Fidelitas Wines

What makes Red Mountain Unique?

Fidelitas is all in on Red Mountain.  We are dedicated to producing the highest quality, Bordeaux-styled wines from the smallest growing region in Washington state.

Why the specific focus?  While we know that exceptional wines can come from every region in Washington, we also know that there are certain geographical features about Red Mountain that make it truly one of the best growing regions in the world:

A SOUTHWESTERN FACING SLOPE

The southwest slope of the Red Mountain AVA provides the vineyards in the region with a directional aspect to the sun that is ideal for prolonged sunlight exposure and warmth. These highly desirable conditions allow for a ripeness in tannins that is recognized as a primary characteristic of Red Mountain fruit.

 

WARM SUMMERS AND WINTERS

Red Mountain experiences more growing degree days than any other region in the state. The high latitude (N 46*) and topography contribute temperature swings experienced during the growing season, with daytime temperatures averaging 90 °F and night time temperatures dropping below 50 °F. These heat accumulation days create ideal temperatures for highly marketable grapes, exhibiting ripeness and concentration. The cooler evenings help to retain acidity levels which allows for the exceptional balance and structure found in Red Mountain grapes, and the wines crafted from them.

 

LOW RAINFALL

Red Mountain gathers less than 8 inches of rain per year, requiring irrigation in the vineyards. The use of drip irrigation provides ideal grape growing conditions through canopy management. Additionally, Red Mountain vines experience dramatically lower mold and mildew pressure compared to most other vineyard regions.

 

SMALLEST AVA IN WASHINGTON STATE

Red Mountain is the smallest recognized American Viticultural Area in Washington State, with 4040 acres. Of that,  about 2700 acres have been determined plantable, and only 1700 is currently under vine. Red Mountain is defined by natural borders, with the ridge of the mountain to the north and the Yakima River to the west. Red Mountain resembles a growing region more like the Old World, where one can see each block of each vineyard from a single vantage point.

 

AVA SPECIFIC SOILS

The predominate soils of Red Mountain are not found anywhere else in the state.  Wind blown Loess (Warden, Hezel, and Scooteney) were brought in by pre-historic floods. The high alkalinity and calcium carbonate content of the soil, along with its granular consistency, allows for each vine to form a well-established root system. In soils with this composition, root systems are able to reach deep to obtain the necessary nutrients and moisture.

 

CONSISTENT WINDS

The prevailing winds come out of the Southwest and are notable for their frequency and velocity. The regular gusts of warm air flow through the AVA’s vineyards during the growing season, keeping the grape clusters small and concentrating the flavors of the fruit - which contributes to their richness and intensity.

Fidelitas is Faithful, Loyal, and True

This is a post from last year (add a year to the marriage ticker).  However, as we come in to the season of love and fidelity, it seems like a wonderful time to share the story of Fidelitas once again.  May your Februarys be full of someone who is faithful, loyal, and true, tasty wines, and a few paper hearts.

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FAITHFUL, LOYAL, TRUE. 

Where do these words come from?

Translated from Latin, Fidelitas means faithful, loyal, and true.  Think about the word fidelity and it starts to make sense.  Ponder our logo, realize the circle is not an O, it’s a ring or circle of fidelity, and it makes a bit more sense.  Know Charlie Hoppes and it all comes together.

Charlie and his wife, Terri, have been married for 33 years.  They started their family as Charlie started his winemaking career.  When they launched their own family winery in 2000, Charlie looked to Terri’s family for the name, settling on Fidelis (extended to Fidelitas).  Like his winemaking style, Charlie’s approach to life is simple and pure.  Honor those who are important to you, respect everyone, and don’t sweat the small stuff.  Knowing him is knowing what it is to be faithful, loyal, and true.

Charlie, Terri, and their first daughter, Emily. Photo taken within the year Charlie first discovered Red Mountain fruit.

