Oakland. The city's name conjures many things, but wine tasting isn't typically one of them. This past weekend I had the pleasure of discovering some amazing urban wineries - yes, in Oakland - and meeting several Twitter friends IRL (in real life).
Thanks to the great connections and excellent organizational skills of @BungRCooper, nine of us met in Oakland for a fun day of food and wine. I had never met any of these Twitter friends in person before, and it was a fantastic experience.
After a fun lunch at Chop Bar in Oakland, we started our urban wine tasting tour.
JC Cellars: Our first stop was JC Cellars. Jeff Cohn was formerly the winemaker at Rosenblum, where he annually crafted more than 70 different wines. Today, at his Oakland-based warehouse winery, he limits himself to a mere 21
bottlings, focusing on Rhône varietals. In addition to making great tasting wines, I loved the names: "The First Date", "The Imposter", "Twist of Fate", "Smoke and Mirrors", "Misc. Stuff" - you get the idea. I enjoyed all of the wines we tasted, but my favorites were the St. Peter's Church Vineyard Zinfandel, an Alexander Valley Zin that is big and chewy with a lot of fruit and spice, just the way I like them, and the Rockpile "Haley" Syrah, with tons of cherry and black fruit and minerals. In fact, if you love Rockpile wines (who doesn't??), JC Cellars does several. Highly recommended.
From here, we trekked (about 3 steps) to Dashe Cellars (the two wineries share a tasting room). Michael and Anne Dashe founded Dashe Cellars in 1996, and they focus on making great single-vineyard wines. First of all, let me just say that I love their label. We tasted several wines here but I admit, I was chatting more than I was tasting. Some of the standouts here were the Les Enfants Terribles wines - "limited-production wines, made very simply to best reflect
the cool-climate vineyards from which they’re made. They are always fermented using native yeasts, have very low levels of SO2, are unfined and are usually unfiltered. As a result, they display beautiful lightness, finesse and
minerality, with great underlying complexity and balance of a “natural” wine." I really enjoyed them and plan on re-visitng Dashe to try some more of their wines. Next, we headed over to Urban Legend Cellars. Now this was my kind of place! Steve and Marilee Shaffer run a classic "Mom and Pop" place and make you feel right at home the minute you walk through the door. They were welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable and they make some damn good wine. I was thrilled to see some varietals (varieties? that argument is a whole 'nother can of worms) that I love - especially Petit Verdot and Teroldego. But you'll also find Sangiovese, Mourvedre, Tempranillo, Malbec and Barbera (among others). I was so happy tasting all of these delicious wines, and chatting with Steve and Marilee, that my New Year's resolution (such as it was) flew out the window and I not only purchased several bottles of wine, I also joined the wine club. (Not to worry, if Jason was cranky to begin with he was soon won over with some Urban Legend wine.) I recommend running, not walking, to taste the good wines and enjoy the good company at Urban Legend Cellars. Our final stop of the day was Rock Wall Wine Company, which is located on the old Naval air base in Alameda. The tasting room is new and pretty and has a nice view of the City. Here we had the pleasure of meeting Shauna Rosenblum. Shauna pulled out all the stops - great food from the on-site bistro, a great tasting of wines, and a fun tour and barrel tasting. Thanks again, Shauna! Shauna is a super talented, fun and friendly person. She has a pottery studio on site at the winery, where she makes her own amphorae, she designed the logo of the San Francisco skyline, and she is a bit of a mad scientist as a wine maker, making some rarely found varietals (Norton, anyone?) and giving old favorites a new spin. My favorites here were the 2009 Zinfandel Monte Rosso Reserve and the 2009 Cabernet Franc (holy jalapeno, batman, this was awesome!). I can't wait to come back here with Jason and buy some more wine. We drank the Cabernet Franc when I got home that evening, and we both agreed it was fantastic. 
