Wine & Chocolate Tasting – July 3rd 5:30pm

Some say it can’t be done, pairing wine with chocolate, but if you have the right wine to complement the right chocolate it can be a match made in heaven!  They’re natural companions. Both have complex flavors and notes, both have similar components and nuances in common. A wine and chocolate pairing follows the same kind of process as a wine or chocolate tasting, except you taste both together.

This Friday, we’re teaming up with The Chocolate Lab for a unique wine & chocolate pairing – Guests will be guided through the steps to tasting and discerning the distinct characteristics of each chocolate and how to pair up those flavors with different wine varietals and sweetness levels.

Advanced reservations are always suggested – $15 or $20 at the door on a space available basis. Please call 828-414-9111 (toll free at 866-713-9437 for our out of town guests)

Chile & Argentina Single Varietal Blind Tasting

The conquistadors introduced vines into Argentina and Chile in the sixteenth century. The resulting wines were used by the Spanish Jesuits for both religious and medicinal purposes.

The industry only acquired its present form in the nineteenth century as a result of a flood of European immigrants who brought better vines with them such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Carmenère, Merlot, Syrah, Barbera and Sangiovese for red wines and Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Torrontés for whites.

While these are typically blended in Europe, our Chilean and Argentine counterparts have discovered the beauty of the grape as a stand alone varietal in wines. The extreme temperature differences from night and day produce some incredibly intense flavor profiles.

Join us for an evening of exploration of some of these single varietals in a blind tasting. Cheese and crackers will be served.

Advanced reservations are always suggested – $15 or $20 at the door on a space available basis. Please call 828-414-9111 (toll free at 866-713-9437 for our out of town guests)

Pictures from the Shriner’s Fundraiser

Lee just sent me a bunch of photos he took of some of the fundraiser – here’s the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/sealee3s.oasis.shrine/ChristopherSWineCheese?feat=directlink

Just a reminder that we’re still running the online fundraiser through the end of June on these wines http://www.christopherswineandcheese.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=211

Add your listing to the new wine directory

Add your listing to the new wine directory – OpenWine Consortium

Just want to share a news release to encourage all those who have anything to do with the production or distribution of organic, biodynamic or sustainable wines to submit their listing to this upcoming book. There is no charge to include your information.

Paying Attention to the Grapes …
Chagrin Falls, Ohio – June 2009 – When it comes to wine, the demand for healthy options is increasing. Natural, organic, responsible, holistic and green are global concerns on the minds of every socially conscious individual these days and wineries all over the world have been responding. Consumers demand choices that are not only better for their health and the environment, but choices that taste good. Where do they go to find the answers?

At last, a directory emerges, complete with every winery that produces wines using organic, biodynamic and sustainable methods and practices. The soon to be published book “The Worldwide Guide to Earth Friendly Wines – and the people behind the vines” is a blue book of earth-aware people who employ gentle winemaking philosophies reflected in their vineyards, wineries and ultimately in an honest glass of wine. The book is not only an A-Z directory of wines and winery locations, but is also chock full of articles, discussions and interviews with some of the world’s most well respected wine experts, making the book mandatory reading for anyone who enjoys a healthy and natural pour. The book is due to be released during the first half of 2010 and will be available through the wineries listed in the book or directly through the publishing company, http://www.millenniumstarpublishing.com. Anyone associated with the production of earth friendly wines may submit their contact information to msp@millenniumstarpublishing.com and, upon review by the publishing company, the listing will appear in the book free of charge.

Great Value Wines Workshop – Friday, June 19th @ 5:30

If you like opening a different bottle of wine frequently with dinner you might find that the budget does not always support the expensive stuff. Certainly, the wine world must have a couple of decent choices under $20 but how to really find those…

In this class, we aim to show you 10 of them. Some of these received high scores from professional wine critics, and all are the wines that got the highest vote by regular wine drinkers, that is, by people like you.

And, we will not only be showing you these wines, but we will also discuss how to identify good values by selecting wines from lesser known varieties or regions, or weaker vintages of great producers. 10 wines will be tasted. Cheeses and crackers will be served.

$15 advance reservation / $20 at the door – call 828-414-9111 to reserve your spot today.

Tell us why you should win a dream vacation

Lately everyone’s posting contests to win this or that job – and we think that’s just crazy. Everyone we know needs a break, not more work!

So we decided to offer folks a chance to win a dream vacation for 2 along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway – seeing the sights, enjoying the many activities along the way while staying at the beautiful bed and breakfasts who came up with this idea and specialize every day in providing people a much needed break. 

