Let's be honest- I'm a fan of wine so no one had to twist my arm to go, but it's always nice when you spend money on an activity and end up really enjoying yourself.
The Noblemen put this on and are known for hosting quite a few social fundraisers throughout the year. This was the first event of theirs I've attended, and with all proceeds going back into the local community I was happy to support their cause one
Little did I know that my fellow wine supporter and date to this day o' fun, Gillian, was a newbie to the world of wine festivals. I would have never guessed this because she loves wine with all her heart and soul... but tis true. When we approached the first tent she asked what we were supposed to do and it was quite shocking. All the comments about my preparedness and general know-how started to make more sense. See, I'm used to attending these sorts of things with big groups of friends and my typical contribution is minimal- as in I show up and maybe prepare a small snack to share (if that!). Last year I had to step up my game because the mother hen of our group, Elizabeth, was way-pregnant (is that bad to say?) and I was trying to help her out by taking on some of the prep work. I ended up making chicken salad, purchased some cheeses, and packed a super cute cooler with all the random things we may need- even down to hand sanitizer. From that festival on I became a new person. Similarly, I brought a cooler packed with a variety of cheese and crackers, fruit... and of course, whatever utensils there was the slightest chance we might have needed. It felt good to plan ahead and pack well enough that we didn't need to do anything but taste, taste, and taste some more wine.
Shortly into arriving (as in three tents "in") it started to rain... hard. Thank goodness for the food tent and two folding chairs we somehow managed to snag to wait out the storm. Oh, and did I mention the bottle of wine Gillian ran back through the rain for? No? Well definitely thank goodness for that. We chatted with quite a few people, ate, and decided that should the rain persist we would just have to buy a bottle from a random tent we hadn't tasted from yet and move our party of two to the car. Fortunately for us, the rain did let up and we didn't have to take such drastic measures. It sounds crazy, but I wasn't about to let the newbie's first experience be lamo.
The best part about this whole thing was that once the rain stopped we were more fascinated with the horses in the stable than the vendor tents so by the time we picked up where we'd left off we realized there only30 more minutes of tasting. Tough break, I know. Didn't matter to us though, the day was full of good company, good wine, and good food.
