I’ve always wondered if you can truly do organic wine. There’s been a lot of debate lately in the news about organics in general and whether or not they are any ‘better’. Well there’s one winery that has been pushing the limits trying to make the most organic wine possible. They are called PureVineWines. They actually prefer a term called Biodynamic wines. Basically they look at the winery as a closed system and don’t bring anything in or out of the winery. So they consider the vines, soil, insects, etc. Obviously they don’t use any pesticides. But in addition they use homeopathic mixtures on the vines and a several other techniques that have been passed down through the generations. And their finished wine contains no sulfates or chemicals. If you didn’t already guess… they are located in Portland, OR. The home of organics foods. So if you have any friends that are into sustainability and organic foods the PureVineWindes Wine Club would be a perfect gift. They’ll receive two great wines every month for around $45 to $55 a month (depending on the wine selection). The founders Andria, Tom, and Joe are definitely creating something unique at PureVineWines.

So let’s have a toast to organic wine,
Wine Club Insider

Organic Wine biodynamic wine, Organic Wine, portland wines, Wine Club

After a couple of days in Dundee and Yamhill I decided I need to subscribe to a Portland wine club. The wine there is truly amazing. The first club I found was the Pacific Northwest Wine Club. It’s heavy on Portland wines, but also includes other Northwest greats from Washington to Idaho. They even include some wine from Northwest California. And oh do they have great wines. How is this so? Because of their extensive vetting process. Each year they develop a wine plan of certain varietals for each month. Then samples are requested from all of these wineries and a panel does a blind taste test of all the options. The top rated red and white wines are the ones purchased and presented to wine club members. So there’s no label bias and they’re not pushing the wines they got the best deal on… they only ship what tates the best. Many of us have sampled California wines… isn’t it time we gave the Northwest a try? After my time in Portland I must say there really are some amazing wines waiting to be discovered. Unlike other clubs having multiple types of clubs, at the Pacific Northwest WIne Club it’s simply the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer – nothing more and nothing less.

For Portland locals or those of you visiting Portland I’d recommend the club Portland Uncorked. It’s also a wine club, but not of the usual variety. It’s a 100% free club that’s all about tasting new Portland wines and meeting new people. Everyone gets a member card and will receive notices of where the club is meeting next. I think this is a fabulous idea. I need to find something like this in San Francisco.

Well it’s time for me to signoff for the night. See you next week!

-Wine Club Insider

Organic Wine, USA Wine, Wine Club, Wine Education, Wine Glasses, Wine Reviews pacific northwest, portland, portland uncorked, Wine Club

Wine Club Insider back with you.

Rain, Rain, go away, come again another year…

Another day of substandard temps, buckets of rain and overcast here in the northwest. Our summers and falls are marvelous, but Spring kind of sucks until the rain ends… they give us just enough nice days so we don’t move away, but then the next wave of storms comes through, and our drought worries ease for another year!

One good thing is that it’s great for the grapes, though! Wet spring, long, hot, dry summer… maybe that’s why Columbia Valley fruit is getting such a great reputation!

In doing my normal weekly tromp around the cyber-vineyards of the Internet, I came across a new (to me, at least) site called “The Wine Society” out of England.  www.thewinesociety.com

Founded in 1874, it is reputed to be the World’s oldest wine club, and their stated goal is to introduce people to some of the world’s great wines at a fair price.

The way they work their membership is that you actually buy a share in the WIne Society for $60-ish (40 British pounds) and it is good for a lifetime, with no pressure to buy.

Even though shipping to the US isn’t an easy option, there are still plenty of other reasons to join, especially if you want a great wine education or have the option of travelling to the UK or to France at all…

Their wine list is over 800 deep, stuffed full of some of the great treasures from the US, Europe, Australia and beyond. They have a great online library, and if you live in England, they will deliver your wines with their own vans!

They also have several tastings, controlled storage for their members, and a nice futures program. They also have retail outlets in England and France if you “just have to have it today.”

