Coopers (and Fidelitas!) in the News

Just when I was needing a reminder of what summer felt like, our Wine Club event in Seattle from last August made it into this Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine (an insert of the Sunday Times/PI). Braiden Rex-Johnson, a local author who also wrote Pacific Northwest Wining and Dining, wrote a great article about the coopers from Seguin-Moreau who came to our wine club event and did barrel toasting demonstrations for all of the members who attended: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2008627873_pacificptaste18.html
The article gives insight into everything that goes into barrel making and why good barrels are so key to great wine. There are also some great quotes from Charlie, who has made some promises of creating a wine club only wine to be aged in the barrels toasted that evening...

At home in Seattle

As I believe most of you know already, I am based in the Seattle area and work remotely. For me, it really is the best of both worlds. I grew up in Seattle and truly enjoy living here. However, I love Eastern Washington as well, and have a lot of family in the Tri-Cities area. That means that I am able to be with my friends and family here in grey-skied Seattle, but get to travel frequently to blue-skied Red Mountain.

This is great for so many of our Wine Club members in Washington State. Obviously, those who live near the winery get to swing by and pick up their favorite wines much more frequently than those who live in Western Washington. But now, people in the Seattle area have a Fidelitas contact as well. I do get to keep some great wines over here, and am always able to arrange a way to get those to you. I'm also available as a resource for restaurant recommendations (especially those that have Fidelitas on the list!) and places to see and stay. For those of you in and around Seattle, let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

For our out of state members, don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you. Charlie has been out touring the different markets with Fidelitas, and often hosts tastings while he's on the road. If he is coming your way, I'll be sure to let you know!

A view of the Space Needle, through the fog and a little sunshine.

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