New Blog!

We’re moving on up like George and Weezy and have moved our Carpe Vino Wine Blog to a new internet location.  This wordpress.com blog will eventually go away so make sure you make the switch in your bookmarks, RSS feeds, and email subscriptions so you don’t miss all the action.

To get to the new blog page simply click this link:  http://blog.windsorvineyards.com/

To access the new RSS feed click this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/carpevinowineblog

We can’t wait to continue our collaborative exploration of wine, personalized gifting, food and general wine country goings on… won’t you join us?

Like we have discussed before on this blog, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate which makes many vineyards throughout Sonoma County ideal locations.  This allows for more controlled maturation in the vineyard for optimum flavor and aroma development while keeping good acid levels, making Pinot great with many dishes, and preventing over-ripeness.  The main attributes to think about with Pinot Noir is perfume and texture.  The lower to moderate level of tannins and significant level of acidity allows the aromatics of the wine and mouthfeel to be more distinguished.

Pinot Noir is like a chameleon, more distinctly expresses its location compared to other wine grapes and is as stubborn as a mule to manage in the vineyard and the winery.  For these reasons, you can be assured of something unique no matter where you look for your Pinot.  Some of the major Pinot-producing areas include California, Oregon, Burgundy, Champagne, and New Zealand to name a few.  Check out this excellent post from Eater.com for a crash-course in understanding the major Pinot-producing regions of the globe.

Challenge yourself and host your own Smackdown to learn a little something of the nuances of place and climate.  Or perhaps, you already have some favorites and want to support the cause by “voting” along on the social interwebs, you can do that too.

Where is your favorite Pinot Noir from?  Share with us in the comments.  Cheers!

Foursquare usage has been growing fast and in June they surpassed 10 million users!  In other significant news, they decided to expand beyond their headquarters in New York and opened offices here in San Francisco.  Windsor Vineyards was lucky enough to pour wine for their housewarming party and welcome them to the neighborhood.  We also decided to give Foursquare something special to show them how much we appreciate their decision to come to town and, of course, to keep them informed that wine country is less than an hour away!

Welcome to the world of Social Media.  While the concepts of building relationships, treating your customers right and rewarding your most loyal fans are nothing new, the ways in which we are able to have dialog with each other and share our thoughts with friends have changed considerably.  Furthermore, we certainly believe WINE is the ultimate social beverage on the planet.  Foursquare is an app that allows you to “check in” at locations like your favorite restaurant, shoe store or even a winery or tasting room.  You can then share tips, photos and comments and earn points and badges.  Many places of business offer real, tangible rewards and incentives for you to check in to their location.  For example, if you check in at our tasting room in Healdsburg (Sonoma county) you will earn a complimentary tasting flight.

So, we presented the Foursquare team with a 1.5L etched bottle of 2008 Windsor Cabernet Sauvignon Mendocino County with their logo, the Super Mayor badge and commemorative text.  Take a look at this photo and let us know what you think.  For more pictures go HERE.  Not only do we etch bottles for any occasion, we can also do personalized labels.  The custom labels are complimentary with your wine order, while etching is just a little extra (but well worth it!)

Ultimately, we received some kind comments from the staff at Foursquare and they seemed totally excited about the gift.

Once again, wine IS the ultimate social beverage and pairs well with any occasion, special or otherwise.  Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Some of the wines for a perfect oyster pairing include bubbles (sparkling and Champagne), Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadet and anything that is crisp, minerally or even has essence of ocean, like a Picpoul Blanc.  But, nothing is stopping you from being creative and find that perfect pairing for your palate.  That’s why the Vintage Wine Estates Tasting Room in Healdsburg is teaming up with The Oyster Girls to create some palate pleasing combinations on July 16th, 2011 from 1-5pm.  Oh, and it’s only $25 ($15 for VWE Club Members)!

Purchase tickets here:  http://vweoysterfest.eventbrite.com/

THE LINEUP:

Enjoy intoxicating pairings of our award-winning wines with Tomales Bay oysters and luscious mignonettes. Learn the art of pairing wine and food through these palate pleasing combinations!