So the next time you feel like wine tasting and want to try something different, please consider giving Oakland a try. I knew there was great food to be had there, and now I know there is great wine being made there as well!
Many thanks to my Twitter drinking buddies for a fun day! I look forward to doing it again soon.
Where does the time go? It seems the older I get, the quicker it goes and the more blurry it becomes (no, that's not just my deteriorating eyesight, thankyouverymuch). So, here we are at the end of another year. I'm trying not to make any hardcore "resolutions" because they will just be broken come, oh, January 15th. Instead, I thought I'd take a quick look back at this year in order to acknowledge its passing and in order to look forward to the coming year with excitement and anticipation.
I'm extremely grateful and thankful that this year has held such good experiences and that my loved ones are healthy. My daughter is growing up more and more with every passing second and is the joy (and exasperation) of my life. In the past year I have reconnected with two friends that I had lost touch with over the past decade. I have spent time with dear old friends and made a few new ones. I've spent a lot of time with my family, including two large, crazy and fun extended family get togethers. Here are some of my highights from a very good year:
Travel: Our summer vacation in France. We spent a week in the Loire Valley in a 200 year-old stone cottage. Jason's mother and father joined us there from England and we spent the week touring the Loire Valley, visiting chateaux, wine tasting and befriending the resident peacock. We spent the following week in Paris where, despite the torrential rain (every day), we had a wonderful time sightseeing and eating and drinking and visiting with friends and relatives.
Food: In a year filled with very good meals (in France and Mexico especially!) one experience stands out head and shoulders above the rest: dinner at the French Laundry. After maybe half a lifetime of dying to eat there, Jason finally made the dream come true. The entire experience (it was so much more than just a meal) was something I will always remember. If you'd like to read the details of our amazing dinner at the French Laundry, I blogged about it here. Friends: Social media isn't called that for nothing! Through the power of Twitter, I have met so many wonderful new people. They all share my passion for wine and food and fun - what a great way to meet new like-minded people! I have plans to meet several more of them in the coming months. How cool is that? Meanwhile, in real life, two of my dear friends are expecting a new baby girl. I can't wait to kiss those fingers and toes and smell that new baby smell. We met some great new friends at a wine dinner a few months ago and look forward to getting to know them better. I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen in about 10 years while on "Safari" in Santa Rosa, of all places, and we have had a great time reconnecting. And thanks to my girl's school and sports, we continue to get to know great people from our community. I am blessed! Wine: Where to start? This past year I have really explored and expanded my love of wine. Once again, Twitter has been instrumental in putting me in contact with amazing winos and winemakers alike (the two are not mutually exclusive). We made several visits to wine country (I'm thankful we live so close), have found some amazing new wines and wineries and continued to enjoy old favorites. We really stepped out of our comfort zone and have tried a ton of new wines this year - new varieties, new countries, etc. I absolutely feel like my tastes, and my knowledge, have grown exponentially this past year. In fact, I just received some great news for the end of the year: I passed (with distrinction, I'm told) my WSET certification exam. I took the 16 hour class in November (I highly recommend Discover Wine and Spirits of San Francisco). It was an intense, 2 day class, with 42 wines tasted. I had fun and learned so much. The thing is, I have the bug now! I'm wondering how soon I will take the WSET advanced course....being a wino is a slippery slope! This year I have rediscovered a love of white wines (which makes Jason very happy), although, alas, I have still not met a Chardonnay that I've loved. I have discovered some amazing new varieties of both red and white wines. And one of my favorite wine experiences of the year has got to be the incredibly fun Mollydooker winemaker's dinner in San Francisco. As you can see, I've had a great year and have so much to be thankful for. This year has been so good, I wouldn"t change a thing and I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2012. More time with family and friends, more travel, more good food and especially.....drinking more wine! Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me. So to my readers (all three of you), from my family to yours, we wish you peace, love, health, happiness and fine wine in 2012. Cheers!
