Weekend Update: Wine Barrel Smoke-Off

A month or so ago, Mot came home from North Platte, NE....visiting his brother and family.

In the back of the Jeep was his luggage, Sam (our black lab), and an empty wine barrel.

Since then, the barrel has been converted into a device of smoking meaty goodness.

There's a winery in North Platte, that decided it would be fun to put the retired barrels to good use. They asked that interested parties take one home, and make a smoker from it. And in return, they were to come back in August to compete in a BBQ smoker contest. Only wine barrel smokers were allowed.

The idea intrigued Mot....and his barrel turned out gorgeous! We've hosted a get together or two, and used it to cook the food.

Two weekends ago, Mot loaded the Jeep back up......our luggage, our dog, the smoker, and me (sorry Sam, the front seat is mine this time!!)...and headed west.

Feather River is a gorgeous winery, on the outskirts of town. There are nothing but hills of grape vines to be seen.

We spent the whole day prepping the food, cooking the food, and then serving the food.

Each smoker was paired up with a wine from the winery. We were to give samples of the smoked goods AND the wine to go along with it.

Ours was called Redneck Revenge. A sweeter blend of three different grapes....with a note of apple and a citrus finish.

(boy, that sounds like I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it? fooled you!!!!)

Along with serving the wine, we were also given vines from the wines we were serving, and used those to smoke the meats with. Very cool idea!!!!!

So, without further ado...I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!!!!
























































Bob, Mot's brother, doing a radio interview for the event!






Jeff, owner of the winery announcing the winners.


The secret judges!!



The event was a great success (if you ask me). Can't wait to do it again next year!!!!!

If you want to see more of the pics I took, check them out here.