Turkey Day and Family Feasts: Skinner Wines Will Enliven the Meal !

Turkey Day is almost upon us, and Skinner Vineyards has wine pairing suggestions for your dinner table.   We’ll make it brief since we know you have a lot of buying, cooking and family entertainment plans to do, but here’s what you’ll want to get now.   Go to the sales page at on our website (click here!)   or stop into Wally’s Fine Wine Shop in Los Angeles or Pour House in Truckee, CA.

 

Serve with the Turkey and Fixin’s:

2008 Seven Generations:  the great aromatics and medium body make for a versatile white wine.  It will carry through to be enjoyed with not only the turkey, but also the stuffing and other fixin’s.  It’s our blend of 46% Roussanne, 29% Marsanne, and 25% Viognier sourced from three high-elevation vineyards in El Dorado.  $26.00/bottle  To learn more, go directly to our tasting notes, click HERE. 

2008 Grenache: Our winemaker Chris Pittenger says that this wine is “ drinking great at the moment and would be an ideal turkey pairing.“   Since he knows what he’s talking about, we want to give you the opportunity to snap this up while there is still some available.  Straight from our website, these details: This Grenache is sourced from a warm ridgetop vineyard that lies at an elevation of 2,850 feet. The wine exhibits aromatics of red cherry, rhubarb, and strawberry jam combined with hints of warm Christmas spices and wet rock. Its supple tannins and mouth-coating texture lead to a dry finish with bright acidity.    $28/bottle.   To buy it from our website, click HERE  

 

With Dessert:

2008 Seven Generations is going to be terrific with apple and pumpkin pie too, or any dessert with a spiciness.  This versatile while wine has great aromatics and medium body.  It’s our blend of a blend of 46% Roussanne, 29% Marsanne, and 25% Viognier.  We sourced the fruit from three high-elevation vineyards in El Dorado County.  $26.00/bottle  To learn more, go directly to our tasting notes, click HERE.

WHERE TO BUY:

THE POUR HOUSE is located at 10075 Jibboom St in Truckee; phone is (530) 550-9664.    www.thepourhousetruckee.com

WALLY'S FINE WINES is located at 2107 Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles; phone is (310) 475-0606. www.wallywine.com

IMAGES:

Turkey image courtesy www.whatscookingamerica.net

Pumpkin pie image courtesy of www.idahofergusonfamily.blogspot.com.    (Your blogger gained weight just looking at the yummy recipes on that site!)

Apple pie image courtesy of www.lovealiz.files.wordpress.com  (Oh these wonderful cooks who share goodies in the blogosphere.  Oh my waistline!)

Roy Tuscany, Winner of Skinner Wines at Auction, Thrilled with his Score!

Roy Tuscany is Executive Director of the High Fives Foundation, a Tahoe-based non-profit organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for athletes who have suffered a life-altering injury while pursuing their dream in the winter action sports community.   Roy bid on a "lot" of Skinner Vineyards wines that were donated for the Wines for Wheels charity event held in mid-September at Plumpjack's in Squaw Valley.

"I purchased the lot of Skinner Wines as a community service gesture, but I am thrilled with them.  The Red Wine had an aroma that made me anxious to try the wine and see if it would deliver, and it was just terrific on the palate. I served 3 of bottles at recent dinner party and I was the hit of the party because of the wine," said Roy. 

Another fan!

We love our fellow bloggers!

Stacy De Fino of WinoBee is "looking forward to tasting the wines as they come to life,"  she told her followers on November 4.   You can see her blogpost here:  http://winobee.blogspot.com/2010/11/buzz-skinner-vineyards-announces-estate.html  but we are so pleased that she likes what is going on that we are reprinting it here for you below. 

Thanks Stacy!

Skinner Vineyards Estate Wine Program Announced

Skinner Vineyards Estate Wine Program Announced;
New 12,000 Square Foot Winery in Fair Play To Open

November 2010, Fair Play, CA –  Skinner Vineyards announces its Estate Wine program for Syrah, Viognier, Grenache and Petite Syrah grown at the Stoney Creek Vineyard, part of Skinner’s 67 acre property in the Fair Play AVA of El Dorado County,  Sierra Foothills.   The new 12,000 square foot solar-powered greentech winery will soon be complete.  Now, the temporary Certificate of Occupancy just granted for the crushpad and fermentation area of the winery allows Skinner Vineyards to produce wines on site beginning with this 2010 harvest season.

 “We are thrilled to bring our harvest to our own winery this year,”  said Mike Skinner, Owner/President.  “The late ripening conditions this year actually helped us, as we were fighting against the clock to get the crucial parts of the new winery built and inspected.  As it happens, the timing worked out perfectly for us.”

