WESTFIELD - What better way to celebrate summer than by enjoying a meal with both local foods and local wines? That's the premise of the inaugural Summer Pairing Supper, scheduled Friday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Johnson Estate Winery in Westfield.
The winery will feature food and wine pairing stations which will highlight some of the best meat and produce available in Chautauqua County. Local products used in the supper will include: local smoked white fish from Barcelona Harbor (Westfield), grass-fed beef from Stand Fast Farms (Dunkirk) and local chickens and eggs from Good Grass Farms in (Ashville). Further, vegetables and peaches from Hathaway Farms (Ripley) and corn from Timmerman's Market will be on the menu as well as blueberries from Blueberry Hill Farm, a small beautiful "you-pick" farm in Westfield owned by Mary and Jerry Fullmer.
This casual supper will include an optional walk in the farm's orchard garden before sharing in the evening's bounty. Winemaker Jeff Murphy will be on hand to answer questions about Johnson Estate wines and several of the farmers/growers will be attending to do the same for their products.
Tickets for the event are $35 and include all wines and food. The menu for the evening is available on Johnson Estate's website and reservations may be made online at www.johnsonwinery.com.
For the last year and a half, Jennifer Johnson has been part of a Chautauqua Farm to Table grass roots movement whose mission is "to put local foods on our tables" by "facilitating the connection between farms and consumers whether through restaurants or markets. She notes visitors are sometimes unaware of the County's prolific fruit production as local restaurants do not always feature local produce and so these visitors are not discovering, say those luscious blueberries from the area. The Chautauqua Farm to Table group includes over two dozen farmers, regional restaurants, and the Cornell University Regional Extension. The group's efforts have resulted in 'Farm to School" and Farm to Grocery" meetings and serious interest from the Department of Health and the area's schools.
Johnson Estate Winery, the oldest estate winery in New York State, is located in the heart of America's Grape Country and is a member of the Lake Erie Wine Country (formerly the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail). For more information visit www.johnsonwinery.com, or www.facebook.com/johnsonwinery, or call 326-2191.
