Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I have a feeling that 95% of our wine club has some version of a story that involves way, way too much snow during their holidays. Mine includes two flats tires on a new (to me) car...
With all of that behind us now, I am really looking forward to 2009. We've been busy planning for the year, and have many things already in the works. I'm looking forward to a St. Fidelis party on Red Mountain in April, and big bash in Seattle in August, and some great wine club shipments in between. In the meantime, I'm focusing on the best part of Fidelitas - the wine.
For those of you who have already gotten into your December club shipment and loved the eight Syrah, remember that this is our final vintage of Syrah so you may want to stash a few away in your cellar for a later date. We're completely sold out of the eight red wine, which shows that it pays to act fast.
Did anyone have an outstanding food and wine pairing during the holidays? I brought a bottle of the 06 Malbec to one dinner that featured both pepper-crusted salmon and flank steak, along with a multitude of veggie side dishes. A menu this varied can always be a bit scary for wine pairing, especially with a red wine, but the Malbec did great! Being fruit forward with balanced acids meant that it could go with those sides without overpowering, was strong enough for the steak, and soft enough for the salmon. I was very impressed!
I wish everyone a wonderful 2009 full of good friends and family, and of course, great wine!

Putting your concierge to work

As most of you know, my position with Fidelitas doesn't just consists of helping members with shipments and orders. I get to serve as the concierge for our members and am available for trip planning assistance, gift giving services, party planning and much more. Recently, members have contacted me for a number of these services.

One OPTU member from Western Washington took advantage of the trip assistance feature. Working together, we found wonderful accomodations, restaurants and wineries for him to visit while travelling through Walla Walla, the Tri Cities and Red Mountain.

Some Faithful, Loyal, True members recently contacted me about helping them with some gifts for an annual dinner party that they put on. We created baskets of "comfort food" with Optu wines, individual cookbooks and cookie and brownie mixes.

Just yesterday, a few members contacted me about a red wine party they had coming up and asked for a few of my favorite appetizer recipes that pair well with red wine. Drawing on my sommelier training, along with years of hosting food and wine pairing parties, I think we found a few good ones that will please both the hosts and the guests.

I love the opportunity to work with our members in planning these fun trips, gifts and parties, and look forward to doing it some more! I just finished "Host a Tasting" kit with step-by-step instructions on how to host your own tasting party with your friends, that is available to members of the Fidelitas Wine Club. I can't wait for someone to try it out!

Isn't this incredible? Looking west from the tasting room at sunset, just last week.

Shipment time!

Today is batching day at the tasting room, which means that this is the day that we get every shipment ready to go out the door, whether they are being shipped or picked up. Here are a few big bits of news regarding our current wines:

• Your shipment consists of the 2006 eight syrah and the 2005 eight red wine. These are two fabulous wines that are each special in their own way. The 2006 syrah will be our final vintage of syrah at Fidelitas. That means all of our syrah fans (and I know there are a lot of you!) better stock up now because there won't be any to come in the future. The eight red wine is a phenomenal red blend that is dominated by cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and finished with cabernet franc and malbec. We have so few of these that we are only able to provide members with an additional 2 bottles for reorders. Trust me...it's worth it.
• We just released the 2006 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a 100% cab that is 100% from Red Mountain. It's great now, but I'm already licking my lips thinking of what it will be in a few years.
• And here's the big news...we are almost out of the 2005 Champoux Cabernet! If you've been waiting to order more, wait no more. We have about 14 cases left, that seem to disappear every time I turn around.

The tasting room on Red Mountain will be open until 7pm tonight. If you're in the area, please stop by, taste the wines and say hello!

Ciel du Cheval Release

As I'm sure that most of you have heard by now, we are hosting the owner of Ciel du Cheval vineyard, Jim Holmes, at the Red Mountain tasting room on November 29th from 1pm - 3pm. This is such a wonderful opportunity to meet someone who has been an integral part not only in establishing Red Mountain and the now present AVA, but also the entire Washington wine industry. He has been a pivotal figure in the industry over the past thrity-odd years, and the quality of his grapes certainly shows it! Joining him will be the vineyard manager, Ryan Johnson, who is quite talented as well.
I will be at the tasting room for the weekend assisting with Thanksgiving in Wine Country, and then staying through the week for our December club shipment. We are staying open until 7pm on Thursday, December 4th in hopes to provide more of our members a time to stop by, taste the wines and pick up their shipment. I am really looking forward to seeing so many of our members!
Don't forget - we are offering free shipping for just one more week!

20Something

Well, I went into the 20Something event knowing that it would be an exciting night, and I definitely wasn’t let down. With over 70 wineries and close to 20 restaurants, there was plenty of wine and food to go around. The Washington Wine Commission did a great job promoting this event and had nearly 1000 people attend. I got to see a few friends from other wineries and even spotted Tom Douglas in the crowd. I did see a few wine club members there, one of which is also a Washington Wine Ambassador and did a great job helping all of the wineries load in at the beginning of the night.

I'm including a few pictures from the event that were posted on flickr, just so you can believe me when I talk about the size of the crowd!

looking out over the crowd

the wine bottle display in the middle of the room (I think these are all empty...)

taking a break in the back with a few other winery folks (I'm third from the left) including people from DeLille, Flying Trout and the new Hollywood Hills winery

Upcoming Events

In the excitement of free shipping last week, I forgot to mention a couple of upcoming events. This weekend, Fidelitas can be found on the road. Jessica G. will be at the Northwest Food and Wine Festival in Portland, which features over 600 wines and 50 restaurants. I will be pouring our wine at the Washington Wine Commission’s 20Something event in Seattle. I believe that there are still tickets available for both. If you live near Seattle or Portland and are able attend, please stop by and say hi to us!
I also wanted to mention that the tasting room is planning to stay open for extended hours on Thursday, December 4th. If you live close or will be in town, definitely plan to drop in, taste the new wines, and pick up your shipment a few days early. It will just be a fun, casual evening. I’ll be there that week making sure that the December shipment gets out the door, and would love to see a few of our members.
Below are a few pictures from production this fall that Jessica G. shared with me. Enjoy!

What a great idea

As I’m sure most of you have seen from the November newsletter that just came out, we are offering FREE SHIPPING from now until Thanksgiving. In my mind, this couldn’t have come at a better time. First, we have Thanksgiving looming in the near future, which always calls for great wines on the table. The 2007 Optu white would be a knock out with the wide variety of dishes that can appear on a Thanksgiving dinner table, while the 2005 Columbia Valley merlot is a bright, food friendly red wine. Then, just four days after Thanksgiving is December 1st, which means the start of a whirlwind of gatherings and gifts. A very smart friend of mine (who also happens to be a Fidelitas wine club member) always keeps a case of her favorite wine on hand during December. That way, when she’s running out the door to a holiday party, she’s able to grab a bottle from the case, tie a ribbon around it and have the perfect hostess gift without a last minute stop at the store.
We are also within 30 days of our next shipment, which means that you will receive an additional 5% off select wines. Between that and free shipping, there is really no excuse to not stock up now - I know my friend will be.