Pink & Sassy 
Wine: 2007 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Blanc de Noirs Sea Fog Cuvee
Oyster: Golden Nugget Mignonette: Sassy Pink

Fresh Kiss 
Wine: 2010 Windsor Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley
Oyster: Miyagi Mignonette: Classic Rice Wine

Purely Naked 
Wine: 2010 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Laguna Vista
Oyster: Golden Nugget Mignonette: Naked

Tropical Thrill 
Wine: 2009 Windsor Sonoma Chardonnay Russian River Valley
Oyster: Golden Nugget Mignonette: Mango Chutney

Sweet Finale
Wine: 2009 Windsor Vineyards Muscat Canelli
Oyster: 2 Golden Nuggets Mignonette: Naked and Mango Chutney

Complemented by baguettes and cheese, plus music by Mike Hall.

VWE Wine Club Members - please use the Discount Code provided to you via email for preferred club member discount.

Notes

Price includes 6 oysters and 5 wines per person. Must be 21 years of age or older.
Supply will be limited, advance ticket purchase strongly recommended. Day of ticket purchase subject to availability. For questions, please call us at 707.921.2893.

Visiting Healdsburg soon? Have a complimentary tasting for 2 on us… print the comp card HERE and present to the tasting room staff.

Sometimes a nice savory and intense sauce is all that is needed to help kick up that plain, boring dish or help raise it to another level.  When cooking with wine, the objective should always be to intensify and accent the flavors and aromatics of the dish being prepared.  You never want to overpower the food’s flavor but rather support it.  Just like using any type of seasoning, attention to the amount used is always recommended.

If you learn anything from this post, please take to heart that you should NEVER use a wine you would not drink!  Always use a quality wine as a cheap wine will never bring out the best attributes of your dish, though I do not feel it requires you to use a super premium expensive bottle either.

Now, on with the show!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 C. Windsor Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County
• 4 Tbl. Butter
• 3 Tbl. Shallots
• 1 Tbl. Peppercorns
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 2 Sprigs Thyme
• 1 Cup Cream

Instructions – Watch the video!

Follow this checklist to determine if you can and should participate:

You like LOVE Chardonnay…  CHECK!

You like to share wine with friends… CHECK!

It’s super easy to join in the fun and like my friend and event coordinator, Rick Bakas, likes to say, “it’s like a giant dining room table where everyone can pull up a chair and join the conversation.”

The Wine

Chardonnay is one of the most popular grapes in the world and was made famous by the great white wines of the Burgundy region in France.  Look for new world Chardonnay, White Burgundy (including Chablis) or even Blanc de Blancs, which is sparkling wine made from Chardonnay.  Stop by your favorite local wine shop, host a party, or if you’re lucky enough to live near a wine region, look up a winery who is hosting a #Chardonnay Day event and go!  Some wineries will be offering serious discounts and specials leading up to the event, including Windsor Vineyards, so take advantage of the opportunity to taste something new!

Check out the Chardonnays available from Windsor Vineyards – Click HERE

What to Say and Where to Say It

Even if you are hosting or attending an event follow along with and add to the online conversation by searching for the “hashtag” created for this event on Twitter, which is “#Chardonnay” (without the quotes) or on the Facebook Page of your favorite winery, assuming they are participating too.  Check out the Windsor Vineyards page and Twitter account on May 26th for updates throughout the day.  If you’re savvy enough, connect your PC to the TV or a screen so everyone can watch the stream of conversation.

Say what you feel on any or all of these channels.  Share your thoughts on how your wine smelled and tasted.  Include a picture of the bottle or your friend making a goofy face while tilting the bottle back in boozy bliss.  Ask questions and seek out your favorite wineries, they just may be online providing unprecedented access.

Twitter

Use the free Twitter or Tweetdeck apps on your smartphone or these free web pages: twitter.com, search.twitter.com, twitterfall.com or visibletweets.com – stay tuned in the coming days for an instructional video on how to use a couple of these sites.

Facebook

Show your friends how much fun you are having with status updates and photos being sure to use the #Chardonnay hashtag.

