hill.

We finished the tasting with the Grovedale Red slushie and some neon green margarita thing that I did not embrace (it just tasted like margarita mix. Boo!) and shared a bottle out on the lovely patio.

I wanted to taste their Cab Franc (big time Cab Franc fan here), and their Sweet wine blend "Optimism" (tasting notes read: A sweet, red blend with lots of strawberry and cherry notes), however both were sold out and unavailable for tasting. I think that is a sign that speaks volumes.

Winery: Nimble Hill Vineyards & Winery

Nimble Hill is a winery located in my Husband's home town. It's a Pennsylvania winery, with a hardy selection of wines to sample. A few months back, you may recall seeing the Nimble Hill Niagara post: well we got to go to the brick and mortar store and sample some of the action!


I started with the 2010 Reserve Gewurtztraminer. This was a mellow wine with soft rose petal notes, lychee and apples. Sweet and refreshing.

From there I sampled the 2011 Dry Rosé of Cabernet Franc. I love Cab francs. Love them. So I was excited to try the rosé which held its own nicely. Typical rose notes but slightly dry. Warming to the throat. Crisp rose finish. Very much a summer wine.

2010 Cabernet Franc was so, so good. It had notes of cranberries and currants, with a rich velvety mouthfeel but not too dry. Mellow table wine, good with food or just to sip.

There were many sweet wines, and all were equally good and special:

Mountain Red - I likened this to be the east coast response to Quady's Purple. Jam aroma/ nose. Strong concord grape flavor that fills your mouth. Adult grape juice, at it's finest.


Harvest Moon - "Hot Tub" wine, sweet like a moscato, with notes of pineapple and strawberry. Easy drinking, Saturday afternoon wine. Or, you know, in your hot tub. Duh.

Mango Slide- white wine enhanced with mango and peach flavors; this baby packs a mouthful of deliciousity. Mango, peach, apricot, and pineapple notes bombard your senses and take you on a magical ride. Where? To summer time.

We finished with their fortified desert wine, the Mountain Magic - "Pennsylvania Port". Oh.my.GAWD. If you don't like port give this one a chance; it is not a heavy syrupy consistency like most ports. It has a syrup and boysenberry nose, but the sweetness of raisins. The brandy in this wine is fortified with Sunmade Raisins (oh hello there west coast friends!) and is mighty, mighty smooth. A warm fall wine, easy to drink by itself, or with chocolate [duh].

Get your hands in this puppy this fall/winter, maybe with a bottle of Quady's Sweet Vya, and you will definitely be feeling pretty chill after a day of skiing. Or hiking. Or you know, raking leaves.

I adore Nimble Hill, and look forward to visiting on other trips back home to PA.

Cheers!