winery

Nicholas Carriger Estate and Winery, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

Back in 1847 when California was a golden, unshaped dream, Nicholas Carriger purchased over 1,000 acres of land from General Vallejo. Carriger used his land for farmland, raising cattle and planting orchards and vineyards. Now the heart of the land that was originally purchased by Carriger with gold dust mined during the California Gold Rush is back up for sale. Today the main home sits on 16 acres. The home was restored a few years back and has three master suites, a country kitchen, formal dining room and a pool. The property also includes a smaller home originally built for Carriger's daughter, horse barns and a 10,000 sq. ft. winery building that was completely restored in 2001. It's currently home to law offices and is rented out for special events but the winery is permitted for 5,000 case production and a tasting room and is waiting for the right owner with a sense of history and a taste for adventure. It is listed at $5.9 million.

Gallery: Nicholas Carriger Estate and Winery

Tags: california real estate, estate of the day, sonoma real estate, winery

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Small Virginia Winery Goes Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

A Virginia winery has come up for sale. The Winery at La Grange is located in Haymarket, Virginia and is a total of 20 acres. Six and a half acres are planted with vines including a 4.5 acre cabernet sauvignon vineyard. The winery currently produces 7,000 cases of wine annually with the capacity to produce 10,000 cases. Wines for sale include a Cabernet Franc 2008 for $22. It is the only winery in Price William County.

In 2005 a group of investors acquired the historic La Grange farm with the goal of operating a destination winery. The property now includes the vineyard, the restored circa 1790 manor house as well as a production winery that is open to the public. The winery is being sold with all equipment and the listing states that transition assistance is available if desired. It is listed at $7 million.

Gallery: The Winery at La Grange

Tags: wine, winery, winery at la grange, winery for sale

Frazier Winery For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Real Estate Developments

Sotheby's International Realty and Pacific Union International have listed Frazier Winery in Napa Valley, California for sale. The 46 acre property at 40 Rapp Lane is located immediately adjacent to the Napa Valley Country Club golf course in the Eastern Napa hills. The property includes 9800 square feet of completed wine caves set into the hillside. The land currently has 11 producing acres that are planted with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot plants and Napa County has approved the planting of approximately 23 additional acres. The Napa County use permit includes approval for tours, tastings and retail sales. The property includes a functioning winery building and all equipment. The price is $11.9 million and the owner's adjacent property of approximately 15 acres is also available for sale. The property is exclusively listed for sale by winery and vineyard brokers Peggy Wilkinson of Sotheby's International Realty and Robyn Bentley of Pacific Union International. The Napa Valley Register reported earlier this month that Frazier Winery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.

Gallery: Frazier Winery

Tags: frazier winery, vineyard, vineyard for sale, vineyards, wine real estate, winery, winery for sale

St. Francis Winery & Vineyards: CEO Chris Silva Talks to Luxist About Wine

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Chris Silva, CEO and president of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma

Luxist sat down with Christopher W. "Chris" Silva, president of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards to discuss the wine industry and what his Sonoma, Ca.-based winery is doing to beat the competition. St. Francis was a Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice finalist for Best Domestic Red Wine in June. (See Daily Finance's CEO Spotlight interview with Silva).

Luxist: What sets St. Francis apart from its peers?

Silva: Our commitment is to quality and to Sonoma. 100% of our grapes are hand-picked in Sonoma County, a place that we have always seen as one of farmers who make wine. We believe that we can grow and make wines here unlike anywhere else, and that our minimum intervention, maximum extraction approach to winemaking results in the kind of rich, complex, handcrafted wines that could only happen in Sonoma.

Luxist: Can you discuss how St. Francis only uses and buys hand-picked grapes from Sonoma growers? Why so?

Silva: I am a fifth generation native of Sonoma County. We see ourselves as farmers who make wine, and I think we have captured our passion for farming in each of our wines. Though most of our grapes come from our own estate vineyards, we revised our contracts for all purchased grapes to ensure that rigorous viticulture quality measures are adhered to, all at the Winery's direction, in every vineyard from which we buy grapes. For example, "when to pick" the grapes is now the Winemaker's decision and is no longer based exclusively upon degrees Brix (sugar levels), but instead upon several factors, including degrees Brix, but also including grape color, texture, flavor, aroma and sweetness, as well as the grapes being free from any kind of MOG (material other than grape).

