Tag Archives: Valley Wine and Liquor

And That Murderer on 20/20 is a Self-Justifying Slime Bucket!

Posted on June 8, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

When it gets to be after 7 p.m. on a weeknight (and my bedtime is EARLY, don’t judge), it is time for a Non-Sequitur Thursday post. This will be, actually, more of a Scattered Thursday post, but that lacks the alliteration of Scattered Saturday.  I know, I know, so does Non-Sequitur Thursday, but as long as I can’t have my alliteration, I’ll take the cool word.  Are we done with that?  Can I get on with the post?

I was tired after work today.  What is it with me?  I thought I was eating healthily (for the most part) and exercising (some) and even taking vitamins and supplements.  In any case, I knew it would be a good idea to run, since I did not run yesterday, yet I arrived home completely disinclined to do so.  I read my mail (I got a couple of real letters!  Woohoo!) and checked my email and Facebook notifications.

One thing I checked on Facebook was if there would be a tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor.  Merritt Winery was going to be there!  Unfortunately, my usual wine tasting buddy, Kim, is in a play tonight.  She did not have time to go to a wine tasting.  I might as well run.  Or I could go to the wine tasting without her.  Or I could run.  Then I said, “Oh, what the hell,” and looked for a couple of sports bras.

As soon as I realized I was going to run after all, I felt pretty good about myself.  This would be great!  Of course, it was not. My whole body complained for most of the run, but I persevered.  As with almost all runs, it had its moments.  I came home, showered, put on a cute outfit, including my “Keeping It Cheesy” t-shirt from Original Herkimer Cheese, and drank my usual recovery beverage of chocolate milk.

Then I went to Valley Wine and Liquor.  It would be a good idea to write a whole blog post about the tasting. In fact, I was at a tasting for Three Brothers Winery last week I still have not written about.  I’d better get on the ball.

After purchasing a bottle of Reisling, I went to my husband’s place of employment and suggested I get something for dinner.  He said pizza sounded good, so I picked up one with sausage and pepperoni on a thin crust.  I still had some asparagus in the refrigerator, so I roasted that with garlic oil I also had in the fridge.

And that is my Thursday.  As you can see, I have a couple of things I could write a blog post about, but I am going with what I have just typed in.  Like I said, Non-Sequitur Thursday. If only I could think of a catchy but unrelated headline, my life would be perfect.

 

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Dinner Indecision on Lame Post Friday

Posted on April 21, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Full disclosure:  I was supposed to cook.  Well, with one thing and another (one thing being working out after work, another being going to a tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor with my friend Kim), I wasn’t ready to start cooking till about 20 minutes before Steven was due home.  Only I didn’t feel like cooking.  I wondered if Steven would be interested in going out to dinner.  I kind of thought he would not be.  I wasn’t sure I was.  I had put on a cute outfit to go to the tasting (although I daresay I flatter myself), but I was also looking forward to the bra off, sweats on portion of the day.  And the wine drinking portion of the day.

At least I could do something about the latter.  I poured myself a glass of Chardonnay, put Snapped on the television, and awaited events.  In due course, Steven came come.  He didn’t mind that I had not started cooking but did not immediately commit to going out.

“Let’s have a glass of wine and think about it,” he suggested.

“I’ll make a quick blog post,”  I said.

He said, “A blog post about whether we’re going out to dinner or not?”

So that is what my blog post is about.  I think we are going to Salvatore’s in Herkimer.  As soon as I finish my wine and Steven gets changed.  I hope he puts on a cute outfit.

 

 

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About that Wine…

Posted on February 20, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

The first stop my friend Kim and I made on our Scattered Saturday adventures was Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer for a wine tasting of Swedish Hill Winery.  I had promised Kim some sweet wines, because I have been to Swedish Hill in Romulus and tasted sweet wines there.  Well, what a surprise to me, they were sampling two dry, one sweet and one semi.

