The Baroness Wine Blog

From the Left Coast to the Mountains

leftcoastcellars — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:48:49 +0000

With the harvest behind us and the Thanksgiving Open House over, Left Coast Cellars Winemaker/Viticulturist, Luke McCollom, is finally taking a short break from the estate to join Baroness for the Colorado Mountain Trade tasting. A fifteen year veteran of the wine industry, despite his young age, Luke left California several years ago to develop the Left Coast Cellars project and currently produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay from the 305 acre estate in the Willamette Valley.

Luke will be proudly pouring the following selections:

2006 Pinot Gris
2005 Chardonnay
2005 Cali’s Cuvee Pinot Noir
2005 Latitude 45 Pinot Noir
2005 Suzanne’s Estate Reserve Pinot Noir

While tasting through the line-up of wines crafted to express the unique character of the estate, be sure to ask Luke about the other Left Coast projects which include a major solar panel installation and a European truffle cultivation endeavor. Learn more on our Left Coast blog at http://leftcoastcellars.wordpress.com/ or on our website at www.leftcoastcellars.com.

Cheers

Winemaker/Viticulturist Luke McCollom checks sugar levels a day before harvest.

2 weeks away from the big events !!!

glennsteckler — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:04:39 +0000

Hello everyone,

The Colorado Mountain Trade Tastings are only 2 weeks away, winter is upon us and the mountain towns are poised for another great season. If I can help anyone with questions about the upcoming tastings, things to see and do in Aspen, Vail and Telluride or anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me at glennsteckler@baronesswines.com or 303-419-3679. Keep praying to the snow gods!!! –Glenn

Blair Taylor, Enotec Imports.

enotecimports — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:08:17 +0000

Just back from Piedmont and the 2008 Barolo’s will be great.

Hi everyone.

I am pleased to report that the 2008 vintage in Italy will be very promising. The reports of a very wet spring and early summer had many people questioning the quality this year. However beginning in August the weather became quite dry and sunny which allowed the grapes to mature beautifully. Harvest in Piedmont for the Nebbiolo finished around October 15th. The alcohol levels will be a little lower this year than in the past few vintages, which in my opinion makes the wines more classic in style.

The other varietals, Dolcetto and Barbera will also be quite good this year.

See you all in the mountains.

Cheers,

Blair

Dutton Estate Winery

dutton5 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:32:22 +0000

Greetings! Thank you for taking the time to read the blog on Dutton Estate Winery. The Dutton Family is absolutley thrilled to take part in Baroness Wine Mountain Tasting experience. Being a small producer within our family’s realm of grapegrowing in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County, we will bring to you in Colorado the best wines of our family estate vineyards! As we have been making wines for 13 years, Dutton Estate wines are new to the Colorado market. We will be showcasing our current and newest releases, most of which are rated 90 to 95 points in the Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. Please take a few moments to read about our family history and our winery.

THE WINERY

Joe Dutton, co-owner of Dutton Ranch is dedicated to tirelessly persevering the legacy of world-class grape production his father started in 1964. Joe along with his wife Tracy, relish and savor the myriad of wines produced from the 65 vineyards of Dutton Ranch. Tracy and Joe Dutton established a winery in 1995 as a desire to create a complementary business to grape growing, where they would bring up their three daughters. The inaugural release was two wines – Sebastopol Vineyards Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Now thirteen years into production with their winemaker Mat Gustafson, the wines of Dutton Estate are limited to 4,000 cases, six varietals and twelve vineyard-designated wines. These wines have been available at the winery, to the Dutton wine club members and few select markets. In ramping up production in 2006 and 2007 to sustain demand for its over-sold wines, Dutton Estate is meeting the demand with a larger portion of the single vineyard wines to compliment the growing luxury restaurant wine lists.

The Dutton Estate wine program was formed to produce single vineyard wines. For this program, Joe and Tracy opt for selected estate family vineyards within Dutton Ranch, which Joe vigilantly manages and farms. The results are reminiscent wines of distinctive vineyard locations, microclimates, clone selections and soil types. The wines express their individual site by means of low-input winemaking and articulate the unique terroir of the land. Varietals of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah are produced to fashionably speak each chosen spot within the coolest, foggiest place in Sonoma County, the Green Valley-Russian River appellation. “Dutton Estate wines are the reflection of our family and our vineyards”.