In this season of excess, I have discovered a food and wine pairing that gives new meaning to the word "indulgence" - Tokaji Aszu and caramel oatmeal chocolate chip bars, otherwise known as "crack". These caramel oatmeal chocolate chip bars are a favorite in our house and my girl requests them often. I try not to make them too frequently, as they are ooey, gooey slices of evil that demand to be eaten whenever they are around. But I succumbed this past weekend and made some. Jason and I had an unopened bottle of 2001 Hetzsolo Tokaji Aszu in te refrigerator, so we decided to celebrate the season and open it. And, of course, eat the evil cookie bars. Tokaji Aszu is a sweet wine from Hungary, made from grapes affected by noble rot, or Botrytis cinerea. The aszu berries are individually picked and then stomped into a pasty consistency called aszu dough. The must or wine is then poured onto the aszu dough and then left for 24 to 48 hours. The wine is then put into wooden casks or vats to complete fermentation and to mature, which usually takes several years. Puttonyos is a unit used to indicate the sugar content – or sweetness – of the wines. Aszu wines range from 3 puttonyos to 6 puttonyos, with 6 being the
sweetest. Since discovering Tokaji Aszu earlier this year, I've been a bit obsessed. I love everything about these wines, from the gorgeous rich color to the smooth, sweet, honeyed flavors. This particular Tokaji Aszu has flavors of orange peel
and dried apricots, but also has a slightly salty finish - which I think is what made it such a delicious pairing with the caramel. And the dark choocolate that we used wasn't so sweet as to overpower the wine. The combination was
incredible, but I did have to have a second glass and a second bar just to make sure. Verdict: I was not wrong. If you would like to try this at home, below is the recipe for Crack, or caramel oatmeal chocolate chip bars. We've been making these for so long now, I no longer remember where the recipe originally came from, so my apologies to the creator for not giving recognition where it is due. These cookie bars are evil, addicting and downright delicious. Don't say I didn't warn you! P.S. It is tradtion in my family that at Christmas time I make homemade English Toffee, which is also a bit like crack. I foresee the rich buttery toffee, with its sprinking of sea salt, being another good pairing with Tokaji Aszu. I will consider it research and will report back. Happy holidays! Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (or Crack, as they are known in our house)
1 cup plus 3 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
¾ cup caramel ice cream topping
Preheat oven to 350 F.
1. In large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and melted butter. Blend at low speed to form crumbs.
2. Press half the crumbs into bottom of an 11” x 9” pan; bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chips and pecans (if using).
3. In small bowl, blend caramel topping with remaining 3 Tbs flour. Drizzle over the chips and nuts to cover.
4. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over caramel and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool.
Chill covered for 1 to 2 hours and then cut into bars. Store in airtight container.
As is probably clear from my two previous blog posts about Cleavage Creek Winery and Budge Brown, they both touched my life, very likely without even knowing it. I was one of many saddened by the untimely death of Budge Brown a few months ago and the subsequent closure of Cleavage Creek Winery. Both have been on my mind the last couple of days. Today, I finally figured out why. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Last year at this time, Cleavage Creek Winery and Budge Brown created a Virtual Toast to a Cure (press release here). At 5:00 PDT on October 1, 2010, Cleavage Creek invited anyone interested in beating breast cancer to raise a glass and join in a virtual toast. Raising awareness with Toast to a Cure could be a reminder to do a self exam, take a family member for a check-up, or honor the courage of those who have fought breast cancer. I don't know the statistics about how many people participated but I saw a large number of Facebook and Twitter posts about it and I personally connected with some great new people through the virtual toast. Last year on October 1st at 5:00, I was in wine country with my family and some friends. We sat down at the appointed time and toasted to raising awareness, the end of breast cancer and our loved ones who had/have breast cancer. We happened to make our toast with a bottle of Cleavage Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This October 1st, I will once again be in wine country with my family. I plan on taking the time, at 5:00 PDT, to raise my glass in a toast - to raising awareness, to the end of breast cancer, and to the memory of Budge Brown and his great work. I encourage you to do the same if you can. Cheers.