I’m actually thinking about joining just for the extras, and picking up my wine when I next get there… and if I can’t bring it back with me, I guess I’ll just be forced to drink it with a nice piece of cheese and some fresh bread out in the English countryside… could be worse, I guess.

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out

Bordeaux, Burgundy, California Wine, Fine Wine, French Wine, International Wine, Red Wine, USA Wine, Vintage Wine, Wine Cellar, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine Education, Wine Lovers, Wine Reviews, Wine Storage, Wine Tasting, Wine Tours International Wine, The Wine Society, Wine Cellar, Wine Club, Wine Education

Wine Club Insider (finally!) back…

I can hear it now…

“Hey, WCI, where have you been? I was looking for my usual end-of-the-week dose of wine club news, and, poof, there’s nothing there? What gives?”

With deepest and most humble apologies, I respectfully submit that sometimes even wine blogging must take a back seat to real life.

As some of you no doubt know, Ray and Joan Kroc (of McDonald’s Fame, and I don’t mean ee-ei-ee-ei-oh) left hundreds of millions of dollars to the Salvation Army to build a number of community centers across the USA. Well, Coeur d’ Alene Idaho was one of the fortunate recipients, and after raising a matching $38 million, CDA became the smallest (by far) city to have one of the amazing new rec and community centers. (Here… check out www.kroccda.org for an idea of how special these centers are!)

Well. the grand opening was this weekend, with the gala last Friday night, and yours truly was able to help provide the catering for the big day.

Since Wednesday, I’ve been on my feet for 12 – 14 straight hours prepping and transporting a buffet for 450 to the center, and then setting up, serving and cleaning up.

It was a lot of work but well worth it, and well received. Here is a sample of what we had on the menu:

~ Chicken Valdostana (chicken breasts pounded out like veal, and then stuffed with copacola sausage and fontina cheese and baked in a Putanesca sauce)

~ Crostini with whipped gorgonzola andfig or sun-dried tomato puree

~ Pizza “turnovers”

~ 10 sides of cold smoked salmon and all the trimmings

~ Huckleberry cheese cake and sauces

~ Antipasto, fresh fruit and cheese trays that could have fed the 2nd army

and a few other little delicacies.

Redwood Creek Winery served up the libations to accompany, and a good time was had by all, though I don’t know if I want to see another chicken or cut another piece of cheese for a while…

So, that, dear readers, is why last week’s column was a tad late… I hope you will understand, and tune in again this week… after all, this was for a great cause, and anything done in the service of food, wine, charities and enjoyment of the public has to be a good thing, right?

Enjoy your day!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

Uncategorized buffet, charity, food, gala event, Kroc Center, Wine Club

Wine Club Insider back with you!

Yesterday, we took part in one of the great festival/sporting events anywhere in the USA; The Lilac Bloomsday Run, a 12 k (7.46 mile) run through the streets of Spokane with 52,000(!) of our closest friends.

In its 22rd year, Bloomsday – www.bloomsdayrun.org – is one of the largest (2nd largest, I believe, behind Bay to Breakers), best organized runs anywhere, and is a giant party that captivates an entire region for several days, including a huge fitness expo, community fitness and training classes etc.

It is also held the 1st Sunday in May, which nicely coincides with “Cinco de Mayo” festivities, which, this year, is being celebrated on the 5th of May…

I have to admit that I spent Saturday evening with my friends Jose and Margarita, rather than wine, but still managed to complete the pretty challenging run in 58 minutes, which isn’t bad for an old guy!

Dessert wines, as I have mentioned, are some of my favorites, with Ice Wine – or Eiswein – topping that list (okay, maybe Port is right up there).

We’ve talked a bit about Port in an earlier article, but I wanted to chat about how Ice Wines are made, since several vintages will be coming to market soon, just in time for your summer enjoyment.

So, what do you get when you let the grapes freeze on the vine, waiting until December or even January to pick them, by hand, in the dead of night, at less than 10 degrees?