I don’t say all of these nice thing about my boss because my annual review is coming up, but because these 3 words have truly permeated all aspects of our business.  We are faithful to grape varieties from the Bordeaux region of France (with a particular soft spot for Cabernet Sauvignon), loyal to modern craft winemaking techniques, and true to Red Mountain’s unique terroir.  My team here aims to show everyone how they are faithful, loyal, and true through the relationships we have with visitors, members, and one another.

Each February, we celebrate the region we call home: Red Mountain.  We host special tastings of our Red Mountain wines, and offer our customers the chance to stock up on some truly special releases. We hope that you’ll join us in the tasting rooms, or bring some Red Mountain in to your home so you can celebrate being faithful, loyal, and true along with us.

3 Reasons to Keep a Case of Wine in Your Car

Full disclosure...this is a post from years past.  But, still relevant, so sharing again!

 

‘Tis the Season of last minute gift grabbing: heading to someone’s house, a party, or an appointment, and wanting to give something better than a regift from last year.  Keep a case of easy drinkers and pretty tissue handy all season long so you never show up empty handed.*

1 – Hostess Gifts

Perhaps the most obvious, but for a reason!  People work hard to throw a party at their home and always appreciate the acknowledgement of a gift.  And – if you call it a hostess gift instead of a bar contribution, they feel like they get to keep that special bottle to themselves.

2 – Family Gatherings…

…are always better with a little wine.  Don’t trust Uncle Jack to have enough supply to keep everyone going through the course of a family get together.  Bring a bottle of your own to make sure there is enough for the duration!

3 – Everyone ‘else’ on your List

I was getting my hair done 2 weeks before Christmas last year and someone popped in to give my stylist a bottle of wine.  There I was, a winery employee, and totally empty handed.  A nice bottle can go a long way for the people with whom you have a great relationship, but maybe didn’t make the major mall shopping list.

*Note: in no way am I suggesting that these wines should be consumed in your car, which is illegal.  If you think you might be tempted, keep the corkscrew at home.  Also, be careful about the weather!  Wines left outside overnight when the temps drop could freeze, and that is really sad.

Harvest 2016

Charlie and I attended the Auction of Washington Wines back in late August.  In the midst of the nervous and excited attendees and bidders, was an even more nervous and excited group of individuals: the Washington winemakers.  Cell phones in hand, they were arranging trucking, and cellar space, and barrels for the first of the crop to arrive.  Not even a full week later, we had Sauvignon Blanc from Klipsun Vineyard in the cellar.  Harvest 2016 was fast and furious, and providing high yields of quality fruit, and now that we’re on the other side, we might even consider it fun.

August 24, 2016: Sauvignon Blanc is picked from Klipsun Vineyard. We love the lower elevation and proximity of this vineyard site, which helps to maintain crisp acidity in a warm growing region. This vintage, the Sauvignon Blanc is being aged in French oak barrels specifically designed for Bordeaux-style white wines.

August 29, 2016: by the end of August, we had brought in Merlot from Quintessence Vineyard and Red Heaven Vineyard.  Charlie even sourced a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon from some specific sites before Labor Day.

September 10, 2016: Quintessence Vineyard Merlot gets some time in our open top wood fermenters.  Charlie keeps me on my toes, trying new methods each year. “It’s possible our best wines are still yet to come,” he tells me from time to time. We’ll see, Charlie.

September 10, 2016: We host 50 of our closest friends in the Fidelitas Estate Dinner.  Probably one of the most lovely evenings I’ve spent on Red Mountain.

September 13, 2016: In some ways, I wish I could just share screen shots of my texts with Charlie during harvest.  After he sent me this picture, I ask “Oh! Is the cellar full?”  His reply (an hour later) “It’s been full. Second round on all the tanks.” Sorry for asking, Charlie.  Keep up the good work.

September 16, 2016: Cabernet Sauvignon, Clone 169, is picked in Quintessence Vineyard.  Charlie, feeling funny, tells me that Brown Mountain can be seen in the distance.