We tried the Mooscato first, which was sweet.  I absolutely love the name, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone.  I liked the wine too, even though I don’t usually drink the sweet ones.  I liked the Vidal Blanc, the semi dry, better.  I am not real familiar with the vidal blanc grape, so I may have to try a few more.  I bought a bottle of Swedish Hill’s to start with.  I did not take any tasting notes on the Dry Riesling or Dry Rose, but I remember liking them.

After tasting, Kim and I walked around looking at other wines.  I  love to look at the different labels.  Yes, I confess sometimes I choose a wine based on the cool label.  I’ve found some good wines that way.  And if you don’t like them to drink, you can always cook with them.  Waste not want not.

So, how was this for a blog post on a Monday?  I bet you thought I was going to do a Monday Mental Meanderings and never mention again the cool stuff I did on Saturday.  Oh, OK, I’m the one that thought that.  Only now I can’t come up with a good conclusion.  It’s Monday.

 

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Wine on a Friday

Posted on February 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

In lieu of my usual Lame Post Friday, I shall offer a brief shout-out to a local liquor store and a California winery.  I went to a wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer which featured Michael David Winery of Lodi, California.

I often go to Valley Wine and Liquor on a Friday, because they often offer a tasting.  I often take notes, thinking I might make a blog post, then don’t.  Today I will.  Steven was off work, so our friend Kim picked both of us up at five, and we made our way to Valley Wine and Liquor.  Kim was disappointed when we found out they were sampling four dry red wines, because she likes sweet, but I said, “I will try them all!”

The first one we tried was the Earthquake Zinfandel.  I pronounced it “yummy,” which regular readers know is my highest accolade.  We also tried Petite Petit, a blend of Petite Syrah and Petit Verdot; 6th Sense Syrah; and Ink Blot, a Cabernet Franc.  Steven liked them all.  My favorite was the Zinfandel with the Ink Blot  in second place.  We decided to purchase the Petite Petit, because the label featured two elephants.  My sister, Diane, collects elephants.  I said we would buy it and save it till we got together with Diane.

“We’d better get together with her soon,” Steven said.

Kim and I plan to return tomorrow afternoon, when they are sampling Swedish Hill Winery, a New York State winery I have been to more than once.  Most of their wines are sweet, so Kim will be happy.  If I don’t like the wine, at least I can write another blog post.

 

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Slacker Saturday, But Let’s Have Some Champagne.

Posted on February 11, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, no Saturday Running Commentary, because I didn’t run; no Scattered Saturday, because I didn’t do a whole lot; no Slacker Saturday, because I at least did a little something; no Saturday Supper, because, oh I just don’t feel like retailing that whole thing I put together for our evening meal.  I guess maybe it is a Slacker Saturday, though, at least blog-wise.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I did a little something but it was certainly little enough to make a Slacker Saturday post perfectly eligible.

The weather was supposed to be a whole lot worse than it actually was. It was bad enough to keep me close to home.  I did venture out to do some grocery shopping, but I did not patronize a distinctive local store such as I love to highlight in this space.

I also ventured out to Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer for a Korbel and Chambord tasting.  That is, Korbel Champagne and Chambord Raspberry Liquor, mixed together.  I also tasted the champagne by itself.  It was Brut, which is dry, which is what I like.  I bought some.  Steven and I may mimose tomorrow.  We already have some orange juice in the fridge.  Or I may just sip it from a flute.  I love sipping champagne from a champagne flute.

We are currently watching Deadly Women, an ID (Investigation Discover) original series, On Demand.  It is sufficiently cheesy to be appropriate for a Slacker Saturday.  I would like to watch a movie next. I wonder if we could find something suitable to write tomorrow’s blog post about.  Time will tell.  In the meantime, I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

 

 

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Is It Friday Already, Finally?

Posted on December 16, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yes, it is another Late, Lame post.  I wonder if I should make a sub-category to reflect that?  Nah, I’ll just post.  I confess, I had my doubts this week as to whether I would make it to Friday, or indeed, if Friday would ever come.  You’ll have that.

So with Friday came the deadline for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  If I was a really good writer, like I pretend I am, this would not matter, because I would have already written my article or articles and submitted them.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me. However, I did what I could and submitted something that I feel is not completely contemptible.