Ice Wine, or Eiswein in Germany, is perhaps the most difficult to make, best-crafted wine in the world, and creates wine with such character and depth that it is hard to describe until you have tried it. These are world class wonders of delight and delicacy, with world class prices, to boot. In Germany, Riesling grapes are used for Eiswein, but other varietals are used around the world, including Gewurtztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc, Vidal, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Semillon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and even Pinot Noir and Catawba. Canadian Ice Wines are viewed as perhaps the greatest in the world, and can easily fetch more the $90 for a 375 ml bottle! New Zealand, Austria and the US also make wonderful Ice Wines.

Here are just a few of your choices:

Inniskillin (Canada)                             Vidal and Riesling         $65 – 90/375ml (maybe the best in the world!)

Terra Blanca (Washington)                  Chenin Blanc                $50/375 ml

Bonny Doon ‘Vin Glaciere’                    Muscat                         $24

Mission Hill Reserve     (Canada)          Vidal                             $60

Selaks (New Zealand) and Covey Run (Washington) make excellent Ice Wines for under $30!

Of course, there are a whole raft of German Eisweins, including the famous Dr. Loosens, which are spectacular, if a bit pricey.

Some wineries freeze their own grapes, which seems to me like cheating, but there is little argument about the finished product. Dolce from Far Niente Vineyard ($80/375 ml) is a great example.

So, there’s a bit of a primer on “the Nectar of the Gods.” Enjoy!!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

California Wine, Dessert Wine, Fine Wine, International Wine, Sweet Wine, Uncategorized, USA Wine, Vintage Wine, Wine Cellar, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine Education, Wine Lovers, Wine Making, Wine Tasting Cinco de mayo, Dessert wines, Eiswein, Ice Wine, Running, Sweet wines, tequila, Wine Club

Wine Club Insider back!

Wow… what a week!

Besides the other events I’m doing, my wife and I are expecting our first child in June, so now we have baby classes, baby showers, baby nurseries, baby shopping… for all the parents out there, you know of what I speak, and for those still unencumbered, you just wait… what a blessing, all tied up in lots of work!

On our drive to the airport, there is a mini-storage facility – ABC Mini-storage – that brightens my day, and the days of the hundreds of drivers that breeze past on the interstate.

Now, I don’t have storage there. As a matter of fact, I’ve never even stopped in, yet I can’t wait to see what’s new…

The thing they do that’s so special – and yet so simple – is they have a billboard with a different funny/interesting/thought provoking quote on each side, and like many, I suspect, I love those quotes!

Today’s was “Why is abbreviation such a long word?”

The flip side is “Why does the word Lisp have an “S” in it?”

Simple, yes, but every week when I drive by and they’ve changed it, I’m excited, and I bet many of you love quotes as much as I do.

That said, I started thinking about wine (what a surprise!) and wondered if I could find some quotes… of course, we all know the usual suspects, but was that it?

Turns out, there are a few more…

Here are some of the ones that caught my eye:

Fine Wine, International Wine, Uncategorized, Wine Education, Wine Lovers Wine, Wine Club, wine humor, wine quotes

Wine Club Insider back with you after a weekend on the rocks!

Yup, I’m taking a 15 week mountaineering class, and this weekend we spent two complete days setting up rappels and high angle climbs… great fun, and a fantastic lifestyle… the mountaineers group are terrific, social folks, who also don’t mind tossing back a celebratory beverage after a good day of climbing!

On the Saturday night, a few of us got together at a favorite local spot and had some bar b cue. I had a glass of the house wine, which turned out to be a not-too-bad Chilean merlot, though great company and good times can improve the taste of almost any wine.

Always on the search for new wine clubs, I came across Awesome Clubs, at www.awesomeclubs.com.

They work their wine club on a subscription basis, ranging from one month to one year, at a cost of about $38/month, though you get a 10% discount for 6 and 12 month subscriptions. Their system is also set up to make it easy to ship these memberships as gifts to friends, family and even business associates.