Foursquare & Yelp

If you are attending an event or just going to a restaurant and decide to sip a Chard, be sure to check it in, make a comment or provide a review using the hashtag too.  Check the specials as the venue just may have something prepared for this day.  You never know.

Have Fun!

Most of all have fun and enjoy tasting wine with friends old and new, physical or virtual.  The wine communities on social channels like Twitter and Facebook continue to grow and is a great place for passionate wine drinkers to learn more about wine, meet new friends or casually share what’s being sipped that night.  Cheers!

“I was introduced to Vintage Wine Estates on October 1, 2010, which was the anniversary of our first date. After a nice dinner, my boyfriend David suggested that we relax in our hot tub. He grabbed one of our “regular” bottles of wine and a couple of glasses. After we got settled, David pulled a

different bottle of wine out of the cooler and informed me that we would be drinking a very rare wine that evening…”there are only twelve bottles of this in existence,” he said, as he turned the bottle around. To my surprise, I saw one of my favorite pictures of us on the label, along with our names and the date commemorating an amazing year together. To top it off, the wine was a very nice Pinot Grigio, one of the best I’ve had! I was thrilled that he would be so thoughtful as to arrange something such as this. We drained the first bottle and I took it to the office the next day and showed it to my coworkers. It still sits on my bookshelf.

In December, David and I took a two-week cruise to the Mediterranean with his parents and aunt. Rome and Greece were first on the list, but the highlight of the cruise was an overnight excursion to Cairo, Egypt, which was the whole reason David chose this particular trip. He’d visited Egypt a couple of years earlier and wanted me to see the beauty of the people, the wonderful culture, and the rich history of this ancient country. He made careful arrangements to ensure that he would be able to execute his plans, and it all fell into place: he presented me with a ring and a question on the steps of the Great Pyramid in Giza. We went on an amazing ride behind the pyramids on camelback, making the day that much more magical. Five days later, we were back in the States. After opening presents under the tree at more than one house, we headed to our beach condo two hours away for a quick but quiet celebration of our engagement. I opened the door to the condo and immediately saw the rose petals. David had arranged for a close friend to go ahead of us and prepare the condo so we could have an engagement dinner. I was in shock and thrilled. As we sat down to dinner, David took the bottle of red wine out of the decanter and turned it around. To my utter amazement, there was a bottle in front of me labeled “Engagement Reserve” and a picture of David and me on camels. It was the picture from five days prior. I was literally speechless. I could not even form the words, “How did you do this?” All I could do was stare at the picture.

The background information on how that moment came to be was even more amazing. A month or so before the cruise, David got the specs for the label to Vintage Wine Estates, along with a picture of himself on a camel from his previous trip so the graphic designer would have everything aligned and ready to go once David sent the email. After David and I got back to our cabin after the Egypt excursion, he got online and asked me which camel picture I preferred, because he was going to make it our Facebook profile pictures. While I wasn’t looking, he emailed the camel picture to the company. Since there is about a 10-hour time difference between Egypt and California, it was still early on December 20th when David approved the final proof. The company then printed the labels, boxed the wine bottles, and shipped it overnight to Florida – in the middle of the busiest holiday season of the year, mind you – and the shipment arrived at David’s friend’s house, where she drove it to our condo and set one of the bottles in the decanter when she was preparing our dinner. The preparation that David took was out of his intense love for me, but I kept thinking of your company and how professionally David was treated during this entire sequence of events. Vintage Wine Estates was on task for this occasion, and we are beyond impressed. This sort of customer service is virtually extinct in this day and age. Your company went above the call of duty, and you have a pair of loyal customers here in Florida! The wine is very good, the labels are one-of-a-kind creations that make any occasion that much more memorable, and the prices are unusually fair. We have a great story to tell others, and we look forward to using your wine at our wedding.”

Thanks to Bethany and David for sharing their story with everyone here at Windsor Vineyards and readers of the CarpeVino wine blog.  We strive to provide the best possible service to our customers and in this case David’s personal wine consultant at Windsor Vineyards came through when it mattered most.  You can reach any of our personal wine consultants at (800) 289-9463 to help you with your wine selection.  Our Personal Wine Consultants have the experience and knowledge that will help guide you to selecting the perfect wine for your occasion. Whether you’re serving your friends and family, your custom labeled wine or giving personalized wine as gifts a custom labeled wine from Windsor Vineyards is sure to make a great impression.