Don't know what a mollydooker is? Not to worry - I didn't either until recently. It's Aussie for left hander. Which, I am! So I really am a mollydooker! Mollydooker is also, however, the name of an amazing winery in Australia. Thanks to the combined powers of Twitter and a recommendation by my favorite local wine merchant, I discovered Mollydooker wines about a year ago. Since then I've had the opportunity to interact with them on Twitter, learn more about their wines and - most importantly - attend one of their winemaker dinners in San Franciso last week. Lemme tell you - those Aussies sure know how to throw a party!
 So, I came to this dinner prepared with my camera and a notebook for tasting notes. My honorable intentions to take pictures and notes so that I could intelligently blog about the wines later lasted, oh, maybe five minutes. Because as soon as Sparky started talking and encouraging us to drink, and the more we drank, well, let's just say I was far too busy sipping and laughing to bother with notes and photos. Funnily enough, that isn't stopping me from blogging about it.
First, a little history. Sarah and Sparky Marquis created Mollydooker in 2005. The grapes come from the premier regions of McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Padthaway and the winery and vineyards are located on a ridge which historically produces iconic wines. In 2006, the Wine Advocate rated their Lefty Wines the 1st, 2nd and 4th best value wines in the WORLD under $20, and their Love Wines received 99 and 96 point scores. In 2007, the Wine Advocate rated the 2006 Lefty Wines among the best value wines in the world, and Velvet Glove (sigh!) became the fifth Mollydooker wine to be awarded 99 points. In 2008, Wine Spectator chose the 2007 Velvet Glove as a "Classic" wine and five other Mollydookers as "Outstanding". No matter your opinion on the 100-point rating system, that's pretty impressive!!
At the San Francisco winemaker dinner, we had the privilege of meeting Sparky, Janet (Mom), Krissy and Sean. They had just arrived from Australia at lunchtime that SAME day but you never would have known it! We were greeted with some appetizers and a glass (or two) of The Violinist. Made from Verdelho, this is the only white wine that Mollydooker makes. Lovely, fruit flavors and a creamy texture, it was a nice start to the evening.
Upon entering the meeting room, we found a table with eight other people. I have to say, we got so lucky with our dinner company! The entire table was so much fun that it made a great experience even better. Sparky started the evening off by explaining the Mollydooker Shake. You see, because many people are allergic to sulfites, Mollydooker adds as a little as possible to their wines. Instead, they bottle their wines with nitrogen gas as a natural preservative. When the wines are still young, nitrogen can flatten out the flavors and shorten the finish of the wine. So, when you do the Mollydooker Shake (see the video on www.mollydookerwines.com for instructions), you release the nitrogen and allow the young wines to show their full flavor profile. (Note: the Mollydooker Shake is performed only on wines less than two years old.) We were then able to do a taste test with The Scooter - one having had the Mollydooker Shake and one without. The difference in flavors was astounding! Doing the Mollydooker Shake Preparing our perfect blend We then tasted the 2010 Two Left Feet, which is a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The percentage of each varietal changes with the vintage. Each couple then got to create their own blends using The Scooter (Merlot), The Maitre D' (Cabernet Sauvignon) and The Boxer (Shiraz). We then tasted each of the five blends created at our table and chose a favorite, which was difficult! We had so much fun playing mad scientists - not to mention tasting all those great blends. After that, we moved on to tasting the Mollydooker Party Wines - Gigglepot and Blue Eyed Boy. If I loved the names and labels of the Mollydooker wines before, after hearing Sparky explain how they were named and what the labels signified, I was even more smitten (okay, I admit, I'm a little smitten with Sparky now, in addition to his wines!). Somewhere in here we were served dinner, but that was merely sustenance to keep us upright while we finished drinking. By this time, I was feeling very....happy. We then moved on to the Love Wines. If you ever have a bottle of Enchanted Path and Carnival of Love in your hot little hands at the same time, be sure to put them next to each other. Each lable is two parts of a whole, which you can see when you put them together. I won't bore you with tasting notes for the nine Mollydooker wines we had up to this point (plus the five differebnt blends from our table, la la la la). Suffice it to say that there was not a bad sip in the bunch, the wines deserve all the praise and high scores they have received, and I was completely and totally in love with Mollydooker. And then came......
