August 24th and 25th

We did our normal Saturday morning wine tasting at Vintage Cellar.  They had two different tastings and the first was from the local cidery, Foggy Ridge Cider.

567. Foggy Ridge Cider - First Fruit
568. Foggy Ridge Cider - Sweet Stayman
569. Foggy Ridge Cider - Handmade
570. Foggy Ridge Cider - Serious Cider
571. Foggy Ridge Cider - Pippin Gold

Our favorite cider is the Serious Cider - it's complex and probably the most interesting and goes well alone or would go with food quite well.  

In the back, they had a selection of wines to try.

572. 2012 - Arona - Sauvignon Blanc
573. 2011 - Yalumba - Vermentino
574. 2012 - Allamand - Saint Jeannet
575. 2011 - Gunderloch Fritz's - Riesling
576. 2009 - Campos de Risca - Jumilla - Monastrell
577. 2011 - Trentadue Winery - Merlot - Block 500
578. 2010 - Bogle Vineyards - Phantom

We did wander down to Kroger afterwards to see if they had any interesting new cheeses out to try and we were in luck.  

579. Leerdammer Original - This is a cheese made in Holland, but it is clearly a swiss-style cheese.  It was mild and nutty and pretty good.

Brett made pizza and included one new thing from our trip this summer.  It's a cob-smoked cheddar cheese.

580. Dakin Farm - Smoked Cheese Brick - We bought this in Vermont and it is deliciously smoky, but it's a sweeter smoke taste because of being smoked over corn cobs.  It was very nice on the pizza and complemented the smoked pepperoni we got there that was also on Brett's pizza!  Add in local peppers and onions from the farmers' market, and it was one fantastic pizza.  

We'll see what we find to do new during the week, but we're going to BaconFest in Roanoke next weekend and we should have about 40 new tastes after that!