 Whether you're a couple who loves to go out and party with friends, or a couple who prefers a quiet dinner at home followed by a board game (that's my kind of night!), here are some of my recommendations of things to do for Valentine's 2020.
An evening indoors: Like I mentioned above, I am such a homebody and love dinner at my own table, a bottle of Deer Run wine and a good game of Scrabble with my handsome hubby. For those of you who share my love for the comforts of home, I recommend this Chicken French dish which I posted about on the blog back in January 2017. This is really not that difficult to make and it is a fantastic recipe. I mention using Vignoles in the blog post, however, this dish will also pair very well with our Riesling or Traminette. Laugh until you cry: They say laughter is the greatest medicine and it can also bring couples closer together. On February 08th, the Saturday before Valentine's Day, Deer Run Winery will host the Not Too Far From Home Comedy Tour. The evening will feature 90 minutes of comedy following a buffet dinner. If you have been feeling a bit blah this winter and in need of some laughter in your relationship, this may be the perfect fit for you! Satisfy the sweet tooth: If your honey loves sweets and wine, visit our tasting room for a Valentine's Chocolate & Wine flight. We will be offering this special flight in our tasting room Friday - Sunday February 14th-16th during regular business hours. We will have pre-selected flights (your choice of dry or sweet wines) perfectly paired with locally hand-crafted chocolate truffles. Don't just gift a box of chocolates, take your sweetie out for a chocolate and wine flight! And if you're single, grab your friend and stop by! Who doesn't love chocolate and wine?! I hope my above suggestions help you with your 2020 Valentine's plans. ;)
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We had a great time with the folks who came out and joined us for our very first Candlelight Night of 2019 and have the recipes below from the menu which was featured last night. Sweet Potato rounds topped with goat cheese & cranberry Corot Noir jam paired with Deer Run's 2017 Corot Noir This is a super easy appetizer to make and it is gluten free! Peel and wash sweet potatoes and slice them into 1/2" thick rounds. Use a pastry brush to apply oil to both sides of the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper sprinkle kosher salt over the top of the rounds. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 8 minutes and turn over the rounds and bake for an additional 8 minutes. I let these cool completely and topped with honey goat cheese, our cranberry Corot Noir jam and sprinkled chopped salted almonds to add texture. We served these room temperature and their paired very nicely with our Corot Noir. Bacon Macaroni & Cheese paired with 2017 Vignoles 16-ounce box of elbow macaroni cooked in salt water and drained Cook 1/2 package of bacon in the oven until crispy, chop and set aside (8 strips) Make a roux with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of flour Pour in 1 cup of whole milk and whisk until smooth. Add 2 cups of shredded mild cheddar, Add 2 oz. of cubed Velveeta cheese and stir until melted Add 8 oz of heavy cream Stir in 4 oz of shredded Parmesan cheese stir until melted Pour the cheese mixture into the cooked macaroni, add chopped bacon, stir to combine and serve with 2017 Vignoles. Mozzarella stuffed Turkey Pesto meatballs paired with 2017 Traminette I followed this recipe found on Allrecipes.com. The only variation was that I forgot to add the milk and did not have the parsley, but these were a hit last night and there were none left over! The fresh herbal note in these meatballs pair incredibly well with the floral essence of the Traminette. These meatballs are a great addition to your next holiday party or get together. Garlic Cheddar Biscuits paired with Dry Rose I followed this Garlic Cheddar Biscuit recipe and cut these out smaller to have bite-sized bites that were easier to for folks to enjoy while mingling. I added more shredded cheddar cheese than was called for because it's cheese! Joan made the Apple Pie Bites which we paired with Via Ferrata and followed this easy recipe: Can of apple pie filling and a package of puff pastry, roll and bake until golden brown and sprinkle cinnamon on top! Super simple and easy to make, so you can get to spending time with friends and family instead of slaving away in the kitchen! Thank you to all who joined us and we hope some of these recipes and pairings will find their way onto your holiday tables! Do you want to come to one of our Candlelight Night events? Click below to make your reservations!  As 2019 comes to a close, we are able to look back on another year of hard work, busy events, and good times shared with our neighbors. We are so very thankful for our incredible staff, who are among the kindest and most accommodating people I have had the privilege of working with. We are thankful for the folks we meet and chat with in our tasting room, who share bits of themselves and often end up leaving as friends. The memories that we leave with you, you also leave with us. We are blessed to be a part of this incredible community of truly good-hearted people and we wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
 This Saturday November 30th marks Small Business Saturday and we are celebrating with ten local independent artisans who will be joining us from 12pm - 4pm selling their wares just in time for the holidays! Deer Run Winery will be providing complimentary wine and food samples while you shop! We will be joined by:
Candlelight Night #3 "All things French" Dec 19
French dip squares paired with Corot Noir Spinach artichoke stuffed French bread paired with Chardonnay Chicken cordon bleu meatballs in a Dijon white wine sauce paired with Vignoles Gruyere mushroom tart paired with Conesus White Chocolate mousse paired with Max Black Last night we welcomed four groups under a clear starry sky and it was a great start to our fall fun event, Wineerie Nights! This event is a great team building activity or fun for friends and family to experience together. Guests arrive and once they enter our event room they are welcomed with a glass of wine, light appetizers before they take a seat and watch a short video of our property's history and learn of events that happened more than 100 years ago. The escape room time starts counting down the moment guest's enter the room, so time is of the essence! Folks then solve a series of clues to escape the room. Afterwards, guest load the trailer for a hayride through the property and debark to take an eerie stroll through the vineyard in the dark. The evening is completed with a wine and cookie pairing - cookies provided by the Finger Lakes Cookie Company! All in all people should plan on spending approximately 1.5 hours at the winery. Slots are limited to 10 guests every half hour. Space is available for tonight and next weekend. To attend this event, click the link below.
