MP B&B part one

I have decided that I am quite the wine lover...this discovery comes after spending a mere 24 hours with a dear friend Mark Parsons. Now, I always expect nothing but a fabulous time with this man. There is hardly a moment that there is not something new to learn...here is how the day began: we arrive at Crosskeys vineyard that Mark manages and get a private wine making 101 walking tour of the fresh grapes off the vine, fermentation tanks, and oak aging barrels (where we learn what the term "oakey" means). Next we have our own personal wine tasting seminar where I was taught how to taste (first over the tongue, then down the sides of the tongue, then over the tongue again...slurping is not necessarily mandatory to appreciate the wine).  We tasted

six wines: Joy Red, Joy White (both table wines), Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and a Meritage. The most fascinating and tasteful to my palate was the Meritage who's name stems from the words merit and heritage blended together and is a label used exclusively for a specific American grown Bordeaux varietal.

This was only the beginning.

We then followed him up the mountain to his warm and welcoming apartment where, in a whirlwind of activity, we roasted up sweet potatoes, parsnips, onions, and shallots in the oven, whipped up a coconut custard pie (a recipe he had memorized of his aunts)...(oh, did I mention he is from the south??!) and set a divine table for three. The veggies emerged from the oven sizzling and caramelized and tossed into a pot of warming vegetable broth and brought to a simmer. This, my friends was shaping up to be a fabulous soup! Dave Mac had the honors of "blitzing" the soup to a pulp and then we learned a magnificent trick.

Acid.

By adding an acid, either lemon juice or an aged balsamic, to the finished product you will have a completely different experience. The lemon juice we found to to brighten up our earthy soup, leaving you with a burst of fresh citrus-y nutty-ness. However by adding a few drops of aged balsamic you will find a deep caramel flavor instead. The evening was cool and caramel sounded so inviting...balsamic it was.