[ Guest blogger Sarah Lake writes her own blog "Life of Love," is working toward her PhD in behavioral neuroscience at Baylor, and is significantly more qualified to write a Valentine's Day blog than Chad ]
By Sarah Lake
For Valentine’s Day, I challenge you to do something you’ve never done before.
Because I’ve never been one to dare others to do things I haven’t done, I wanted to celebrate the holiday by going someplace and doing something I never had before: wine tasting at Tehuacana Creek Vineyards and Winery.
Last summer, my boyfriend Nick and I decided to learn about wine. Because we’re both broke graduate students, we thought it would be hilarious to become wine snobs: the ultimate incongruence. We bought a book and a variety of cheap wine to try, but with limited budgets, we were forced to learn without tasting.
Insert Tehuacana (to-walk-in-a) Creek. Located about 10 minutes outside of downtown Waco, this family-owned vineyard is small but quaint. Because Tehuacana Creek is local in an area with few wineries, prices are competitive without feeling overly expensive. They also have wine tastings for $5 per person and include tastings of any of the wines they have for sale (minus their limited 2010 Sweet Dreams White Port, which just released this past weekend). Nick and I decided to participate in a tasting during which the owners, Ulf and Inga-Lill Westblom, explained each of the wines we selected before pouring us samples. We also bought a bottle of the Mulsum, a white wine sweetened with honey. The Winery will open your bottle for you, let you taste different selections in the tasting room, or invite you to their production building to sit and relax while drinking your bottle. If you don’t finish before you decide to head back into town, they’ll make sure to re-cork your bottle too.
Tehuacana Creek also holds events that often include specials on wine, food for sale, no cover charge, and free music. They also have wine tasting classes starting February 27th for a fee too pricy for graduate students, but would be great as a Valentine’s Day gift for those making salaries above the poverty level. If you decide you just want to buy a bottle, we suggest the herbal 2010 Blanc du Bois Proprietor’s Reserve or the 2009 Harrison Plantation Port, a fruity Port that is so thick that you don’t need dessert to accompany a glass.
So what are you going to do this Valentine’s Day?
