Be a Devil! at the Birch Ridge Inn on the Killington Wine Trail on Friday night. 

One day and counting until the Killington Wine Festival begins.

We have a weekend full of activities to compliment the Killington Wine Festival at the Birch Ridge Inn.

On Saturday night, of course, we have our annual wine dinner featuring some beautiful wines from Chile and Argentina. Friday night, we are continuing with that theme using some of the wines from Casillero Del Diablo. Chef Stephen Byrne has paired them with some little bites specially prepared to tempt travellers on the Killington Wine Trail. From personal samplings, the items Chef 'Frizzie' is preparing really go great with the wines.

Birch Ridge Inn Killington Wine Trail Menu.

The Killington Wine Trail on Friday Night is more or less a drop in type of event. Of course, if you do plan on joining us for dinner on Friday, we always recommend reservations.

We still have a few seats available for the Killington Wine Festival Wine dinner on Saturday evening. Reservations for this special wine dinner are required as seating is limited. To make dinner reservations at Birch Ridge, please call the inn directly at 800-435-8566 or 802-422-4293.

When you come to visit Killington, we look forward to seeing you.

Wherever you may be.. keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sun screen.

A beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon
Don Melchor,
Puente Alto Vineyard, Chile 

The Killington Wine Festival returns to Killington next weekend from Friday July 18th through Sunday July 20th. During the wine festival, the Birch Ridge Inn is pleased to present a collection of fine wines from Chile and Argentina to please the palates of diners and "samplers" alike.

The Killington Wine Festival begins on Friday evening, July 18th with an estate tasting of fine wines at the Killington Grand Hotel at 6:00 PM and the Killington Wine Trail with wine tastings at all of the restaurants on the Killington Road. The Birch Ridge Inn will be hosting a sampling paring wines with small bites on Friday evening as part of the wine trail. More on the Birch Ridge Inn tasting menu for Friday evening in a subsequent post.

On Saturday afternoon, the Killington Chamber of Commerce hosts the Grand Tasting of the Killington Wine Festival at the K1 Base Lodge of the Killington Resort. Hundreds of wines from all over the world will be presented under grand tents set up at Killington's Umbrella Bars.

Saturday night, the Birch Ridge Inn will be hosting our annual Killington Wine Festival Wine Dinner. We have been sampling wines for months (it's tough work but somebody needs to do it), working to find some interesting wines to present at this years dinner. We have selected some nice wines from Chile and Argentina to present over the weekend.

For Saturday nights wine dinner, the menu includes:

Casillero Del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc, Casablanca Valley, Chile and
Casillero Del Diablo Carmenere, Rapel Valley, Chile
Summer Appetizers in the Great Room

Marqués de Casa Concha Chardonnay, Limari Valley, Chile
Pan roasted Chilean sea bass with truffled corn salsa

Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina
Carmelized rack of wild boar with fresh blueberries and pan jus over braised eggplant en porto

Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon, Puente Alto Vineyard, Chile
Roasted sirloin of beef with a red wine reduction and chimichurri with wild mushrooms

Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc Lourdes Vineyard, Maule Valley, Chile
Warm apple empanadas with whipped mascarpone and a Vermont Cheese Plate

The wine dinner on Saturday will begin at 6:30pm with the first wines in the Great Room of the Birch Ridge Inn. From there, the proceedings will move into the dining room of Birch Ridge at approximately 7:00pm. Mike Andrews from Banfi-Excelsior, the importer of all of the wines served during the evening, will be hosting the dinner with a discussion of each wine that is presented. The price per person is $89.00 not including taxes or gratuities. This price is inclusive of the evening’s wine and dinner.

Reservations for this special wine dinner are required as seating is limited. To make your wine festival dinner reservation please call the Birch Ridge Inn directly at 800-435-8566 or 802-422-4293.

When you come to visit Killington, we look forward to seeing you.

Wherever you may be.. keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sun screen.

The open flags are flying at the Birch Ridge Inn 

Tonight is the "official" start of the 17th season of serving dinner to the public at the Birch Ridge Inn.

When we look back, it is hard to fathom everything that has transpired over the last 17 years. But the one thing that we know is that we still love living in Killington and serving the general public as innkeepers.

Over the years the inn has enabled us to meet a lot of very nice people and make a lot of friends. And we renew that adventure tonight when our restaurant opens for the summer season.

Chef Frizzie is back in the kitchen with a wonderful early summer menu.

Dinner service this evening starts as usual at 6:00 PM. We will be serving in both the Great Room and in the restaurant. Reservations are always appreciated. For tonight you can call us at 802.422.4293. For reservations more than 24 hours out, you can make reservations online.

If you are in Killington this weekend, we look forward to seeing you.

Wherever you may be.. keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sun screen.

Tight lie on the 15th hole at Green Mountain National. Calls for a little lift, clean and place... 

With July 4th just around the corner, our seasonal shift hiatus is just about over. It has been an "interesting" couple of months, but we have been getting into our "summer routine" of late.

Those of you who follow us on Facebook (Bill, Mary, and the Inn) know that we did not have much of a vacation this year. We started to, them my father decided that his time was up. Plans got changed and we "moved on" so to speak. We have gotten a lot or road miles up and down Route 89 between Vermont and Massachusetts. "Easy Pass" and the New Hampshire DOT must be happy. So it goes.