Since the winery’s inception, Sebastopol Vineyards and Dutton Estate wine production was in a quaint f arm building at the winery’s property located on one of their vineyards in the Russian River Valley. In spring of 2006, a new winery building constructed along side of the old barn is now home for Dutton Estate wines as well as a small number of high-end wine producers. The winery’s permit is a modest annual production of 20,000 cases; the reserved capacity represents a promise of excellence for our growing Dutton Estate wine brand. You are invited to share a taste of our home.

“The passion at Dutton Estate Winery is to produce unparalleled vineyard designated pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah. Creatively working together with winemaker Mat Gustafson, the commitment is to express the terrior from the selected estate family vineyards at Dutton Ranch. With a devoted grape grower and a loyal winemaker, the results are unsurpassed and individually expressed in Dutton Estate wines.”

8757 Green Valley Road – Sebastopol – California 95472 (Tel) 707.829.9463 (Fax) 707.829.5368

www.duttonestate.com

Cheers and we look forward to seeing you very soon!

Tracy Dutton, President

Meet Ben Casteel of Bethel Heights Vineyard

bhvblog — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:51:31 +0000

If you come to the Baroness tastings next month, you’ll meet Ben Casteel pouring Bethel Heights wines.

Ben is one of the second generation now coming on board at Bethel Heights. Oldest son of Terry Casteel and Marilyn Webb (two of the founders), Ben grew up at Bethel Heights and worked in the vineyard during the summers. All he knew when he left for college was that he wanted to get as far away from the place as possible. Graduating from the University of Oregon in 1999 with a double major in English literature and philosophy, he thought he would become a university professor, but when the opportunity came along to work crush in Burgundy at Domaine des Perdrix, he couldn’t resist the opportunity. The experience proved to be the pivotal point in Ben’s return to wine. “I realized that wine was always around when I was growing up, whether I was cognizant of it or not” he explains. “Looking at the world after college, I was undirected. In Burgundy, pinot noir is all around; it’s everything.”

On return from Burgundy, Ben spent the next five years at Rex Hill Vineyards, working his way up from cellar rat to Cellar Master and then Assistant Winemaker. In 2005 he finally came back to Bethel Heights, where he became Co-Winemaker with his father. Although they didn’t agree on everything, they did agree on fundamentals. Satisfied that Ben was ready to take over the reins, in 2006 Terry decided to retire to Emeritus status and hand over the day to day winemaking responsibilities completely to Ben.

At the Baroness tastings in December you’ll be able to taste two of the wines that Ben produced in his first solo vintage: the 2006 Casteel Reserve Pinot Noir and the 2006 Estate Chardonnay. I’m sure you’ll agree that we’re lucky to have him in the family, and I’m not just saying that because I’m his aunt. I’ve been following Ben around documenting the 2008 vintage for our Bethel Heights Blog (bhvblog.wordpress.com), and I must say he seems to know what he’s doing!

Pat Dudley, Bethel Heights Marketing Director

www.bethelheights.com

Exciting Times at Pali Wine Company

aaronwalker — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:52:02 +0000

Things sure are crazy around here! We are just finishing up our first harvest in a brand-new winery, with lots of brand-new equipment and a brand-new winemaker! We brought in many new varietals this year (as we have only produced Pinot Noir in the past) and that certainly added to the excitement.

As Pali Wine Company is new to the Colorado market, allow me to provide a bit of background about us. Pali Wine Company was started in 2005 by a group of friends from Pacific Palisades, CA (hence the name “Pali” – pronounced pal-ee). The wines were made entirely by Brian Loring and his sister Kimberly (of Loring Wine Company) at their facility from the start. All of our current releases (2006, 2007) are the products of Brian and Kimberly’s hard work. Since last year’s harvest, much has changed. We finally moved into our state-of-the-art, custom built winery in Lompoc, Ca (Santa Barbara County). We share the building with the Lorings, but they are no longer the winemakers for us. I was hired in July of 2007 as a cellar hand and have grown into the position of Staff Winemaker. This past July (2008) we parted ways with Brian and Kimberly (on very good terms, I might add) and hired Kenneth Juhasz, of Auteur Wines, as our Consulting Winemaker. Kenneth and I have worked very closely this harvest to produce some “kick-ass” wines. We are still focused primarily on Pinot Noir, but are also making some Chardonnay, Grenache and a Bordeaux style blend from Napa Valley.

