Category: General

Tomorrow we will be at Fort Mason in San Francisco pouring wine the the Chronicle Wine Competition Public Event:

http://stefaniawine.blogspot.com/2009/01/our-upcoming-public-schedule.html

I wrote in the past about the amount of requests we get to donate wine. It’s truly overwhelming. In the past two weeks the pace has picked up. Between public events, charity requests, and private events, I’ve had 17 requests in the last 10 days. Almost two a day. An art gallery wanted us to donate 4 cases of wine for an opening. A legal conference in Portland wanted us to sponsor a table at their conference, at a cost equal to two weeks pay for Jerry. We’ve been asked to enter two competitions and six festivals.

In all I calculated the requests to come to 51 cases of wine and $6900 in ‘fees’. That works out to about 18% of our total budget for the year. Not 18% of our charity budget, 18% of our total budget.

I do say yes to some. There are events we do decide to do Of those 17 requests, we’ve decided to do two of them. We’ll do a fund raiser for the Los Gatos Jewish Center, and an event at the Capital Club in San Jose. We won’t be dropping off four cases of wine at that art gallery, or riding the dirty choo choo train at the SCMWA event.

I will try and keep our schedule update here.

We get asked very often: “What else do you drink?” People are talking about what other wines do we drink and there are a number of producers Stefania and I buy regularly.

We both also like a good margarita though also.

There are many times when we end up working late. Monday night was one of those nights. If you look closely you can see my lap top in the background of the picture below. Stefania and I worked until about 8 PM. We had to review upcoming events, our next release letter and order form, and planning for our next bottling.

A few years ago we made up a company rule. “No working past 5 PM with out a cocktail or a glass of wine.” We can make up the rules, and I bet you wish your company had that rule too. So we left the office and moved to the living room to watch the Sharks beat Dallas and have a cocktail. As you can see below we’re pretty serious about our Tequila collection.

The bar greets visitors as you come in the house, and we have a TV set up to watch sports while people sit at the bar. Stef calls it “The Best Sports Bar in San Jose”.

So Monday night it was margarita time. I use a recipe that I adapted from Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill in Chicago. Frontera Grill and Topolobombo is a place we try and stop at every time we are in Chicago.

Here’s the recipe:
Two frozen martini glasses.
Salt
Ice
3 limes
Cointreau
100% Blue Agave Tequila

First step is to squeeze 3 limes. Not lime juice, not lime concentrate, and never, ever, ever anything called ‘margarita mix’. We planted two lime trees in the backyard to have a fresh supply. Then pour a small amount of kosher salt to a small plate. You don’t need ‘margarita salt’, kosher salt is best. Next rub the rim of two frozen martini glasses with a small amount of lime juice and coat the rim with salt.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the lime juice, 2.5 oz of Cointreau, and 2.5 oz of Blue Agave Tequila. I never use Triple Sec. It’s harsh and has volatile compounds that can give people a headache. Grand Marnier and Citronage are two other orange liqueurs I’ll use from time to time. All the tequila we have is 100% Blue Agave. That means it comes entirely from the Blue Agave plant. Things like Jose Cuervo Gold can have up to 49% cane alcohol. A good bottle of tequila will always say “100% Blue Agave” on the label.

There is some dispute about using Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo tequila. Blanco is clear, un-aged tequila. Reposado and Anejo have been aged in wood, Anejo for at least one year. They are darker and richer more complex tequilas. Many people prefer to have Anejo’s neat and some say a margarita should only be made with Blanco. I will use all three types at different times. Blanco’s tend to show the lime fruit more. Reposado’s and Anejo’s bring richness and complexity to a margarita. Monday I used an Anejo.

Shake very, very well. Strain into the prepared martini glasses. Enjoy!

I know I’ve been hinting that Pinot Noir allocations are going to be very small in the Spring Release. We made a very small amount from an old, low yielding vineyard. The wine came out very good and people have been pretty excited about the wine based on barrel tastings many have done.

Today I sat down though and worked out allocations based on what we have left. The first thing I had to do was let our sales people in New York and San Francisco know that there was not any available for distribution. There won’t be any going to restaurants at all. We also will not be pouring this wine at all at any events.

Even with those strict limits it was still so tight I couldn’t really believe it when I filled out the numbers. Just 21 people will be getting an allocation. That’s right – 21. The point cut off level is 1200 points to get a single 3 pack. Normally I over allocate wine and give out more wine than we have. I know some people won’t order and that way people lower on the list can get more if they would like it. This time I’m not going to risk that though. There will be a spot on the order form to request a 3 pack if you don’t have an allocation. If one of those 21 people don’t buy their Pinot Noir, the next highest person on the list who has requested some will get a 3 pack.

We also decided we are going to do a combo case. On a first come, first serve basis we will offer 20 combo cases with 8 bottles of 2007 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah, 3 bottles of 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon, and a bottle of 2007 Pinot Noir. I’m still working on pricing, and shipping will be free, but this was the best way we could think of to give some of the newer people on our list a chance to at least try the Pinot Noir.

I’m afraid with the amount we produced in 2008, and some retraining we’re doing in 2009, this lottory like system will be the way we allocate Pinot Noir for at least the next three years. I wish we had more to go around.

