Lone Oak Vineyard Estate Schedules Mother’s Day Wine and Chocolate Pairing

Image via Wikipedia

Does Mom like wine?  Does Mom like chocolate?  Does she deserve a special treat?  Of course she does!
Lone Oak Vineyard Estate, 8400 Ann Arbor, Grass Lake, Michigan, has scheduled a special Mother’s Day wine and Chocolate Pairing on Sunday, May 8, beginning at 1:00 PM. This is a great event to treat your mom (or you and a friend).
This event brings two great indulgences together.  You'll enjoy samples of seven estate grown wines from Lone Oak, paired with seven luscious Mindo chocolates. Cabernet Sauvignon with Mindo's 77% cacao chocolate, Pioneer White with Mindo's 77% cacao chocolate covered ginger, and Lone Oak’s award winning Red Raspberry Wine with Mindo's Espresso Chocolate. 
Mindo Chocolate Makers use only the highest quality cocoa beans from Ecuador.  They ferment, dry and roast their own cocoa beans and then ship them to their place in Dexter, Michigan. In Dexter, they press out the cocoa butter, grind the cocoa powder and make their chocolate from start to finish.  Mindo chocolates are made with only three ingredients - their own cocoa butter and cocoa powder, and certified organic evaporated cane juice.  No wax, no additives. 
Pure.  Simple.  Delicious.  
This event will start at 1:00 PM.  Seating is limited and reservations are needed.  The cost is $10 per person.  Call (517) 522-8167 to reserve your seats.

Related articles

• Who planted chocolate first (wiki.answers.com)
• How to Select Great Chocolate (drexeliuschocolates.wordpress.com)
• How to Pair Wine And Chocolate (drexeliuschocolates.wordpress.com)

Wood County Humane Society Wine & Cheese Benefit and Auction Scheduled May 20

The Wood County Humane Society is hosting its annual Wine & Cheese Benefit with Live and Silent Auctions on Friday, May 20 at Nazareth Hall., from 7:00  to 10:30 PM.   This popular event with music, dancing and fun in a beautiful setting is a major fundraiser for the organization. 

Auctioneer Jerry Anderson of WTOL will conduct the live auction of vacations, balloon rides, art and more. There will also be a silent auction with dozens of high quality items and services; live music from Bernadette Quartet, delicious hors d'oeuvres and delightful wines to sample, and dancing or strolling the beautiful grounds.   Join WCHS for a great event, a great location and a delightful evening.

For an invitation and registration information or to purchase reservations via PayPal, go to www.woodcountyhumanesociety.org. Early Bird prices (on or before May 6) are $55 per person or $105 per couple. Thereafter prices are $65 per person or $120 per couple.

Items donated for the auction by WCHS friends and area businesses are cumulatively valued at more than $6,000. These include fabulous items such as a Florida vacation, a Kalahari Resort Package, Golf Passes, Vera Bradley items, sports memorabilia, Coach bags, hand crafted jewelry and art, restaurant, shop and salon certificates from area merchants and many more  items for the entire family (including pets).

This is a fun event that supports a very worthwhile cause. All proceeds will provide support to Wood County animals in need.

Wood County Humane Society is a private, non-profit, no-kill animal shelter and service organization for Wood County citizens, from Perrysburg and Rossford to Hoytville and Fostoria.

Its mission is to care for abused, homeless, neglected and abandoned animals in the community. The WCHS Humane Agent investigates reports of cruelty throughout Wood County.  Dedicated staff and volunteers also provide public assistance, information and assistance with low-cost spay/neuter programs and community education.

In 2010, WCHS took in 773 animals, providing shelter, food and medical care. Last year, WCHS spayed or neutered 356 dogs and cats and conducted 169 investigations of alleged animal cruelty or neglect.

Photo by Dennis Jarvis

Technorati Tags: wine

Related articles

• Biking the Urban Wine Trail (lafondwinery.com)
• Nurture, not nature (oenologic.blogspot.com)

J Vineyards & Winery 2006 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

J Vineyards Russian River Valley Pinot
rocked the rack of lamb.

Easter dinner, a rack of lamb and an elegant Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from J Vineyards & Winery were ingredients for a tasty and tasteful occasion.

J Vineyards & Winery has 274 acres in the hillsides and floor of the Russian River Valley, located in Sonoma County, California.It is one of the largest estate wineries in the Russian River Valley. The winery was founded in 1986 by Judy Jordan and the focus initially was on critically-acclaimed sparkling wines. She later would move into cool climate varietals, such as Pinot Noir, that are ideal for the terroir of the Russian River Valley.

