Cabernet Grapes, Dollarhide

I had a chance to have a quick chat with our winemaker today, Michael Scholz, about harvest and rain. He was quite happy to report that all of our whites are in and “in a good place”. Normally when you say something or someone is “in a good place” that means they have shuffled off some sort of coil–usually the mortal kind–but in this case, it is a very nice thing indeed, and it brings the promise of outstanding white wines for 2011.

Most of our reds, however, remain on the vine. They are safe for now, as you can see from this shot of a nice and happy cluster of cabernet grapes, but Michael really wants to see some warm and dry weather for the rest of October.

I was expecting some doom and gloom from him but he was positive (as always!) and seemed quite confident that this year was going to be good, no matter what. But, give us some dry warm weather for the next couple of weeks and he believes it could be extraordinary. Sugars are looking great, but he would like to see some more ripening in terms of both flavor and tannin development. Lots of rain can dilute these important components as the vines take up extra water, but a little rain also makes the vines happy, so right now everything is brilliant.

But keep sending us good luck and positive, non-rain vibes!

Geoff Gatto, St. Supéry’s Director of Vineyard Operations, sent us a quick update from our Napa Valley Estate Vineyard, Dollarhide:

Clusters of Small Berries

“Vineyard work has finally begun to slow down. Workers are finishing dropping second crop (small clusters which develop much later than the primary clusters). Once verasion advances a little further we will drop unripe clusters.”

More updates from St. Supéry’s Vineyard Team coming soon.

Geoff Gatto, St. Supery’s Director of Vineyard Operations, took this incredible picture today in our Napa Green Certified Rutherford Estate Vineyard:

Bird Hatching

“We are still in the process of removing leaves in certain blocks. Shoot positioning has been completed, hopefully for the last time (with all the soil moisture we have had extended periods of rapid growth). A crew has been at the winery in Rutherford all week dropping fruit, allowing the remaining clusters to achieve optimum ripeness. You can see the low impact of our farming on the surrounding environment in the photo above of a bird just hatching in our Chardonnay.”

More updates from St. Supery’s Vineyard Team coming soon.

Geoff Gatto, St. Supery’s Director of Vineyard Operations, sent us a quick update this morning from his perspective at our Napa Valley estate vineyard, Dollarhide:

Clusters of grapes growing

“Vineyard workers are still hard at work positioning the rapidly growing shoots. We have just begun to remove leaves, starting in the Chardonnay. This opens the canopy allowing more sunlight on to the fruit, helping ripening. It also allows for more air movement in the canopy, which decreases pressure from pathogens including powdery mildew and botrytis.”

More updates from St. Supery’s vineyard team coming soon

What is #SauvBlanc Day? It’s a whole day, in all time zones, to celebrate a wine, in this case, one of our favorites, Sauvignon Blanc. St. Supéry hatched this concept back in 2009 and this year we’re taking the lead to promote it.  Wine brands from around the world – along with restaurants and retailers – will be participating.  Click onto this Eventbrite page to see who has joined the fun so far: http://sauvblanc2011.eventbrite.com/

How to get into the online conversation? Anyone can participate online by posting about Sauvignon Blanc and adding the “hash tag” #SauvBlanc in the post. Try searching online (Twitter, Facebook, Google) for #SauvBlanc and you’ll see the chatter has already started. (#SauvBlanc is not case sensitive, but must be one “word” – no spaces – to show proper results.) For twitter geeks (like us), try adding a column in Tweetdeck for #SauvBlanc and see that the conversation has been ongoing for weeks already.

How to participate with just wine? Just pop a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy! It’s summer, it’s Friday, life is good!

Geoff Gatto, St. Supery’s Director of Vineyard Operations, sent us a quick update this morning from his perspective at our Napa Valley estate vineyard, Dollarhide:

“With rain finally ending, the temperatures are starting to rise again. Suckering is almost complete, with crews tucking the rapidly growing shoots into the wire as they go. Bloom is coming along, slightly delayed due to the rain and cool spell. The rain did not seem too have much effect on the bloom, other than delaying it. Once set occurs (the berries are pollinated) we will have a better idea of the impact of the rain.”

More updates from St. Supery’s vineyard team coming soon.

Layered Ridge, 2010, oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches

World-renowned painter Wayne Thiebaud will be featured at the St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery Art Gallery in Rutherford, California from April 5 – June 30, 2011. Titled “Mountains,” this will be the first Thiebaud exhibition ever shown in the Napa Valley. The free, public show will be open 7 days a week from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wayne Thiebaud is one of the most celebrated and acclaimed American realist painters of the twentieth century. Many know Mr. Thiebaud, a Sacramento resident, for his iconic interpretations of baked goods. In contrast, the Mountain exhibition embraces “aspects of realist paintings with the celebration of texture and light, but adheres closely to his experiments in geometric shapes and bold brush strokes of complementary colors.” Art Critic for Time Magazine, Robert Hughes, continues: “[Thiebaud] paints what he wants to paint, he is alive, his work is alive and the strokes of color that make a landscape are the invention of his idea of fantasy.”

Robert Skalli, owner of St. Supéry and patron of contemporary art, stated: “I believe that fine art is the perfect marriage to great wines. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Paul Thiebaud Gallery to bring these legendary works to Napa Valley.”

Please come visit us at St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery in Rutherford to see this wonderful collection of paintings from one of the leaders in contemporary American art. Ask to try St. Supery’s new release wine, ‘Dollarhide Elevation’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, another representation of mountains; Our Dollarhide estate vineyard in Napa Valley is 600-1200 feet above sea level – the source of St. Supéry’s most intense and concentrated red wines. ‘Dollarhide Elevation’ is a small lot wine that will be released on April 16 at the winery.

