The Final Grape

Wine is bottled poetry.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish poet and author (1850-1894)

Rain drizzled on our final day of "Wrapped Up in the Valley 2011" but it only served to wet our appetite for visiting the final wineries on our passport. In all, we sampled wines at 22 establishments and I'm fairly certain that we returned home with more than that number of bottles to be enjoyed over the year to come.

As we sipped the vintages we savoured creative pairings, such as this duck confit on a bed of squash bruschetta atop cranberry foccacia with Peninsula Ridge Estates' Top Bench Red 2009. I'm not sure that I will be able to replicate that one, but I'm looking forward to receiving the recipe for the Apple Cider Buttertart Square created by the chefs of the August Restaurant to pair with Fielding Estate Winery's 2010 Chardonnay. Like last year, the offerings included some exceptional morsels.

I raise a toast to the vintners of Twenty Valley and their Wrapped Up event! Bravo!