Our meal included  a roasted rack of lamb, zucchini cakes, sweet potatoes with pineapple and cauliflower. The Pinot was a perfect partner for the lamb. This has an initial large blast of red berries and the mid-palate has a taste of damp earth or mushrooms. The finish lingers and completes the impression of a very well balanced wine.

I enjoyed savoring the wine while Green Dragon wanted a more fruit-driven flavor. To me the wine was just right. It was perfectly capable of standing up to a lamb entry, but delicate enough to allow you to appreciate nicely blended tannins and complex enough to offer multiple layers of tastes.

The grapes are picked at night to preserve freshness and hand-sorted before de-stemming. The wine is aged for 12 months in small French oak barrels. The alcohol content is 14.3%.

A beautious bottle of Pinot for about $45.

Technorati Tags: wine,pinot noir

Related articles

• 2009 Veramonte Ritual Pinot Noir (blogwinecellar.com)
• 2009 Viña Casablanca Nimbus Estate Pinot Noir (blogwinecellar.com)
• Chardonnay Russian River Valley Starr Ridge Vineyards (winebookclub.org)

Wine Tastings & Events: April 27-30, 2011

Image of Château Saint-Sulpice via Snooth

Wednesday, April 27

The Andersons, Sylvania, Wine Tasting. 6-8 PM. O-I Bottles: 1. New Harbor Sauvignon Blanc, 2. Raw Power Shiraz, 3. Sterling “Three Palms” Merlot, 4. Villa Donna Moscato D’Asti. $8.50 per flight or nominal fee per sample.

  
Beer and Wine Cave, 4400 Heatherdowns, (419) 382-6221. 6-9 PM. Great wines under $10. $15.

Thursday, April 28

The Andersons, Maumee, Wine Tasting. 5-7 PM. Some Greats from “down under:” 1. Monkey Bay – Sauvignon Blanc – Marlborough, N.Z., 2. Over the Edge – Pinot Noir – New Zealand, 3. Oxford Landing – GSM – South Australia, 4. St. Hallett Faith – Shiraz – Barossa, Australia. $5.50 per flight or nominal fee per sample.    

The Andersons, Talmadge Road. Wine Tasting. 6-8 PM. Petite Glories of French Wine: 1. Jean-Louis Denois Brut Blanc de Blanc
Dry sparkling wine, 2. Bieler Coteaux d’Aix-en Provence Rose, 3. Moncontour Vouvray, 4. Alain Normand Macon La Roche Vineuse
Chardonnay, 5. Paul Thomas Red Sancerre, 6. Chateau Pesquie Venteau Red Rhone, 7. Chateau Saint Sulpice Bordeaux, 8. Cornet & Cie Banyules. Nominal fee per sample.

Beer and Wine Cave, 4400 Heatherdowns, (419) 382-6221. 6-9 PM. Great wines under $10. $15.

Corks Wine and Liquor, Promenade Plaza, 27250 Crossroads Pkwy., Rossford – (419) 872-6800. 6-9 PM. Great Whites Part 3: Da dum.....da dum.....da dum.....da da da! That's right, it's Spring and that means it's time for our GREAT WHITES tasting. Help us welcome the sunshine with our third annual tasting of the world's greatest white wines. And as always, we'll have a few reds open if you're too scared to go into the water... Nominal fee per sample.

 

Tea Tree Bistro, 4100 Chappel Dr. Levis Commons, Perrysburg -- (419) 874-8828.  7:00 PM Spring Wine Dinner.Chef Kevin will be preparing Asian influenced meals paired with wonderful Stags Leap wine including their Napa Cabernet, Napa Chardonnay, Napa Petite Syrah, and Napa Viognier. With dessert, we will be serving Schloss Vollrad’s Riesling. Call for reservations or email Josh at joshsheppard@teatreeasianbistro.com. $65 per person. Tax and gratuity included in price.

 

Friday, April 29

Aficionado Wine and Cigars, The Shoppes at RiverPlace, 26567 N. Dixie Highway, Suite 135, Perrysburg, (419-873-4444). 5:00 – 8:30 p.m.  Malbecs: 1. Dante Robino "Novecento," 2. Gouguenheim, 3. Weinert, 4. Kaiken. $15 tasting.

 

Corks Wine and Liquor, Promenade Plaza, 27250 Crossroads Pkwy., Rossford – (419) 872-6800. 6-9 PM. Great Whites Part 3: Da dum.....da dum.....da dum.....da da da! That's right, it's Spring and that means it's time for our GREAT WHITES tasting. Help us welcome the sunshine with our third annual tasting of the world's greatest white wines. And as always, we'll have a few reds open if you're too scared to go into the water... Nominal fee per sample.

