Archive for the ‘Gold Series’ Category
Thursday, July 8th, 2010

This month’s Gold Series selections come to you from Koehler Winery, which is located in the heart of Santa Barbara’s wine country. We’re featuring both a white and red this month from this winery, but since its so hot right now, we thought we’d throw a recipe at you to pair with the white wine: Koehler 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. The recipe below does not require many ingredients, a perfect “throw it together” kind of recipe, and is packed with a tasty punch! If you try it out, let us know what you think! Happy tasting and cooking!
Sweet Onion Risotto with Feta Cheese
Ingredients:
2 tsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
2 Cups Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2 (14.5 oz) cans vegetable broth
1/2 cup (2 oz.) crumbled Feta cheese, dividied
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 1 minute. Stir in rice. Add 1/2 cup broth; cook until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaning broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until each portion is nearly absorbed before adding the next (about 20 min total.)
Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 cup feta, parsely and Parmesan. Spoon into serving bowls and top with remaining Feta and pepper. Garnish with Parsley.
Posted in Food & Wine, Gold Series, Wine and Food | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
What do we love? We love wine, of course! But we also love viticulture. We love the stories that develop over a bottle of wine. We love visiting wineries. We love food and wine. We love the living, breathing qualities of wine. We love that feeling we get after a frazzling day of work and finally having the chance to plop down on the couch with a glass of wine. But what we really love, what truly makes our hearts sing, is sharing these experiences with others! Its why we do what we do – because sharing wine with others can be one of the most rewarding experiences out there, especially when what we’re sharing is a truly fabulous bottle. We’re in the business of bringing high quality wines to your door; this much is obvious from our website. But what’s not so obvious is the amount we’re willing to bend our memberships to make them something that suits your needs. Which brings us to our last love, giving you what you really want.
I’ll use the Gold Series to set an example of the kind of tweaking we can do to your membership. The Gold Series is the most popular of our five wine club memberships. It is the least expensive of the selections, but the wines are high quality and very versatile. The website explains that the standard membership consists of two highly sought after small production, California wines, sent out on a monthly basis. Generally, it is one red and one white, but sometimes two different reds. The website also offers a Red only or White only option. But, what’s not advertised are alterations to this: if it is your preference, we can make sure that we always send you one red and one white, even in the months when “two reds” is the standard mix. Or, maybe you like red wine, but only Cabernet and Merlot, and in terms of white, you want to avoid Chardonnay and Viognier? (This is all hypothetical, of course. I can’t imagine why anyone would limit himself or herself in this way, but I do understand people have their preferences, and sometimes you just know what you like!) Well, to sum it up, we can accommodate these requests as well. Perhaps location is your thing. We can send you a shipment only when we feature wines from a particular area like Napa Valley. We’ll work with you to find out your particular preferences. In months that we feature something you’d rather not receive, we can send you something from a previous month’s selection, or we can skip that month entirely, or maybe there’s something else you want to do. Fine by us!
And what if two bottles each month just isn’t enough for you? (Now, we’re speaking my language…) The website offers a four bottle membership, which is essentially two of each of the featured wines from the month. But, believe me, by no means does it have to stop there. If you’d like to have four bottles each month but want three reds and one white, we can do that. Or three whites and one red? Yes! Like to try six wines each shipment? Yep, we can do that too. There is virtually no limit to the number of bottles we send you in a month.
And here’s another thing. Moving from the topic of wine selection to frequency of shipments, the website offers monthly, every-other, or quarterly shipments. But we actually can send shipments any time and as often as you like. If you want to have shipments only in months ending in “y”, we can do that. Or, only with the months with a major holiday, we can do that, too. As often as you would like a shipment, we’ll send one your way.