Gallery: St. Francis Winery & Vineyards

The dining room at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards

Tags: awards-main, luxist-awards, Sonoma, sonoma county, St. Francis Winery Vineyards, wine, winery

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Francis Ford Coppola Opens New Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Director Francis Ford Coppola is a man who loves his food and wine and he'll be combining both at Rustic, a new restaurant inside the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California. The full title of the restaurant is Rustic Francis' Favorites which gives a clue to the fact that the menu is geared toward the tastes of the great man himself. The restaurant will serve Italian favorites including Neapolitan style pizzas as well as meat cooked on an Argentine-style parilla and a Brazilian-style Tomasi rotisserie. Seasonal produce will be sourced from the on-site vegetable and herb garden. Eater SF recently had a photo tour of the total facility which includes two tasting rooms, a cocktail bar, retail area and plenty of movie memorabilia including as Don Corleone's desk from The Godfather.

Inside Scoop chatted with Coppola about his new creation and the vision behind it. He wanted to put the focus on rustic country cuisine serving hearty fare using fresh ingredients. Starting this fall the restaurant will have 'a tavola' service on Sundays. Instead of order ing from a menu, guests will be served a variety of dishes that the chef prepares and sends out, a nod to old-fashioned family Sunday suppers.

Tags: celebrity restaurant, celebrity restaurants, celebrity restaurateur, francis ford coppola, geyserville, winery

Joseph Phelps Vineyards: Using Sustainable Vineyard Practices to Produce Luxury Blends

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Joseph Phelps Winery nominated for best domestic red wine

Joseph Phelps Vineyards, an independent, estate-based winery located outside of St. Helena, Ca., is a nominee for best domestic red wine.

Thirty-eight years ago, Joseph Phelps, established the business and built the winery which bears his name. Phelps pioneered a number of "firsts" in the early years of the winery. The 1974 Insignia, which was released in spring 1978, was the first Bordeaux-style blend produced in California under a proprietary label. The release of the 1974 Syrah in 1977 sparked industry-wide interest in a remarkable French varietal whose plantings in California had disappeared and been virtually forgotten for over half a century. In 1990, after years of research, a new line of Rhone-style wines was introduced, which today includes Syrah, Viognier and a Chateauneuf-du-Pape style blend called Le Mistral.

The winery's estate-owned vineyards are found in the premiere growing regions of Stag's Leap, Rutherford, Oakville, Oak Knoll and the eastern foothills of Napa. Joseph Phelps also owns 80 acres of Pinot Noir and 20 acres of Chardonnay planted in Freestone. Additional varietals produced annually at Phelps include Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Backus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, several Rhone-style wines and a dessert wine made from Scheurebe. Its Insignia wines are one of California's most successful first growth luxury blends.

Gallery: Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Tags: awards-main, Joseph Phelps, Joseph Phelps Vineyards, luxist-awards, St. Helena, winery, wines

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Chateau Lafite Rothschild: A Wine that Needs No Introduction

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is nominated for Best International Red Wine.
With a history dating back centuries and a claim to the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, Chateau Lafite Rothschild is a fitting nominee for a Luxist award in the best international red wine category.

In 1787, scarcely ten years after some ambitious colonists declared a new country across the Atlantic, a small French winery called Chateau Lafite produced a very special bottle. Little did the resident oenologist know that nearly 200 years later, the bottle would sell for 105,000 pounds – roughly $160,000 – setting the mark for price that has stood since 1985.

When Baron James de Rothschild, a patriarch of the famous European banking family, purchased Chateau Lafite in 1868, it was perhaps a sign of a good investment recognized. But the Baron never saw his purchase bear fruit – he passed away just three months later, leaving the renamed Chateau Lafite-Rothschild estate to his three sons.

Gallery: Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Over a century later, Chateau Lafite Rothschild remains one of the world's most esteemed wine estates, producing some 35,000 cases per year. Much like the record-setting bottle from 1787, even the most recent vintages continue to rapidly appreciate in value – the 2008 Lafite Rothschild was valued at 1,500 pounds upon its release, but bottle prices more than doubled within two weeks. Baron James would be proud.

Vote for the winemaker that you think is the best of breed. The voting period ends on June 30th, with winners announced on July 1, 2010.

Tags: awards-main, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, luxist-awards, wine, winery

Chateau Pichon-Longueville: Over a Century of Illustrious Winemaking

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Only fifteen estates are listed among the Deuxiemes Crus of the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, and Chateau Pichon-Longueville is one of the lucky few. With a product that has stood the test of time, it's an obvious nominee for a Luxist award in the best international red wine category.