Needless to say, harvest has been both very exciting and very tiring. I couldn’t be more thrilled about all of the changes that have taken place recently. There were many kinks to work out in the beginning, which added to the stress. But now that we are at the end of it all, I can take a look back and say that things went really well – and we are poised for a wonderful future.

And since I have not had a single day off since the end of August, I am very excited about coming to the mountains! I am looking forward to a bit of an escape and I can’t wait to try all the other amazing wines that will be there!

I look forward to meeting you all.

Please visit our website at www.paliwineco.com

- Aaron Walker, Staff Winemaker, Pali Wine Company

Looking forward to a great event

vinotom — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:33:37 +0000

Northwest Core is looking forward to another great line-up of mountain tastings. I’ll be covering a table with A to Z Wineworks, Bergstrom Winery, Penner-Ash Wine Cellars and Solena Cellars. My friend, Ben Casteel, will also be at the events covering the Bethel Heights wines. We are releasing many exciting new wines from the 2007 vintage in Oregon, so stop by the table and check them out.

The cycle of harvest....

Please visit www.nwcorecollection.com for more information about Northwest Core Collection and the wineries we represent.

Cheers,

Tom Kenefick

Looking forward to December

gemtree — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:18:27 +0000

Hello to all of you in Colorado,

We are all very excited at Gemtree Vineyards to be participating in the Mountain show this upcoming December.

As an Australian Winery participating in this show we are looking forward to show all of you our incredible wines.

I am looking forward to see you soon in the mountains.

Cheers,

Eymeric

Gemtree Vineyards

CASA VINICOLA G. GAROFOLI – MARCHE ITALY

gianlucaga — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:22:12 +0000

Hello everybody. My name is Gianluca Garofoli (picture below:second from right) and I am from Marche region in Italy. I represent the fifth generation of my family winery: Casa Vinicola Gioacchino Garofoli since 1871. As well as the others I am very excited to be part of these great events in these beautiful locations.

Our wines and me will do our best to let you feel like in Marche region of Italy. Each drop of wine is the result of our deep tradition, our centennial history, our luxuriant earth, our bright and warm sun, our clean air. Indigenous varietals, such as Verdicchio, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, and soil are our strength; wine is our passion.

At the tastings, besides our most well-known wines, we will proudly present our “Spumanti selection” (sparkling wines). Marche region, despite nobody know it, is one of the oldest bubbles-producing region in the entire world. In France it is Champagne, in Spain is Cava and in Italy is Metodo Classico. Garofoli winery produces a limited production made “as it was during the old-days” in our underground cellar by hand with a limited help of machines. An excellence of our territory.

See you in Colorado!

Gianluca Garofoli

Cartlidge and Browne Winery

cartlidgeandbrowne — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:50:00 +0000

We are excited for the December tasting & look forward to sharing the Cartlidge & Browne wines. We will be tasting through the following wines. I posted a few photos I took from a couple of our vineyards we source fruit from.

C&B 2007 Sauvignon Blanc
C&B 2007 Pinot Noir
C&B 2006 Amador County Zinfandel
C&B 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – Snows Lake Vineyard
C&B 2006 North Coast Merlot
C&B 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – California

Home of our Cartlidge & Browne Snows Lake Cabernet Sauvignon

Home of our Cartlidge & Browne 2007 Organic Sauvignon Blanc

Here are links to our new website & blog.

http://www.cartlidgeandbrowne.com/

BLOG

http://cartlidgebrowne.blogspot.com/

Cheers,
Dylan Elliott
Marketing Manager

Adelsheim Vineyard Joins the 08 Tour!

ljorgensen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:47:06 +0000

Greetings from the Chehalem Mountains in Oregon!