 (Skinner Vineyards' winemaker Chris Pittenger (left) and manager Ryan Skinner (right) in Skinner's new Fair Play, CA, greentech winery during the 2010 crush.)

Mike and Carey Skinner bought the 67 acres of this Stoney Creek Vineyard in 2007.  The Syrah and Viognier vines had already been there for ten years, and Grenache, Grenache Blanc and Petit Syrah were planted shortly after the purchase.  These vines,  planted between 2600 and 2740 feet elevation, produce grapes with intense flavor.  The Skinner’s decided to name the vineyard Stoney Creek after the creek that runs at the bottom of property on Fair Play Road.

Skinner Vineyards also encompasses a 25-acre property in Rescue, CA, the White Oak Flat Vineyard near Green Valley Road.  Grapes from this El Dorado land will also be vinified at the Stoney Creek Winery. 

 “In our Estate wine program, you can taste our rosés and whites in 2011,”  said Chris Pittenger, winemaker.  “Our Estate reds will be aged in oak before they are released in 2012 and 2013.  We expect some fantastic releases from the 2010 fruit.”   Approximately 1500 cases of Estate wines will dominate the 2000 total case production of Skinner Vineyards.

Skinner has been a name in the history of winemaking in El Dorado County since 1861 when James Skinner planted his vineyard off Green Valley Road near the town of Rescue in the Sierra Foothills and began to produce native wines and brandy.  With a strategic location on the Pony Express Trail, he built a stone wine cellar capable of storing 15,000 gallons of wine.  Prohibition intervened, the winery closed, but the new generation of Skinners restarted the venture in 2006.

After the winery is completed in the next few weeks, attention will turn to finishing the new Skinner tasting room in Fair Play which will open in January 2011 and features a panoramic view of the Sierra and the Sierra Foothills.  At elevation 2700 feet, visitors to the tasting room can experience Skinner wines while enjoying a view of Pyramid Peak in the distance. 

Skinner wines are available online at www.skinnervineyards.com  and to wine club members.  The wines are featured at fine dining restaurants including Plumpjack’s in Squaw Valley; and L Wine Lounge and Restaurant, Ella’s, and the Firehouse restaurants, Sacramento; and Bocconato Trattoria in Fair Play.   You can also taste the wines at Rhone Ranger events.

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Enjoy Our Wines Now at These Wonderful Restaurants and Wine Shops

... and more to come!

Los Angeles:
Wally's Fine Wine Shop

Tahoe:
Plumpjack Cafe,  Squaw Valley
Cottonwood Restaurant, Truckee
Moody's Bistro, Truckee
The  Pour House Wine Shop, Truckee

Sacramento
Ella's Dining  Room
L Wine Lounge
The Firehouse Restaurant

Fair PlayBocconato Trattoria

Of coure you can always enjoy our wines at home, and take them to dinner parties too!  Just order from the website !

The Pony Express Trail

Skinner has been a name in the history of winemaking in El Dorado County since 1861 when James Skinner planted his vineyard off Green Valley Road near the town of Rescue in the Sierra Foothills and began to produce native wines and brandy.  With a strategic location on the Pony Express Trail, he built a stone wine cellar capable of storing 15,000 gallons of wine. 

What was the Pony Express Trail?  This tidbit from the National Park Service website provides a brief explanation..." used by young men on fast horses to carry the nation's mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only ten days. The relay system became the nation's most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph, and it played a vital role in aligning California with the Union in the years just before the Civil War. "

El Dorado Winery Association

We are currently Associate Members of the El Dorado Winery Association, and anticipate full membership in a few months as our Tasting Room opens to the public. 

Our historic vineyard and wine cellar at White Oak Flat in Rescue played an important early role in the development of the wine region now known as the El Dorado AVA, and we are looking forward to working with our fellow vineyard managers and winemakers in the future.  Your visit to El Dorado County will be a very pleasurable experience, indeed!.

To get a quick history lesson on wine in El Dorado County, California, click here

Rhone Rangers

A while ago, we joined The Rhone Rangers, America's leading non-profit, educational organization dedicated to promoting American Rhone varietal wines.

The website, http://www.rhonerangers.org, has much useful information about Rhone varietals.  Here's just a sample of what they have to say: 

The Grapes

In France's Rhone Valley, there are 22 grape varieties including the better-known Syrah and Viognier, to the up and coming Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Roussanne, to the truly obscure (but delicious) Counoise, Bourboulenc and Picpoul. What's more, most of these grapes play well with others, and blends are often the most exciting of all.