Want to save a few bucks on shipping costs? How about joining a club membership on a quarterly basis, but receiving all the wines from that quarter at once? Keeping to the example of the Gold Series, you could receive the wines we featured in January, February and March all together in March (totaling 6 different wines in March), then continue on a quarterly basis from there. It will save you money on shipping, but the only downside is that you’ll have to wait two months in between shipments…
Like the look of two of our Series, but can’t decide which one to choose and joining both is going to be too much wine? How about alternating? You could join the Gold Series every other month of the year, and in the alternate months, receive one of our premium clubs, like the Platinum or Diamond Series. You could even receive the Platinum Series on a monthly basis, but in your and your partner’s birthday months, treat yourselves to our highest rated wines club membership, the Diamond Series. Don’t let us stop you…Go wild! Get creative!
What I’m trying to make obvious for you is that this is YOUR membership. Don’t let the website fool you – we are YES people and we want you to have a great experience with the wine club. If that means you want only 92+ rated wines from Monterey and Napa Valley and you want them only in the months of the year when you visit your Aunt Sadie at her home in Boulder, Colorado, well, that’s just peachy with us. We’ll send ‘em your way. Just tell Aunt Sadie to share!
Call our Customer Service phone number to customize your membership or to talk about your options for a gift: (800) 266 – 8888.
Tags: wine, wine club, wine of the month club Posted in About Gold Medal Wine Club, Diamond Series, Gold Series, International Series, Pinot Noir Series, Platinum Series, about the wines | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
 California Bruschetta
If there’s one thing I love more than wine itself, its finding (and eating) delicious food that pairs with it! One of my favorite aspects of the membership to the Gold Series is opening the Wine Press, the monthly newsletter that accompanies the shipment, and finding the recipe that Gold Medal Wine Club has selected for each bottle. I’ve had such good luck with these recipes, that now this suggestion will often dictate what dinner or horderve we’ll be having when we get the chance to open the bottle.
This weekend I’m hosting a spa party for approximately 10 guests. The party will begin at 4:30 and should only go for a few hours. Since it won’t exactly be cool yet, I’ve decided to serve white wine and light finger foods that we can snack on as we learn about giving ourselves facials.
For wine, I’ve decided on the Handley Cellars 2007 Chardonnay, a recent feature of the Gold Series. The bottle itself was awarded 6 Silver Medals from various state and international wine competitions, and its fruity quality will “pair” swimmingly well with the warm weather expected for Saturday.
For the food, I’ll serve three different nibbles, two of which I found from recent Wine Press Newsletters: Marinated Olives with Herbs and Spices (reccommended with the Handley Chardonnay) and California Bruschetta (recommended with the Castoro Pinot Grigio.) To find the third recipe, I actually went to Handley’s website and searched for their Chardonnay pairing suggestions. Here’s what I found; feel free to use this recipe yourself!
Hummus with Paprika and Whole Chickpeas
1/2 pound dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 tablespoon baking soda
6 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup sesame tahini, at room temperature, stirred thoroughly
1/4 cup lemon juice
For Garnish:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sesame tahini, at room temperature, stirred thoroughly
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
Paprika & Cumin for sprinkling
Reserved cooked chickpeas
To Prepare:
Cover dried chickpeas with 2 inches of water in a bowl, adding baking soda, refrigerate overnight. Drain and rinse. Place chickpeas and garlic into a medium saucepan, cover with 2 inches of water, bring to a boil, lower heat, and barely simmer for about 40 minutes, or until soft. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the chickpeas, and one cup of the cooking water. Peel the garlic cloves.
In a food processor, combine and puree the chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, cumin, tahini, and lemon juice until very creamy. Add some of the cooking water if needed for a smooth consistency. Taste for salt.
Garnish mixture: In a clean processor bowl, combine the lemon juice, tahini, and olive oil, plus salt if needed.
Place the hummus into a serving bowl, making a small well in the middle and pour in the garnish mixture. Sprinkle with parsley and the reserved cooked chickpeas. Sprinkle with ground cumin and paprika.
