swanson vineyards

Auberge du Soleil and Swanson Vineyards to Celebrate Their 25th Anniversary

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

Auberge du Soleil and Swanson Vineyards celebrate their 25th anniversaries with a joint event.

Two of Napa Valley's best, Auberge du Soleil and Swanson Vineyards, will celebrate their 25th anniversaries with an intimate, elegant and enormously memorable celebration they will host together in late October.

In honor of their shared anniversary, Swanson Vineyards' founders and proprietors, W. Clarke Swanson Jr. and Elizabeth Pipes Swanson, along with Auberge du Soleil's Executive Chef Robert Curry, will welcome wine-and-food aficionados for an exclusive opportunity to join them at a luxurious reception and five-course feast at Auberge du Soleil on October 30 beginning at 6:30 pm.

Gallery: Auberge du Soleil

Tags: Auberge du Soleil, awards-main, events, luxist-awards, Swanson Vineyards, wine

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Swanson Vineyards Launches New Website

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

One of our favorite wineries, Swanson Vineyards has launched a new website that presents Swanson as more of a lifestyle than just a winery. The brand already sold Swanson-branded caviar and the delectable Alexis bonbons (a delicious curry and cabernet sauvignon chocolate confection) but now the site includes more gifts. "We're presenting a new and lively face for our wines with our new website," explains proprietor W. Clarke Swanson. "This fresh approach with our website characterizes Swanson as a winery with elegant lifestyle choices, which is expressed by the detail and personality of our new site," he added.

Orchestrated by the winery's Creative Director, Alexis Swanson Traina, the Swanson Vineyards' new site communicates the Swanson wine experience through illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme's fanciful renderings. The website will offer new material each month and includes Alexis' Napa, a blog written by Alexis Swanson Traina, full of tips and her personal point of view on life in Napa. Her blog will also include profiles of San Francisco Bay Area personalities in a section called Peeps & Players: currently featured are Katrina Markoff, Ira Yeager, Trevor Traina, Andy Spade, Thomas Britt, Jean-Philippe Delhomme, Torryne Choate and Sam Godfrey.

Swanson Vineyards is also opening the Sip Shoppe this summer at the Rutherford, California vineyard. Billed as a candy store for adults the shop offers sips of Swanson Vineyards' finest library vintages paired with small bites as well as gifts and wines available by the case of the bottle. Tastings include caviar, chocolates, pates de fruits (jellies) and sorbets, in mini pairings such as Swanson Vineyards Pinot Grigio served with a large dollop of Swanson Vineyards' domestic caviar on a potato chip. The signature tasting is the Salonnière, featuring "Alexis" Cabernet Sauvignon paired with Alexis Bonbon and served with the highly delicate dessert wine Angelica. The shoppe sells playful kits including the Newlywed Kit: six bottles of Swanson Vineyards' special occasion wine "Just Married," accompanied by an ostrich feather duster and a sage bundle (complete with instructions to clear out bad energy and create wedded bliss). Coming shortly, The Break Up Kit, The Stork Kit and the Please Forgive Me Kit. Swanson Vineyards' partners include retail genius Andy Spade; renowned illustrator Jean-Philippe Delhomme; interior designer Thomas Britt; illustrious chocolatier Katrina Markoff of Vosges Haut Chocolate; Singer Vanessa Carlton and her exclusive stationery line (unique to Swanson Vineyards); avant-garde florist Torryne Choate; and renowned California painter, Ira Yeager. The shop opens July 15, hours are Thursday – Sunday 11:00am – 5:00pm.

Tags: alexis swanson, alexis traina, napa valley, swanson vineyards, swanson wine

Crepuscule, A Wine To Drink In The Magic Hour

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for five-dollar words and crepuscule has to be one of my favorites. It is a French word referring to the magical hour of twilight. It's also the name for a magical dessert wine. The 2006 Crepuscule Late Harvest Semillon, $90 (375 ml) is a wine from Swanson Vineyards in Rutherford, California. Swanson has made this wine eight times over the past 22 years, needing exactly the right conditions for 'noble rot.' The wine includes some Sauvignon Blanc and is fermented in new French oak with native yeast.

Swanson has made my bottles to bring lists before, their dessert wines are some of the best produced in California and with names like Arsene, Minuit, Tardif and Luminous they are great conversation starters. The 2006 Arsene Fortified Petite Sirah which sells for $75 is a port-style desert wine that would pair terrifically with dark chocolate truffles. The 2004 Minuit Black Muscat, $65 (375 ml) is made entirely of black muscat grapes, vinified in a process developed by Spanish missionaries two hundred years ago, adding brandy to the just harvested juice. The wine's name, the French word for midnight, seems to suggest the ideal drinking time. The 2005 Tardif Late Harvest Chardonnay, $80 (375 ml), is golden wine with a honey nectar flavor, it would be all sorts of wonderful served with a creamy cheesecake. The 2006 Luminous Gewurztraminer Ice Wine, $85 (375 ml) has the classic piercing sweetness of ice wine and expresses the lychee and honeysuckle character of the grape.

For chocolate lovers, the Alexis bonbon, a collaboration between Alexis Swanson Traina and Katrina Markoff of Vosges Haut Chocolate is a must-try. It has a cocoa and cabernet sauvignon center, is dipped in Belgian chocolate and dusted with a delicate curry powder.

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Tags: crepuscule, dessert wines, DessertWines, swanson vineyards, SwansonVineyards

Alexis Wine and Vosges Chocolates, Heaven in a Box

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Wine

There's nothing like receiving a surprise box of chocolates. Even better when that box of chocolates is from Vosges and much, much better when that box of chocolates comes with a bottle of red wine. I'm traditionally a chocolate and Port girl but this combo works equally well, especially since it is a match made in flavor-pairing heaven. The set includes a bottle of 2003 Alexis Estate Red which is a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon mixed with a bit of Syrah. The Vosges chocolates are made to match the wine, the creamy ganache is blended with the Alexis Cabernet Sauvignon and then draped in dark chocolate and kissed with a dusting of curry powder. On the tongue, the dark chocolate and Cabernet Sauvigon form their usual happy marriage of strong flavors but the whisper of curry picks ups the spicier nuances of the Syrah.

How did such a delicious pairing come to be? Alexis Swanson the lovely namesake of the Alexis wine met the equally ravishing Katrina Markoff, who would go on to create Vosges, in Paris years ago. A friendship of palates developed over time and eventually the two decided to collaborate. It took nine months of testing to create the perfect truffle to match with the Alexis Estate Red.

The gift set sells for $110 and comes in a well-protected rosy pink box making it an unabashedly romantic gift for sharing . Those who want the complete Swanson experience can visit the Swanson Salon in Rutherford, California where intimate tastings are done by appointment in a charmingly elegant setting.

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Tags: alexis swanson, AlexisSwanson, katrina markoff, swanson vineyards, vosges