Why Sparkling Wine Is The Most Versatile Wine For The Holidays

The Holiday Season calls for sparkling wine! Whether it’s a French Champagne, an Italian Prosecco or a delicious Napa Valley Sparkling Wine, bubbles are the go-to pour for parties, dinners and the big toast on New Year’s Eve.

As a small, sibling-owned winery, Cultivar Wine cherishes the times when our family can be together, and we’ve been proud to have our wines be a part of Holiday celebrations. That’s why it only made sense that we create a sparkling wine for the holidays. The Cultivar Wine Blanc de Noirs, Coombsville, Napa Valley, is now available in our online store in time for your celebrations!

To create our very first sparkling wine, we sourced pinot noir from vines planted in the early 1960’s in Coombsville, a beautiful sub-appellation on the southern tip of Napa cooled by the San Pablo Bay. We crafted this sparkling wine from 100% pinot noir using traditional champagne production methods. It was aged on yeast for two years and then spent another year aging in the bottle.

The result? A delightful, fine-bubbled sparkler that embraces its pinot noir heritage. The woodsy notes of earth, mushroom and fresh baked bread mingle with subtle tones of rosemary, maple and elderberry to create a wine with distinct character. We believe this makes our sparkling wine not only perfect for parties, toasts and celebrations, but to pair with your Holiday entrees as well.

In fact, a great sparkling wine may be the most versatile wine for the Holidays. Hearty, winter dishes call for a wine with enough brightness and acid to cleanse the palate, yet be light enough to enjoy through the whole meal and the whole evening. Sparkling wine is perfect for this, and makes a great accompaniment to turkey, chicken and crab (it’s crab season!) along with a wide assortment of side dishes.

And don’t forget, sparkling wine can be the foundation of some amazing and delicious Holiday cocktails! After our team tasted our new Blanc de Noirs, we decided that these four cocktails would be perfect with our new sparkling wine:

Apple Cider Mimosa

This fun take on the classic Mimosa is a perfect complement to the earthy notes of our Blanc de Noirs:

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. Cultivar Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine
• 2 oz. all-natural apple cider
• 1 oz. cinnamon whiskey
• 1 slice of apple, for garnish

Directions

Mix cider and cinnamon whiskey in a champagne flute. Top with Cultivar Blanc de Noirs, then stir lightly until incorporated. Garnish with an apple slice.

 

Air Mail

Sweet & savory mingle with this one, and it’s perfect with our Caspar Estate Wildflower Honey.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. golden rum
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. Caspar Estate honey
• 5 oz. Cultivar Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine

Directions:

Mix rum, lime juice, and honey thoroughly with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker, then pour unstrained into a Collins glass. Fill with Cultivar Wine Blanc de Noirs. 

Nora-Schlesinger

Rosemary Champagne Spritz

Rosemary simple syrup brings out the woodsy & herbaceous notes of the pinot noir grapes in this delicious recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbl. Rosemary Simple Syrup
• 3 oz. gin
• 3 oz. grapefruit juice

 

Directions:

Make the simple syrup by combining ½ cup sugar, ½ cup water and a small bunch or rosemary in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and then let cool. Combine a tablespoon of syrup, the gin and grapefruit juice and stir. Top with Cultivar Wine Blanc de Noirs and garnish with a rosemary sprig.

Barbotage

Cognac, Grand Marnier and Cultivar Blanc de Noirs? Now that’s a Holiday cocktail!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 oz. cognac
• 1 tsp. Grand Marnier
• 4 oz. sparkling wine

Directions:

Pour cognac (or another brandy) and Grand Marnier into a champagne flute. Top up with Cultivar Wine Blanc de Noirs.

ioan-f

However you choose to celebrate, we’re hope you’re able to do so with family, friends and loved ones, and that your New Year is happy, safe and joyous. Cheers!

Photo credits, by order: Bob McClenahan, Quinten Rude, Nora Schlesinger, ioan-f.