Sunday, September 25, 2016: “These fermenters don’t know it’s 6AM on a Sunday,” Charlie texts me…at 6:11AM on a Sunday.

 

October 1, 2016: Cabernet Sauvignon is picked in Ciel du Cheval Vineyard.  These are some of the most established vines in the Red Mountain AVA

October 4, 2016: Cabernet Sauvignon is picked from our own Estate Vineyard.  This is several weeks later than last year, and nearly 5 weeks later than the first Cabernet to come off of Red Mountain. People question me on how such a small AVA can produce different fruit.  Well, if it ripens 5 weeks apart from each other, that is a huge indicator. Slope, aspect, elevation, and so many other factors are going to have a giant impact on the final profile of the wine.

October 22, 2016: We kick up our heels with the Harvest Party. The fruit is off the vines, and most of it is tucked away in the barrels where it will spend the next couple of years.  Tacos and red wine are enjoyed by all!

Until next year!

Red Mountain Cabernet Summit

Earlier this month, the Red Mountain AVA Alliance hosted a group of trade personnel from around the country for a Cabernet Summit.  The purpose was to show these wine professionals what makes Red Mountain unique as a wine grape growing region.  I was lucky enough to tag along for most of the 3-day adventure, as I had the role of ‘van driver’ for much of the time, toting our guests of honor around the Mountain.

Fidelitas' Bagel Bar

The Summit was a blend of activities: a geology lecture, tastings led by a Master Sommelier (who I knew from my old ISG days!), vineyard tours, winery visits, and amazing meals with paired wines.  Through all of this, there were a few key points that stuck out to me.  Maybe they are different than what our visitors took home, but they are the ones I am choosing to share today.

1 – Red Mountain is our home.  And home to a lot of other great people.

I pulled up to dinner #1 – my favorite tacos on the patio of Kiona – after a grueling 6.5 hour drive from Seattle to Red Mountain (more than 2x the normal drive time).  Everyone was sitting in the evening sunshine, enjoying the most amazing tacos, drinking awesome Red Mountain Cabernet, catching up on wedding plans (congrats Kasee and Mitch!), kids’ activities, winery parties, and how to get Uber into the Tri-Cities.  Being just 4,040 acres, this is a tight knit community where everyone is excited to see one another and truly cares about each other’s lives and well-being.  That terrible drive was quickly forgotten.

2 – We may be young, but we have staying power, and bring a competitive edge to international brands.

We hosted two seated tastings during the Summit.  The first focused on the ageability of Red Mountain, while the second was a blind tasting where participants compared Red Mountain Cabernets to the same varietal from around the world. 

We determined that Red Mountain has the stuff to create a highly ageable wine.  Good tannin structure, bright acidity, and balanced fruit all come from the specific weather trends, soil types, and terroir that is specific to Red Mountain.  It’s up to the winemaker then to create a wine to last.  The Hedges 1993 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon was surely hanging on, and tasted great in a line-up of younger and much younger wines. 

When compared to the rest of the world, Red Mountain did have some unique characteristics that set our wines apart from those around the globe.  Tasting four Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignons blind, and mixed with Cabernet from Italy, Bordeaux, Australia, and Napa, we found that Red Mountain showed brighter and fuller fruit, depth balanced with acidity, and less of the pyrazines (green tones) than its cousins from other growing regions.

3 – Every vineyard has its own story, and winemakers love the variety within the AVA.

“Some of these vines are as big as a maple tree,” Scott Williams told us, as we stood in the Old Block of the Kiona Vineyard.  These are some of the most established vines on Red Mountain, and while maybe not quite the size of a maple tree, they are far larger and taller than anything else we toured.  Self-regulating and lovely, this block provides the fruit for Kiona’s OLD BLOCK, which Charlie pegged as one of his favorites in the Red Mountain vs. the World tasting.

