Wine Harvest

Caldwell event celebrates harvest

Jon Meyermailto:Meyerjmeyer@idahopress.com

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

CALDWELL — The prime harvest season for Treasure Valley vintners has arrived and with it came the annual sharing of food and drink, gifts, music and fun at Albertson College of Idaho.

Booths representing the many local wineries, distilleries and shops that cater to the wine season filled the Morrison Quadrangle for the seventh year of Taste of the Harvest.

Music wafted from the stage for the better part of the day as residents from all over the valley came to sample, indulge and make a few purchases on the brisk early-autumn afternoon.

“It just gets better every year, the air is crisp ... it’s a great way to celebrate the beginning of fall,” Lisa Derry, a professor in Albertson’s music department, said. The diversity of the people and the music is great. It’s so nice to see the college celebrate its relationship with the community; things weren’t always this way.”

A few first-time visitors couldn’t leave without taking a few souvenirs home with them. Thea Cossairt of Caldwell spent more than three hours at the festival meeting friends and enjoying the variety of live music, not to mention diverse flavors available at the tasting booths.

“It’s great to see the different wineries in the area and sample their wares,” Cossairt said. “I ended up buying a few things too.”

While allowing area communities to come together during the peak grape-harvest season to see what the wineries have to offer, the Taste of the Harvest presented an opportunity for Albertson College students to socialize with their teachers and administrators outside of the classroom.“I love to see the teachers come out; the atmosphere and the feeling of the whole thing too,” Albertson senior Madeline Martello said. “It brings all of the teachers and students out. You get a lot of alumni, too; I come every year.”