Chateau Ste Michelle Winery: Weekday Wine Flight

While Heidi was visiting, I took her to the perfect place that would allow us to sit and talk but still experience something special in our area, Chateau Ste Michelle winery!

It wasn't busy midweek and it was the perfect place to stop in after driving her around the Eastside after lunch. I was happy to see a lovely menu available in case we shown up at a different time of day. I will keep this in mind for future guests coming to Seattle.

The grounds are beautiful and daffodils were blooming. It was chilly but the rain stopped and it really felt like spring. I would love to sit outside here on a warmer day. Chateau Ste Michelle has an outdoor summer concert series that my travel schedule hasn't synced up with all these years, but this summer I hope to snag tickets to a concert.  

#chateaustemichelle #woodinvillewinery #flightofwine #finddelight 

 

Traverse City: The Boathouse on Old Mission Peninsula

Timing was everything on this picture perfect Friday last month.  You should know that a standard comment in Michigan is: "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."  

It is so true!  Just one hour after I took this photo (and just minutes after finishing my lunch) on the open air deck at "The Boathouse," the sky opened up with thunder, lightening and heavy-heavy rain.  I was so happy to have had a picture perfect lunch at this beautiful spot before dining outdoors was out of the question. 

I had heard about The Boathouse restaurant on Old Mission Peninsula many times (people love it!), but since it is about an hour from the cottage I was never way out on the peninsula at lunchtime.  When I finally made it out there, I was able to enjoy a gorgeous apple and beet salad with vanilla vinaigrette and a perfect little margherita pizza.  And all the while, looking at West Grand Traverse Bay. 

If you make it out to Old Mission Peninsula, be sure to have lunch at The Boathouse before you head farther into the peninsula for sightseeing and wine tasting at some of Michigan's most famous wineries.  I know you will just love it!

Northern Michigan Winery

Would you believe that I took this photo just yesterday?  I spent the day exploring Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City and captured this view from the vineyard at Chateau Chantal. 

The ribbons of interest are as follows: the vineyard, a red barn and farm house with pine trees, a cherry orchard, a swath of trees and farmland, the water of West Grand Traverse Bay and the shore beyond.  I love the layers and texture, don't you?  It actually includes all of the elements that I have been looking for in a needlepoint landscape. 

I know it sounds ambitious, but this really is the scene I would like to convert to a needlepoint canvas.  I'd translate it using the same colors, designate special stitches to make each tree in the orchard stand out, do a long stitch to replicate the wooden planks of the barn.  Oh, I think it would be wonderful.  A lot of work, but wonderful.

Someday, when I have a little time, this will become my needlepoint canvas.  A girl can dream, can't she? 

Love & Pizza at Black Star Farm

I had to show you these lovebirds - caught in a shadow at a local wine bar/cafe.

It was a gorgeous Fall day in northern Michigan (sunny & cool with blue sky and puffy white clouds) and my Mom and I decided to drive to Black Star Farms to have lunch at "Vine & Hearth."

After we ordered our roasted beet salads (and cheesy sandwiches - yum!), we relaxed and looked around. We noticed this cute couple in their late-twenties seated at the long oak bar. They were huddled over a menu trying to decide which wood-fired pizza to order. The lighting in the restaurant happened to cast their shadows onto the oven.

Later as they sipped their wine, they watched their lunch bubble and crackle as it cooked in the fire in front of them. So romantic!

Ahhh...there is nothing like love and pizza.

Circa Winery: Sweet & Tangy

There are a lot of things I like about this dish of pins.
The colors. The words. The concept.

A friend had invited me to join her for a wine tasting at Circa Estate Winery in northern Michigan. It was a gorgeous evening and we had the luxury of enjoying wine and a small plate of whitefish pate, crackers and fresh berries on an open-air patio.

It was so nice to be able to talk one-on-one, rather than the normal hustle-bustle of Summer greetings at a party or by chance in town.

As we were leaving, I noticed this dish of pins on the bar. Patrons are encouraged to take a few to represent how they would describe the wines. Intermingled with the adjectives were pins with the winery's name. Love this!

My only suggestion to them would be to print the website on the backside of the pin. That way when the customers come across "racy" in their desk drawer months from now, they can remember the great wine and order more. Just a thought...

Wine Cork Candles

There is nothing quite like candlelight in the living room. I wanted to show you one of my favorite things right now - wine cork candles!

Putting a candle in an empty wine bottle has been a tradition for ages. It memorializes a special bottle (and the associated event) and is a simple and romantic way to add ambiance to a room.

But to have a candle that looks like a cork is a very fun play on the idea. I've started mine in a bottle of 45 North, a winery that references the 45th Parallel.

What luck that the labeling matches the room so perfectly.