Velvet Glove. Words fail me. Perhaps you heard recently about the forklift dropping $1 million worth of wine in Australia while loading it for shipment here to the US? Well, that was the 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove, the ultimate Mollydooker wine. About one-third of the 2010 vintage was lost that day (a moment of silence, please). Thank goodness, it was insured and, since there really is no such thing as bad publicity, hopefully, this debacle had some benefit in bringing Mollydooker wines to the attention of more folks here in the US. Anyway, Sparky was generous enough to share some of what was left of the 2010 Velvet Glove with us at the dinner. We had all been waiting for that moment all evening....the moment when they brought out the beautiful, unique bottle with the real velvet label printed in silver foil, the beautiful purple juice being poured into our glass. A hush fell over the room. We sipped, and then angels sang. Okay, not really but there was a whole lot of ooohing and ahhhing going on. This was the perfect end to a wonderful evening - this gorgeous, complex Shiraz with flavors of fruit that go on forever. Honestly, drinking this was definitely a wine epiphany I will always remember.
Bottom line, really, is that if you have the opportunity to taste any of the Mollydooker wines, run, do not walk, to take advantage of the opportunity. Mollydooker does have a warehouse in Napa so if your local wine merchant doesn't have these wines, you can order from their website and have it delivered here in the US. I promise, you won't be sorry. In the meantime, I will be anxiously awaiting International Mollydooker Day (September 15th) and the release of the 2010 wines, and particularly delilvery of my order. Trust me, there will be a party!
Many thanks to Mollydooker for the wonderful experience (with special thanks and a shoutout to Krissy!). You have new fans for life. We can't wait to see you again next year. End of evening carnage. The sign of good times!
Last week I decided to try something different at one of my Vino Virtuoso wine tastings - using Jelly Bellys as a wine tasting tool. Bizarre, right? A bit. But kinda fun, too.
Wine X Magazine paired with Jelly Belly to create the Jelly Bean Wine Bar - a fun way to "deliver true flavors associated with specific wine varietals/styles". Each kit contains a "recipe" for a specific varietal or style of wine. The idea is to follow the recipe by gathering the specific flavor Jelly Bellys, pop them all into your mouth at once and chew (and chew...and chew....) until they combine to create the flavor of the specific wine you are researching. A fun idea. Did it work??
I ordered the generic "Red Wine Flavors" kit for this first experience. The kit came with the following flavors: Blackberry, Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Berry Blue, Plum, Cola, Pink Grapefruit, Cappuccino, Grape, Berry and Pepper. At the wine tasting, we tasted a total of six different wines - three whites and three reds. The reds were a Malbec, a Petite Sirah and a blend. The kit came with recipes for Malbec and Petite Sirah, so we used those. The instructions that came with the Jelly Belly Wine Bar said that the jelly beans should be tasted after you finished tasting the wines (unless you were tasting dessert wines). Obviously, the highly sugared candies wouldn't go well with the wine but tasting them after the wine was done and trying to recreate the flavors from memory was a bit disappointing to the guests at the wine tasting.