Free Case Shipping in June –

We’re not quite in our busy season yet, so it seems like a good time to test a few different marketing concepts and offers I’ve had in mind before the Village explodes with people and I’m so busy that I’m asking people what day of the week it is (we do a set menu at the B&B during the peak season – it becomes a simple calendar for me – if I served Raspberry Blintz Souffle yesterday, then I know it’s Monday and time for Aritichoke Frittatas)  It’s tough to tell sometimes when all your days can look so much alike without the normal breaks most people are used to.

So I decided to test out some various shipping offers over the next few weeks – for the next 2 weeks, any 12 bottles ordered together will ship for free – sometime over that time I’ll finalize how to set up the system to do a discounted shipping vs free so that I can track the results. Nothing required on anyone’s part – they simply put 12 bottles in their shopping cart and the system will automatically default to the Free Shipping option.

So yes, I started with the easiest one to set up ;).  While I do love the program we run the online store on and the day to day stuff is painfully easy – there are so many options available that when making a big change in how it operates that you dont do on a daily basis, there’s lots of referencing back to the manual and testing the results (usually while the store is up and running – one of these days some lucky soul is going be buying at some magic moment when I’ve somehow configured something that has me paying them for the wine purchase instead of vice versa)

So have some fun, mix and match if you wish – summertime is upon us and it’s a good time to stock up.

Saturday Shriner Hospital Wine Tasting Fundraiser

Here’s the list of wines in our Saturday Flight for the Shriner’s Hospitals fundraiser today – yesterday we did a whole new flight.  The profits are being donated as well as 10% off of any of these bottles sold this weekend.   We had a good turnout yesterday, the weather finally got nice about 2.  Today we’re geared up for a big crowd since the weather is going to be sunny and about 72 – plus the parade is taking over Main St at 2 pm today.

Each day we’re pouring a Red & White from the states of California, Oregon and Washington to highlight just a few of their hospital locations (we always try to theme our fundraisers around the organization – not to knock the Boston Hospital, we just don’t have access to any wines from that area!)

So if you’re going to be around town this weekend, please stop by and do a flight.  And if not, we’d certainly appreciate your support by purchasing any one of the following wines:

Hedges CMS 07  Red		$ 17.99
Hedges CMS 07 White		$ 17.99
Montenoire Borealis 08		$ 15.99
Montenoire Pinot Noir 07		$ 21.99
FoxGlove Chardonnay 07		$ 15.99
FoxGlove Cabernet 06 Paso Robles		$ 15.99

Wine Fundraiser tasting today for Shriners Hospitals

Here’s the list of wines in our Friday Flight for the Shriner’s Hospitals fundraiser today – tomorrow we’re doing a whole new flight.  The profits are being donated as well as 10% off of any of these bottles sold this weekend.

Each day we’re pouring a Red & White from the states of California, Oregon and Washington to highlight just a few of their hospital locations (we always try to theme our fundraisers around the organization – not to knock the Boston Hospital, we just don’t have access to any wines from that area!)

So if you’re going to be around town this weekend, please stop by and do a flight.  And if not, we’d certainly appreciate your support by purchasing any one of the following wines:

Bricco Columbia Valley Red		$ 20.99
Washington Hills Gewürztraminer		$ 11.99
Bricco Pinot Noir		$ 34.99
Westry Willamette Valley Chardonnay		$ 21.99
Two Angel Sauvignon Blanc		$ 18.99
Klinkerbrick Old Vine Zinfandel		$ 19.99

Vision Cellars Winemaker Dinner

We had dinner with Mac McDonald of Vision Cellars last night and it was out of this world – if you don’t know his story, it ranks up there as one of the best I’ve heard about “how’d you get in the wine business?”

The son of a Texas moonshiner, he had his first bottle of wine as an early teen that started a lifelong romance.  After his retirement, he and his wife Lil started making their wine in the Caymus facility in 1997 (they still do) – a large selection of single vineyard Pinot Noirs that will knock your socks off – just as they have all the big critics and the reason they keep getting poured at the White House through the past 3 administrations (no one ever said that you had to agree on politics to be able to agree on a great bottle of wine)

Chris’ favorite was the pinot Mac made from Gary’s Vineyard – Mac buys certain rows and has them pruned and irrigated the way he’d like so he gets the grapes just the way he wants when it’s time to harvest them.  I’m not sure which was my favorite – I’ve always been very partial to the big, bold Oregon pinots – this was really the first time I’d ever tried a CA pinot that I liked – and I liked all of them!  If I had to pick one, I’d go with the Las Alturas just for the darker cherry flavor. But all of them delicious and well done – might be fun to pour them all in a blind tasting one night – people would be shocked at how differently he expresses each vineyard that are all within a few miles of one another.

Anyhow, he’s also one of the most down to earth people you’d ever have the pleasure to meet – and you’d have no clue that he was one of the premium pinot vintners over the last decade and a half.