Far on the other side of AVA, we stood in Quintessence Vineyard, which began planting in 2010, and continues to be developed today.  Managed by veteran Washington grower, Marshall Edwards, Quintessence is trying new clones, new planting styles, and producing some quality fruit for a number of Washington labels.  We tried 4 different winery’s Cabernet from Quintessence Vineyard and each was truly different from the others.

Charlie, Brian, and Marshall discuss the clones of Quintessence.

These are both vineyards that Fidelitas sources fruit from, in addition to 7 other vineyards around the Mountain.  That is a lot from such a small growing region, but Charlie would call it his spice box from which he pulls all the key components to making a strong line up of Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon.

Tasting wine and touring vineyards all day can really take it out of you.

Just this morning, I listened to feedback from those who visited us during the Cabernet Summit.  We had folks from Kansas, and Chicago, and California, who all said that this trip taught them that Red Mountain really is a great, unique growing region, and that they cannot wait to share it with those around them.

 

Summertime Wines: Klipsun Semillon + The Canyons Vineyard

This June, we are releasing a special set of wines, and with the temperatures (already!) so warm, I cannot imagine a better duo for the season.  Around my house, we’ve already hosted backyard dinners, utilized the kiddie pool, and picked raspberries a full month before usual.  This weather has me craving white wines that are crisp and refreshing, and reds full of flavor and concentration for those steaks from the grill.  Before we get to enjoying, however, we have been learning about why these are such fun additions to the Fidelitas line up.

To start – we have the 2015 Klipsun Vineyard Semillon.  This is our 3rd vintage of white wines from Klipsun Vineyard, with each selling faster than the previous vintage.  In the Fidelitas line up, we make just two dry white wines, using Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, as these are two of the white wine varietals that would be found in the Bordeaux region of France.  White grapes make up less than 5% off the total crop on Red Mountain, and being one of the hottest regions in the state, we think it is quite the feat to produce a quality white wine from this notorious red wine region.

Klipsun Vineyard gives us all the fruit we need for our whites.  Not only is it one of the lowest elevation vineyards in the small, sloped, AVA, it is one of the most established and has excellent cooling winds from the Yakima River.  Charlie told me: “older vines like this are sort of self-regulating. They produce the right yield and crop, we just have to know when to pick.”  In the hottest vintage on record, picking earlier than usual (like my raspberries) was the key.  This wine has me dreaming of buffalo mozzarella and peaches.

Our next release comes from a brand new vineyard for us.  The Canyons Vineyard lies along the western border of the AVA, just north of Klipsun.  The name comes from the deep ravines within the vineyard, that funnel air up from the river below.  Currently, Fidelitas is sourcing Cabernet Sauvignon (clones 4, 6, and 21) from blocks planted in 2009 and not too far from our own Fidelitas Estate Vineyard, so Charlie is watching these vines with great interest as our own site develops.  In addition, we are pulling a unique clone of Malbec, clone 9, from one the blocks that dips way down in to one of the vineyard’s ravines. (side note: last summer, I drove the staff through this block in a rented SUV. They were all quite nervous, but we’re here today to tell the story.)

2013 The Canyons Vineyard Red Wine is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 17% Malbec.  In my house, it’ll be our go to for summer grilling and casual nights with friends.  It’s approachable, fruit forward, and great with food.  Following my fancy buffalo mozzarella salad, I’m going to do some nice burgers with Skillet’s bacon jam (make sure to try it at Summer in the City!) and settle in to my summer evening with this red blend.

Cheers to you all.  I hope your summer is full of great wine and friends.

If you haven't already, check out everyvine.com. Cool stuff. This shot shows the steep canyons cutting through the middle of the vineyard. Our Malbec clock is in orange. The Cabernet Sauvignon is the dark green in the lower right. The Fidelitas Estate Vineyard is just beyond that, to the southeast.

Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon. "The Winemakers Clone", planted about 400 yards from the Clone 6 in our 2015 Estate planting.