After tasting the wines, we all gathered around the pretty little candies. We started by tasting each of the candies individually and talking about the flavors - how true they were to the real thing, which flavors the guests remembered experiencing in the wines they had just tasted, which flavors they were surprised to find in wine. Once we had tasted each of the flavors by themselves, we follwed the "recipes" provided for Malbec and Petite Sirah. First of all, let me just say that putting upwards of five Jelly Bellys in your mouth at one time is a little...challenging. As we all attempted to masticate the candies in a polite fashion, we couldn't help but laugh at each other's faces. Laughing while attempting to masticate a huge mouthful of Jelly Bellys was a little messy, but highly amusing. Between the wine we had consumed and the sight of everyone chewing huge mouthfuls of gummy candies, I can assure you that hilarity ensued.
Once we recovered - and finished chewing - we talked about the experience. The bottom line is that everyone thought the Jelly Belly wine tasting was great fun and a novel idea but that it didn't add greatly to their wine tasting knowledge. The guests agreed that tasting the flavors individually - and also smelling them - was more helpful in learning the different flavors present in red wine than following a recipe and tasting them all together. To a person, everyone agreed that the "recipes" for the Malbec and the Petite Sirah tasted nothing like the actual wines. In fact, that many candies at once just seemed to end up tasting like a mouthful of sugar.
I think that the novelty and fun quotients of the Jelly Bean Wine Bar were definitely worth the price. It certainly loosened everyone up and had them laughing (or was that the wine?) The individual flavors were useful in helping people less familiar with the different flavors in wine to isolate and identify those flavors. I would use the Jelly Bean Wine Bar at a tasting again, but probably mostly for corporate events or tastings where I know there are people who are not extensively familiar with wine.
Side note: It was funny to note that the most popular flavor Jelly Belly out of all of them was Pepper! People ate them up and loved them! After following the recipes provided, everyone started concocting recipes of their own - the most popular being two Cappuccinos and one Pepper. Oddly, they were great together.
Everyone said they had a great time, so the experiment was a success in that regard. I couldn't help but wonder how many stomach aches there were later than night, though! :)
Cheers!
I was deeply saddened to learn on Friday of the death of Budge Brown in an airplane crash. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
While I never met Budge Brown, he and his work - and his wine - touched my life. His passion for and support of breast cancer research were an inspiration to me in a very personal way. Back in January, I blogged an "Ode to Cleavage", talking about Cleavage Creek wines and the great work of Budge Brown. (http://winenotwhine.weebly.com/1/post/2011/01/ode-to-cleavage.html) I had planned on getting up to the new tasting room this summer. I am so sorry that I won't be able to meet and thank him personally.
We have one bottle of Cleavage Creek wine left in our racks right now. We've been saving it to bring to Europe with us this summer. We planned to drink it with my husband's mother, who is just finishing treatment for breast cancer. We wanted to share the story of the wine, the strong women on the labels and, of course, Budge Brown and his family, with her, while toasting her strength and recovery. We'll still drink it together, but now the toast will be much more bittersweet. Rest assured, though, that we will be lifting our glasses to Budge Brown and to his passion, hard work and lasting mark on the wine world, breast cancer research and on me, personally.
It's important to continue supporting Cleavage Creek Winery so that the great work Budge started is carried on. I know I'll do my part.
Thank you, Budge. You will be missed.
I joined an exciting new company called Vino Virtuoso this past November during their “soft launch”. You may have heard me talk about it (and if not, you are about to!). In the past few months, I have completed the training, learned even more about wine and had a great time sharing my knowledge and love of wine during Vino Virtuoso wine tastings. The soft launch of the company has been very successful and now Vino Virtuoso is ready to go full steam ahead. Vino Virtuoso is looking for Wine Educators to help fill the demand for tastings. Curious? Read on.
Uncork your passion! Become a Wine Educator
Get in on the ground-floor of an exciting new concept. We’re looking for friendly individuals to conduct fun and educational wine tastings in homes and businesses in their area. If you love making new friends and learning about wine, then you’d be a perfect fit for Vino Virtuoso! Earn $50 - $250 per Tasting!100% Flexible Schedule!Full Training Provided!Carry Zero Inventory! Award-Winning Artisan Wines!