The area now known as the Pichon estate was once the site of an unassuming farm called La Baderne, located between the villages of Saint-Julien and Pauillac. In the 17^th Century, Baron Jacques de Pichon, the Baron of Longueville, established the vineyards; in 1851, Raoul de Pichon-Longueville built the chateau that still graces the property.

Gallery: Chateau Pichon-Longueville

The improvements came just before Pichon-Longueville earned a spot on what would become one of the world's most prestigious and steadfast wine lists. Despite numerous attempts to invent a new system, the Official Classification of 1855 remains the gold standard for Bordeaux wine, and with it, Pichon-Longueville's place in history.

llustrious winemaking, the estate was purchased by the French insurance company AXA in 1987. Today, Pichon-Longueville remains celebrated for its strong, tannin-packed wines, which are also known for their aging potential. One of the estate's latest vintages is a 2008 blend of 71% cabernet and 29% merlot, muscular and fruity with scents of blackberry. No doubt the estate's original farmers would have enjoyed it. 　

Vote for the winemaker that you think is the best of breed. The voting period ends on June 30th, with winners announced on July 1, 2010.

Tags: awards-main, Chateau Pichon-Longueville, France, Luxist-Awards, red wine, wine, winery

EOS Winery In Receivership

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

One of the largest wineries in the Paso Robles area of California, EOS Estate Winery has been placed in receivership. The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports that one of the winery's lenders, Farm Credit West, is acting as the court-ordered receiver and has been put in charge of the books. Business continues as usual at the winery which puts out over 200,000 cases of wine a year.

Saint James EOS Winery bought the company from Sapphire Wines, a Tennessee-based firm owned and controlled by Jeffrey Hopmayer and Saint James chief executive officer Kerry Vix says that the winery is in trouble because of extensive borrowing by the previous owner. Hopmayer meanwhile says that Saint James failed to obtain the necessary funding to keep the winery afloat because of the flabby economy.

EOS Estate Winery sells a large range of wines including whites, reds and desert wines. Most wines are in the $12-$40 range. It was founded by the Arciero family in 1985 but sold to Sapphire Wines in 2007. EOS owes an estimated $16.5 million to lenders, including a $7.5 million loan from Farm Credit West and $8 million owed to Entertainment Properties Trust. The winery also owes $2 million to $3 million to growers and $1.2 million in rent not paid since August 2009. As much as $1 million may be missing from the winery's books and a hunt is on find the missing finds. There is also talk of a potential buyer who might come in and takeover the winery. Another hearing on the case is scheduled for next week.

Tags: eos estate winery, eos winery, paso robles, receivership, winery

Washington Winery Gets Into The Beef Business

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Wine, Green

The owners of the acclaimed Leonetti Cellar winery in Washington have announced plans to get into the cattle business. Although wine and beef may sound like completely opposite pursuits Chris Figgins, CEO and winemaker for Leonetti Cellar, says "The whole idea is contrary to modern beef production. We're taking the estate winery model and applying it to beef."

Figgins purchased a ranch in the Wallowa Valley with his father four years ago in order to raise Scottish Highland Cattle, which have longer hair and tend to be leaner than other breeds. The cattle are grass fed on certified organic fields without the use of hormones and will be harvested humanely. In another connection to the wine business, Figgins plans to feed the cattle pomace, which is the skin, pulp and other solid remains left after wine grapes are crushed. The meat will be available via mailing list beginning this fall through the Lostine Cattle Company website.

Tags: beef, grass fed beef, leonetti cellar, lostline cattle company, organic, washington, wine, winery

Cornell Teaches Cool Climate Winemaking

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

If you want to get a top flight enology education, UC Davis is no longer your only choice. Cornell University has had a grape-breeding program since the late 1800s but as Wine Spectator reports, Cornell didn't create a full undergraduate enology and viticulture curriculum until the last few years. Dr. Susan Henry, the dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences who joined the school in 2000, and her husband are interested in wine and shortly after her move to the school she met several of the area's winemakers. Dr. Henry saw that there was a chance to develop a program that dealt with cooler climate enology and viticulture and could work with the growing New York wine culture.

Cornell University has opened a teaching winery near the campus and there is also a seven-acre teaching vineyard on the eastern side of Cayuga Lake. Students can also opt for internships in the region. The four-year degree program offers a small group of undergraduates a complete wine education with Ivy League cachet.

