Sunday, March 21, 2010

 

Saturday Excursion: Horseshoe Bend


Beverly and I love to take drives on the weekend. We usually pick a State Resort Park, a Kentucky winery, or a distillery. The parks are Sunday dinner destinations and some nature walks; nice especially in the spring and fall. We wind up where ever. There are two rules: no interstates (unless it starts getting late and there is a basketball game) and we always start with (or find somewhere along the way) McDonald's sweet tea--1/2 and 1/2 with lemon for me. Roads with 2-, 3-, and 4-digit numbers or just a road name are preferred. More often than not, these roads have no shoulder and may have only a double-yellow center line. Running the ridges or following the creeks, we go past places where the whole family sits on the trampoline in the front yard, waving at passers-by.

We do have navigating companions along for the ride. Karen is our Garmin Nuvi personality. We have the Kentucky State Highway map and use DeLorme Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer for the back roads. We often get Karen confused (a couple of "recalculating"s in a row gets her muted). Sometimes to avoid interstates, we have to add destinations to our route. Such was the case yesterday.

We decided to go to Horseshoe Bend Winery outside of Willisburg, Kentucky. We routed through Old Fort Harrod State Park where we marveled at the Osage Orange tree on the grounds. Save for the circumstance of being split, this tree would be the biggest Osage Orange in the nation.

At the Horseshoe Bend winery, we met Ann Karsner who led us through the tasting. I'm sure wine buffs will find my notes naive, but here they are:
  1. All wines are made with Kentucky grapes
  2. Golden Sun (white) rather sweeter than dry but not overly so, a lighter dinner wine (purchased)
  3. Rose of Cabernet Franc (Long Lick Farm Chardonnay), somewhat dry, I liked it
  4. Black Jester Cabernet, smooth and woody (purchased)
  5. Red Jester Chambourcin, somewhat dry, good, bit I liked the Cabernet better
  6. Norton, a native American grape, rather sweeter than drier, but not a dessert wine
  7. First Sunday (Long Lick) semi-sweet red dinner wine
  8. Goldenrod (white), a sweet dessert wine (ginger snaps, ice cream, and peaches on a summer evening come to mind)
  9. Cardinal (the Norton grape), a red sweet dessert wine (serve with darker chocolates)


On a summer day, you couldn't see the rows of grapes through the trees.

It was just after noon and Ann Karsner suggested a couple of places for lunch in Bardstown. We thought Kreso's sounded good and headed off. We found it, but they were set up to host a special fund-raising event and were not serving lunch. We did get a tour of the restaurant and it looks wonderful. A intimate bar and dining area open up toward the back to an old theater with extra dining space. It's not always set up this way, but for the fund-raiser, all possible tables were elegantly set. We definitely want to return and try this for lunch some upcoming weekend.

We met two young women on the street and they suggested we try the Old Talbott Tavern for lunch. This is a historic bed and breakfast and tavern, claiming to be the "oldest western stagecoach stop in America." Famous guests from Abraham Lincoln to Jesse James have stayed there. Beverly had what looked to be a very good hot brown; they got it right with both turkey and ham. I had the Tavern Salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and the Country Ham Steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans (no supper tonight).

From there, we headed home so we could catch the Kentucky Wildcats game.

I'm including a Google Maps rendering of our route. I can't make Google follow our route exactly, however. We didn't go through Bloomfield twice; between Chaplin and Bardstown, we took the Bloomfield-Tunnel Mill Road (Hwy 2738) to Hwy 55/62. We took the Bardstown Trail from Hemp Ridge to Graefenberg. And, back in Franklin County, we ended up cutting across on Bark Branch. You get the idea.

Google Maps Route (Opens in a new window. You may have to change from satellite to map view and click the get directions button to see the trace of the route.)

Next weekend, there is a wine tour fundraiser for McConnell Springs in Lexington. We'll choose some vineyards and a route and let you know.

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