Serve with pita bread and an assortment of raw garden vegetables such as carrots, celery, radishes and broccoli.
Tags: California wines, the wine press, wine & food, wine pairing recipe, wine tasting, wines Posted in Gold Series, Uncategorized, Wine and Food | No Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Remember when you were little, and you spent all day working so hard at making that perfect gift for mom for Mother’s Day? It took hours of preparation and focused energy, which was, let’s be honest here, a bonus gift for mom that you were so happily–and quietly– working on your masterpiece… You poured your little heart and soul into it- a painting, a new ruler made from a stick, a sculpture of her favorite pet made from clay - Sometimes the end product resulted in that fateful question that helped decipher its meaning, “Oh..honey…it’s delightful! Tell me more about this ‘creation’!” But regardless of what you were making, it was always going to be awesome because it was from the heart.
I remember one Mother’s Day, my little sister and I had the brilliant idea to create a photo album full of pictures of none other than her darling little angels. We were probably 7 & 5 years old at the time. I remember thinking that we couldn’t use mere paper for the album, because that was too flimsy. We needed something sturdier that would withstand the true test of time, as we were sure this was going to be kept for centuries to come. We always had an abundance of leather around the house, as mom designed leather wallets at that time. Perfect. For hours on end we locked ourselves in the back rooms and searched through endless family photo albums, pulling out pictures that we thought she would like. After making our selections, we glued them onto the leather “sheets” of the album pages, cut from her leather inventory. We bound the pages with small strips of leather from the same source. This present was going to be the end-all of amazing gifts.
As an adult looking back, I can just about imagine the absolute shock in her eyes as she unwrapped her homemade gift to find that her most favorite family pictures and portraits had been ripped from their resting places and glued, yes glued, onto soft leather album pages, captioned with our names in silver permanent marker, just in case anyone forgot. And as a bonus, this was done in the 80’s, before the age of digital cameras, and I’m certain those were the only copies of the prints. Just for you, Mom, and we did it all by ourselves.
Now, I’m sure that like all homemade gifts that children make for their parents, she did treasure it in the special way that only mothers can. To us, her smiling face and hugs in return were satisfaction enough that we had yet again brilliantly displayed how much we loved her on Mother’s Day (even though I never saw that album ever again…)
For the safety of household family portraits everywhere, kids grow up. As an adult, my ability to put gifts together has changed with my upgrade from the “50 cents-per-household-chore” budget. But that same feeling remains – the desire to WOW mom with perfect gift that shows her that her little angel still loves her dearly. Because of this, I was delighted to see the selections that Gold Medal Wine Club is offering for Mother’s Day this year. Check them out! Choose from gift baskets, gift packs or FREE items with purchase of a membership. My favorites are the gift baskets — such attention to detail. Plus, what mom can resist a basket that’s full of goodies designed especially for her?!
Mother’s Day is May 9, just around the corner…. Give the gift of award-winning, hard-to-find wines this year, and show her how much you love her without spending six hours terrorizing the family portraits with a gluestick!
Tags: Free Gift with Purchase, Free with purchase, mother's day, Mother's Day gift, wine, wine club, wine of the month club Posted in Gold Series, Uncategorized, gifts | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Handley Cellars 2006 Pinot Noir is the most recent feature from the Gold Series. This wine is so popular and has achieved such impressive reviews, that it is now sold out at the winery, and is available in limited quantities only through Gold Medal Wine Club or various restaurants in California. What a find!
Because fine wine should be accompanied by great food, try this easy-to-make recipe as a beautiful accompaniment to your bottle:
You’ll need:
1 Pound Blue Cheese, Crumbled
1/2 Pound Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
3 Tablespoons Marsala
1/4 Cup Minced Parsley
1/2 Cup Minced Green Onion
4 Ounces Chopped Pistachio meats
Preparation:
Reserve half of the crumbled blue cheese. Combine half of the blue cheese with the butter, cream cheese, and Marsala and blend in a mixer (a food processor will work, too) until well combined. Add parsley and green onion, and mix until evenly combined. Remove from mixer and arrange on your serving plate or in your serving bowl. Sprinkle the reserved cheese crumbles to the top and serve!