Adelsheim Vineyard is pleased to return to Colorado for another trade tour of the Rockies with Baroness Wines in December.

We will be showing our 2007 line-up this year, to include: Elizabeth’s Reserve Pinot noir, Caitlin’s Reserve Chardonnay, Willamette Valley Pinot noir, Willamette Valley Pinot gris, Willamette Valley Chardonnay, Auxerrois and Deglacé dessert wine.

Meantime, we have been very busy at the winery with most of our grapes already in. We’ve been putting the Pinot noir to barrel this week and we’re extremely pleased with the overall quality of the fruit. Everything is tasting really good. What’s more, we’re enjoying a nice stretch of amazing October weather – lots of sunshine and warmth – perfect for ripening the last of the fruit. You can read more about the vintage on our harvest blog.

Thank you for your continued support of our wines and we look forward to seeing you at the end of the year!

Cheers!

Napa Valley in The Rockies

craigcardella — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:51:02 +0000

The Rutherford Wine Company has recently found a new home with Baroness Wines in Colorado and we understand the wine enthusiasm in the mountains is second to none! Therefore we are very excited to participate in the upcoming tastings and show the latest releases of our premium Napa Valley wines from Rutherford Ranch. While many people know our Napa Cabernet Sauvignon is our lead varietal, some may not be aware of our red blend, Rhiannon, or of our Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon limited production series. We will also be showing our latest project from our Estate Vineyards in Arroyo Seco; Scott Family Estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Both wines are Dijon Clone blends from Single Vineyards in the Central Coast. Since these wines have very small production we decided to only make them available in limited, key markets and Colorado is one of these markets. Please be sure to stop by our table and enjoy a glass. For more information you can also visit our website at Rutherfordwine.com

Cheers!

Craig Cardella

Home to the Mountains!

lagramiere — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:55:15 +0000

Hello, I am Amy Lillard of La Gramière. We make wine in the southern Rhône Valley, pretty simple just one red blend, so there’s not a lot of different names to remember just La Gramière (grah mee air). I can’t wait to come to back to Colorado for the Baroness tastings because I am originally from Colorado and the thing I miss most about living in France is the MOUNTAINS!!! Baroness recently received their shipment of our 2006 blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre and I can’t wait to come pour it for you! It’s a pretty big wine, which will be perfect for those cold Colorado nights. We farm our vineyards naturally, without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides and are in the process of getting our organic certification. Equally, our wines are made without the addition of commercial yeasts or enzymes, we like our wine like we like our grapes, natural! I also keep a blog recounting our daily adventures in farming, winemaking and living in France, you can follow along at : www.lagramiere.com

See you soon!

Drew Wines coming to Baroness Mtn. Tasting

drewwines — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:47:02 +0000

Well after eight weeks of California’s grape harvest, I am looking forward to a little fine wine tasting with the group at Baroness. Like all harvests, this one has had its challenges. We were dealing with frosts, fires, cold and warm spells. The good news is that the challenging conditions and low yields has so far resulted in some mighty colorful and intense wines for the 2008 vintage. So why those wines rest in barrel, I’ll be happy to get back to some finished wines from the 2006 vintage that have begun to develop greatness in the bottle. I’ll look forward to sharing these wines with you at the event on December 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Have a grape day!

Jason Drew

Baroness Mountain Tasting December 2008

bethberry6 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:47:59 +0000

We will be hosting a series of events in Aspen, Vail and Telluride.

December 2nd Aspen, Hotel Jerome 1-4PM

December 3rd Vail, The Lodge at Vail 1-4PM

December 4th Telluride, Honga’s 1-4PM

Please click here or scroll down to the bottom right hand side under Baroness Links and click on the tasting event site for more information regarding the tastings, participating wineries, locations, directions, hotel accomodations etc…

Welcome!

bethberry6 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:03:44 +0000

Thank you for visiting the Baroness Wines special events Blog. This site was designed to efficiently deliver important information to our customers, suppliers and employees. More importantly, this site offers these groups and opportunity to communicate easily about your wines, our market and our mutual love of wine.

Thank you,

Ari Walker