Thursday, May 5, 2016


Spring Wine Club Party  - April 30th 2016


Our bi annual party is an invitation to our Club Members to taste new releases that are not available to taste and purchase in the tasting room on a daily basis. These wines are pre released especially for our members to taste at our party.
.
As per our tradition, Mat and I pair food bites to pair with our featured wines. We always take great consideration into the season, the product availability and preparation. We feature recipes that are easy to do at home. Check out the recipe page, most of them are there.

For this Spring our focus is on four wines
           - 2013 Brut Rose'
           - 2014 Weeks Vineyard Chardonnay
           - 2014 RRV Pinot
           - 2014 Bohemian Vineyard Pinot


Mat loves to cook and takes a lot of pride in preparing the food pairings, All the favorite cook books come out,  testing and tasting happens for weeks leading up to the event.

This Spring we chose  two recipes to pair. One from a local cookbook that we are currently selling in the tasting room and featuring for our August "Foodie Seminar" from Apple Festival.



The second recipe is from the Charles Phan, Home Cooking Book which is a favorite of Mat's. Both of these recipes will be added to the web site Recipe page.

We welcomed guests with a taste of the Brut Rose' paired with a Tomales Bay freshly shucked oyster and Seaside Metal's pink peppercorn Mignonette. Really, we believe you cannot go wrong with Sparkling and oysters but to add the spectacular mignonette from our local Seafood guru,
"Seaside Metal" of Guerneville. the two go so beautiful with the Pinot Noir based wine.




The next wine, our 2014 Weeks Vineyard Chardonnay, a beautiful rich yet balanced wine paired with the featured Apple recipe: Pulled Chicken Sliders with Apple Slaw. The chicken thighs are seared in spice and then braised in Chardonnay.  The Apple Slaw is a perfect refreshing component for Chardonnay and a beautifully sunny day in the backyard.





We were treated with the presence of two of our Vineyard families to pour the Pinot's. Dean and Karen ( Ruxton ) Barbieri and Tom and Sue Cleary of Bohemian Vineyard. The opportunity for members to meet the growers is a extra special treat.

The Pinot's were paired with Mama's Meatballs Vietnamese style and a huge hit. Comments came in of one Pinot working better than the other but the consistent comment was the love of these meatballs, unique preparation worth a try at home. Not your average meatball, about 2" in diameter with a very rich sauce.


The 2014 Pinot's will not officially release till late fall or early 2017. These wines are really fun and showing incredibly well given their youthful state.

In addition we offered two favorite cheeses, Beemster aged Gouda, Mat's favorite Pinot cheese and Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon, one of my favorite local producers.



The Event came and went in a blur. Overwhelmed by the response and support, I think this Fall our party will be sold out way in advance. Thank you to our fans.
Big hugs