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?

High Style Collection Opening Celebration at Legion of Honor

Fans of fashion flocked to the Legion of Honor Wednesday March 11th, 2015 for the opening celebration of High Style: The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection.

“Dazzle” was the theme and fans turned out in glamorous fashion for the collection’s unveiling during a black-tie dinner for supporters hosted by the FAM Board President Dede Wilsey.

Cultivar was happy to support the museum donating wines to pair with the sophisticated three course menu. We paired our 2013 Cultivar Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc with the first course Celery Root, Truffle, and Leek Potage.

For the main course of Filet aux Morilles we chose our 2012 Cultivar Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The sweet tannins and refined structure of the wine pulled out the morels in the sauce and complimented the cream sauce.

Guests finished the meal with a Black and White Duo: Chocolate Pot de Crème, Vanilla Bean Pot de Crème, and Santa Cruz Strawberries.

The collection is on view at the Legion of Honor through July 19th and shouldn’t be missed. Curated by Jan Glier Reeder, consulting curator for the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and organized by the Met, High Style captures key points in 20th-century fashion design with rare pieces from French couture houses, including examples by Jeanne Lanvin, Elsa Schiaparelli, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, and Hubert de Givenchy. Get your tickets today.

Men of Style 2015 Event

On March 5th, Cultivar Wine proudly partnered with San Francisco Magazine and Saks Fifth Avenue for the Saks Fifth Avenue Men of Style event. VIP guests enjoyed our 2013 Cultivar Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc that we donated

while enjoying passed appetizers and waiting in suspense as to who would be the 2015 Man of Style and which charity would receive a $5,000 donation. 

San Francisco Magazine readers and fans of Saks Fifth Avenue and Cultivar Wine had a tough job, choosing between the 2015 Men of Style nominees:

• Scott E. Miller, principal and founder at Scott Miller Executive Search;
• Geoffrey De Sousa, principal of Geoffrey De Sousa Interior Design;
• Joseph Becker, assistant curator of architecture and design at SFMOMA; and
• Yves Behar, founder and principal designer at Fuseproject.

All nominees were well deserving, but there could be just one 2015 Men of Style winner.

Congratulations Geoffrey De Sousa and Ronald McDonald House at Stanford! Not only did Ronald McDonald House receive the $5,000 award, but Geoffrey generously matched the award with a $5,000 donation of his own.

Photography Credits: The third and fifth photos were taken by Rachel Bussières for Drew Altizer Photography and used with permission. The other photos were taken by Cultivar.

Modern Luxury Magazine & Saks Fifth Avenue's 2015 Men Of Style Event

Cultivar Wine is thrilled to be supporting San Francisco Magazine & Saks Fifth Avenue's fabulous upcoming 2015 Men of Style Event. Although this event is invite only, we hope you'll support us and this great cause by VOTING. See below for more details on how to vote.

THE EVENT DETAILS: San Francisco Magazine & Saks Fifth Avenue present the candidates for this year's Men of Style—four sharp-dressed San Franciscans whose impeccable style is matched by their generosity of spirit. Each candidate will receive a customized outfit from our partner ISAIA to acknowledge their support of some of the most noteworthy causes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

YOUR VOTE: Each of our candidates has chosen a nonprofit organization to support during the campaign—scroll through the gallery below to find out more about each gentleman and his charity of choice—then VOTE for your favorite! The candidate with the most votes will receive a check for $5,000 for his nonprofit organization, courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue! Click to VOTE HERE!

How much Wine to Serve for the Holidays

 

Hosting a holiday gathering at your place? Be sure you have enough wine for your guests. Unsure how much wine you need for an event? Don't worry! 

When planning all you need to know is how you plan on serving your wine, how many guests will be drinking, and how long your guests will be there. Think about:

How long will your guests be over? Assume each guest drinks about two glasses of wine every two hours.

How many guests will be drinking? Each standard 750-ml wine bottle is roughly four servings of wine (assuming a six ounce pour).  A magnum bottle (1.5 liters) has eight to twelve glasses of wine (assuming four to six ounce pours).

 

 

For a twelve-person dinner for Thanksgiving, with guests arriving around 5pm and dinner at 6pm, assuming all guests are over 21 and will be enjoying wine, plan on consuming six bottles. Over the course of five hours, twelve guests will drink two glasses of wine very two hours, a total of 30 glasses or eight bottles.

Are you pairing wines with individual courses? If you’re pairing wines with individual courses, you’ll need more bottles to ensure that everyone gets enough. The exact number of bottles you need depends on whether guests are drinking full glasses (four to six ounces) or tasting pours (two ounces).

If you’re serving tasting pours at your twelve-person dinner, you’ll want two bottles of each wine for every course you’re serving. To ensure you don’t run out wine over the course of five hours at a three-course meal, plan on eight bottles of wine. For full glasses, you’ll want three bottles of each wine for every course you’re serving; in this example eleven bottles of wine.

 

 

Shipping Deadlines for Holiday Wines

When planning your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations keep these dates in mind to ensure your wine cellar is well stocked:

• Order by Sunday December 7th to get wines in time for Chanukah.
• Order by Sunday December 14th for Christmas.
• Order by Sunday December 21st to get wines in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Remember that when you order 12 or more bottles of Cultivar Wine you receive a 15% discount, so for your twelve person dinner, why not make it a case?

If you’re a member of the Cultivar Wine Club you receive a 20% discount on all Cultivar wine and Cultivar products. Our olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and honey make perfect hostess gifts.

Our Balboa & Cultivar Wine Bus Party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What better way to spend a Saturday than being surrounded by our wine club members and friends enjoying delicious food and drinking fabulous Cultivar wines? And a couple of Saturdays ago, that's exactly what we did!