Awesome Clubs also provides several other options as far as clubs go, ranging from a “Steak of the month” club, to Hot Sauce, Hand bags, Cigars, stuff for the Football fan, the Golf Fanatic, Movie of the Month, Soda Pop of the Month, and one I haven’t seen before… the “Kama Sutra of the Month Club.” Yup, you read that correctly – the Kama Sutra of the Month Club.

Apparently, from the literature, once a month, they send you everything you need for a romantic evening, including “Message oils, creams, powders and other potions will entice your body, seduce your senses and jumpstart your hearts.”

A far cry from “a bottle of red and a bottle of white,” but together, they could make for a great and unforgettable evening!

Until next time,

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider out!

Cheap Wine, Fine Wine, International Wine, Merlot, Red Wine, Uncategorized, White Wine, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine Education, Wine Lovers Awesome Clubs, Merlot, Various clubs, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine of the month

Wine Club Insider back with you!

It appears my predictions of the final demise of old man winter were a bit pre-mature, and did nothing but stir him up, as went from a nice mid 70′s on Monday-Tuesday, to the current conditions, which include a temp of 35, blustery wind, and an inch of new snow (!) on the ground. I apologize, and will keep my mouth shut from now on. Is it just me, or is anyone else looking forward to the shift into summer mode?

Have you noticed if your wine tastes change as the weather gets warmer? I continue to like reds anytime, but I do find I drink more whites and roses in the warmer weather… anyone else?

All Whining (as opposed to “wineing,” which never goes out of style!) aside, I have a nice site to recommend to you.

I was cruising the Web yesterday, and came across a new-to-me site called Bottlenotes at www.bottlenotes.com. At first I was struck by the “cleanliness” of the site… crisp, bright colors, easy to navigate, but as I puttered around, I was impressed with the wide variety of information they offered; they had everything from comprehensive tasting notes and reviews, easily navigable by price, varietal, winery etc, as well as access to their own podcasts featuring such notables as Jack Cakebread, Pete Mondavi jr., etc.

They have a nice feature called “Winecylopedia,” which is a pretty extensive collection of wine info, and they also have “The Daily Sip,” which is, as they describe it, like a cross between “Daily Candy,” and “US Weekly” for the wine industry.

Aside from all of these little perks, they also offer some really fun wine clubs, and their “hook,” so to speak, is that they will completely customize your wine club to your tastes, budget, schedule etc.

They have 9 offerings, including the Explorer’s Wine Club, which is pretty much the standard “get started for $25″ club, and they also have the obligatory Intermediate wine club (The perhaps less than originally named “Connoisseurs Club”) and a high end offering called ”Limited Addictions” (nice name!) wine club, which features pretty high end, rare products such as Gaja, Pavie etc.

From there, they start to get cool, though…

They have a seasonal wine club, which is also customizeable, so you can choose Rhone in the spring, Napa cabs in the fall, etc.

Perhaps the coolest wine clubs they offer are the smallest…

They have a “Jet Setters,” which is a  tour of the world’s wines, they have a “Dinner party in a box” club, which provides all the wines for before, during and after a dinner party (a neat idea, really!), “Pop,” a champagne and sparkling club, a Kosher club for those looking for something beyond Manischewitz (who knew?), and a new Sake club, with some premium sakes on the menu.

All in all, a pretty nice stop on the web, and I’d recommend you check them out for the extras, as well as the interesting wine clubs.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Wine Club Insider out.

Bordeaux, Burgundy, California Wine, Cheap Wine, Dessert Wine, Fine Wine, French Wine, International Wine, Red Wine, Sparkling Wine, Sweet Wine, Uncategorized, USA Wine, Vineyards, Vintage Wine, White Wine, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine Education, Wine Lovers, Wine Reviews, Wine Tasting Bottlenotes, champagne club, fun wine club, rare wine club, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Winecyclopedia

Wine Club Insider backatcha!

We’re in the turbulent “April showers” period, alternating between 65 and sunny, and 35 and snowy, but generally getting warmer… the golf courses are all open now, even if they’re still passing out hand warmers at the first tee.

