Russian River Valley Controversy!

There has been a controversy brewing over the boundaries of the Russian River Valley Appellation boundaries. Click on this link for the latest update, including a map, you can go directly to the TTB website and read the wording of the proposal and then comment on it directly to the TTB. Grapes from the Russian River Valley Appellation have gone up substantially in price over the past few years, vineyards outside the boundary but only a few feet difference in location from vineyards inside the boundary are only getting 1/2 as much for their grapes. It is a complicated issue of soils, climate and $$$.

Recycle Your Corks!

You can recycle your corks at Whole Foods Markets.

NAPA, Calif., Nov 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- ReCORK America announced today the start of a recycling program to reclaim a small portion of the estimated 13 billion natural cork wine stoppers sold into the world market each year. The six-month trial will involve 25 Northern California Whole Foods Market stores, including Reno. Each store will have a convenient collection box situated in the wine department. Customers will be encouraged to add wine corks to their list of recyclable packaging.

Click on this link for more information.

Another reason to drink Rielle Wines

Euro wines carrying potentially dangerous levels of heavy metals
(click on above link for entire article)

The findings appear in the Oct. 29 issue of Chemistry Central Journal. One glass of wine per day could end up more costly than you imagined according to Kingston University in London scientists Declan Naughton and Andrea Petroczi.

Rielle Wines at Chez Christine, Carmel

We just placed our Rielle Wines 2006 Anderson Valley Pinor Noir, 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay and 2005 Sonoma County Zinfandel at Chez Christine in Carmel. We are very proud to have our wines served with Chez Christine's "simple, real, spectacular French cuisine." The restaurant is sold out weeks ahead, so be sure to make a reservation well in advance. For more information, and a review click on this link.

Rielle Trick or Treat

Rielle Wines is treating all customers to free shipping for the month of October. No code to enter, just place your order and the shipping will be free at the check out.

Rielle Holiday Gifts

Rielle Wines is a great choice for your holiday gift giving. We have been hard at work finalizing our award winning wines and dessert sauces. We will offer gift wrapping and special prices. We can help you at a busy time and your friends and relatives will receive truly unique, hand crafted gourmet foods and wines that are available in limited quantities. Keep checking in with us to keep up dated on our holiday offerings.

Rielle Chardonnay Caramel Sauce Is Here!

We made a caramel sauce with our 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay! It is fantastic! So far we have had it on vanilla ice cream with strawberries and short bread cookies for dessert. My favorite is mixed with our zin chocolate sauce, chocolate and caramel is a winning combination. We are busy researching additional combos.

Rielle pouring at Oliver's Market Tasting Bar

Please come try our wines at Oliver's Market in Cotati on Friday 9/12/08, 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Oliver's carries all our wines and is our favorite grocery store. We hope to see you there!

Taste of Sonoma

We poured our two Sonoma County wines at the Taste of Sonoma tasting at the MacMurray Ranch in the Russian River Valley. It was a wonderful event to participate in, 2000 people attended and 130 wineries were pouring. I enjoyed the food from all the restaurants, bakeries etc...

The weather was beautiful, it was another amazing day in Sonoma County.

Chardonnay is coming, must get barrels ready!

The chardonnay will be here soon and we are preparing the barrels. Each barrel is soaked up with water, checked for leaks and scrubbed clean. We will be barrel fermenting the chardonnay and want to get it off to a good start.

Grape Sampling

Harvest is just around the corner. We sampled chardonnay, muscat canelli, pinot noir and zinfandel this week and they are getting close. A couple of weeks for the chard and muscat, and 4 to 6 weeks for the pinot and the zin. We went to Napa to look at potential vineyards, it was 104 degrees, too hot, enjoyed the tour and had a wonderful lunch at Bouchon in Yountville.

Bodega Seafood Art & Wine Festival

Bodega Seafood Art & Wine Festival is happening today! Rielle Wines poured yesterday and the event was packed. Many great wines and micro brews. This is a very popular festival, lots of delicious seafood, many artists: photographers, painters, sculptors. Three performing stages. The headliner yesterday was Tommy Castro, he put on a great show. Here is a video link.

We will be back today, looking forward to seeing Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88's. The weather has been beautiful, cool, not too hot. We are pouring our Rielle 2005 Sonoma County Zin, Rielle 2006 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, Rielle 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay, and Rielle 2004 Russian River Chardonnay.