Our first stop: Balboa Cafe in San Francisco. We got the party going with our Cultivar Napa Valley wines (2013 Cultivar Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and 2012 Cultivar Napa Cabernet Sauvignon).

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a quick headcount, we left overcast San Francisco in search of the sun, which we found just on the north side of the Rainbow Tunnel in Marin County. While on the bus, guests enjoyed our 2013 Cultivar Napa Valley Rose (currently sold out in bottles, but still available in kegs). 

At Balboa Cafe, situated in downtown historic Mill Valley, we introduced our September 2014 wine club selections. There on the outside patio while sampling our wines, we enjoyed light bites styled by executive chef, Rick Edge, and live music by Tom Rhodes.

The light bites provided by PlumpJack Catering that we enjoyed were:

• Shrimp gazpacho shooters with chilled prawns paired with 2013 Cultivar Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc
• Carmelized onion and Carmody cheese skewers with sherry vinegar glaze and Piment d'Espelette with choice of pairing: 2013 Cultivar Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc (classic) or 2011 Cultivar Leaky Lake Vinegard Cabernet Sauvignon (daring)
• Braised chicken meatballs with arugula pesto paired with 2011 Cultivar Coombsville Cabernet (daring)
• PlumpJack sliders (beef sliders with cheddar and pickles) paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon (classic), either 2012 Cultivar St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon or 2011 Cultivar Coombsville Cabernet

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about the pairings, some classic and some others daring, check out our Food Pairings for Our September 2014 Wine Club Selections where we break the matches down for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to check out our Facebook page for more photos from the event. Also, if you'd like to hear about further upcoming events in San Francisco and Wine Country, be sure to like our page. In addition to news about events, you'll get behind the scenes peeks into how we make our wines along with recipes and pairing tips for entertaining in your home.

Balboa & Cultivar Wine Event

Good news - our next ‘Cultivar Wine Club & Friends’ event is scheduled for September! We’ve joined forces with our friends at Balboa Cafe to host an event you won’t want to miss. There will be wine, there will be food, there will be live music AND there will be a bus to transport you to all the fun! We’ll start at Balboa in San Francisco then head over to Balboa Mill Valley for wine, live music and food, then back to the Marina. 

Details below. Be sure to RSVP by Sept 10th to reserve your spot. Space is limited!

Mikkeller Happy Hour Event Food & Wine Pairings

For those of you who made it to our ‘Cultivar Wine Club & Friends’ happy hour event last week, I’m sure you can agree that it was a fun evening of wine, food and great conversation. More photos from the Mikkeller Bar are below, along with what we served to pair with our wines on tap. See which wines worked with certain menu items and why!

Even if you didn’t make it, you can still grab a bottle of your favorite Cultivar wine and test out your own food and wine pairings. You never know what perfect pairing you might find. And be sure to look out for details on our next event later this week on the blog.

2013 Napa Valley Sauv Blanc -

Endive Cups with pine nuts, blue cheese and apples

Salt Cod Croquets with dill, parsley and lemon garnish

Assorted Olives

Why it worked: Sauv Blanc is a light-to-medium bodied white with green and citrusy notes. A natural pairing for salads, herbs (like dill and parsley) as well as lemony flavors, it also goes well with oily foods (like the herb/oil marinated olives). Yum!

2013 Rosé -

Salt Cod Croquets with dill, parsley and lemon garnish

Lil’ Smokies wrapped in bacon with Smoky BBQ

Fries

Why it worked: Rosé is one of those awesome wines that work with a lot of foods. Ours is crisp, minerally and delicate enough to pair with light foods yet big enough in body to withstand bolder foods like bacon and fried food. A tiny hint of sweetness helps cut through the smoky flavors of the bacon and bbq sauce as well as the saltiness of the cod.

2012 Oak Knoll Cab Franc -

Lil’ Smokies wrapped in bacon with Smoky BBQ

Why it worked: Cab Franc and pork work well together, because both are more medium in weight (as opposed to a hefty Cab paired with a giant steak). Our 2012 Cab Franc has notes of pepper, tobacco and spice, which complemented the smoked, spicy flavors of the Lil’ Smokies.

2012 Cabernet -

Pork & Garlic sausage in puff pastry

Lil' Smokies

Why it worked: Full-bodied and big on tannins, Cabernet can withstand bigger, fattier meats and sausages. The rich pastry and garlic-y pork sausage seemed to pair nicely with our rich and structured Cabernet. With wines big on tannins, it’s best to avoid spicy foods - so the Lil’ Smokies would work with the Cab if you omitted the spicy BBQ sauce.

 

Mikkeller Happy Hour Event

Did you miss our fun Cultivar-sponsored happy hour event last week? Taking place in the ‘cellar’ of Mikkeller in San Francisco, our totally awesome events director, Emily, planned a great evening of wine, delectable bites and mingling with Cultivar friends and family. Mikkeller is actually known for their beer (42 beers on tap), but that didn’t stop about 35 fabulous local wine club members from enjoying Cultivar wine on tap, delicious wine pairings, and the great vibe.

We even held a drawing to win two Double Magnums of Cultivar Cabernet - that’s 3 litres! Congratulations to our winners:

Maria Sullivan Hemphill

Eden Hensley

If you missed it, don’t worry… we’re planning at least 2-3 more events this year, so be on the lookout for those invites. More to come on the wines served as well as food pairings, but here are a few photos from the event in the meantime. Salud!

Happy Hour Event - Mikkeller Bar

Double Magnums up for grabs!

Cultivar Wine on Tap

Delicious nibbles... 

Choosing the Double Magnum winners...

Winner chosen! Happy Eden!