How Red Wine May Shield Brain from Stroke Damage: Researchers Discover Pathway in Mice for Resveratrol's Apparent Protective Effect

ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2010) — Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have discovered the way in which red wine consumption may protect the brain from damage following a stroke. Click on this link for the rest of the article

HR 5034: An Analysis April 22, 2010 by David Honig

Link to palate press: http://palatepress.com/2010/04/hr-5034-an-analysis/

This is a very well written analysis of HR 5034!!!

5 questions for Robert Parker

This blog entry by Steve Heimoff is a very informative discussion of wine reviews. It discusses how wines are reviewed: blind or open and shows how the wine industry is pressured by the reviewers scores. When a reviewer tastes with the winemaker at the winery and subsequently reviews the wine it is not an objective review at all. An objective review is performed blind (the reviewer doesn't know who produced the wine). Make sure you know how the review was performed and whether or not the reviewer purchased the wine or if it was given to them by the winery.

Here is the link: http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2010/04/22/5-questions-for-robert-parker/

Be sure to read the comments.

It is critical that wine reviews are performed blind in a controlled environment with purchased samples. This produces an unbiased evaluation of the wine.

As a winemaker I hold monthly tastings where we taste our wines along with others we have purchased in order to get a feel for the marketplace and our position in it. We do everything we can to keep it blind and unbiased, otherwise it is a pointless exercise.

Care Enough to Kill HR 5034?

Care about wine? Care about your local small farmers and vineyards? Please contact your member of Congress and express your opposition to House Bill HR 5034: The Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act of 2010. At best, this is junk law; at worst it’s an end-run around the direct shipping movement. Wine Spectator states, “The battle over whether consumers can order wine directly from wineries is moving to the halls of the U.S. Capitol. Members of Congress yesterday introduced a bill (HR 5034) that could end direct shipping of wine and other forms of alcohol in the United States, or at least put major roadblocks in front of lawsuits by consumers and wineries trying to reduce restrictions on direct shipping.”

If you don’t know who your Representative is, click here to get the address and phone number of your member of Congress. If you want to send an email, check their individual website. (And if you’re not registered to vote, now’s a great time to contact the Registar of Voters to sign up. If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch. Just sayin’.) Make a Wine Harlot happy. Care enough to get friendly with your Congressman this week.

http://wineharlots.com/wordpress/?p=3927

Stop HR 5034 The Anti Consumer Wine Bill

House Resolution 5034 is by far the most audacious attempt ever by America's beer, wine and spirit wholesalers to takeover complete and total control of the country's alcohol beverage market and, in the process, create circumstances in all fifty states that assure consumers only have access to the slim number of wines to which wholesalers decide consumers ought to have access. But perhaps most sinister is the fact that if H.R. 5034 passes, it will put out of business an entire swath of America's artisan wineries.

http://fermentation.typepad.com/fermentation/2010/04/stop-hr-5034the-anticonsumer-wine-bill.html

An End to Wine Direct Shipping???

Wholesalers and states convince Congress to consider new legislation to prevent direct-shipping lawsuits in a campaign to protect the three-tier system

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/42526

Rielle Event Calendar

Click on this link for the links to the following events:



Fri Apr 23, 2010
5pm - 7pm Sheraton Petaluma

Sat May 1, 2010
Angel Island Wine Fest

Sat May 15, 2010
Tiburon Wine Fest

Sat Jun 5, 2010 –Sunday June 6, 2010
Infineon Raceway Historic Motorsports Festival

Thu Jun 10, 2010 – Sat June 12, 2010
Monterey Wine Festival

Sat Jun 19, 2010
CigarBQ

Sun Jun 27, 2010
Mill Valley Food and Wine Festival

Rielle at Petaluma Sheraton

Rielle to pour at Petaluma Sheraton, Friday 4/23/10, 5-7

Rielle New Bottlings

Rielle just finished bottling our 2008 Sonoma County Zinfandel and Chardonnay. We will be releasing these wines soon. Sign up on our mailing list to be notified when they are available.

Rielle Wines Pouring at Petaluma Sheraton 3/5/10 & 3/12/10

Rielle will be pouring at the Petaluma Sheraton friday 3/5 from 5:00 to 7:00pm and friday 3/12 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Petaluma Sheraton Website

745 Baywood Drive
Petaluma, CA 94954
(707) 283-2888

Come try our wines, we will be pouring:

Rielle 2007 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay

Rielle 2007 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

Rielle 2006 Sonoma County Red Wine, a blend of cab sauv and syrah

Rielle Wines Pouring at Pacific Orchid Expo Gala Nite 2/26/10

It is time to escape and enjoy an evening of beauty and fun. For the first time, the Gala Benefit will take place on Friday night. This prestigious fundraiser will provide a valuable chance for participants to view and purchase award winning orchids from 50 national and international nurseries and hybridists. This glorious evening celebrates the mission of the San Francisco Orchid Society and their efforts to enrich the public through Orchids and Orchid cultivation. Monies raised at the Gala go to theConservatory of Flowers, the Helen Crocker Russell Horticultural Library, and a scholarship for a horticultural student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Click on this link for more information.

