Fidelitas Wines

2018 Red Mountain Semillon

It’s that time of year again. The days are getting longer, the temperatures are (inconsistently) warming, I can smell BBQs around the neighborhood, and white wines and roses are starting to fill my inbox. It must be time for Semillon!

This upcoming weekend marks the official release of Fidelitas’ 2018 Red Mountain Semillon. Charlie sources this fruit from Klipsun Vineyard, which is the perfect site for white wines on Red Mountain. While it gets the hot days the region is known for, this lower elevation block, also experiences cooler nighttime temps, which lets the grape take a break and retain a nice acidity. In the 2018 vintage, Charlie used a 225L French Oak egg with a small portion of the Semillon, which subtly rounds out the finished product. It’s a perfect summertime sipper, brimming with bright, fresh fruit tones.

We love this wine around my house. Pre-children, my husband and I would share a bottle on the front porch, watching people stroll by and enjoying the summer nights. We don’t have quite as many quiet moments now days, but I still love a glass on a sunny evening, cooking dinner and watching the kids tear the house apart. Here are a few of my favorite ways to enjoy Semillon:

 

P A R T Y   P O U R

Nothing kicks off a Fidelitas party quite like a long line up of pretty glasses, filled with Semillon.

On Vacation

We always pack a few bottles with us on our summer trip to Lopez Island. Semillon and fresh crab? Yes, please!

With Dinner

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. While writing the technical notes for this new release, I whipped up a quick dinner of roasted sweet potatoes, purple cabbage and edamame slaw, and coconut rice. This may have been one of my favorite pairings I’ve ever done with this wine.

On the Red Mountain Patio

This is by far the BEST way to enjoy Fidelitas’ Red Mountain Semillon. I hope everyone can make it to Red Mountain at some point to relax in an Adirondack, soak in some sunshine and views, and enjoy a glass of white wine. With friends…or on your own for a bit of quiet time (again: yes, please!).

Ready…set…GO!

With only 157 cases produced…this won’t make it til the end of the summer.

Party on the Patio

What are your plans for Memorial Day Weekend? 

Every year Fidelitas hosts BBQ + Band on everyone's favorite patio. Did you know it's supposed to be in the 80's at our home on Red Mountain this weekend? What better way to celebrate the sunshine than by enjoying some delicious BBQ by Outlaw Catering, and listening to some soulful jams by Black Dolly? Pair that with some of our 2016 The Canyons Vineyard Red Wine and your weekend really can't be beat. An insider tip...we may be featuring a special wine that isn't being released until June. Any guesses what it is? Hint: we only produced 190 cases and it's our favorite summer sipper! 

We hope to see our members and their friends this Sunday, May 26th. We'll have a glass waiting! 

Free Ship Day

Today is Free Ship Day. Actually, yesterday was also free ship day but nobody knew about it.

We prepped the days before getting everything ready for lots and lots of packing and formatted our email late in to the night Tuesday until it was just right. We fiddled with our UPS strategies making sure the promotion was set up correctly and you’d receive free shipping just like we promised. Team Fidélitas was in place ready to field calls and emails and tell you all about the amazing wines that we could send your way.

When we sat at the computer early Wednesday morning and tried to send the email, unfortunately, we ran into technical difficulties. Of course, this happens on Free Ship Day! The posts were already out on social media so we thought that would be good enough and we worked all day with the amazing support team at WineDirect to get our emails back on track and try the email again Thursday. It turns out that the Facebook and Instagram algorithm didn’t like our posts because it included text on the image. We got only 20 likes (shout out to you 20 people!). 

Yesterday, technology was not on our side. The cool thing about it was the amazing people who worked together to resolve the issues and get us back on track today. Did you know that our small team sees every single order that comes in and, quite literally, does a little happy dance every time? Free Ship Day is more than a promotion to us. It’s a day when we get to send a little piece of Red Mountain out to all of our friends. We pack each box in house, by hand, with care obsessing over every detail.

Some days these are the tales of being a small business. We are so excited that today is (finally) Free Ship Day. We hope we get to send a piece of Red Mountain to you.

Order 6+ bottles by midnight tonight for complimentary ground or $25 2-Day Air.

5 Things I Learned from Chuck at the Leadership Summit

This past Tuesday the entire Fidelitas management team met for our First Annual Leadership Summit to plan our attack for the rest of the year + set our big long-term goals.  As is custom at these type of meetings we pepper my dad with questions about Fidelitas history, vineyard philosophy, his career, etc... Every time I hear him talk I learn new things and I'm reminded of things that I haven't heard in a while.  Here's my top 5:

1. The original 400 cases of the Fidelitas Meritage had "Fidelis" printed on the corks which was the original name of the winery before we got a cease and desist letter from Safeway re: a "Fidelis" liquor brand that was in their posession.  Does anyone have any of the original Fidelis brandy that they're willing to share? 

Pictures borrowed from Great Northwest Wine

2.  Although his first "official" vintage in Washington was in 1989 at Snoqualmie-Langguth working under Mike Januik the first ever Washington wine that my dad made was a 1983 Riesling from a vineyard just outside Pasco, WA made in my grandfather's, his father-in-law's kitchen.  His name, Daniel Fidelis O'Neil.

A young Daniel Fidelis O'Neil picture in the Seattle Times

3. He got hired on at 3 Rivers in 1999 as their first winemaker with the agreement that he'd be able to start his own wine label.  He spent the 2001 & 2001 harvests there commuting from Tri-Cities everyday.

4. In 1993 he was hired as the head Red Winemaker at Chateau Ste. Michelle after focusing on their white wine making from 1990 to 1992.  His first task was to manage the Canoe Ridge facility which was the first, modern, large-scale red wine-making facility in Washington state.  He said from 1993-1998 so much was getting thrown at him that he was able to learn massive amounts in such a short period of time all while at the forefront of red winemaking in the state.

A bottle of 1993 Ste Michelle Cab that we were able to enjoy recently courtesy of Compass Wines. We were amazed at how well this wine was holding up, Mike Januik wasn't lying!

5.  His first job in the wine industry was in 1985-86 as a lab tech at Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma while studying at UC Davis.