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!

Howell Mountain Bottling Day!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks around the winery. We’re getting ready for a fun wine and food happy hour event in San Francisco AND we’ve been bottling new vintages of your favorite wines. It wouldn't be summer if we weren't a little busy, right? All fun things, though.

Just recently, we spent the day bottling the 2012 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon - 148 cases to be exact! If you were fortunate to try the 2011 vintage, you’ll know that this best selling wine is known for its big, elegant tannins and ripe plum and spicy black currant flavors. We have no doubts that our 2012 will be just as delicious, if not better!

Check out the photos from bottling day.

Bottles going through the machine.

Cultivar Cabernet wins Silver Medal

It’s already August (where does the time go?!) but that doesn’t mean we’re not taking full advantage of summer and celebrating all the good things that are happening around us …like sunshine, picnics, bottling, and celebrating exciting Cultivar news!

The Fifty Best recently held a blind tasting of Napa Valley Cabernets in the $25-$55 price range. We’re happy to share that our 2012 Napa Valley Cabernet took home a silver medal in this “Best Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon” competition!

The Fifty Best is an award-winning online guide to fine living, featuring rated lists and tasting awards based on a panel of wine/spirit professionals and connoisseurs. For this competition, a panel of 16 pre-qualified judges tasted the 27 contending wines and evaluated each individually using a 1-5 point scoring system, with 5 being the most satisfactory. Medals were awarded based on a set range of final point scores, and we’re thrilled that our NV Cab was so well-received!

Have you tried our 2012 Napa Valley Cabernet yet? It has the chops to stand up to pricier $50 bottles but is in a much more affordable price bracket (at $28, it’s a steal for California Cabernets). The grapes were sourced from St. Helena, Howell Mountain and Rutherford sub-appellations, which are all high-quality regions (and 2012 just so happened to be a fantastic harvest!). The wine was aged for 12 months in oak, resulting in an incredibly aromatic and bright wine, with sweet tannins and refined structure. A touch of new oak comes through on the nose with hints of vanilla and warm spices, complemented by dark fruit, violets and tobacco. On the palate, the wine is rich with ripe dark cherry and plum, rounded out with an elegant finish with a touch of herbaceousness. A great addition to your wine collection - at a fantastic price! Cheers.

Wine in Kegs

You've heard of beer in kegs, but have you heard of the newer trend of wine in kegs? Wines on tap seem to be popping up in wine bars all over the nation, but is this a trend that will last? I bet so. Cultivar has actually been producing several varietals in kegs since its start, as the wines were originally targeted for by-the-glass programs in restaurants and bars. A keg of wine actually holds 26 ½ bottles - more than two cases! - think of how many bottles of wine are saved right there. And, since the kegs are reusable, they’re cost effective and ‘green,’ creating less waste. Just like wineries are tending to gravitate toward screw caps to eliminate cork taint or oxidation, kegs preserve the wine, allowing consumers to get a better glass of wine at a restaurant every time (no 3 day old opened bottle for you!).

Of course, making wine for a steel keg will change the way a wine is made in most cases. Wine on tap is designed to be consumed within roughly 90 days of being ‘packaged,’ so the winemaker may produce the wine with more fruit-forward characteristics and less structure (aka less tannins since the wines will not be aged).

So which wines can you find of Cultivar’s on tap? The 2013 Rosé, 2013 Sauvignon Blanc, the 2011 and 2012 Napa Cabernet! I recently enjoyed the Sauv Blanc on tap at a wine bar in Southern California… refreshing and perfect for summer!

Don’t you think it’s time to forget the beers on tap and head straight for a freshly poured glass of wine? I'm in! Cheers.

  

Find Cultivar near you by clicking here.

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to the Cultivar Winery Blog. Here, we'll be sharing winery news, new releases, tips and whatever else we feel like sharing. And what better time to start this than in Spring!

Here at Cultivar, we're gearing up for warmer weather by celebrating a few new wines perfect for Spring and Summer sipping, like our 2013 Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc and our 2013 Rosé. Made of a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Cabernet, our 2013 Rosé takes inspiration from the pale pink, delicate rosés of Southern France. With appealing strawberry, spice and floral aromas on the nose, you'll love the minerally strawberry and cranberry flavors that are rounded out by a crisp, long finish. Sounds like a perfect wine for light summer fare, doesn't it? From salads, fruit, cheese and even roasted chicken, it's the perfect accompaniment to any meal when the sun in shining.

Our May wine club shipment is about to go out, and rumor has it that you'll get a bottle of our newly released Rosé in your order. You might want to think about stocking up on this wine since we only made 112 cases, and at $17 per bottle, you have no excuse not to! Personally, I plan to stock up on a few bottles for impromtu picnics in the park or just for popping open to enjoy out on my balcony while taking in the sunshine. Ahh.... don't you just love Spring!