For those interested in testing out what Cornell has to offer in a less permanent way the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions offers Cornell University Viticulture and Enology Experience (CUVEE), a program on the science of grape growing and wine making that will run July 19-23, 2010. The program will include College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Viticulture and Enology Program faculty members with winery owners, vineyard managers, grape growers, winemakers, and others. Students will study viticulture and the importance of microbiology in winemaking as well as hands-on practice working vines and making wine.

Tags: Cornell University, CornellUniversity, enology, new york wine, new york wineries, NewYorkWine, NewYorkWineries, viticulture, wine, winery

New Program To Certify California's Green Wines

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Green

California's wineries have been on the green trail for a while but now they have a new official certification program. Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing is a certification program that provides third-party verification of a winery or vineyard's commitment to a "process of continuous improvement" in the adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices.

While wines are certified organic, the other aspects of green (solar power, water conversation etc.) have largely been a question of wineries opting to police themselves. Wineries could declare themselves to be green minded but for consumers it was mostly a matter of trust.

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance which had handled self-assessments, is behind the new initiative. The comprehensive self-test quiz looks at 227 winery practices and provides a good starting point for wineries taking a closer look at steps toward sustainability.

What is particularly interesting about the new certification is that, at least for now, it's not being pushed to consumers. In a comprehensive article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Chris Savage, director of environmental affairs for E&J Gallo Winery, says that the program isn't "about putting a label on the bottle yet."

Auditors haven't been chosen yet but once they are in place they will perform on-site visits at wineries and follow up with online audits. Major winemakers including Gallo, Diageo and Constellation have signed up. Some critics say the current standards are too modest and too vague but the planners say that the certifications will evolve over time. It's at least a good place to start.

Tags: california wine, california winemaking, CaliforniaWine, CaliforniaWinemaking, green, sustainable, wine, wineries, winery

Kendall-Jackson Offers Customized Wine Service

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

For the wine lover who has everything popular California winery Kendall-Jackson has a new service that is a step above their usual offerings. For $30,000 Kendall-Jackson winemaster Randy Ullom will spend three days with a wine lover, doing extensive wine tastings with them, learning their preferences and creating an ideal customized blend based on their tastes and personality. The purchaser will later receive a case of 12 bottles of the wine with a personalized label. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to charity. Those interested in the program should email for more information at customWine@kjmail.com.

Tags: customized wine, CustomizedWine, kendall-jackson, wine, winery

Constellation Brands Donates New York Winery To School

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine, Big Givers

Constellation Brands is making a big gift of one of their wineries. The Widmer winery in upstate New York will be donated to the Rochester Institute of Technology to round out their programs in culinary arts, viticulture and sustainable farming. Constellation announced that it will close Widmer Winery in 2011, moving the production of Manischewitz, Widmer, Paul Masson and Taylor wines to its Canandaigua Winery. Many of Widmer's 55 employees will be given jobs at Canandaigua.

Widmer has a long history. John Jacob Widmer bought his first New York farmland in 1882 and the Widmer wine business started in 1888 back when orders were filled only in kegs and barrels. During the years of Prohibition, Widmer's Wine Cellars produced unfermented grape juice, fruit and wine jellies, syrups as well as a limited amount of wine for sacramental and medicinal use. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Widmer went back into the wine business. Over the years the Widmer business grew to 860 acres of land on which there are 220 vine acres with 640 vines to the acre.

Source

Tags: constellation brands, ConstellationBrands, new york, NewYork, widmer wines, WidmerWines, winery

Winemaker Drops Plans For Presidio Winery

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wine

Another project planned for San Francisco's Presidio has been scrapped. Last month Gap founder Donald Fisher decided not to go forward with his art museum and this month Foggy Bridge Winery has decided not to proceed with building a working winery in a former airplane hangar near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Neighbors had expressed concerns over having a winemaking facility, tasting room and restaurant in Crissy Field, a popular recreational area. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat says that the winery dropped its plans a few weeks ago. The Presidio Trust is hoping that the facility will be used for something more educational and family friendly like a flight museum. Foggy Bridge has not given up the dream of having a winery in San Francisco. The wine brand already features a stylized version of the Golden Gate Bridge on the label.

Source

Tags: foggy bridge, FoggyBridge, presidio, san francisco, SanFrancisco, winery

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