Just over a week ago, my generous cousins brought us to New York to help them celebrate at their wine release party. My cousin Bill and his friends Ed and Fred started a winery almost ten years ago, called Ten-to-Go, and they’ve become quite gifted winemakers.
We already knew something of their talent from a gift Bill and Jane gave us at our wedding: a case of wine! They made the wine and they had labels made especially for us, which they designed from one of our engagement pictures on Facebook and our wedding invitation. We sampled one bottle, but the other eleven will age a year. Fantastic!
The winery is housed in the old tractor barn belonging to Ed and his wife, Betsy, on their gorgeous property. The grapes are ordered from Chile, and when they arrive, it’s time to work. First they use this equipment to remove the stems and crush the grapes.
After a long period of fermentation and all sorts of other tricks of the trade, it’s time to bottle the wine. First you sterilize the bottles, as I’m doing here.
Then the wine is bottled. Then the bottles are corked, as Fred and my cousin Kyra are doing here.
Honestly, I came late and didn’t pay all that much attention to the work, so I can’t accurately report the process, but that’s a rough sketch. Now, what interested me more–the beautiful farm, the fun people, the amazing food and wine, and the party! The farmhouse was built in the 1800s and was gorgeous. Between that house and the barn was another home they rent out, pictured here, amid many flowers.
I couldn’t believe how much was blooming in October in New York. Such a beautiful place. Laurie and I enjoyed walking around the fields, and she collected a lovely bouquet of wildflowers and colorful fall leaves.
My cousins’ neighbor Joe is a teacher at the Culinary Institute of America nearby, and he barbecued a pig and kindly taught us some tricks along the way. Here the Professor, Joe, and Daddy take the pig off the barbecue for the last time and get him dressed for dinner. The pork was absolutely delicious.
My brother can’t miss a Georgia football game, so cable was run out to the barn. Here are my mom, Austin, and Laurie watching the Dawgs get stomped. But not like grapes.
After the official party ended, my family still hung around the bar, and there was dancing to “Meatball” and “Thriller” and other random fun. Austin lost his appetite after the game but recovered some by this time–here he is behind the bar and some of the Ten-to-Go bottles.
You can see the Professor and I enjoyed ourselves. In fact, we had barrels of fun. Thanks, Austins! Cheers!
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