The winery tasting room is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Reservations are required for groups of eight or more guests, please call us toll free at (800) 231-9116.

We are pleased to congratulate Mr. Benjamin Vega-Trejo, part of our vineyard team at St. Supery, for winning first place at this year’s Napa  County  pruning contest. Benjamin has worked for St. Supery since October 2001. Aside from being a pruning expert, Benjamin helps with all facets of vineyard work at our Dollarhide and Rutherford estates. For winning the local contest, Benjamin takes home a beautiful belt buckle, along with a cash prize and new felco clippers, a new saw, and new corona loppers. 

This year marks the 10th Annual  Napa Valley Grape Growers  Napa County Pruning Contest. This popular annual event highlights the fine art, skill, and speed exhibited by those who work in Napa Valley’s vineyards. Contestants are judged on pruning technique and speed, with points being deducted for poor technique.  Contestants  must prune six vines.  The top eight contestants advance to  the final round, pruning five more vines with the same judging criteria. So yes, we’re proud of Benjamin…

Do you love great parties? Do you yearn for great wine? Do you live for making new recipes from top chefs with which to wow and impress your friends and family? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then St. Supéry’s wine club just might be for you. Sold already?

The first question is an easy one. I mean, who doesn’t love a great party? OK, there might be a few out there, but they certainly wouldn’t be reading a blog from a winery. You, my friend, are here, reading this right now because you either a) love wine parties or b) you are bored at work and found this page randomly. But it doesn’t matter. Well, it might matter if you get caught, but that’s not really the point. The point that I am laboring to make is that if you join our wine club, you can attend exclusive, member’s only events that include eating lobster with our Dollarhide Sauvignon Blanc, watching a baseball game from a luxury box, or yachting on the San Francisco bay while a private chef makes your lunch. Yes, I said yachting; bring your deck shoes, Mumsie!

I will admit that perhaps “yearn” was a bit too strong of a word to describe a wine lover’s desire for great wine. “Yearn” is better left to describe one’s struggles to find love or acceptance—or the end of reality TV shows. But I digress. Readers of St. Supéry’s blog already know what many still don’t, but probably want to; we make award-winning, estate-grown wines from Napa Valley with a laser-beam-esque focus on Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, etc.) and blends. If you join our wine club, we will send you two bottles of our stunning wines, 6 times a year, from a selection of pre-release, library or winery exclusive wines…and we will even do it at 20% off. Come on.

And finally it probably goes without saying that wine nerds like us are also food nerds, too, and love to wield our skills in the kitchen over our “culinarily” weaker brethren. Join us, and I say more power to you. Crush them all with your braising skills! When you join our wine club, we will do everything we can to aid and abet you in your search for cooking glory by not only providing recipes perfectly paired with our wines but by providing recipes created by some of Napa Valley’s top chefs. Ever heard of Cindy Pawlcyn? I will wait while you Google her. Done? Now you are impressed, right? Told you!

Many wineries offer wine clubs that to some degree offer the same things. But I would like to suggest, in no modest terms (mostly because I never learned any modest terms), that we do it better. I have been running our wine club now for over eight years and my commitment to making this the best wine club you can join is stronger than ever. From our events, to our wine and our recipes, we provide the perfect combination for your wining and dining needs. Just ask me! No seriously, feel free to email me for more information –  bryan@stsupery.com – I look forward to hearing from you.

Bryan Gray, Direct Sales and Marketing Manager, St. Supery

On November 11, 2010, there was a discussion online (mainly twitter) about favorite wines and recipes to share during this holiday season. St. Supery promised to pass along some of our favorite advice, so here are a few links to recipes and entertaining tips, as well as some general suggestions…some from others, some from our team here at St. Supery:

1) Proper table setting diagram (yes, including three wine glasses)

2) Cranberry Sauce with Cherries, Marsala and Rosemary: Bon Appétit, by Jeanne Thiel Kelley
2 cups dry Marsala
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1 12-ounce bag cranberries
12 ounces frozen dark sweet cherries (about 2 2/3 cups), halved
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Combine Marsala and dried cherries in deep saucepan. Boil until mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 8 minutes. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium, cover pan and simmer until cranberries burst and mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover; keep refrigerated.)

3) Cuban Black Bean Soup paired with St. Supery 2006 Merlot
The original recipe came from Jeff Smith, aka The Frugal Gourmet, circa 1984…modified by St. Supery wine club member and poet/author in San Francisco, Rain Graves.
1 gallon water (keep a large measuring cup handy for adding)
1 16oz bag dry black beans soaked in 2 quarts water overnight, and drained
1 lb bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried, crushed red pepper (this is where the heat comes from, so add less if you don’t want it too spicy)
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
2 yellow onions peeled and chopped (if they are large, just do 1 1/2)
1 tbsp Dijon or spicy brown mustard
1 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Add fresh water to the beans in a large stock pot. Simmer for 5 hours, checking the water level every hour, and adding water when it has reduced by 2 inches. Make sure you stir this frequently too, so the beans do not burn on the bottom of the pot. After the beans have simmered for 5 hours and you have replaced the water level again, add the remaining ingredients, and stir well. Let simmer for another 2 hours, stirring frequently, and taste to be sure you do not need to add any additional salt. Serves 10.

4) Butternut Squash and Cheddar Bread Pudding on epicurious.com by Molly Wizenberg, Bon Appetit 2009…We are told this is good stuff!

5) Chat online about Thanksgiving food and wines live with Napa Valley resident Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson on November 21st

6) Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with St. Supery Chardonnay is a nice first course on a cold day.

7) Slow Cooker Beef Shortribs with St. Supery Dollarhide Cabernet Sauvignon – big meal that cooks while you work, serve over mashed potatoes or roasted cauliflower. Recipe on food.com