Madera Wine Trail Wine & Chocolate Weekend

Oh my, it has been far too long since I have posted on this blog.  What with the holidays, moving to a new house, and spending inordinate amounts of time at the veterinary specialists with the huskies as they were diagnosed, and are now treated for, cancer, we haven't had time for much exploring.  We have been having fun times with friends, but haven't really gone on any roadtrips until this past weekend.  We headed out on the Madera Wine Trail for their Wine & Chocolate Weekend with our friends Heather and Joe and their friend Andrew, who recently moved to Sacramento to take a job at a law firm.

The special event cost $25 and included a commemorative wine glass, tastings at all area wineries, and delicious chocolate treats.  Many wineries featured artists with work for sale and some had food and live music.  Our first stop was Quady Winery which specializes in ports and other dessert wines.  We enjoyed some of their wines, but one of them, Purple, was an "acquired taste".  The label reminded us of a frat party invitation and the taste was most similar to Grape Pucker. 

The crazy label for the crazier wine.

Basically, it was gross and we sought out the nearest tray of chocolate truffles to cleanse our pallets.  The moscato was good, though, and Sean particularly enjoyed their  Starboard Batch 88 port.

One of the best parts of the Quady Winery visit was the mobile wood-fired pizza oven onsite for the event.  I loved my little wild mushroom, tarragon, and goat cheese personal pizza, and the nutella, wild berry, and mint dessert pizza was fabulous!

The Nutella, wild berry, and fresh mint pizza!

Our next stop was Chateau Lasgoity Winery.  We sampled some wines and Heather treated us to chocolate-covered strawberries.I particularly enjoyed the Blanc duVal (white of the valley) which was light and crisp, and will make perfect sipping by the pool this summer.  Unfortunately at this point we had to leave our friends to head home and check on the huskies.  They enjoyed more tasting, with their trusty designated driver, Heather.  Once home we thought twice about cutting off our wristbands as they were good for the entire weekend, but since Ili was headed to the radiation center for the next week we wanted to spend as much time with her as we could.  There's always the Spring Wine Trail Adventure in May!

Waiting for our wood-fired pizzas.  Sorry I cut you off, Andrew!