Today we’ll get out the last few shipments we have from late orders. Most are going to California and will arrive tomorrow. The rest will make their way via UPS across the country. Everyone should have their wine by the end of this week or the start of next week.

We closed out with pretty good sales. Wine sales have been hard from everything we’ve read and we were worried about this release, but it went well. We have some wine left still, but not too much and we felt pretty good about how things went. We can cover any late orders that come in and should have enough for the restaurants that want wine still and the events we have upcoming.

Given all the bad news about the economy, we’re glad to make it through one more release and have the bills paid. Tomorrow we start working on the Spring Release and hope it goes as well.

When we had our first pick up day in the Fall of 2007 I remember talking to Judy at Windy Oaks about their pick up days. Now for their Spring and Summer open house’s Jim and Judy require reservations, a strict limit on guests, and the sheriff comes out to do traffic control. They’ve had to cap the events at 500 people. She told me for their first open house they had three people. She said for the next few years they had 4 more people each time they had an open house and it took them about 4 years to get over 30 people.

Well our first Pick Up day had 3 people, and we’ve added 4 more each time. Yesterday was our 4th Pick Up Day and we were at 16 visitors.

Below Stefania pours wine at the little table we set up in the cellar. She made a few small snacks for people. We decided to pour in the cellar this time since it was cold outside.

My IPhone was a little blurry with the cellar light, but the shots are ‘ok’. It’s nice to be in the cellar and really feels like visiting a winery I think vs being in a tasting room. I did a short walk in the vineyard to talk about our pruning and winter vineyard practices. The weather was cold but it stayed dry.

We poured five wines for everyone and had barrel samples of our 2007 Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s sure not a fancy tasting but everyone has a good time, and there is lots of catching up and chatting. I really like this way of tasting wine. It gives Stef and I a chance to talk to every one and answer questions. It’s also un-rushed and people can linger and enjoy the wine.

I took this picture as we were cleaning up. The barrels are back in place from the sampling. I did two different barrels. A regular Sequin Moreau Bordeaux barrel with medium toast and a special S.V.T. Sequin Moreau barrel especially designed for extended aging of Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a great way for people to see the effect even a small change in barrels can have on the wine.

The last shot of the day. Just my car left in the parking area besides the vineyard. I know I’ve had this shot before but the car really gives a good scale of the redwoods and the slope of the upper vineyard. Everything is green now from the recent rains and the vineyard is ready for spring. We’ll have our next open house just after tax day in April.

Today is Pick Up Day at the winery. We will have the winery open from 11am – 3 pm. Those of you who placed Winter Release Orders will be able to pick up your orders at that time. We will also be pouring at least three different wines, including a preview of our 2007 Syrah which will be released in March.

If the rain holds off we will do a vineyard walk at 12:30 showcasing our pruning strategy and a discussion of the winter and early spring vineyard practices we use.

Directions can be found at:

http://www.chainedor.com/directions.html

Remember we only open the winery three times a year so please stop by. You do not have to have an order to pick up in order to visit, the winery is open for everyone on our mailing list.

Saturday February 28th we will be pouring at the San Francisco Wine Chronicle Tasting at Fort Mason.

http://www.winejudging.com/event_tickets.htm

We will be pouring or 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Uvas Creek vineyard and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains, both of which won silver medals.

We may add a couple more public events this Spring, but right now this is all we have scheduled. We left the SCMWA this year so we will not be doing any SCMWA events.

From the DC Examiner

We’re mentioned in the weekly wine column about California’s undiscovered gems!

Rain! I don’t feel like working yet this morning so I went outside to capture some pictures. The nearly full copper bowl is one we use for chilling beverages, it’ll hold six bottles of wine comfortably with ice and look, it’s almost full of rain water!

Then I went out front just to see how much damage the rain is doing to the mini-vineyard…er, post garden. No vines yet, still another month or so before we put the plants in.

You can see a couple of low spots there in the foreground where the water is puddling up, but not too bad otherwise considering the slope and amount of rain we’ve been getting. Really, it’s been non-stop for several hours now.

I did manage to connect an extension to the drain spout since the last time it rained I noticed a river going through part of the vineyard. We haven’t put down any seed yet for a cover crop, but we’ll do that this spring around the same time the vines go in.

It doesn’t look very rainy (I don’t think), but the contrast between front and back yard is huge. The lawn in the back is LOVING this rain and the rest of the trees and roses are too. It’s like a tropical oasis compared to the front…which will be green in time.

These are the vines along the hedge around the patio, they’re going to look really awesome when they send shoots and fill in the empty space of the wires.

We had some really warm days back in January, the temperatures hit into the high 70’s and I watched the vines closely. I captured a couple of close ups today showing the swollen buds. A couple of years ago we had bud break as early as March 5th…I love watching that first little leaf pop out.

Stefania’s sugar cookies. The pink icing is made with Port.

She wanted to mail this out to everyone, but Yahoo was not cooperating.

Tomorrow we’re hitting the gym early for a long workout then relaxing in the afternoon. The weather is rainy which will keep us out of the vineyards, and we’re all caught up in the winery.

Tomorrow night we have a special dinner and wine pairing planned with a few friends. Seven courses and ten different wines are on the agenda. We’ll try and take pictures and notes.