100% Risk-Free!
Learn More about Wine!
Join a Young & Exciting Company! For a limited time, Vino Virtuoso is offering a special launch promotion to new Wine Educators.
- Get started for 50% off. If you join by May 31, 2011, you will get your Virtuoso Kit ($600 retail value) for $94.50 – an extra 50% off the regular discounted price of $189.
- Earn a $50 bonus for every tasting you conduct. For every tasting that you conduct during your first 2 months as a Wine Educator, you will earn an extra $50 cash bonus – on top of the average income of $50 - $250 Wine Educators earn from each tasting!
- $100 Bonus for every new team member. If you are interested in mentoring new Wine Educators, you can earn a $100 cash bonus for every new Wine Educator you refer during your first two months. Plus, you’ll still earn up to 15% commission on your team members’ sales.
- 40% discount on personal wine orders. Celebrate your new VV business by stocking your cellar at a huge discount! Enjoy a 40% discount on up to 2 cases of wine if you join by May 31st.
Joining Vino Virtuoso as a Wine Educator is 100% risk free. If within 6 months of becoming a wine Educator you decide that Vino Virtuoso is not right for you, you can return your Virtuoso Kit for a 100% refund. No questions asked.
I joined Vino Virtuoso because I love wine. I wanted to learn more about it and help others learn more as well. In addition to the wine, a big reason for joining was to get out of the house, spend some time with grown ups and meet new people. So far, I’ve done all of these things! I’m looking forward to learning even more, getting out and spreading the love while meeting new people. Of course, the extra money certainly doesn’t hurt, either! If you’d like to ask me any questions about the company or about my experience with Vino Virtuoso, I’d be thrilled to talk to you. Otherwise, you can check it out online at www.VinoVirtuoso.com. Cheers!
Hey, eyes up here. :)
I’m talking about Cleavage Creek Winery. Have you heard of them yet? I have been lucky enough to make the acquaintance of their wines and the powerhouse behind them, Budge Brown, on Twitter. I believe that people come into your life for a reason, and that reason becomes apparent if you pay enough attention. This was an easy one to figure out.
Breast cancer is a cause close to my heart. My grandmother and my great-grandmother both had it. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with it last year and just finished chemotherapy and radiation right before Christmas. Thankfully, she’s doing well. My aunt, who was diagnosed and treated three years ago is, as I type this morning, in surgery having a tumor removed from her lung. The doctors believe it was caused by the radiation and don’t know yet whether it is malignant. It amazes me that no matter who I speak to, breast cancer has touched their lives in one way or another. I pray I see a cure in my lifetime, for my daughter and generations to come.
Enter Cleavage Creek Winery and Budge Brown. Talk about a person doing everything in their power to help find a cure. This man is amazing. Budge was married to his wife, Arlene, for 48 years, until Arlene lost her battle with breast cancer in 2005. Of course, he was devastated and angry. But he chose to turn those emotions into action, which is what sets him apart. He purchased Cleavage Creek and started making award-winning wines. The thing is, he doesn’t just make great wine. He makes a difference. 10% of gross sales is donated to research to fight breast cancer. That’s gross, not net. According to the website, to date, Cleavage Creek and Budge Brown have donated over $73,000 to breast cancer causes. The first thing you’ll notice about a bottle of Cleavage Creek wine is the label. Each label has a picture of a breast cancer survivor whose story is featured on the web site. It’s impossible to pour a glass of this wine and drink it without thinking of the women it represents. It’s also impossible to drink it without thinking of the hope it represents.
“Putting a face on this disease and telling the stories of those who are dealing with it personalizes this and hopefully inspires everyone to take on the fight,” offers Brown.
