The plant sale is open to the public on Saturday, May 19th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Raffles and food will be available at the public sale. Admission is free.

The sale at The Woods features native plants including ferns, shrubs, and spring and summer blooming plants. Check out the full list of plants being sold here. The plants are specially grown for Baltimore Woods by the Phoenix Flower Farm.

Baltimore Woods Nature Center is a nonprofit environmental education center with hiking trails, and teaching and interactive programs for students and the public.

I’m not really one for beauty pageants, but I think Germany’s Wine Queen pageant is one I can get behind.

The Vinography blog met up with the 2012  German Wine Queen, Annika Strebel, at ProWein, Europe’s largest wine exhibition. Becoming the German Wine Queen is no joke.

Vinography notes:

”The wine queen program is a remarkably savvy idea that celebrates many of the best things about wine and culture without falling prey to the trashier aspects of many beauty pageants. By celebrating beautiful, intelligent young women that are passionate about wine, the program both serves to attract younger people to the culture of wine, while at the same time demystifying and glamorizing it.”

Wine queens not only have to be lovely and enchanting in evening gowns, but these women must also be serious wine connoisseurs. Wine Queen contenders must pass a series of tests to win the crown. Vinography reports that the hopeful Wine Queen must give an impromptu speech on a randomly chosen German wine region; she must be able to answer questions about the differences between wine regions and grape varieties; perform a blind sensory analysis of a sample of wines; describe winemaking techniques for any type of wine; and make a speech about German wine in English using key words provided by the jury. Phew.  I’d stumble over that like a certain 2007 Miss Teen USA contender from South Carolina every single time.

The Wine Queen devotes an entire year to her reign, and according to Vinography, it’s a huge time commitment. Past queen Mandy Grossgarten told Vinography that being wine queen ”pretty much turns your world upside down.” Many wine queens are students who must take a year off from their studies to participate in hundreds of publicity engagements. Strebel recounted that she participated in an underwater wine tasting in SCUBA gear as part of her queenly duties.

Strebel, who is taking a year off from her studies at the  prestigious viticulture and enology program at Geisenheim in Hessen, Germany, plans to eventually take over winemaking at her family’s Weingut Strebel winery.

You only need one 750ml bottle to enter but they must be in two 375ml bottles. If you need them I will supply the bottles at no charge. Just bring in your wine with a check and I will take it from there.

]]> http://www.lakelandwinery.com/2009/04/14/nys-fair-wine-making-competition/feed/ 0 http://www.lakelandwinery.com/2009/04/07/video-of-lakeland-winery-on-cnys-bridge-street-with-rick-and-julie/ http://www.lakelandwinery.com/2009/04/07/video-of-lakeland-winery-on-cnys-bridge-street-with-rick-and-julie/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:09:53 +0000 Andy http://www.lakelandwinery.com/?p=330 I think the segment really gives a great overview of the [...]]]> We finally got our hands on a copy of my video segment on WSYR Ch.9′s Bridge Street with Rick and Julie from back in November.

Lakeland Winery on Bridge Street with Rick & Julie

I think the segment really gives a great overview of the personalized and custom winemaking experiences at Lakeland Winery—from start to finish. A big thank you to Rick and Julie and the production staff for doing such a fantastic job.

If you haven’t already, you can also check out my How to Make Wine video series on YouTube. The first video in the series, How to Make Wine – Step 1, has nearly 25,000 hits and a full five-star rating!

Head over to our news room to watch the rest of our video collection.

Enjoy!

You can head over to our news room, or just watch below:

Lakeland Winery on Bridge Street with Rick and Julie

Lakeland Winery on WCNY’s Food for Thought with George Kilpatrick