WHO: every wine drinker, winery, wine shop, journalist, restaurant, sommelier and chef around the world.

WHAT: Cabernet day is meant to be a community owned celebration of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Blend and Cabernet Franc.

WHERE: on all social media sites and blogs including Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Friendfeed, Gowalla, WordPress, etc….  Just use the #Cabernet hash tag in your post to make it trackable by everyone else.

WHEN: Thursday September 2, 2010 all day (this is a 24-hour thing to make it possible for people in all time zones to join)

WHY: Short answer: why not?  Longer answer: Cabernet is one of the most popular and celebrated grapes in the world.  Social Media makes it possible to connect with people who share the same interests as you.  When you use the #Cabernet hash tag in your posts makes it easier for people to find you and see what you’re saying.  It also makes it easier for you to find people who are talking about the same subject.  It’s like a giant table with all participants sitting together talking over a glass of wine.

Restaurants and wine shops should find some new people to connect with by tracking the #Cabernet tag.

HOW: Add #Cabernet to any thoughts, videos, tweets, blogs or experiences you have that day.  Search the #Cabernet hash tag by searching google, Twitter search, Facebook search or whatever monitoring software you like.

St. Supéry is offering a special price on our selection of Cabernet’s.  Link coming soon.

See the growing list of participants by going to the Master Cabernet Day site.

recipe by Chef Ron Barber

INGREDIENTS
5 lbs beef short ribs
All-purpose flour
4 TBSP canola oil
5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1″ rounds
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered
3 celery stalks, cut into 1″ pieces
5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 TSP fresh thyme leaves
1 TSP fresh rosemary, chopped
1-1/2 cups Cabernet
3 cups veal, beef or chicken stock
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Dredge the ribs in flour and season liberally with salt and pepper. Heat the oil over high heat in a large dutch oven or ovenproof pot. Brown the ribs in batches without crowding. Pour off all but 3 TBSP of the remaining oil and cook the carrots, onions, celery and garlic until they’re lightly browned—about 5 minutes.
Add the wine to de-galze the pot then add the stock, thyme and rosemary. Bring liquid to a simmer and return the ribs to the pot. Cover the pot with a lid cut from parchment paper and braise ribs in the oven for about 2 hours.

The ribs are done when they are easily pulled from the bone. Transfer the ribs to a platter and keep warm. Strain the braising liquid and discard solids. Bring sauce to a simmer and skim occasionally while it reduces by about one fourth. Adjust the seasonings and serve with the braising sauce. Risotto or polenta make a nice addition.

This recipe is a classic, and usually evokes at least one person to exclaim something about it being so good they need to use bad words to express how good it is.  The St. Supéry Cabernet is the perfect weight to go with this recipe, but if you want to go all the way, open a bottle of Dollarhide Ranch Cabernet, especially one with some age on it and you’ll have one of the best meals of your life!  Cheers

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Thursday September 2nd is #Cabernet Day on all social media sites.  Social media winos around the world will be tasting and sharing posts about the king of grapes.  Any tweet, Facebook post, blog post, etc..  using the hash tag “#cabernet” will be searchable which is another way of saying you can filter everything else out so you just see those tweets if you want.
The constantly updating page for the event is http://cabernet.eventbrite.com.
Here’s a few suggestions for wineries who want to kick start their OND season off right:

1. If you have internet and decent phone reception, invite people to come to your winery. Put up the twitter stream so everyone can see it and interact. We use twitterfall.com to pull in #cabernet tweets only.  Type in #cabernet where is says, “All Searches”.

2. If you don’t want to have people to the winery, but want to participate, we’ll add your logo to the invite page.  You can literally participate from anywhere you have access to Twitter.

3. Invite your brand ambassadors or wine club members who are on Twitter or Facebook to talk about your wine using the hash tag.

4. Invite key accounts to host a satellite tweetup where they display the Twitter stream (using twitterfall) and pour your wine.

5. Offer your Cabernet at a discount for people to buy ahead of time so they have it on hand that day and can tweet about it.

6. Be community minded and support other wineries, shops and restaurants in their efforts.

7. Most of all, interact with as many people that day as you can. This is a targeted and qualified audience. It’s a great way to build social media connections.  The holiday season will be kicking off, here’s a great way to get some mojo for your brand.

Pair with St. Supery Cabernet Sauvignon
recipe by Chef Ron Barber

4 TBSP butter
4 TBSP flour
2 cups whole milk
1-TSP salt
1/4 TSP ground white pepper
1 LB elbow macaroni
1 TSP minced garlic
6 OZ grated sharp cheddar cheese
6 OZ grated fontina cheese
6 OZ grated gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees

In a heavy medium saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, for 4 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the milk. Cook about 5 minutes or until thickened. Stir often. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cheeses and continue to stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Add the garlic and season with salt & pepper Cover and set aside.

Cook the macaroni following the package directions.  Drain, return to the pot and reserve 1 cup of the cooking water.  Add the cheese sauce and some of the reserved cooking water if the mixture is too thick.

Spray a 3-quart baking dish or casserole with a non-stick cooking spray and fill with the macaroni and cheese mixture.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the macaroni and cheese is bubbly and hot and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.