Another winery goes LEED – nice to see them working sustainably

Star Community Newspapers

HALL Wines, the premier 21st century vineyard and winery owned by Craig and Kathryn Hall, announces it has received the prestigious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification for its Napa Valley St. Helena winery, becoming the first winery in California to be distinguished as a Gold certified facility by the U.S. Green Building Councils LEED Green Building Rating System.

The HALL St. Helena LEED certified winery is one of most advanced wineries in California, with state-of-the-art facilities designed for ultra-premium wine production. LEED is an internationally recognized certification system that measures a building or communitys performance across all environmental metrics including energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

The certification of HALL Wines not only marks a momentous occasion for the wine industry of California, but demonstrates how all industries can choose to be solvers of our collective environmental challenges, said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. The HALL Wines project efficiently uses natural resources, makes an immediate positive impact on our planet and as a business leader, can expect to reap financial benefits over the lifecycle of the winery.

Owners and Vintners of HALL Wines, Craig and Kathryn Hall, and President Mike Reynolds, made it their long-term mission to become the leader in earth-friendly California winegrowing, resulting in the design of their new St. Helena facility in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Councils LEED rating system.

Pairing Wine with Salads – Perfect for this time of year

Outstandingly simple, well written – we should all be as adventurous

Pairing wine with salads | Atlanta | Restaurants & Bars | Corkscrew

The snooty side of food pairings preaches “no wine with salad.” I fed on this falsehood for years, following the widely-held mantra like an evangelical wino. Then one day a miraculous salad and vino combo made me rethink my reliance on traditional not-so-wisdom.

Not that I was always so cool and contrarian. Before my re-awakening, I lapped up all the drivel wine magazines and writers spit out. But, like a rebellious teenager, I slowly realized it wasn’t adding up. Salads are simply another dish with sauce slathered on it. Match the sauce with the wine and you win. To give tradition some credit, back in the day salad dressings mostly contained robust vinegars like distilled white or cider that rendered wine lifeless and dull; it made sense to teach wine-with-salad avoidance. Times have changed, however. Now that less acidic rice or sweeter balsamic vinegars and lime and lemon use are common, wine and dressing can snuggle up and make sweet, tart love.

Shameless self promotion I know, but c’mon, you would too!

Marketing Small Businesses With Twitter – NYTimes.com

Scott Seaman of Blowing Rock, N.C., also uses Twitter to expand his customer base beyond his town of about 1,500 residents. Mr. Seaman is a partner at Christopher’s Wine and Cheese shop and owns a bed and breakfast in town. He sets up searches on TweetDeck, a Web application that helps people manage their Twitter messages, to start conversations with people talking about his town or the mountain nearby. One person he met on Twitter booked a room at his inn, and a woman in Dallas ordered sake from his shop.

The extra traffic has come despite his rarely pitching his own businesses on Twitter. “To me, that’s a turn-off,” he said. Instead of marketing to customers, small-business owners should use the same persona they have offline, he advised. “Be the small shopkeeper down the street that everyone knows by name.”

Robert Craig New Release Winemaker Dinner July 15th

New Release Tasting with Elton Slone – Partner & General Manager of the winery will be joining us in the first tasting of the new releases. We’re pairing up these incredible wines with wonderfully matched small plates from the Gamekeeper. Cost is $60/person – tax and tip included.

We’ll be tasting:

• Durell Vineyard Sonoma Valley Chardonnay
• Affinity Napa Valley Cabernet
• Howell Mountain Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• Mt. Veeder Napa Valley Cabernet
• Howell Mountain Napa Valley Zinfandel (by special arrangement just for this dinner)

Ken & Wendy from the fabulous Gamekeeper Restaurant are planning a tasting menu of:

• Cocoa rubbed, grilled venison with basil oil.
• Smoked duck bruscetta with honey, walnut spread, carmelized onions and Rogue Creamery chocolate stout cheddar.
• Shrimp Etouffe’
• Orechette pasta salad with capers, parmesan sundried tomato pesto and toasted walnuts.

About Robert Craig Winery
Robert Craig Winery is a small, ultra-premium winery, renowned for hand-crafting limited quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon from exceptional wine grapes in the great appellations of the Napa Valley.

Robert Craig Winery has consistently ranked among the foremost Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon producers since its founding in 1992. Named one of California’s top 25 “five-star” wineries, Robert Craig Winery has garnered 90+ ratings in major wine publications including The Wine Spectator, Wine Advocate, Connoisseurs Guide and Underground Wine Journal.

Seating is limited and will sell out fast – Click here for more details and to purchase tickets.

French Paradox Tasting – Friday, July 10th @ 5:30

French Paradox is known as the ambassador of French terroir in the United States.  Their traditional strength has been the Rhone valley which is a consequence of the strong parentage of the company: the main principle of A French Paradox, Jean-Philippe Termoz is also one of the principle owners of Chateau Signac. This winery produces a couple of super-premium Côtes du Rhône Village wines made by Alain Dugas of Chateau La Nerthe (Unanimously considered one of the top 5 estates in Chateauneuf-du-Pape) and is a main staple of the AFP portfolio.

They work with some of the most important estates in the southern Rhône appellations and have parlayed our success to form relationships with one of the top estates in the northern Rhône. They work with unequivocally the best producers out of the Southwest of France and some of the shining stars of Burgundy, Chablis, Bordeaux, Languedoc, Roussillon and Provence, and continue to expand on their French roots with prestige products from Champagne, additional wines from the Loire and the Midi. Cheeses and crackers will be served.

Advanced reservations are always suggested – $15 advance purchase or $20 at the door on a space available basis.  Click here for more details and to purchase your tickets