And they didn't trust me to drive on these roads...  Malbec in Block 11, tipping into one of the canyons. Charlie says, "check out that slope!"

View of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon from the north blocks of Merlot.

 

 

Designed with the Club in Mind

I recently sat down with my staff to think about the real benefits of being a Club member, beyond just what we print in the Club brochure.  Every member of Team Fidelitas contributed their ideas, and we came up with over 2 pages of notes.  From that exercise, one of the items that stuck out to me most is that we truly make wines just for Club members.

Now – that is an easy thing to say for some.  “Club-exclusive” is a common thing to see at wineries.  However, I realized that it is so much more than that at Fidelitas.  One of part of my job is to work with Charlie and design how our releases will look up to 3 years in advance.  Already, we are talking about which wines we want to make from grapes that will be harvested this upcoming fall.  That means, we are having discussions about how much fruit to buy 5 months from now to make a wine that won’t be released until 3 years from now.  We are looking at spreadsheets, and forecasts, and weather patterns, just to determine what wines we’ll make for just our Club members.  This isn’t an after the fact decision.  Your Club allocation is truly chosen by Charlie 3 years before you will take it home.  Over the course of those 3 years, Charlie is ensuring that wine in your allocation is “one of the best we’ve ever made” (one of our favorite Charlie-isms).

Our 2013 Red Heaven Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is exactly one of those wines.  We make this wine in exceptional vintages, where the fruit is just perfect to make a vineyard designated wine.  After much fussing, we settled on making just 96 cases - not even enough to include in a Club shipment, but still special enough to make sure that it is a Club only wine.  Designed, starting in spring of 2013, with the Club in mind.  

Charlie, walking the vines in Red Heaven Vineyard.

Optu: the Wine that Started it All

From Jess: this is a repost from last February. However, as we are entering Taste Washington Wine Month and releasing our 14th vintage of Optu Red, I felt like it was worth sharing again.

Last fall I heard Kathleen in the tasting room introduce the Optu Red Mountain as "the wine that started it all." I love that phrase because it really does stand for everything that is Optu and Fidelitas. A product that has grown with Charlie as a winemaker and Fidelitas as a Red Mountain focused winery, while always representing the best fruit and vineyards in a given vintage.

Each year at Taste Washington, we feature the Optu Red Mountain, and it never fails to delight all that visit our table on that busy weekend. We hope to see you there to taste the newest addition to the legacy of the wine that started it all.

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I came to work with Fidelitas in 2008, just as we were releasing the 2005 vintage reds.  The tasting room on Red Mountain had been open for a year, but everyone had their stories of where they had experienced Fidelitas before then.  For me, I first met Charlie at Canon de Sol (years before starting with Fidelitas), and then again in the Sandhill building.  At one point in time, I was lucky enough to get a tour of Red Mountain with Charlie before so many of the great vineyards of today were even planted.

I’ve noticed that most stories have Optu woven in somewhere.  My aunt recalls when she ordered some wine as a gift and Charlie delivered the case of 2002 Optu Red Wine to her door, case perched on his shoulder.  The 2005 and 2006 vintages were very popular in distribution and so we picked up several new Fidelitas fans who had the wine at their favorite wine bar.  This is the wine that has been with us from the beginning, representing our optimum blend of vineyards and varietals from each vintage.

And so now, a brief history of our signature blend, which started as Meritage, became Optu Red Wine, and now represents the region we call home as Optu Red Mountain.  Optu first debuted in the 2000 vintage, and is now being released in its 13th variation as the Fidelitas 2012 Optu Red Mountain.

The 2000 Fidelitas Meritage debuted as a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot.  Our first vintage was limited to just 375 cases of this one wine.  We kept the Meritage name and this bottle through the 2001 vintage (a blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Malbec) and gave the wine a friend with the addition of Columbia Valley Syrah.