We enjoy working with Rhone varietals, and you'll find our offerings of Rhone wines to be exceptionally good.  Take a look at them all!

Puttin On The Ritz: Skinner Vineyards a Sponsor of Benefit for The FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento

Skinner Vineyards was one of the important sponsors of the second annual fundraiser gala, “Putting on the Ritz”, hosted by the Fab500 on Sept 18, to benefit the The FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento.  This was a wonderfully magic event where guests experienced a glamorous evening sampling local top restaurants and enjoying specialty drinks and wines while dancing the night away to the live music of All-4-One and Hip Service.  The gala was held at the Patrick Willis (former Eddie Murphy) Estate in Granite Bay, CA, a location that was generously donated by the owner.

The FUTURE Foundation of Sacramento, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that provides both volunteer mentoring and funding to students in support of their college education. Qualified students are selected their freshman year in high school and are appointed a volunteer to become their mentor. During the final three years of high school the student will be guided by the mentor in order to meet admission requirements for college. The Foundation’s mentoring program is a key component to achieving success. The mentor not only guides the student through the college application process but assists in life’s everyday complicated and hard decisions to help motivate, encourage and guide the student toward college graduation.

Biking for a Better World

Plumpjack’s at Squaw Valley was the magnanimous host for the September charitable event, a  Wine Auction entitled  "Biking for a Better World".  Some great wines were quaffed, discussed and bought.  Skinner wines were among them!
Several wonderful bottles donated to the auction included Skinner White Rhone Blend “Seven Generations” 2008 El Dorado. This is a blend of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier, with tropical aromas of pineapple and papaya, hints of flowers, hazelnuts, banana bread and nice minerality.  

The Skinner winery is known for its Syrah, and two of them were auctioned.   The 2007 El Dorado Syrah is redolent of ripe blackberry, boysenberry and blueberry, with spiciness and a lengthy finish.  The Syrah “Stoney Creek Vineyard” 2007 El Dorado is sourced from mountain fruit grown at 2700 feet, and it’s magnificent!  Aroma of blackberry, cherry pie and tastes of cinnamon, caramel, vanilla, flower, pepper.  The addition of 3% Viognier gives it a medium body and a long velvety finish.

Of course the Plumpjack Executive Chef Ben “Wyatt” Dufresne and the entire kitchen team produced a wonderful menu for the event.
Biking for a Better World (bikingforabetterworld.org) is headquartered in Olympic Valley, CA, the location of Squaw Valley ski resort.  This group raises money for schools and bicycles for students in remote villages in Nicaragua.

The Executive Director of the Tahoe-area charity High Fives Foundation was the happy bidder for the lot of Skinner wines.  We won't reveal how much he paid, but suffice it to saw that dozens of kids in Nicaragua will be riding bicycles "fueled" by Skinner wines!

Supporting Local Causes and Charities - an Important Part of the Skinner Tradition!

Since Mike and Carey Skinner started the Skinner Vineyards enterprise in 2006,  they've embraced the community spirit that's so important to the vineyards and wineries in Fair Play and other parts of El Dorado County, California.   The list of events and organizations to which Skinner Vineyards has contributed became a long list in a very short time ... and it is getting longer every month.  We believe in being part of the community, and in the Skinner tradition, we respect the environment, support the people, and welcome the stewardship that comes with our vines and their gift to the world.

OUR GIVING ROSTER TO DATE: 

Aids Walk American Cancer Society Boys & Girls Club of Torrance Boys & Girls Club of West Valley Breast Cancer Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation Children's Cancer Research Fund Corpus Christi Parish Corpus Christi School Dolan Mediation, Inc Dr Susan Love Research Families of SMA Friends of Tapulanga, Inc. Giftberry Give 2 Asia Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation Independent Seed Foundation Knights of Columbus LA Sports Council Foundation Lymphoma Research Foundation Movies in the Park Pacific Palisades Multiple Sclerosis Society National Disaster Search Dog Foundation Pacific Heart Institute Pacific Palisades Baseball Palisades Charter High School Palisades Community Center Palisades-Malibu YMCA Pioneer Volunteer Firefighters Association Rescue Volunteer Firefighters Association Revlon Walk/Run Santa Clara University Santa Monica Church Shrine Auditorium Sigma Chi Sigma Chi Derby Days Sister of St. Louis League Soldiers Angels Sound Body Sound Mind Student Movement for Real Change Support Our Troops Together in Mission Troops Christmas University of Southern California University of Southern California Athletics Dept Venice High Alumni Westside Center for Independent Living