Excitement at Cultivar – Two New Releases – Order Now

Become a Member of Cultivar Wine Club Today and Let the Good Times Flow Join Cultivar Wine Club to become a part of the Caspar Estate and Cultivar family and gain access to the best Napa Valley wines delivered to your door. Inspired by the ideals and lifestyle of a modern day Gentleman Farmer, you will be delighted with the most distinct wines of Napa Valley and given all the stories and behind-the-scenes details of a truly sustainable organic farm. We are thrilled to share two brand new September Releases available for the next 30 days exclusively for our beloved Wine Club Members: 2013 Coombsville Syrah - a newcomer to Cultivar 2013 Oak Knoll Cabernet Franc - the new vintage of a classic favorite Can't to wait to get them? Join our Cultivar Wine Club today! You can sign up here and choose from the 4-bottle or 12-bottle Wine Clubs, or if you want to select your own wines, join our Cultivar Custom Club. We look forward to sharing and savoring with you the best small production wines from across the Napa Valley. Join Now 2013 Cultivar Oak Knoll Chardonnay  Want to catch up with your best friend over a perfect bottle of wine? Perfect for reminiscing, our 2013 Oak Knoll Chardonnay is a pure expression of Chardonnay. Comforting, friendly, natural, and just a bit sentimental, this Chardonnay delivers fruit on the nose and on the palate taking one back to an age where fresh pies were set on windowsills to cool. On the nose this perfect-for-Fall Chardonnay has baked apples, pear and melon notes with nuances of spice and flower aromas. On the palate the wine has beautiful weight and balance, being fermented in neutral oak barrels to add just a touch of richness. The palate delivers more baked apples and a touch of creme brûlée for a beautiful delicate finish. As we roll into Dungeness Crab season here in San Francisco, the Cultivar Chardonnay is a perfect match. Drink now and over the next two years.   $28/bottle $296/case $278/club case 2013 Oak Knoll Cabernet Franc Better than your favorite television drama, our Cabernet Franc is mysterious, deep, romantic and just a little bit dangerous. Our Cabernet Franc comes from the cooler growing region of Oak Knoll. We believe our Cabernet Franc has both characteristics of The Loire Valley and Bordeaux regions in France. The 2013 is deep dark red with a distinct brightness. On the nose, black cherry fruits are intertwined with notes of roses and violets, along with hints of tobacco and pepper. On the palate it is rich, medium to full bodied with great balance. The black cherry fruit follows from the nose to the palate with hints of plums and blueberries. The sweetness of the fruit is balanced with the perfect blend of vanilla and warm Asian spices. This wine has a long mouth finish that draws you back to the glass. This is perfect with roasted game and rich Asian inspired dishes. Drink now or over the next 5 years.  $52/bottle $530/case $499/club case Available now only to Wine Club Members. 2013 Cultivar Coombsville Syrah The ultimate expression of a classic with a twist! Fresh and eclectic with a unique and distinct sense of purpose, this is the second Syrah offering from Cultivar and our first Syrah from the Coombsville appellation. The 2013 Coombsville Syrah shows a bold spectrum of deep red fruit varietals. Dark red raspberries and dark cherries seem to jump from the glass, along with notes of pretty roses and violets and aromas of allspice with a touch of vanilla.  On the palate it is rich and mouth filling. The tannins are perfectly balanced giving the red fruit its structure. This is the perfect wine to share around the BBQ or paired with classic Fall dishes. Savor now or over the next 5 years, if you can keep it that long without opening it. $42/bottle $428/case $403/club case Available now to only Wine Club Members.   2012 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon Look out world! Cabernet from Howell Mountain has become known for its boldness, tannic structure, and intense fruit. Deep, powerful, rich, intense, intelligent and decadent, our 2012 Cultivar Howell Mountain is all that and more: dark in color almost bordering on black, with a nose of dark cassis, currant, and blackberries. Intertwined with these powerful fruits are notes of cedar and wood smoke and hints of truffle-coated blackberries, licorice, and espresso. The distinct long finish on the palate and note of tannins on the top of your mouth will have you dreaming of mountain cabins and the great outdoors. This Cabernet screams for a beautiful rib eye steak or to be decanted for this Christmas Holiday and paired with a perfectly standing rib roast. While tempting to drink now, this wine will age for another 10 years, if you can keep your hands off of it in the cellar.  $72/bottle $734/case $691/club case With the opening of your very first bottle of Cultivar Wine, we encourage you to explore your own dreams, share your own desires, and cultivate your own passions, with each and every sip in each and every shipment.   More Juicy Details

Reverb & Cultivar Wine Happy Hour

One of the events we really look forward to here at Cultivar Wine is our quarterly happy hour with Wine Club Members. We love gathering over great food to talk wine and catch up with new and old friends alike.

This month we're especially excited to be introducing our wine club members to Polk Street's newest restaurant, Reverb Kitchen & Bar. We think Reverb's innovative comfort food crafted from locally sourced, sustainable, and peak-season ingredients is the perfect complement for our wines.

Cultivar Wine Club Members will enjoy tasting our selections for our May Wine Club shipment which include 2011 Cultivar Leaky Lake Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012 Cultivar Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and two of our newest releases: 2012 Cultivar Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon and 2014 Cultivar Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will you be joining us?