2002 is perhaps our most exciting vintage by packaging standards, and the origin of the name OPTU.  I also happen to LOVE this vintage and was lucky enough to hoard some for several years.  A blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 9% Malbec.  I believe that this is the first wine we included some Red Mountain fruit in, with 10% of the make up coming from Red Mountain Vineyard.  We bumped the line up to a total of 6 products in this vintage, most notably with the introduction of Champoux Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.

By 2003, we came up with a design for the bottle that has stuck with us through the 2013 white wines.  This is a great time for a shout out to our tireless designer, Joe Farmer of Whizbang Studio.  He does awesome work and is a truly nice guy.  Back to the wine…2003 Optu Red Wine is comprised of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc.  We basically exploded to 9 products in this vintage with the addition of 2 white wines: the Columbia Valley Semillon and Elerding Chardonnay!

2004 sticks out in my mind as one of my favorites during the 10 Vintages of Optu dinner (also known as the flying salad dinner).  53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 10% Malbec, 7% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec…our first blend using all 5 Bordeaux varietals.

In 2005 we introduced the linebacker bottles.  Big shoulders, heavier than anything, and could only fit in 6-packs.  It seemed like a fun idea until people complained about the bottles not fitting in their cellars.  This only lasted us through 2 vintages… 2005 Optu is still showing fabulously now (as evidenced by my 05 Party), as a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Merlot.  In this vintage, we also debuted our first Red Mountain dedicated wine, the 2005 Red Mountain Merlot, and created the Boushey Red Wine as a tribute to Dick Boushey’s 25Th anniversary.

In 2006, Optu was made up of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 9% Cabernet Franc.  My fondest memory from this vintage was Charlie saying…"sure, you can lay them down, but why? They’re great now!”  We also introduced Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon in this vintage.

2007 brought another packaging change for some of our wines, thinner bottles, and one of Charlie’s favorite vintages.  07 Optu showcased 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 9% Malbec, and 6% Petit Verdot.  We were at 15 products by this point in time with the addition of Red Mountain Red Wine, Red Mountain Merlot, and Red Mountain Cabernet Franc.  We also gave Charlie the challenge of focusing just on Bordeaux varietals, and so Syrah fell away from the line up after 2006.  2008 stayed in the same bottled with 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Malbec.  2009 also got to stick in the same bottle (that’s a record!) and is made up of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Malbec.  This still stands out as one of my favorite vintages and I am squirrling away as many bottles as possible.

2010 was a turning point for Fidelitas, and for Optu.  In this vintage, we released the Optu Red Mountain…a blend dedicated just to the region we call home.  Still a blend, this vintage also favored Merlot with 53%, then 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot.  Love this wine.  We got to keep the Merlot dominance in the 2011 vintage of Optu Red Mountain with a blend of 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and16% Cabernet Franc.  This vintage sold out in about 2 months.  Lucky for those in the Wine Club!

And so now, we end with the current release, our 13th vintage of what is now known as Optu Red Mountain.  A big, bold wine at this point in time, that is worthy of time in the cellar for sure as a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot.  By this point in time, we have 18 red wines and 2 white wines: all Bordeaux-varietals, and 90% Red Mountain grown with the exception of some lasting vineyard relationships that are too good to pass up.

 

This blog post took me way longer to compose than I intended, but I think it’s because I truly do feel a connection to Optu.  It was fun to go back through the vintages and remember different times that I’ve had the wines myself.  If anyone has an Optu memory to add, I’d love to hear it.

 

To be Faithful, Loyal, and True

FAITHFUL, LOYAL, TRUE. 

Where do these words come from?

Translated from Latin, Fidelitas means faithful, loyal, and true.  Think about the word fidelity and it starts to make sense.  Ponder our logo, realize the circle is not an O, it’s a ring or circle of fidelity, and it makes a bit more sense.  Know Charlie Hoppes and it all comes together.