Saturday, April 30

Aficionado Wine and Cigars, The Shoppes at RiverPlace, 26567 N. Dixie Highway, Suite 135, Perrysburg, (419-873-4444). 5:00 – 8:30 p.m.  Malbecs: 1. Dante Robino "Novecento," 2. Gouguenheim, 3. Weinert, 4. Kaiken. $15 tasting.

The Andersons, Woodville Mall. 1-3 PM. Saturday wine tasting: 1. Columbia Crest Amitage Red, 2. Shannon Ridge Chardonnay, 3. Machmer Gewurztraminer Spatlese, 4. New! ChocoVine Espresso. $2 per flight or nominal fee per sample.

Walt Churchill’s Market, 3320 Briarfield. Maumee, (419) 794-4000. Noon to 5:00 PM. The Rediscovering Carmenere Tasting. Once thought to have gone extinct but discovered in South America, this ungrafted grape produces flavors that give us a window into wines in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. They are also spectacularly underpriced for their quality. Nominal fee per sample.

 

Walt Churchill's Market, 26625 Dixie Hwy, Perrysburg, (419) 872-6900. 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Nominal fee per sample or by the flight.

Technorati Tags: wine

[Information on tastings can be sent to TWAV@ATT.NET.] 

Related articles

• Dada 1 2007 (wino-sapien.blogspot.com)
• Diner's Journal: A Bright Future for English Sparkling Wine (dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Franciscan Sauvignon Blanc - 2009 (winecentric.blogspot.com)

Grapes Grow and Lava Flows at Passopisciaro Tasting at Walt Churchill’s Market In Maumee

If you are itching to sample very rare, high altitude wine from the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna in Italy, plan on attending the Passopisciaro winery tasting at Walt Churchill’s Market Maumee location on Wednesday, April 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

This tasting is $70 per person and limited to only 10 people. During the special tasting, wine from four vineyards will be sampled. The Four Crus are Chiappemacine, Porcaria, Rampante and Sciaranuova. Each is from a lava floe with distinctly different minerals, grain size and altitudes.

The grapes are Nerello Mascalese from Sicily. The 80 year old vines are from the highest elevated red wine vineyards in Europe. These wines are nearly impossible to come by – made in microscopic quantities.

On the tasting menu are:

o Passopisciaro 2008 Contrada Chiappemacine

o Passopisciaro 2008 Contrada Porcaria

o Passopisciaro 2008 Contrada Rampante

o Passopisciaro 2008 Contrada Sciaranuova

This is an opportunity to taste these incredibly rare and beautiful wines in one sitting. Information will be available on the winemaker, the grape, the region, and each specific vineyard site.

To purchase tickets, call Austin Beeman at (419) 794-4000 or contact him by email austin.beeman@waltchurchillsmarket.com.

Related articles

• Out On a Limb for an Etna (acevola.blogspot.com)
• Thoughts on tasting at Harlan (steveheimoff.com)
• Sugarleaf Vineyards (@SugarLeafVino) Visit #vawine (cellarblog.org)
• Tasting Italian Wines for Fun and Charity (passingthru.com)

Experts Consider the Implications of Climate Change on the Wine Industry

 

Earth Day came and went without much fanfare last week. The world is focused on war, revolution and natural disaster. In our own country the headlines are grabbed by the struggle for jobs and an erratic economy.

But environmental issues touch almost all aspects of our life – even our wine. A special issue of the Journal of Wine Research features academics and commercial researchers commenting on past, present and future research into climate change and its implications for the wine industry.

In the issue, edited by Gregory V. Jones and Leanne Webb,  they identify the challenges facing the wine industry and offer suggestions for mitigating damage and adapting for the future.  

Predictions and warnings for the industry are made – with caution but also with firmness:

‘It is the present warm to hot vineyard regions of the world which will suffer most in a warming world.  I would join many others in arguing that the present varieties grown in the majority of the world’s hot regions are now inappropriate…’
Richard Smart

‘…much less is known about the vulnerability of viticulture and viniculture as a sector to conditions beyond temperature and climate; about the adaptive capacity of the wine industry; and about adaptive management strategies.’
Tara Holland and Barry Smit

The contributors also encourage the wine industry to look at the advantages of taking an active approach to research and development – ‘to be proactive in assessing the impacts, to invest in appropriate plant breeding and genetic research, to be ready to adopt suitable adaptation strategies, to be willing to alter varieties and management practices or controls, or to minimize wine quality differences by developing new technologies’.

You can find more information on this special issue of JOURNAL OF WINE RESEARCH here.

Related articles

• The Fight to Save Wine from Extreme Weather (time.com)
• Climate Change: How to Save Wine from Extreme Weather (time.com)
• American Teens Know Less About Climate Change Than Their Parents (treehugger.com)