Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail celebrates the Art of Food

Posted by Lele Galer on September 27, 2015

Flickerwood truffles are available on the Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail

Nine Chester County wineries and their satellite locations are celebrating The Art of Food and National Cheese Month this October by incorporating a variety of locally made cheeses and other artisanal foods into their winery tasting rooms. There will be cheese pairings, chocolate pairings, harvest dinners, harvest festivals, pumpkin carvings and a special promotion for tickets to the upcoming NC Wyeth show at the Chester County Art Association.

Chester County is lush with harvest produce, award winning local cheese and chocolate makers, most of whom only sell wholesale. This "Art of Food" along the Wine Trail is a wonderful opportunity for customers to see the best of local artisanal food and wine, here in the Brandywine Valley.

Local cheese and chocolates are the highlights for this October's "Art of Food." October 18th, Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square will host the Chester County Artisans, which include: The Farm at Doe Run, Amazing Acres, Birchin Hills Farm, Meadowseat Farm, Yellow Spring Farm, Conebella Farms, and Shellbark Hollow Farms. Most of these cheese makers only sell to wholesale customers, which makes their gathering at Galer Estate Winery on October 18th all the more exciting for the local consumer. Locally made chocolates are also a huge favorite in our area. Eclat Chocolates will be paired with Galer Estate wine on the 18th.

Flickerwood Winery's tasting rooms in Oxford and Kennett Square, they will be introducing a new line of chocolates from Dipped Delights. Dipped Delights is a small chocolate company located in Oxford, Pa and they provide Flickerwood with a wide variety of chocolate covered items from strawberries to rice krispy treats to pineapple to cashew clusters. Flickerwood will also be highlighting their partnership with DiBruno Bros cheese products, and even have a specially created ice cream flavor called "Raspberry Wine Ice cream" made by La Michocana of Kennett Square. A local jam company, Wicked Concoctions, has also made three jams with Flickerwood wines that will all be highlighted in the month of October in their tasting rooms.

Paradocx Winery in Landenberg and their tasting room in Kennett Square are partnering with Neuchatel Chocolates from Oxford PA for some delicious wine pairings in October. Kreutz Creek Winery's tasting rooms at their winery in West Grove and West Chester will feature dark chocolate from Bevans in Media in combination with their Ruby K Port. Ten Gallon Hat Winery in Chadds Ford will feature Bridge Street chocolates all month. Penns Woods Winery will also have fun at the winery with pumpkin paintings October 24th and 25th, and a "grape stomp" on October 10th. Wilson Winery will be pairing their wine with delicious, locally grown cucumbers in a variety of delightful cucumber sandwiches. Grace Winery will be celebrating harvest with their last "Dining in the Vineyard" for the year on October 18th, reservations only, which will pair the best of Chester County with Grace wines, beautifully prepared by chef Scott Megill. Borderland Vineyard in Landenberg will be having their annual Harvest Festival on October 10th & 11th, with artisanal food such as local Sweet Salvation Truffles, live music, wine and much more. Please visit the trail website for more details www.brandywineartisanwinetrail.com.

When visitors travel from one winery to the next on the trail, they are encouraged to take an art card, collect them and then come and visit the "Founder's Exhibition" of N.C. Wyeth at the Chester County Art Association October 10-18th. Tickets for the exhibition are also available now online.

Thousands of visitors are expected to the Brandywine area for the NC Wyeth show October 10-18. To help promote the Chester County Art Association's major exhibition, nine wineries will all have different art cards available, each with different images from this historic show. When a customer has collected 5 different images or more, they may get two for one pricing for exhibition tickets at the door, and then may enter to win a wine basket of wines from the Brandywine Valley wineries. No purchase is necessary to get an art card !

The Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail was developed to draw attention to the increasing number of local wineries by highlighting a variety of local Chester County art and artisanal products through different themes every month. When visitors come to the area, they are drawn to the art, culture, history, and the wine trail, and they often go to The Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau, right near the entrance to Longwood Gardens, for advice on where to go. The Visitor's Bureau encourages visitors to Chester County by linking a full weekend of activities, themes along the Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail, at The Chester County Art Association's Founders Exhibit, and visiting the N.C. Wyeth Studio Tour at The Brandywine River Museum of Art, and staying over at one of the lovely Chester County Bed and Breakfast lodgings.

Next month's Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail theme is "The Art of Thanksgiving - Ceramics" where different wineries on the trail will showcase the work of local ceramics artists. To learn more about the Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail, click on the website at www.brandywineartisanwinetrail.com.

About Lele Galer

Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Associated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square.