Charlie and his wife, Terri, have been married for 33 years.  They started their family as Charlie started his winemaking career.  When they launched their own family winery in 2000, Charlie looked to Terri’s family for the name, settling on Fidelis (extended to Fidelitas).  Like his winemaking style, Charlie’s approach to life is simple and pure.  Honor those who are important to you, respect everyone, and don’t sweat the small stuff.  Knowing him is knowing what it is to be faithful, loyal, and true.

Charlie, Terri, and their first daughter, Emily. Photo taken within the year Charlie first discovered Red Mountain fruit.

I don’t say all of these nice thing about my boss because my annual review is coming up, but because these 3 words have truly permeated all aspects of our business.  We are faithful to grape varieties from the Bordeaux region of France (with a particular soft spot for Cabernet Sauvignon), loyal to modern craft winemaking techniques, and true to Red Mountain’s unique terroir.  My team here aims to show everyone how they are faithful, loyal, and true through the relationships we have with visitors, members, and one another.

Each February, we celebrate the region we call home: Red Mountain.  We host special tastings of our Red Mountain wines, and offer our customers the chance to stock up on some truly special releases. We hope that you’ll join us in the tasting rooms, or bring some Red Mountain in to your home so you can celebrate being faithful, loyal, and true along with us.

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Celebrate in the tasting rooms!

Join us Valentine’s Day weekend (February 13 + 14) for special Red Mountain wine flights and sweet treats. DETAILS

Club Members are invited to join us February 20 + 21 during our Release Weekend with a tasting of the new Optu Red Mountain and Red Mountain Merlot, along with a few nibbles. Please note: Woodinville will be open to Members ONLY both Saturday and Sunday. Red Mountain will be open for all visitors with a designated Club area. DETAILS

Celebrate with your Sweetheart!

Order 2012 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, as we spotlight one of our staff favorites at a very special price. Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon is a wine we make each year to feature the unique characteristics of Cabernet from the Red Mountain AVA, using Clone 8 Cabernet from top Red Mountain vineyards. Toast your true love with Red Mountain Cabernet and we’ll toss in a couple truffles for you to enjoy as well.

Order by February 7th to have 2-Day Air shipping included in the price of a 6-bottle purchase.

Keeping it Simple

During my workout this morning, the class instructor announced that she had some (a bottle) of champagne the night before. While I admired her for being so honest with us, it also made me realize that the indulgences of the holidays really do get to all of us (even those who teach fitness classes for a living rather than peddling wine, like me).

I love food. I love looking at pictures of it, dreaming about making the most complex of dishes, planning the menus, pairing the wines, and even going to the grocery store. While the food magazines and websites will tell us that this is the time of year to pull out all the stops, it’s not.  They are wrong.

This is the time of year to slow it down. Pick simple, comforting, and beautiful dishes that are easy to execute, because we all know that at the same time we are wrapping gifts, wrangling sugar/gift crazed children, and zipping between holiday parties.

Here is a round up of things that caught my eye to make between now and 2016:

Simple appetizers with limited ingredients

Renee Erickson’s Sauteed Dates (via Food 52, even though Renee’s a hometown here) 

Baked Camembert with Pepper Jelly: just throw a little wheel in a cast iron, bake it, add some hot pepper jam (this one is amazing) on it towards the end and serve with baguette…so easy!

Roasted Chickpeas

my picks for appetizer wines: Klipsun Optu White and Ciel du Cheval Red Wine

 

Entrees that can be made in advance but are still impressive at the table

Smitten Kitchen’s Baked Orzo with Eggplant

Ina Garten’s Steak with Bernaise (amazing with Quintessence Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon)

Harissa Stew for something hearty yet not so rich

my picks for impressive dinner time wines: Fidelitas Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and Optu Red Mountain

 

Finally, I cannot bake to save my life by these Ambrosia Macaroons are soooo easy (my 2-year old pretty much made them), were fan favorites at the Holiday Party, and are exceptional with Late Harvest Semillon.

Cheers!