Then I had to rush into some nice-looking clothes, because my friend, Kim, was picking me up to go to a wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor.  It was Adirondack Winery of Lake George.  I have tasted their stuff before but never been to the winery.  I must get there one day, though, because they have some dry wines that are not carried by the liquor store so were not available for tasting.

From the wine tasting, Kim and I headed to the Herkimer Elks Lodge for Cucina Berto’s Tom & Jerry Night.  Steven joined us already in progress.  We had a couple Tom & Jerry’s, and Steven and I each had a cup of Italian Wedding Soup.  Yummy!

And now we are home.  I’m afraid this post will read like a Flustered Friday, and indeed, parts of it felt flustered to me.  However, it was a fun Friday, and I am looking forward to an equally fun Saturday.  I’ll write a blog post about it.

 

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Moonshine for Me!

Posted on December 15, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Steven and I just got back from Valley Wine and Liquor, where we sampled the wares of DikinDurt Distillery of Herkimer.  I had tried their stuff before, having visited the distillery and written about them for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  I want to bring Steven out to the distillery, but we have not found a chance yet, so I was happy he could have a chance to try their moonshine.

First we sampled my two favorites from when I tried them before: Toasted Maple and Mohawk Valley Fire.  I described the latter as “cinnamony” in my article.  Perhaps it is not a word, but I stand by it.  I still think the Toasted Maple would taste good in coffee.  However, I will not get to test that theory yet, because we purchased the Mohawk Valley Fire.  I will let you know how that tastes in coffee, as soon as I find out.  As a final sample, we tried the clear stuff, which I had not tried before.  That was good too, but we preferred the flavored stuff.  We must go to the distillery sometime, though, because I have yet to try the berry flavors: raspberry, blueberry, blackberry.

We had a nice chat with Elizabeth Stack, one of the owners of the distillery.  She remembered me from when my friend Kim and I visited the distillery.  She said they had gotten a great response from the article.  That was nice to hear. We agreed that it was a great magazine.

For more information about DikinDurt Distillery, you can visit their website at https://www.dikindurt.com/.

 

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Wine on a Friday

Posted on November 19, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s a late, lame post on Lame Post Friday.  Too bad I’ve already used that as a headline (or similar words; I can’t be bothered to look back through past posts).  In lieu of my usual random observations and half-baked philosophy, I shall give a brief shout-out to two businesses, one local one not too far away.  I went to a wine tasting of Thousand Islands Winery at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer, NY.

Thousand Islands Winery is located in Alexandria Bay, NY.  I have been there a few times, and I love it.  I have also sampled their wines at various venues in this area, farmers markets, craft fairs and wine tasting events.  They are extremely popular and with good reason.  They offer a variety of wines to please different palates.  Additionally, the people pouring are always knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.  I enjoyed a great conversation with a very nice young man as I waiting for my friend, Kim, who was also coming to taste wine.

I tried waiting for Kim to sample something, but at last I succumbed to temptation and tried the Gewurztraminer (there should be two dots over the u).  It was tasty, but I like drier wines better, so I asked for a little Merlot.  Yum!  Then Kim showed up.  She forgave me for starting without her.  She likes sweet wines and greatly enjoyed the Niagara.  We both liked the Cocoa Island, a dessert wine that combines their Cabernet Sauvignon with chocolate.

We decided we would really like to visit the winery, which Kim has never been to.  I said there were several other wineries in the area that we could visit, so perhaps we should get rooms somewhere.  The young man doing the tasting said Thousand Islands Winery had cabins for rent.  We said, “Let’s go!!!”  I’ll write a blog post about it if we do.

Valley Wine and Liquor has tastings almost every week.  For a complete listing, you can visit their Facebook page.

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Wine-ding Down on Saturday

Posted on April 24, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought of this title as we were driving away from the liquor store.  And you see it has multiple levels of meaning because I am often kind of a dingbat.