The trips have not been for naught however. On one of them we did find a new rug for the restaurant. The blue oriental that had been in the restaurant for years had seen it's day. The new rug is a change that Mary and I are happy with.

We have also spent a lot of time doing our spring maintenance work around the inn. Between adding detail work in one room, re-caulking tubs, ordering new windows to replace ones with broken seals, and your normal spring cleaning and paint, we have been able to recover the inn nicely from a busy winter season.

After a wet spring, we now have been turning our attention to a little outdoor recreation. All work and no play make Mary and Bill dull people. We have attended several nice wine tastings at locations around Vermont. We have been out on the golf course playing is several charity golf tournaments. I have even had the opportunity to have a round of golf with my son in Massachusetts, and my brother up at Green Mountain here in Killington. Overall..not to shabby...

But now it is time to get back to work. Our restaurant re-opens this coming Friday for the summer season. The Killington Wine Festival is just a few weeks off. Planning for the winter is already under way...

That was a short hiatus!

Wherever you may be.. keep it in the fairway... and don't forget your sun screen.

Artwork from Peter Gould on display at the Birch Ridge Inn 

The Birch Ridge Inn, in conjunction with the Killington Arts Guild, will be hosting an evening with Vermont Artist Peter Gould this Thursday evening, April 17. Peter will be presenting his artwork and discussing his techniques at the inn's Great Room from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

During the evening, Peter will share his penchant for and devotion to representing ideas and places through his artistic perspective. Peter's distinctive paintings are especially well known for being presented on barn boards and doors that Peter gathers from around Vermont.

Killington resort as interpreted by Peter Gould.

The public is welcomed to visit the inn to enjoy Peter's artwork. All are welcomed to come and participate in a discussion of Peter's works and enjoy a demonstration of his techniques. The event begins at 6:00 PM. Hors d'oeuvres will be be served and a cash bar will be available.

Come and view some of Peter's works at the Birch Ridge Inn on Thursday night.

Sure sign of approaching summer....ski's being removed from car. 

80 degrees????

Thats what the weather forecast is calling for today in Killington. And that's after hitting the 70's yesterday.

The cold 2013-2014 winter season is quickly turning towards thoughts of a warm spring and early summer. Snow around the inn is melting fast. Even though the resort is still nicely covered, the result of all of the snow that they made during the course of the winter, natural snow in the area is quickly melting. Snow at the inn's snow stake hit 0 this morning, a sure sign of things to come.

Guests at the inn this weekend enjoyed great spring skiing and riding conditions on wet surfaces. Sunshine was strong all weekend, except for a period of brief showers early Sunday morning.

Killington resort still has good snow coverage.

Temperatures today are forecasted to hit 80 before a cold front crashes through the region tonight and tomorrow. Snow is actually in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon and evening, proving that winter is not quite done yet... So it goes. However, after watching a weekend of great golf on TV with the Masters Tournament from Augusta GA, my thought are quickly turning to chasing the little white ball down green fairways, versus sliding down steep pitches on the mountain side. Soon.

Where ever you may be, get outdoors and enjoy spring!

20 inches of snow on the ground at the Birch Ridge Inn at Killington 

It is going to be one hell of a mud season!!!

Since St. Patricks Day I have been awol from the blog. Not intentionally, mind you; just the byproduct of picking up something nasty along the way causing me to take a break for a while. But I am on the mend and looking forward to getting back out on the slopes next week for some spring skiing.

The commercial part of the winter season is winding down at Killington. Even though there is great snow coverage on the mountain, thoughts of the summer to come have invaded the minds of many of the Killington faithful. My news feed on facebook is covered with pictures of friends down south hitting the first golf balls of the season. Most years the winter in Killington plays out this way. We have beaucoup snow to play on, yet few people to take advantage of it.

I was talking with some friends the other night about the phenomenon. We are amazed that thousands of people come out in late October and early November to hike up to one trail covered with man-made snow at the top of the mountain... but only hundreds come out in early April to ski/ride the whole mountain that is buried in feet of natural snow provided by Mother Nature....So it goes

Around the inn we are still in winter mode. A 20 inch base is firmly in place at the snow stake. Warmer temperatures are causing a little melt each day, especially around the periphery of the snow pack. But it is going to be quite a while before Mary has an opportunity to begin tilling her gardens to bring in summer flowers.

Almost 2 feet of snow still surrounds the Birch Ridge Inn. April 3, 2014.

Of course, if you are in the mood to partake in some spring skiing, and Mary is reporting to me that it is fabulous, the inn is still open and accepting guests. Our restaurant will be open the next couple of weekends on Friday and Saturday evenings of you are in town and looking for a nice dinner.

After that, we will take a break ourselves. We have done a lot of upgrades to the inn over the course of the winter;(carpets, computer systems, phone system, heating system) some planned some not so much. Reviewing the upgrades, making sure we integrated them into the inn's workflow, and pushing contractors to complete punch list items will top the list of spring projects this year.

And then, of course, there is the matter of our own pursuit of the little white ball down the green fairways of Vermonts finest golf courses...

But before we do that, we have the little matter of a winter to finish.

And yes... we are digging out the sun screen so we can enjoy some spring skiing!