Autumn is such a great time of year in the Finger Lakes! Grape harvest is happening across the region, making this a very busy time of year for many of the folks working in the wine industry. So far this season, we have received Diamond (this goes into our very well-loved Conesus White blend) and hand picked our vineyard grown Marechal Foch and Frontenac, pictured below.
Each year at this time, to celebrate our grape harvest with the community, we host an annual Harvest Festival! Taking place this Sunday October 06, 2019 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Harvest Festival is our family friendly day for everyone to come out and visit the grape farm! We welcome children and grandchildren to dress up in costume and we will have face-painting, hayrides through the vineyard, a bounce house (weather permitting), children's crafts, grape stomp, live music from Travis Prinzi, and food from Wild Hog'z BBQ and shaved ice from Snowie of NY. All are welcome and Harvest Festival at Deer Run Winery will happen rain or shine - let's hope it shines!
Special Offer: Pre-order your meal and drink combo in advance and save $5.00 on your advance purchase!
Your Oktoberfest meal and drink combo will include:
For a few years now I’ve been interested in experimenting with new products from grapes or wine. I had originally thought about a brandy using some wines we had in our tanks but I didn’t want to age it in oak. After some research and sampling a few bottles of different clear brandies and grappas, I had a direction. I spoke with Jason Barret, owner and head distiller of Black Button but he is growing so fast his production schedule was a year or 2 out. He recommended Collin McConville, head distiller at Apple Country Spirits. Collin and I spoke at length, and we decided on distilling the wine into an immature brandy.
Immature brandy is just what it sounds like, it is not aged in oak casks so it does not have the depth of flavor from the ageing. It is much lighter, more floral and has more character from the grapes and wine than it’s older cousin, traditional brandy. As such, it is a fantastic vehicle for cocktails, lending a different flavor base to build from. The floral and fruit characteristics make for refreshing new takes on classics, like a brandy and tonic, brandy and soda or brandy and ginger. Even the Old Fashioned with our immature brandy in place of the whiskey makes a great cocktail! During our initial conversations Collin had spoke very highly of vodka made from wine. I thought about it and decided that it might be a good way to use experimental wines. Second wines seemed to be a good vehicle to experiment with. Re-using a partially spent raw material, grape must or skins that would end up as compost anyways. We used some stronger yeasts, measured how well the yeasts performed in very difficult conditions such as low temps, low nutrients, higher pH etc. and how well we could adjust these conditions to better the performance of the yeasts. At the conclusion of the different ferments we were surprised at the rough wines. Some were very palatable, while others had nuances of the wines made from the same grapes previously, albeit much weaker. We trucked the different wines up to Apple Country Spirits and in December we distilled the immature brandy, and then in February we distilled the vodka. Collin had already distilled the vodka base once so the second distillation in February was the final. After much back and forth with the TTB (the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) we received label approval and bottled the spirits this summer. Cheers, Scott Kuyon Winemaker Deer Run Winery One of our very favorite events at Deer Run Winery is our annual Picnic in the Vineyard. Dinner service and seating among the vines as the sun sets over the vineyard is quite a magical experience that you won't want to miss! This year is no exception as we have a delicious menu planned and perfectly paired with our award-winning wines. The meal and dinner service will be provided by Partyman Catering of Avon, N.Y., an A.C.E. awarded caterer! This year's menu will feature: Appetizer: smoked salmon cucumber rolls with fresh dill paired with Traminette Soup: chilled corn soup paired with Corot Noir Salad: lemon basil orzo salad paired with Riesling Entree: tarragon chicken with Chardonnay cream sauce paired with Chardonnay Dessert: Conesus red raspberry ice cream with fresh mint paired with Conesus Red |
Marie K.I am the newest addition to the Deer Run Winery family. Scott and I married in 2014 and I transitioned from a hospitality manager to a grape farmer's wife. Archives
January 2020
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