V is for Vineyard

After I did my "T" Alphabet Adventure last August (!!), I thought Sage would get her "U" done within the month, and I had my "V" all set up to go: We'd drive down to Wood's Hole one weekend morning, take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard, rent bikes for the day, ride around the island, have lunch, and act above our station. Unfortunately Sage's "U" took a little bit longer than I expected (5 months to be exact), so my "V" idea took a back seat. I was still going to do the Martha's Vineyard idea this spring, and then Sage mentioned to me one day how she really doesn't like riding bikes, so I figured I'd go to plan B.

And plan B happened this past weekend, when we traveled down to southern Massachusetts and took in 2 of the vineyards/wineries on the Coastal Wine Trail, that extends from Cape Cod to Connecticut. In fact, we visited one of the wineries on the Coastal Wine Trail in 2009 when we visited Truro Vineyards on Cape Cod with our friends Sluggy and Kristen from MD. So we headed down south on Saturday morning, first with a stop at Ikea for some browsing of furniture. Then our first stop was at Running Brook Vineyard and Winery in North Dartmouth, MA. We arrived very shortly after they opened, and their operation seemed pretty small. While they claim that they are only one of 2 wineries in Massachusetts that grows their own grapes, their operation was entirely housed in one large barn. We sampled all the wines they had, including a couple of ports that were extremely sweet. (The ports made sense, as the winery was owned and run by a couple of Portuguese gentlemen, including Manny whom we met.) But a couple of the reds were good so we bought some bottles and wished them well.

Our next stop was Travessia Winery in downtown New Bedford, the self-proclaimed "most famous whaling seaport in the world". Fishing and boats still seem to be a big attraction for the city, and they seem to be embracing the sea once again, connecting the downtown to the waterfront. Travessia is a small storefront downtown, so they get their grapes from other vineyards in the area, some even from Manny at Running Brook. We found their wines to be a bit lighter, less fruity, and not great flavors, but they had 1 or 2 that were interesting. Overall, the wine we've had in Massachusetts has been underwhelming, but you can't blame the effort or dedication.

3 of the offerings from Running Brook and Travessia

After the wine tasting we headed over to the waterfront to a pub that I had read was one of the best in New Bedford, the Rose Alley Ale House. The pub has a large bar in the middle, a few tables around the outside, and not much else. The beer selection was large and impressive, and while I was not expecting much from the food, I decided on the fish tacos, considering we were right next to the water and they must get fresh fish. I have to say, the fish tacos were OUTSTANDING. Now, I've never actually had fish tacos before, but even so, they were so much better than I was expecting. Sage enjoyed her wrap and onion rings as well, so we were very happy we ate there. I just wish I had the time (and liver) to hang out there all day and enjoy the atmosphere and beer list.

Overall I thought it was a very successful "V" activity, and I'm looking forward to Sage's "W"!