Release Party Round Up

On October 5th, I threw myself a party in honor of the release of my new ebook, Where I Want to Be: A Wine Country Novel. This is the first of four novels in the Wine Country Series and it contains many real wine and winery references. If you have been reading Sip, Swirl, Savor for any length of time, you know I only promote wines that I am passionate about. The same goes for the wines I mention in the novel—they are my favorite wines and places to visit. Naturally, I sourced the same wines for the party!

You can’t call it a celebration without bubbles, so we popped the cork on a bottle of J Cuvée 20 Brut NV ($28/bottle) right off the bat.  As always, this J sparkler was a crowd pleaser. A blend of 50% Chardonnay, 49% Pinot Noir and 1% Pinot Meunier, this Russian River Valley bubbly is elegant and sumptuous. It offers zesty citrus notes and yeasty aromas with flavors of pear, toast, and almonds. It was spectacular to sip on it’s own but it was also quite lovely with a variety of cheeses, olives, and Marcona almonds.

The Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs NV ($22/bottle) is what we toasted the success of my ebook with. (It’s a delicious wine, let’s hope it’s a lucky one too!) This pale-pink bubbly is 82% Pinot Noir and 8% Chardonnay, all of which is hand-harvested from the 340-acre estate in Carneros (Sonoma). With lots of bright strawberry and bright acidity, this too is a wine that is great with ripe cheeses or duck liver mousse, ahi tuna, or smoked salmon.

The 2012 Stepping Stone Napa Valley Pinot Gris ($20/bottle) is a brand-new release from Cornerstone Cellars. This fresh and lively white wine with its colorful label was the perfect accompaniment to the joyous energy of the celebration. With crisp fruit flavors and great acidity, this is a terrific warm weather wine and great with appetizers of all kinds!

Side note: Interestingly enough, the three wineries above just recently debuted beautiful new websites! After launching my new Author Cortney website, I can appreciate how much effort goes into this process. I love the new look at Jwine.com, GloriaFerrer.com, and Cornerstonecellars.com!

Another white wine that attendees sipped while I read one of my favorite excerpts from the ebook was the 2012 Honig Sauvignon Blanc ($17/bottle). It’s a white-gold color in the glass with subtle aromas of mango, lime and lemongrass. On the palate, it has zippy acidity with bright tropical fruit flavors. This wine is very refreshing and such a great value. Ten percent is aged in neutral oak barrels and it is blended with 2% Semillon and 1% Muscat. Yum!

After the party, a small group of us went to the Tiburon Tavern for dinner where we enjoyed the 2011 Sojourn Cellars Wohler Vineyard Pinot Noir ($48/bottle). This is one of my favorite Sojourn wines. About 500 cases were produced from this small Russian River Valley vineyard. It has that classic cherry cola flavor along with a super-smooth mouthfeel and moderate weight. It paired perfectly with the lamb sliders!

If you like reading this wine blog, check out my new ebook, which is available exclusively on Amazon. Where I Want to Be started as a blog post, and then got longer and longer until I started referring to it (and self-published it) as a novel. Although it’s women’s fiction, quite a few men have already read it (and enjoyed it!). I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Cheers!

Wine and asparagus: a match made for me!

Last night when my boyfriend and I sat down to dinner, he looked at his plate and laughed. "You just might have been an asparagus in a past life," he joked. 

It's true. I'm an asparagus addict (luckily my boyfriend likes it, too). Whether roasted with olive oil and garlic, par-boiled and drizzled with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette, sauteed with bell peppers and soy sauce, or served with a runny egg on top, I could eat asparagus almost every day--and at any meal. It's a versatile vegetable that, contrary to what others may say, can be enjoyed with a wide array of wines.


For dinner last night, I cooked the asparagus on the stove top and dressed it with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. It was accompanied by pan-seared pork chops with pesto and whole baked sweet potatoes. Sweet and savory. Yum!

A white or red wine (specifically a fruit-forward Pinot Noir) would have paired nicely with this meal. I had a bottle of 2010 Lucinda and Millie Mendocino County Chardonnay (www.lucindaandmillie.com) open from the night before, and it paired perfectly.

This lighter style of Chardonnay is made from organic grapes and 10% is aged in French oak. It is crisp and clean, with notes of green apple, melon, and citrus. And it's the most affordable wine I have ever enjoyed ($9.99 at Whole Foods)!

In fact, this entire meal was less than $20 (and purchased entirely at Whole Foods); it took less than an hour to prepare.

I'm not drinking much Sauvignon Blanc these days, but the grassy Sauv Blanc from Honig or a minerally Chablis would also have complimented this meal nicely; a sparkler (particularly Domaine Carneros Brut or Mumm Blanc de Blancs) would have also been a good match. Depending on how you prepare the asparagus and what the other components of the meal are, the wine-pairing possibilities are endless!

Wine and Honey at Honig

Since I "found" a bottle of 1998 Honig Cabernet Sauvignon in the cellar in the house where I live with my mother, I have been wanting to visit the Honig Winery for a tasting of their current releases. I had taken the 1998 Cab to dinner at Cook in St. Helena and it was still remarkably youthful and a delight to drink.

The current releases proved to be just as enjoyable. I forgot to ask what Honig's total case production is, but I know it's small. Set on an idyllic piece of property off Rutherford Road, their driveway lined with olive trees, this is a winery that has found their strengths and is sticking to what they do best: Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

They make two of each. The 2008 SB is a fruity with a mineral core and bright acidity; at $14 a bottle, it is very drinkable. The 2007 Reserve SB went through partial malo-lactic fermentation and is thus medium bodied with rounder flavors and less acidity. My vote was for the first of the two and it is what you'll find on store shelves.

My feelings were similar for the Cabs. The 2006 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon is approachable with silky tannins, dark fruit and cocoa flavors. The 2005 Bartollucci Vineyard Cab is more austere, with chewy tannins and pronounced earthiness. I rarely refer to wines as feminine and masculine, but in this case, the first was feminine (I went home with a bottle of this one), the second was masculine (my male tasting partner got a bottle of this one).

Honig means "honey" in German. In addition to the four wines discussed above, they also produce a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc, which was sweet and delicious, with honey undertones. They also bottle honey on the estate, and their olive trees are harvested by Round Pond.

You can do a tasting of this delicious olive oil at Round Pond; their olive oil tasting room is located just off Honig's driveway.