For those of you who don’t know, that famous quote “I love cooking with wine--sometimes I even put it in the food” is from the great Julia Child.  Now, I don’t know if I can call myself a wine lover, per se.  I like wine, and there are some wines that I really, really love, but I’m no connoisseur.  I don’t really like bold, red wines especially.  It’s like drinking gasoline for me.  My favorites are sweet wines, something that I can taste the fruit in.  If I want to feel like a grown-up, though, and have a really serious wine, I will have a nice white.  Rieslings, in particular, are very nice.  Also for those of you who don’t know, Tennessee does not allow wine to be sold in retail food (that would be grocery) stores.  On top of that, there are very few wine shops in Nashville that are located in areas I would feel safe going to at night.  I can count them all on one hand, in fact.  That being the case, Mike and I don’t get wine very often.  When my good friend Carla put an “A Toast to Tennessee Wine Festival” publication on my desk, I was very excited.  Thanks, Carla!

    The event was held at our local water park, Nashville Shores, and was worth the $25 per

person entrance fee.  There were somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen wineries there, all of which were giving out free samples of their wines.  That’s one of the things the entrance fee covered.  The other things it covered were wine seminars presented at every hour, a free wine glass for each person coming in, and whatever else the vendors wanted to give away.  There was also a handful of gift vendors there (jewelry mostly), and one food vendor, which I will get to later.  All the wineries had lists of what they had to offer, and most of them had two tables set up.  One was to serve the samples at, the other was to sell bottles at.  Mike and I split the work by getting a different wine at each vendor and then letting the other taste what they had gotten.  I’m going to make a long story short here and let you know that, no matter what kind of wine you like or what kind of wine drinker you are, there was something for everyone at ATTNWF.  There was also weather-based excitement for everyone.

    The forecast had been calling for rain--just what Nashville needs right now, more rain--and it hit us right around 3:00.  Thankfully, it was the rains-heavily-for-fifteen-minutes-and-then-stops variety of shower.  Mike and I didn’t really care much about the rain and carried on in our journey, but we also didn’t turn down an offer from the owner of Beachaven Winery to come under his tent and have some wine.

<-- This is a shot I took from said Beachaven tent.

This was where I discovered what was my most favorite wine of the day: Golden Rose.  I’m not sure if it falls under a red or a blush, but it is delicious!  Golden Rose is very sweet with just a touch of that arid quality that those bold reds have.  We ended up buying a bottle, and I fully recommend visiting the winery.  It’s not buy forty-five minutes from Nashville in Clarksville, and the people who work there are so nice.  They also have Jazz On the Lawn events all summer, but I digress.  Mike ended up buying some American Pinot Gris from Stonehaus Winery, and I bought some Monk’s Blackberry wine from Keg Springs.

    As for the food, I was a bit disappointed.  The FAQ said there would be samples of gourmet food.  Well, there were concessions you could buy from Nashville Shores, and one winery was giving away samples of cheese covered in their special seasoning mix, but not much else, save for one.  Giuseppe’s 1933.  These guys are at every local shopping event I’ve been to here in Nashville.  Christmas Village, Lawn & Garden Show, and now ATTNWF.  They make and sell pasta, spaghetti sauce, dips, and other lovely little savories.  It is delicious stuff.  Pricier than what you’d buy in a store, yes, but well worth it.  The quality of Giuseppe’s handmade pasta is incomparable to what you’d buy in a store, and they usually run specials at events like this.  This time it was buy five items, get the sixth free.  We ended up buying a pack of pasta, a jar of sauce, a seasoning mix, and three cheese torte mixes.

    Ah, such a great day.  We didn’t end up watching any of the seminars, but we came home with three bottles of delicious wine and some very nummy food.  We will definitely be going back next year.  Just remember to enjoy responsibly and to take a few minutes to make sure you’re really ready to drive before getting back into your car.  All that wine can make you a wee bit fuzzy-headed, thus our final little rest at the picnic tables before heading back home.

If you are interested in supporting a change in the law to allow wine to be sold in TN grocery stores, please visit www.redwhiteandfood.com to learn how you can help.