Wine Downs and Flight of the Woodcock

It has been a fun culinary weekend and it isn’t over yet. Friday night we had one of our last Wine Downs at Jones Farm. We have two more Wine Downs before we close the season in December. What a great time of year to be on the farm. Bursts of color everywhere, the air is crisp, and I just can’t get enough of the spicy flavors that really shine when the weather starts to turn cool. Beautiful pumpkins and squash in different sizes and colors are everywhere you turn. I can’t wait to experiment with some of the lesser know squashes. At Friday’s Wine Down, A Chill is in The Air, we were lucky to have Larry McCulloch join us to talk about wine making. Larry has over 25 years of experience in wine making and like everyone else here at Jones is passionate about what he does. Larry talked about what to expect from this year’s yield and I couldn’t help but picture next year’s Wine Downs. There is something about being on a farm that really makes you take note of the passage of time. You think in terms of seasons and weather.


We started with a pumpkin hummus, sounds odd I know but it disappeared in a flash and even the those “suspicious” of vegetables enjoyed it. We served the hummus with toasted pita chips, broccoli and cauliflower, fresh from the farm. We served this with HARVEST TIME, an apple and pear wine that is delicately sweet with crisp fruit flavors. Next we moved on to the main course, an over-stuffed-pumpkin. We used a Blue Hubbard Squash. This is the original squash used for pumpkin pie. It has a wonderful, sweet and complex flavor. We stuffed the hubbard with a cornbread and chicken-sausage stuffing. We paired this with our Cabernet Franc, a great wine for vegetarian dishes, as well as, pork. Then we sampled some local cheeses(more on cheese when I talk about my Flight of the Woodcock) and paired these with our Merlot. For dessert we enjoyed a spicy pumpkin cake with sautéed apples. For dessert we served out First Blush. We had a full house of 20 wonderful people.

The Flight of the Woodcock

Saturday brought more culinary adventures. Sally and Thomas Camm from The Artisan Food Store, which I am happy to say is located in Southbury, CT hosted a Meet the Cheese-Maker event. Mark Fisher from Woodcock Farm, in Weston, Vermont spoke about how Woodcock Farm started making cheese 10 years ago. Mark and Gari Fisher started with sheep because it is easier start with sheep’s milk than cow’s milk. Cows require a much large area of land to raise and it takes 10 lbs of cow’s milk to make 1 lb of cheese where as it only takes 5 lbs of sheep’s milk to make 1 lb of cheese. The cheeses were outstanding and Mark who was an artist before making cheese is again an artist, now his artistry starts with milk. Here are the cheeses we tasted:

Feta (Sheep)
Raw milk feta made in a Bulgarian Style (one of my favorites)

Cloud 9 (Cow)
Mold ripened soft and creamy

Summer Snow (Sheep) - this will soon be gone... Enjoy while it lasts
Mold Ripened, unctuous and rich

Humble Pie (Cow)
Washed Rind Cheese, mellow and rich

Timberdoodle (Cow/Sheep) Another Favorite of mine
Washed Rind Havarti Style Cheese – We had this cheese at the Wine Down on Friday

Weston Wheel (Sheep) I can't get enough of this cheese
Aged Cheese, nutty and tangy

True Blue (Cow)
Smooth creamy soft style of blue

The cheeses were paired with wine. The wines were supplied by Nutmeg Wine and Spirits in Woodbury. The first wine was Jones Vineyard, Pinot Gris(no they didn’t know I was coming :-). Sally had us try the feta with the Pinot Gris first alone and then with a lovely tabouli and the feta. A wonderful pairing. They also served Hopkins Vineyard Lady Rosé another wonderful CT wine. Don’t be afraid, it is a nice dry Rosé and it paired nicely with Cloud 9.