Nashoba Valley Wild Game Night
Nashoba Valley Winery

A Massachusetts powerhouse when it comes to delicious fruit wines, Nashoba Valley Winery's restaurant is also well known for its fine foods. Recently, they hosted a "Wild Game" case club dinner. This is the most popular dinner type each year.

The dinner was held in the actual working areas of the winery, so the guests were able to view new wines aging while sipping the current releases. First came a light apple wine. It was sipped while guests examined the sorting/de-coring machine and the press.

The first food station featured a Caesar Salad, with the Dry Pear wine. We went right for the delicious muskox stew, with grilled foccacia bread. This was paired by the Semi-Sweet Blueberry wine. The spice and pepperiness of the stew very nicely tempered the sweetness of the blueberry, making a perfect pairing.

The main room started with a rabbit ravioli over mixed greens, with a pommery mustadrd sauce. The whole grain mustard seeds were crunchy and delightful tasting. This went with a Cyser apple wine, quite good.

Finally, dessert came. While dessert was served, the winemakers discussed the wines that had been tasted, and plans for the future. The desserts included a creamy pumpkin cheesecake, a sweet almond tart, and a delicious chocolate frangelico mousse cake. The two wines served with these were the after dinner peach, which is quite a favorite, and the raspberry wine, which is another all time favorite - very smooth and even flavored.

As an added bonus, the tasting bar was open and the guests were also able to sample the two dessert wines that garner the most praise - the Azule blueberry port and the Amora blackberry dessert wine. Both were simply phenomonal. The Azule is smooth and rich, with a long, lingering finish. The blackberry is pure and true blackberry flavor. Both were purchased actively after the tasting.

As a final note, Nashoba has brought back a favorite from years past - their Apple Sparkling Wine. The bottles were upside-down in wood racks near the center of the tasting area, and there was a great deal of interest in this product. A review of this wine will be coming in a few weeks, as part of a general "high end fruit wines" article.

Dateline: 3/9/99

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