Cheers!

Fresh ‘n Fruity

We started with pairings that seemed to make the most sense, like fruit tangerine Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and our sweet/off-dry wines including Muscat Canelli, Fusion White and Riesling.  All of these pairings worked well, as expected, with the best being Muscat Canelli.  Together, it tasted like drinking an Orange Crush soda or Slice.

2009 Windsor Vineyards Fusion White – 2% residual sugar (RS), 13% Alc – A blend of 37% Chardonnay, 32% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Gewürztraminer, 13% Muscat, 3% Marsanne with nectarine, peach, tangerine and melon flavors were a great match with this tangerine candy.

2009 Windsor Vineyards Muscat Canelli Alexander Valley – 10% RS, 10% Alc - Aromas and flavors of apricot, peach and nectarine was our sweetest wine in the pairing.

O’ Robin, Where Art Thou?

Remember, as a child, walking through the yard and coming across a blue, spotted robin’s egg?  Then you tried to find out where the bird went or if it even survived the fall from the nearby tree.  The robin’s eggs we were devouring didn’t survive 2 minutes.  Rather than the normal malted center as in your standard blue, hard-shelled candy, these had a caramel center as well.  Surprisingly, we stumbled across a few great unexpected pairings with the 2009 Windsor Vineyards Chardonnay Sonoma County, Private Reserve with the Robin’s egg taking the high honors.

• Best – Caramel-centered Robin Eggs – Resulted in charred marshmallow flavors and added a nice level of creaminess to the palate.  It was like you were eating roasted ‘smores by the campfire.
• Better – Peepsters – These little beauties consist of dark chocolate enveloping a marshmallow-flavored crème center, again, providing a nice creaminess to the palate, though not as integrated as the Robin Eggs
• Good – Kit Kat – Give me a break – by now, our inner most Great Cornholio alter-egos began to appear and  had us bouncing off the tasting room walls

Peepster Versatility

Peepsters, the rich, cool and sophisticated cousin to the marshmallow sugar-coated Peeps everyone loves to hate, quickly became the go-to candy of the day.  As mentioned above, Peepsters are marshmallow creme’ encased in dark or milk chocolate and are bite-sized, which made them easy to pop in your mouth en masse.  They also provided some interesting pairings with the most wines including

• 2008 Windsor Vineyards Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley – The chocolate was accentuated, while the marshmallow provide the velvet slide that guides the black fruit, mocha and spice to the finish
• 2009 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Chardonnay Gold Ridge Hills – Much like the other Chardonnay, the marshmallow creates a creamy, mellow mouthfeel with vanilla and toasty notes.

Bringing It Home

By now, everyone was laying back, slouched in their chairs crying Uncle.  Gone were the days for each of us where we could sit down after a generous Halloween haul or a successful Easter Egg hunt and chow on 2 pounds of cocoa, sugar, caffeine, marshmallow and nougat.  Before we could call it a day, we were able to find a few more workable dance partners

• 2007 Sonoma Coast Vineyards Sea Fog Cuvee Blanc de Noirs & Russell Stover Maple Egg – great creamy texture and the bubbles act like a mixer creating the ultimate Easter cocktail in your mouth!
• 2008 Girard Petite Sirah & Reese’s Egg – the Peanut Butter shines through while the fruit takes a back seat resulting in a nutty and earthy concoction
• NV Windsor Vineyards Rare California Port & Chocolate Bunny Ears – A chalky, cocoa, mocha dusting on the palate, with a spicy finish

The NOT Top Plays

• Many of the pairings left us squinting due to bitter notes
• Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel paired with the Russell Stover Maple creme eggs resulted in fishy notes.  I wonder if this would pair with sushi?
• Chewing sticky jelly beans can be hazardous to your dental work
• Peeps? The Easter staple we all know and fear didn’t pair with anything, but no matter.  We felt like kids in a candy store.