Note that it is in the town of Bodega, not in Bodega Bay.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Rielle 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay

The 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay is here, and it is tasting fantastic. So far we haven't found anything it doesn't pair with.

Rielle Wines Chocolate Zinfandel Sauce

The zin chocolate sauce is here!!!! We served it over vanilla ice cream and pound cake, topped with fresh raspberries.

San Rafael Art and Wine Festival

Great event for us to participate in! We enjoyed being at the Falkirk Center in San Rafael. Brought back memories for us ex-Marinites. Pleasant music, delicious food, creative and beautiful works of art made for the perfect venue to pour our wines.

Half Zapped Wine Tasting - Heaven for Zin Fans

Half Zapped wine tasting at the Vine and Barrel wine shop in Petaluma was the place to be to taste some fantastic zinfandels! Rielle Wines poured the 2005 Sonoma County Zin which was chosen by many of the tasters as their favorite wine of the tasting. We met many local Petalumans and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Downtown Petaluma has undergone a major renovation and is a great destination point with many fine restaurants and shops.

Rielle Wines will be pouring at Half Zapped

We will be pouring our Rielle 2005 Sonoma County Zinfandel at the 2nd Annual Half Zapped Zinfandel tasting at Vine and Barrel Wine Shop in Petaluma on Saturday August 2, 2008 2:45 - 6:00.
www.vineandbarrel.com

CigarBQ Was a Big Hit!

We all had a great time at the CigarBQ last Saturday. We discovered that our 2005 Rielle Sonoma County Zinfandel is a cigar wine. The combination the zin with chocolate and our favorite cigar (stick) is the bomb. It takes you to a new height! We had a lot of fun and made many new friends. John is already talking about next year.

What a week!

We have been busy in the winery this week preparing the 2006 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay for bottling. The barrels were emptied very gently, without the use of a pump and protected from the damaging effects of oxygen at all times. Everything is ready, the foils, corks, labels and finally the glass bottles have arrived. Rielle Wines will be using a lighter weight bottle which will save fuel and other resources. The big heavy bottles are beautiful but the cost is just too much to the environment.

Rielle Wines Chocolate Zinfandel Sauce

We have been working on a very decadent addition to our product line, a chocolate sauce made with our 2005 Sonoma County Zinfandel. We hope to have it available in a few weeks. It is amazing on vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberries or strawberries.

CigarBQ

On June 14th Rielle will be participating in CigarBQ

This is one of our favorite Sonoma County events! John will be playing in the golf tournament with Brendan Malm of Malm Cellars. Should be lots of fun, great wines, food and amazing cigars!

Bottling 2006 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir

We will be bottling our 2006 Anderson Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on Monday June 9th. Bottling is a busy time for us, when all our efforts come together into our finished wines. We are really looking forward to sharing these wines, 2006 was a great vintage for Anderson Valley and the wines are well balanced and full bodied with fresh ripe flavors. Great food wines!

Newport Bay Food and Wine Festival

We spent Memorial Day weekend in southern California, making deliveries in San Diego and participating in the Newport Bay Food and Wine festival at the Balboa Bay Club. We encountered heavy rain and some snow on the Grapevine. Strange weather but it cleared the skies and the air was sweet and fresh.

The food and wine festival was an elegant affair. Lots of great wines, gourmet food and a jazz band. We had the opportunity to make many new acquaintances and see lots of old friends.

Tiburon Wine Fest was Fantastic!

This Saturday was spent at the Tiburon Wine Festival where we enjoyed fine wine, weather, and food. The event was sold out and several hundred people had the opportunity to try our wines. The chilled chardonnay was a big hit!

Chardonnay on sale!!

We just put our 2004 Russian River Valley Chardonnay on sale!! A great wine for the warm weather. We love it well chilled with an artisan cheese, like a Robiola or Humboldt Fog Chevre, complete the meal with some fresh baked bread and a salad of mixed baby greens with a drizzling of maple sherry vinaigrette. We only have about 80 cases left.

Rielle Wines will be pouring at the Tiburon Wine Fest, Sat May 17, 2008

We are participating at the Tiburon Wine Fest, we will be pouring our 2004 Russian River Chardonnay and 2005 Sonoma County Zinfandel. Looking forward to a gorgeous day in beautiful Tiburon.

FIRST ENTRY

Welcome to Rielle Wines! Join us as we chronicle our journey through the twists and turns of the wine industry.