August 22, 2014 – 4:18 pm
At least two wineries are experimenting with using the concept of crowdsourcing to provide wine lovers with a virtual experience of producing a wine.
Columbia Crest Winery
Columbia Crest in Washington State is offering online participation in crafting a Cabernet 2014 wine. Participants can help to make decisions regarding harvest and production. When the wine is bottled it will be available on store shelves. This seems to be a win-win idea. Wine lovers will feel they have a say in the production of the wine and be able to purchase it when it’s finished. There is no charge for participating and then everyone has an opportunity to buy the bottled wine.
Check out the Columbia Crest Crowdsourced Cabernet 2014 opportunity online.
La Crema Winery
Recently in Sonoma, California, La Crema Winery has offered Virtual Vintner Experience. The winemaker at La Crema Winery is providing an abundance of information in an easy to learn format. One participant in the Virtual Vintner will be selected to win a trip for two to Wine Country! Be sure to check out the La Crema Winery Virtual Vintner website.
Either one of these winemaking crowdsourcing ideas sounds like a lot of fun but also there will be an educational aspect to both events. It is also a creative marketing idea.
Cheers!
Kathy
August 16, 2014 – 12:49 pm
St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma, California
The unusual appetizer recipe below calls for Calimyrna figs that grow in southern California. This recipe is particularly interesting as it uses two wine varieties – a Chardonnay and a Syrah. The wine pairing is a Cabernet Sauvignon.
I suggest reading the recipe all the way through before beginning. Three separate preparations should be made before everything is put together and served.
Many thanks to St. Francis Winery & Vineyards for permission to add this recipe to the Wine Trail Traveler website.
Cheers!
Kathy
Calimyrna Fig with Lavender and Gorgonzola Mousse
Serves: 4
Category: Appetizer
Prepare Figs
Ingredients
12 Calimyrna figs
2 cups St. Francis Chardonnay
1 teaspoon lavender
½ cup honey
Directions
- In a small saucepot, bring the Chardonnay, lavender, and honey to a simmer.
- Add the figs and simmer for about 1 hour or until the figs plump up and become soft.
- Remove from heat. Cool.
Mousse
Ingredients
¼ cup Gorgonzola
¼ Chévre goat cheese
A few tablespoons milk
Directions
- In a blender, purée the Gorgonzola and goat cheese with the milk until smooth but not runny.
Syrah Syrup
Ingredients
1/2 cup St. Francis Syrah
1 cup sugar
Directions
1. In a small saucepot, bring the wine and sugar to a boil and reduce to about ½ cup. Cool.
Serving Instructions
Cut each fig in half. Spoon some of the mousse onto each half and drizzle the syrup over each fig.
Pairs With: Cabernet Sauvignon
Recipe provided by St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, Santa Rosa, California
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IWINETC Media FAM Reunion
Thousands of miles from Tbilisi, Georgia, the site of the 2014 International Wine Tourism Conference, several members of the Media FAM group are having a reunion under the hot Texas sun. We are meeting at fellow IWINETC presenters’ wine estate Messina Hof in Bryan, Texas. Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo are hosting the reunion. Kathy and I will join them along with Melba Allen from France, Tom Plant from Southern California and Allison Markin from Canada. This will be the first time we will share wine, food and stories together since we opened our qvevri of wine at Twins Wine Cellar in Napareuli in early April.
Kathy and I are looking forward to hearing about Allison’s adventures. After the FAM tour of the Kakheti wine region, Allison began a search for the village where her ancestors were from. We are also anxious to catch up with the others from our group. They have not been stationary but rather on the go traveling and tasting throughout the world.
Merrill and Paul are wonderful hosts and have planned an exciting four days. Actually the itinerary is similar to IWINETC Media FAM trips. We will visit several wineries in the Texas Hill Country AVA after enjoying the wonderful Texan hospitality in Bryan. Merrill and Paul planned a dinner at their house tonight. In addition to Messina Hof’s wines, we brought a bottle of our 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles AVA. After five years, the wine is quite good now. We hope Tom will bring a bottle from Temecula. Tomorrow, we will help with the grape harvest. Kathy and I harvested grapes at Messina Hof last year as well as at a Maryland winery/vineyard and at Twins Wine Cellar in Georgia. Although hot and sticky, there is just something romantic about harvesting grapes.
Harvest at Messina Hof in Bryan, Texas
As with the IWINETC Media FAM trip, our reunion FAM trip will involve blogging, tweeting and writing articles. Kathy and I have visited a few of the wineries that the Bonarrigo’s plan to take us. We will update those articles. Perhaps the visit I am most interested in is Garrison Brother’s Distillery. They produce Bourbon, my go to drink when I get tired of drinking wine.
Just one example of the food served at Messina Hof
The Texas Hill Country AVA is about a three hour drive from Bryan, Texas. We will spend two days at the Messina Hof Fredericksburg Tasting Room and Lodging. In ways, Messina Hof reminds me of Winiveria Winery at Chateau Mere Vardisubani, Telavi Region, Telavi, Kakheti, Georgia. George Piradashvili and his wife, Nino Gagua are passionate about getting their visitors involved in the wine culture. Their estate in Vardisubani is next to vineyards, has a winery, restaurant and rooms for lodging. Like the Bonarrigos, they also built another lodging facility. Paul and Merrill are a prime example of wine tourism done right. They expect over 100 people to show up to harvest grapes tomorrow. Messina Hof has several opportunities to harvest during the summer at both their Bryan and Fredericksburg locations.
Cheers,
Terry