Jordan Vineyard & Winery occupies a rambling French-style “chateau” in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley. Since its founding in 1972, the operation has been almost as much about food and hospitality as it has been about its French-inspired wines. Each tasting experience at Jordan involves wine and food pairings, and the estate even has its own executive chef.
Continue reading “Successful test run for Jordan Winery’s new caviar & wine tasting”
Central Florida’s wine scene is taking a break next week for Thanksgiving, but there are a couple of fun events this weekend if you feel like a few glasses before the family descends on you for the big day.
Tonight, K Restaurant hosts its monthly “Wine Flight Fridays.” This month’s theme is French wines.
Tomorrow, The Wine Barn celebrates its tenth anniversary with a huge holiday tasting and sale.
Get details on these events, and see what’s coming up after the holiday, on the Events Page!
“If you didn’t know,” Patsy McGaughy with Napa Valley Vintners told a group of wine writers last week, “you wouldn’t know.”
She was addressing the tenth annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, a place many called ground zero for last month’s wildfires.
“The valley floor is just as beautiful as ever.”
She’s right.
This coming Thursday is Beaujolais Nouveau Day – the first day the new vintage of light fruity red wine from the Beaujolais region can be released, according to French law.
This young, easy drinking wine made from the gamay grape has enjoyed immense popularity in the U.S.. That would be fine, except that it’s done to the reputation of Beaujolais what white zinfandel did to dry rosé. When people think of Beaujolais, they think of a simple wine to be gulped at holiday parties but not to be taken seriously.
What many people don’t realize is that there are high-quality producers making serious – and seriously good – Beaujolais in ten distinct Cru villages in the region. This is wine that’s meant to be savored and appreciated – and aged more than a few months.
Tim Varan of Central Florida’s Tim’s Wine Market chain says comparing Beaujolais Nouveau to cru Beaujolais is “as fair a comparison as Iberico jamon is to deli ham.”
Cru Beaujolais happens to be one of my favorite types of wine, and it’s been making a resurgence in recent years. It will be an uphill climb, just as it was when dry rosé began its comeback as a respected wine category.
But I think it’s a good sign that no fewer than three Orlando-area wine establishments are using Beaujolais Nouveau Day as an opportunity to showcase serious Beaujolais. Details are on the Events Calendar for November 16.
If you’ve never tried cru Beaujolais, do yourself a favor and swing by Swirlery or Tim’s in Orlando or Lake Mary Thursday. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Next week’s wine calendar is overflowing with dinners, tastings, and classes all over Central Florida.
Kick things off with a bang on Monday in Mount Dora, with a four-course pairing dinner at 1921 by Norman Van Aken, featuring Jean-Nicolas Meo of Burgundy’s Domaine Meo-Camuzet and Jay Boberg of Willamette’s Domaine Nicolas-Jay.
On Thursday, delve into the world of port when Master of Wine Jean K. Reilly leads a class and tasting at Swirlery in Orlando.
Saturday, head to Deland for a mid-day class at Cress focusing on sparkling wines and light reds for the holidays.
Those are just a few highlights from next week’s offerings. Many more new events have been added to the calendar stretching all the way into December, so remember to plan ahead for stress-free sipping!
The chill in the air and the crowded calendar of Orlando wine events can mean only one thing – it’s finally fall in Central Florida!
Highlights for next week include:
Dining to Heal, a four-course wine paired dinner at DoveCote to benefit sexual violence prevention and treatment;
The Many Faces of Pinot Noir with American Seafood at Cress in DeLand, where the seafood is always sustainable and the wine, I’m told, will include the highly allocated Sea Smoke Southing (as of 9:30 this morning, there were eight tickets left);
Billy vs The Volcano at Swirlery, a class & tasting of wines from grapes grown on volcanic soil in places like Mt. Etna and Santorini, led by guest somm Billy Hendricksen;
Wines for Thanksgiving, a free tasting at Tim’s Wine Market in Lake Mary-Sanford, because it’s never too early to start planning for the biggest food holiday of the year!
All the details are on the Events Page, and be sure to look ahead on the calendar – the next few weeks are chock full of events, some of which will most definitely sell out early.
Happy sipping and celebrating!
It seems Orlando’s wine establishments are using the coming week as an opportunity to take a big, deep breath … before the holiday drinking season takes off with a vengeance.