To read more about Cleavage Creek and Budge Brown, and to see how exactly these wines are funding breast cancer research, please check out www.CleavageCreek.com. You can also do your part to help the cause by ordering wine there. I first bought Cleavage Creek wine this past September, when they were having a sale for “Toast To a Cure”. Toast To a Cure was a virtual toast that took place at 5:00p.m. on October 1st to commemorate the start of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. People all over participated. I was in wine country with friends (who also have relatives with breast cancer), so we made sure to open our bottle and toast at the appropriate time. Since then, I have been lucky enough to try a few more bottles of Cleavage Creek wine and have enjoyed all of them. The new tasting room just opened at the winery and it is my goal to get up there to thank Budge in person and to taste more of these great wines in the next couple of months. (If anyone is interested in a meet up, let me know and we’ll put something together!)
So far, we’ve tried and loved three of Cleavage Creek’s red wines. (We have a bottle of the 2007 Secret White but have not had the opportunity to try it yet.) The first one we tried was the 2007 Tracy Hills Secret Red. This wine was fermented in stainless steel with an aged oak treatment, which gives it a subtle oak aroma and flavor. On the nose we got lots of raspberry and cherry, with some vanilla and chocolate. We had this one evening with some holiday dark chocolate and they went really well together – a perfect pairing!
The 2007 Tracy Hills Merlot-Shiraz is 67% Syrah and 33% Merlot, aged in neutral oak. I've really been loving Syrah recently and this was no exception. It had delicious juicy berry flavors and long smooth finish that went on and on. The 2006 Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was the best of the best. It is well balanced and smooth, with some of my favorite cab characteristics - cherry, black pepper and coffee, with a warm, smooth finish. This is a delicious wine to drink on a special occasion with someone special. I really can’t think of a better way to help support a cause. You buy and drink some wine, which, let’s face it, you’re going to do anyway. And while you’re sipping, you can know that you just helped a good man fund research for a very important cause. So why not do something good with your wine habit this Wine Wednesday? Go on, what are you waiting for?
At any time of year, it's necessary to remember those less fortunate and help out whenever and wherever we can. We try to teach our daughter that the spirit of giving isn't just for the holidays. I know, though, that it's often easier said than done, and we can get caught up in our own busy lives. The good news is that there are people out there who make helping others even easier for those of us who are good intentioned but occasionally short on follow through. And if you're a wine lover, it just became even easier! Charity Case Foundation was formed in 2008 by Jayson Woodbridge. The Foundation is devoted to raising funds through the sale of small-production, specially crafted wines to support local non-profit organizations and provide services to Napa-area children and families in need. All grapes and juice are donated by Napa vintners and all services are volunteered, from the wines, labels, bottles, corks and storage to shipping and marketing. You can read more about the Foundation and the organizations it supports by visiting www.charitycasewine.org. This past Sunday night my family had a Do-Over Thanksgiving dinner to welcome my sister back from Washington DC. There were 12 of us for dinner (much smaller than our 40+ person Thanksgiving dinner a couple of weeks ago!). So we decided it was a perfect time to bring out the Charity Case Wines. Family, food, fun and giving thanks. The Charity Case Wine made for a great conversation, as I explained how it came about and their goal. We started with the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. 100% Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and fermented in new French oak, this was a nicely structured wine with aromas of apricot and lemon. It is full bodied with a nice, creamy finish from the French oak. We all found it to be a very easy drinking wine and it paired perfectly with our appetizers. We opened the 2008 Rose with dinner. This went really well with the turkey (and the pumpkin pie!) and ended up being my favorite of the two. It was nicely complex with aromas of strawberries and a hint of lime. I tasted cranberries on the palate, as well as strawberry, and the finish had a bit of spicy white pepper, which I loved. The wine was great with our meal but I can also see it being a perfect summer wine. Can't wait to drank more of this one. If you're looking for a wine to go with your holiday appetizers or meal or even just to reward yourself for braving the crowds at the mall, why not grab a bottle or three of Charity Case Wine. After all, you'll be doing a good deed and helping others while drinking wine. It doesn't get much better than that! Samples provided by Charity Case Wines.
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