Keel & Curley Winery Tour

I’ve wanted to tour Keel and Curley Winery for a while, so of course I jumped at the chance to go to a complementary tour and wine tasting with the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers in exchang for blogging about the experience.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

Blueberry fields!


I actually wrote a post about their Wild Berry Fusion Wine in a infrequently updated wine blog my friends and I created ages ago. (Who knew we couldn’t drink enough new wines to blog consistently? or that by the time the bottle(s) was gone we'd forget to blog at all?) Also, I once bought bottles of their dry and sweet blueberry wines for a taste-test of my own. I like them both by the way, and also the semi-sweet. Back then I preferred the sweet, but now I prefer the dry. I would say that means my wine-tasting ability has matured, but I kind of doubt it.

All of their wines were good, but then it would be difficult to find a wine I don’t enjoy. If you prefer a wine that isn’t too sweet and dessert-y then you would love the dry blueberry and the dry blackberry. They were both wonderful; I will beyond a doubt be buying them again in the future. Since you shouldn’t really trust my ability to not like a fruity wine I’ll tell you that my boyfriend really liked both of them, and his taste usually runs the opposite of mine when it comes to both wine and beer. If we agree on a wine them you need to try it!

The Black Raspberry Merlot was really good as well. Honestly the only wine I was disappointed in was the Key West- Key Lime. It’s one of the ones I was looking forward to trying and it smells divine, but the taste wasn’t what I expected at all. However, it won gold at the 2010 Florida State Fair International Wine Competition so what do I know?

If you prefer a sweet wine them you have to get the Sweet Blueberry and the Tangerine Zinfandel. I actually called that last one candy wine, and I have to admit I was the only one at my table that really liked it. But I REALLY liked it.

The wine I was most excited to try was Monica’s Florida Frost, an ice wine. I’ve read a lot about how excellent ice wines are but have never tried one. It was beyond a doubt excellent. And the boyfriend hated it, so any dessert wine lover would be happy with it. I have to admit, my wine-snob taste buds came out (I only have like 2) and I think that it would be more enjoyable as a full glass of wine. It seemed to be one of those wines with a lot of layers, as you drink it different tastes may come out. I don’t know, but someone may have to get me a bottle for my birthday so I can fine out for certain! At $25 a bottle it is a little out of my everyday wine price range.

April 27-28th will be Keel & Curley's annual blueberry festival. It’s free admission with music and lots of food and vendors. It sounds like it will be a great family event if you are in the Plant City area. They’re even going to have blueberry wine making and blueberry farming and growing tips classes both days. I am very tempted to go Sunday just for that (and the wine of course)!

Last thing to mention, the tour was really neat.  The only disappointment was that our tour guide, Sam, said he'd join us at the wine tasing with his Solo cup and he didnt.  He was great, it would have fun! 




Sam and the wine bottling machine



Want to know what this odd looking contraption does?  I don't quite remember, you'll have to go take the tour and ask Sam yourself!

Stupid Calories. And an Armadillo

Well, I have been doing a good job eating healthy this week, but not an excellent job sticking to my strict plan. Biggest win? Staying away from the vending machine (except once, but they were baked chips!) Biggest loss? The fact that they make popcorn 3 days a week at work and as soon as I smell it popping I find myself walking away with a bag. This isn’t air popped popcorn, this stuff is worst for you than the stuff at the movies. I guess next week’s big goal is no popcorn! What the heck, start small.

I’ve never been one to look at the calories on stuff, and now that I did I wish I’d never looked! Turns out one of my bigger calorie splurge is my most-nightly drink.

• Angry Orchard Ginger Hard Cider = 210 calories a bottle (yes, one, single bottle!)

• Mike’s hard lemonade = 220 calories

• Sangria = about 150

• Captain Morgan and Coke= 127 calories for 5 ounces

Since I’m on a hard cider kick I grabbed a 6 pack of Michelob Ultra Light Cider and would you believe it is 120 calories a bottle??? Seriously. It has the word light right on the label. Not just light, ULTRA light! All the other flavors only have 95, that’s just not fair.

I can see I’ll be done with this whole reading calories thing soon. When I started reading labels for sodium and weird stuff I cut out a ton of food, if I keep reading calories I’ll just quit eating before you know it. OK, that was a lie, I like eating.

On a more interesting note, I ran about 2 miles last night. It was my first run in a bit over two weeks. It was freezing (for FL) for most of that time and I am a huge cold wimp, and then it just took me a few days to remember that I like to run.

The interesting part is I almost tripped over an armadillo! I was running along watching for whatever might be in my way in the street and this thing was right on the edge of the grass, I didn’t see it until I was about a foot from it. Apparently I tend to focus a bit too much on what is directly in front of me. That resulted in a graceless but funny side jump of a few feet. Thank goodness I my neighbors on that part of the street are rarely out!

Oh, another cool thing.(Nerdy cool, but whatever) I realized on my run last night that I am no longer having an issue with pebbles and little things bothering my feet when I run barefoot! I read that eventually that would happen but I didn’t think it would so soon. I haven’t barefoot trail-run in well over a month; I think it’s time to try it again! I just need to find a running partner, I get way too nervous listening to what sounds like a bear and is probably a lizard in the trees.