Tim’s Wine Market in Lake Mary-Sanford should get ready for a crowd at Tuesday’s tasting with Lindsey Hoopes of Napa’s Hoopes Winery … because it’s the ONLY thing on the wine Events Calendar next week!
After that, though, it’s off to the races with Halloween, the start of November, and the beginning of the annual holiday wine-ing marathon!
Highlights for the week of October 29 include:
A cavalcade of events follows throughout the holiday season, and they will fill up fast! Check the Events Page early and often so you can fully enjoy the festivities.
Cheers!
It’s a busy week on Orlando’s wine calendar, and as always, I’m excited to highlight a few upcoming events for you.
But first, I feel the need to acknowledge the sadness wine lovers everywhere are feeling about the devastation in Napa and Sonoma. Many former leading lights in Orlando’s wine scene now call that area home. Our thoughts are with them and with the winemakers and other industry professionals we’ve come to know and love.
If you’re inclined to support relief efforts, several friends in the area have recommended the Napa Valley Community Foundation as a good steward of donated funds.
Moving on … as you’ll see from the Events Page, several of this week’s events are already sold out. Orlando oenophiles are serious about planning! So remember to look ahead on the Events Page and make your reservations early.
That said, if you’re a procrastinator or a last minute kind of wine lover, never fear. There’s still plenty to do next week.
Swirlery is hosting a tasting of wines from the Spanish regions of Ribera del Duero and Rueda on Thursday. (It didn’t fit into my alliterative headline, but it should still be fun!)
The Tasty Trio’s hurricane-disrupted Wine, Cheese, & Chocolate class is rescheduled for next Friday at East End Market. There’s a happy hour beforehand to support efforts to relocate Puerto Rican families displaced by Hurricane Maria.
And next Saturday, it’s part two in WineStyles Baldwin Park’s four-part series of informal but educational tastings of Chilean wines.
Cheers!
Orlando has been buzzing about New York’s Finger Lakes wine country lately.
Central Florida Women for Winesense sent a hefty delegation there in July for the national organization’s “Grand Event”; fellow Central Florida blogger Melissa Radley-McConnell of Time to Unwine-d visited the area this summer too.
So when I ended up there last week, I felt a little late to the party. But it was definitely better late than never – especially since I was there during harvest!
Whirlwind Tour
I had just one day to hit the highlights of this beautiful and prolific wine region, so I chose four wineries to visit: Dr. Konstantin Frank, Ravines, Hermann J. Wiemer, and Standing Stone.
My itinerary spanned two lakes, with stunning vistas and early fall colors around every turn, and a wide array of grape varietals and winemaking styles.
The Finger Lakes have won national and international acclaim for rieslings, and the varietal remains the regional specialty. But the area has diversified into many other varietals too; and while I’m a huge riesling fan – I even hosted a riesling tasting at my house recently – I was even more captivated by some of those other grapes.
Continue reading “Finger Lakes Wine: Much More Than Riesling”
It’s always fun and educational to meet the “Man (or Woman) Behind the Curtain” of your favorite wine. You’ll have three opportunities to do so in Central Florida next week.
On Tuesday, Tim’s Wine Market in Windermere hosts Bruce Neyers, owner of Neyers Vineyards in Napa, for a free tasting of his wines. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce and his wife Barbara a couple of years ago – I was charmed by both of them and by their wines.
If you perused the Events Page early and often enough, you might’ve snagged tickets to The Wine Room‘s sold-out Grgich Hills tasting on Thursday with winery manager (and founder Mike Grgich’s daughter) Violet Grgich.
Also on Thursday, you can visit with Orlando’s own chef-winemaker Jamie McFadden of Snowbirds Vintners Thursday when he hosts one of Swirlery Wine Bar’s Somm Sessions. Jamie is also the owner of Cuisiniers Catering and an all-around good guy. I wrote about his fun and juicy rosé earlier this summer.
One more thing – if you can’t make it to Norman’s 14th Anniversary on Saturday, there’s another anniversary dinner on the horizon. The Ravenous Pig turns 10 this year, and they’re celebrating next Sunday (Oct. 8) with a five-course dinner prepared by an all-star cast of area chefs, with wine pairings by Master Somm George Miliotes.
Take a look at the Events Page for details on these and many other Orlando-area wine events. (Pro Tip: Check back often, and look beyond the current week – many of these events sell out quickly.)
Happy sipping (and noshing), Orlando!
Orlando Wine Blog 