I have had a busy Saturday.  I left the house shortly after eight this morning and stopped by a new place called Belly Busters to purchase a dozen donuts.  I’ll write a whole blog post about them later.  It is, of course, a good idea for the director to bring donuts to the theatre on a Saturday morning when people are helping with the set.  I arrived before anyone else and ate a donut.

Then I fixed a costume that needed a stitch or two and carried a bunch of costumes we decided not to use back up to costume storage.  Upstairs I looked for one more piece an actor had requested and wondered if there wasn’t more good stuff I hadn’t seen yet.  Friday I had found a hitherto unopened (by me) box labeled “specialty stuff” or something like that.  It had two felt hats such as I had been going to attempt to make.  Yes!  Score!

When people showed up, we went to Ilion TruValue Hardware to purchase more paint, put another coat of paint on the walls, polished all the wood on the furniture, went to a certain big box store for necessary fabric for set and costumes, and, yes, visited and talked about all kinds of fun stuff.  The only real reason to be involved in anything is to hang out with the other people involved (oh, I may get arguments about that; when will I learn not to make such global statements).  The extremely talented young man who is painting the garden mural which is, unfortunately, only vaguely seen by the audience, showed up and worked some more on that.  It looks awesome!  Before I left another nice man had shown up to hang the black fabric from the ceiling to the top of the walls which makes the set look so much more finished.

Really, I have gotten so much help on my show.  I am quite grateful to all involved. I must try to find some way of showing my appreciation besides mentioning them in a blog which I am afraid only a few of them read.

Back home, I did what I have not had a chance to do in recent weekends and took a nap.  You see, after yesterday’s bad headache I was afraid of getting another one so took some of the migraine medication the doctor prescribed.  It makes one a little dopey (even more so than usual) (so you don’t need to make unkind and rather obvious jokes about it) (you know who you are).

When Steven got home I was having coffee.  Ahhh.  We went out to Sorrento’s in Ilion, NY for a late lunch/early dinner, enjoying a glass of Pinot Grigio with the food.  On the way home we went by Valley Wine and Liquor, where they were tasting some Italian wines (so that’s two more places that deserve a full blog post).  We got a couple of bottles, including some champagne so we can mimose tomorrow, if we are so inclined.

So this is my Scattered Saturday post.  Steven is having a little doze on the love seat, but I will wake him up so I can read him this before I post it, then I think we will watch one of the VCR tapes I purchased at a rummage sale recently (perhaps you read my blog post on it).  Happy Saturday, everybody!

 

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That’s the Spirit, Mr. Reilley!

Posted on April 3, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Last Friday, after leaving Vintage Spirits, Steven and I decided to stop by Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer to see if they had a tasting, which they usually do on a Friday.  I’m so glad we did.

“Life of Reilley Distillery!” I said, reading off the sign up front.  “Yay!  I love them!”  I remembered as soon as I saw it that I had seen it was an upcoming tasting, but I rarely make a note of these things.  Next time I will definitely make a note when Life of Reilley is expected.

We had tasted Life of Reilley at Valley Wine and Liquor before.  Ben Reilley remembered me from last time.  He remembered that I have a blog, which is another reason I am making sure to write a post about his business.  The main reason is, yum.

I am not a vodka drinker in general.  These days I rarely indulge in hard liquor at all, but even when I did, gin was my drink of choice, with occasional forays into whiskey, rum or brandy.  However, they say there are exceptions to every rule.  Life of Rielley products are just so tasty!  I had the plain, the raspberry and the vanilla and loved them all.  When I remarked about my usual preferences, Ben said he heard that a lot.  He was thinking of using it as an advertising slogan: the vodka for people who don’t drink vodka or something like that.

Life of Reilley Distilling and Wine Co. was founded in 2013 in Canandaigua, NY.  They are a family-run business and according to their Facebook page, they are living the life.  I love their spirit as well as their spirit, if you see what I mean.  To learn more about Life of Reilley, you can visit their website at http://www.lifeofreilley.net/. You can also Like them on Facebook.

Valley Wine and Liquor is located at 326 S. Caroline St, in Herkimer, phone number 315-867-5800.  They are also on Facebook.

 

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