Are Wine Spectator reviews biased towards advertising wineries?

.....The implication is thatWine Spectator ratings of advertisers’ wines are approximately one point higher than their ratings of comparable wines from non-advertisers.” .......

For the text of the blog and link to original research click on this link.

Larger wineries pay for advertising and get higher scores which result in higher prices and much higher revenues?

How do smaller wineries compete, or even get their wines tasted?

Grape growers face restrictions on stream-water use

A showdown is looming between grape growers and the agency tasked with protecting fish in the Russian River.

Russian River grape growers are collecting data to counter a nearing state decision on how to protect endangered fish from the impacts of water pumping for frost protection. Click on this link for the rest of the article.

Rielle at Petaluma Sheraton

Rielle wines will be pouring at the Petaluma Sheraton on Friday November 27th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. We will be offering special holiday prices, especially on case purchases. We will also be taking orders for our gift packages.

We will be pouring at the Petaluma Sheraton every Friday through the end of the year.

Rielle Wines Thanksgiving Savings and Menu

Rielle Thanksgiving Food and Wine Pairing Dinner Menu 2009


Enter Coupon Code 8011 for 25% off website orders or call 707-849-7359 to place your order. We are looking forward to sharing our wines with you this holiday season!

All Recipes for dishes listed below are on our Website www.riellewines.com


STARTERS
•Rielle 2007 Ritchie Vineyard Russian River Valley Chardonnay
•Onion Pie
•Green Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE
•Rielle 2007 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
•Rielle 2006 Sonoma County Red Wine Blend
•Juniper-Brined Roast Turkey with Chanterelle Mushroom Gravy
•Simple Stuffing
•Bacon Smashed Potatoes
•Brussel Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots
•Carrots with Sage and Thyme
•Cranberry Tangerine Conserve


DESSERTS
•Salt Roasted Pears with Rielle Chardonnay Caramel Sauce
•Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
•Apple Tart with Rielle Chardonnay Caramel Sauce
•Cranberry Cheesecake with Rielle Red Wine Fudge Sauce

Growers prepare for watershed moment at frost meeting

Groups rally to show they can protect vines while saving water for fish
SANTA ROSA – A coalition of farming trade groups and major winegrape growers in Mendocino and Sonoma counties plans to demonstrate the state water regulators at a meeting Wednesday that growers have made significant recent progress toward protecting fish while protecting their vines from frost, despite a new letter from federal fish wardens to the contrary. Click on this link for the rest of the article.

Rielle at Woodlands Market

Woodlands Market in Kentfield (Marin County) is now carrying Rielle Wines. The 2006 chardonnay has been flying out of the store!

Taste our new releases

Friday July 24, 2009
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Gallery Market at Union Square
222 Powell St.
San Francisco, CA
415-434-7222


Friday July 31, 2009
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Sheraton Petaluma
745 Baywood Drive
Petaluma, CA
707-283-2888

Saturday August 15, 2009
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
San Rafael Food and Wine Festival
Falkirk Cultural Center
Mission Ave, D to E Streets
San Rafael, CA
800-310-6563


Saturday and Sunday August 29 & 30, 2009
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Bodega Art, Wine and Seafood Festival
Benefitting: Bodega Volunteer Fire Dept. & Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods
Watts Ranch
16855 Bodega Hwy
Bodega, CA
707-824-8717

Wine Water Issues Simmer in California

Mendocino and Sonoma counties face restrictions; Gallo may pay penalty; vineyard will demo conservation options.....
A third consecutive dry year is heating up debate about water resources in California's North Coast vineyards; agriculture in general and the winegrape industry in particular are seeing increased official and public scrutiny of their water-use practices. A recent article in a Mendocino newspaper cast light on the controversy. Addressing "struggles with lack of water for agriculture," the Ukiah Daily Journal described a historical anomaly (or governmental misstep) that gives most of the water in the Lake Mendocino reservoir to Sonoma County, forcing Mendocino's Redwood Valley to purchase water from the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA). The article drew numerous reader comments, most of them vehemently hostile toward the grapegrowers who comprise Redwood Valley's largest industry, contributing an estimated $30 million annually to the local economy. Clic on this Link for the rest of the article

Wine Adds Five Years to Life, More Than Beer, Dutch Study Finds

Half a glass of wine a day may add five years to your life, a new study suggests. Drink beer, and you’ll live only 2 1/2 years longer.
Dutch researchers followed 1,373 men for more than four decades, noting their eating and drinking habits. Men who had about 20 grams of alcohol daily -- equivalent to a half a glass of wine -- had 2 1/2 years added to their life expectancy at age 50, compared with men who didn’t drink at all, according to the research published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Men who consumed only wine had twice as much added longevity. Click on this link for the rest of the article.