Rhone Rangers Tasting in San Francisco: Skinner Features Its Range of Rhone Varietal Wines

  

Skinner Vineyards poured its Rhone single-varietal wines and its Rhone blends for many of the 2,000 consumers and members of the wine trade who attended the 14th Annual Rhone Rangers San Francisco Tasting held in late March 2011 at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion in San Francisco. This is the largest American Rhone wine event in the country, and more than 500 of the best American Rhone wines from at least 100 Rhone Rangers member wineries were celebrated by a wine consumer public that is interested to know more about Rhone wines from America.

We poured the following wines for our fans and new friends:

• 2009 Grenache Blanc, Stoney Creek Vineyard, Fair Play
• 2008 Seven Generations, White Blend, El Dorado
• 2009 Grenache, El Dorado
• 2008 Eighteen Sixty-One, Red Blend, El Dorado
• 2007 Syrah, Stoney Creek Vineyard, Fair Play

Skinner Vineyards has been a member of The Rhone Rangers for several years.  The organization is dedicated to educating the public on Rhone varietal wine grapes grown in America and to promoting the production and enjoyment of these wines, with emphasis on integration into our daily lives.  Among the information tidbits available on the organization’s website (http://www.rhonerangers.org/) is this:

“In France's Rhone Valley, twenty-two traditional grape varieties may be grown.  Twelve of these grapes are planted in the United States, including the best-known Syrah and Viognier, the up and coming Mourvèdre, Grenache, Roussanne and Marsanne, and the truly obscure (but delicious) Counoise, Cinsaut, Grenache Blanc and Picpoul. Plus Petite Sirah, whose parentage places it clearly in the Rhone.  Perhaps most exciting, most of these grapes play well with others, and most Rhone Rangers wineries produce blends as well as single-varietal wines.”

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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!)

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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