This past weekend, we split our time between Seattle and Coeur d’ Alene, where we donated a wine dinner for 8 to the local Chamber of Commerce “Aw$um Auction,” their major fundraiser of the year.

We participate in several charity events each year, and I’ve got to say that they are some of the most enjoyable things we do.

There are so many worthy causes and charities, and this is a great way to be a part of the community and to help people. Just as important, you get to meet some great people, many with similar interests, and the networking that happens can be fantastic!

Even beyond the people who win our dinners, they always bring friends who have friends, and so the circle grows.

We also try to attend as many of the functions ourselves as we can, because, hey, they’re plain fun! The best events may have as many as 100 wineries pouring several hundred different wines, so you’ve got to plan your tastings accordingly… learning to taste and spit is essential if you don’t want to end up under a table somewhere (not that I know ANYONE who would have done that…)

I’m not sure how many different wines I have bought or ordered at these things, but it’s in the hundreds of bottles… I admit that I can get caught up in the moment, but, hey, it’s all for a good cause, and the wineries often go all out… I’ve also joined a few wine clubs based on the wines I’ve tasted.

Many of the large format bottles I have collected (most autographed) I have won at various live and silent auctions during charity events, and because of that, they have a certain special significance that you can’t buy at the store.

So, go ahead and check out your local charity and wine event scene… you’ll end up hooked on helping good causes, as well as on having a great time, and you’ll probably end up with some free wine glasses!

Cheers,

WIne Club Insider out.

California Wine, Dessert Wine, Fine Wine, International Wine, Red Wine, Uncategorized, USA Wine, Vintage Wine, Wine Club, Wine Education, Wine Glasses, Wine Lovers, Wine Reviews, Wine Tasting auctions, Charity events, Wine Club, wine tastings

Wine Club Insider back with you!

I think, finally, that yes, spring has arrived, as we hit temperatures in the 60s for the first time in what seems like a year, and that means the spring barrel tastings will be happening soon… ummm!

Also today I had a chance to stop in at a relatively new wine shop in Post Falls, Idaho named “Enoteca.” You can visit them at www.corkjoy.com, but just know that they have  terrific selection of wines and craft beers, as well as an awesome wine club. I spent quite a bit of time with Russell, the owner, and was impressed by his knowledge and his enthusiasm.

While there, I was perusing the sparkling wine selection, thinking of my favorite sparkling wine – Schramsberg’s “J Schram” – and when I got home tonight, voila, in my inbox was an email from Schramsberg telling me about their newest offering; a Cabernet Sauvignon named “JD.”

Now, this isn’t a complete departure from bubbly wines, as they make one of my all-time favorite wines, the J. Davies Cab.

Anyhoo, they’ve gone back and made J. a little brother:

“The genesis of jd came about as Hugh Davies and Sean Thompson were re-tasting the barrels of wines remaining after the final blend of 2006 J. Davies. These additional wines were really delicious but did not fit into the style of the first label. When growing grapes on a site as exceptional as our estate Diamond Mountain District historic vineyards, the overall quality is very high, and until the final blending, all wines are treated with the same care. The winemakers started began blending trials, not wanting to part with such great base wines. It is in the process of blending, where winemakers express their creativity and artistry. The results of the blending trials were so compelling that they decided to bottle a small quantity of a second wine. From now on, for each vintage, jd will be released in the spring and J. Davies in the fall. ”

The cool thing is that it’s going to sell for only $40/bottle, and with only 300 cases produced, you’re getting a pretty special wine here.

Check it out!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider out.

California Wine, Fine Wine, International Wine, Red Wine, Sparkling Wine, Uncategorized, USA Wine, Vineyards, Wine Cellar, Wine Club, Wine Club Gift, Wine Education, Wine Lovers, Wine Making, Wine Reviews Cabernet Sauvignon, Enoteca, J. Davies, J. Schram, JD, Schramsberg, Wine Club