Tags: Food & Wine, Handley Cellars, Pairing, wine pairing recipe, wine tasting Posted in Food & Wine, Gold Series, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
 Niels & Berit Udsen, Castor Cellars
This month’s wines from the Gold Series come to you from Castoro Cellars, one of the oldest wineries in Paso Robles. “Castoro”, the Italian word for Beaver, happens to be the childhood nickname of winery owner Niels Udsen, who together with his wife Berit, has created quite a reputation for the winery both in Paso Robles and in the greater wine community.
The “Dam Fine Wine” production began in 1983 as a weekend project; Niels made the wine and Berit would travel to various locations selling it. By the mid 80’s, however, the business became too large to handle as a part time endeavour. Back in those days, the Udsen’s didn’t own a facility or vineyards of their own, so they relied on purchasing other’s fruits and leasing facilities for their production. Out of this own necessity, they saw an opportunity in California’s Central Coast’s wine industry. “Custom crush” services were nearly nonexistent at the time, but could become very valuable for the smaller wineries like themselves. So, out of one Europress and one mobile bottling unit, their business of custom crushing began.
 Castoro's Tasting Room
As time moved on and their reputation grew, the Udsens decided they needed a central location to handle both the business of custom crushing, and their own winery’s production. So, in 1991 they purchased and renovated an abandoned winery building conveniently located on 200 acres of land. Using his extensive knowledge of the area from years of purchasing fruits from around the Central Coast, Niels slowly purchased other vineyards as they became available, expanding Castoro’s realm. From a backyard production of making wines for friends out of purchased grapes and leased facilities, Castoro has grown into what it is today: a 50,000 case production winery and 15,000-ton custom crush operation that uses its own equipment, buildings, and vineyards. What a journey!
Castoro Cellars is a progressive winery in that 75% of their vineyards are “Certified Organic” and they use sustainable viticulture practices. They specialize in Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, White Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc. They also produce, in smaller quantities available only at the tasting room, Cabernet Franc, Primitivo, Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer and Malbec. Highly respected winemaker, Tom Myers, has been with Castoro since 1990, but has been in the area producing wine since the late 70’s.
We decided to feature two exquisit wines this month from Castoro Cellars – the 2006 Zinfusion Zinfandel and 2007 Pinot Grigio. The Zinfusion is a heavily accoladed bottle, with 4 Gold Medals and 3 Silver Medalsfrom National Wine Competitions, and the legacy of this wine has garnered both Gold and Silver medals each year since the 2002 vintage. Aromas of berry creme brulee, spicy mole, barbecued meat and mint rest on the nose and give entry to a dry-yet-fruity medium body with toasted nut notes. Dusty tannins on the gentle finish yield good aging potential, yet it is dynamite now. The 2007 Pinot Grigio has already received 2 Silver Medals from international wine competitions and is one of the more popular wines in the tasting room. It is only available in the tasting room or through Gold Medal Wine Club! The deliciously crisp apple, lemon and peach aromas and flavors will pair beautifully with brie cheese and seafood dishes and will hold its own against creamy sauces.
Visit the wine store to view and purchase these wines. ENJOY!
Tags: Castoro Cellars, Custom Crush, Organic, paso robles, Sustainable Viticulture, wine Posted in Gold Series, Uncategorized, Wine Store | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Since their establishment in 1981, White Oak Vineyards of Sonoma County, California has enjoyed a reputation as one of Sonoma’s best wineries. Not because they spent marketing dollars to get the word out, but because the quality of their wines speak for themselves. Their wines have won the “Sweepstakes” at the Sonoma County Wine Festival twice. (In ‘90 and ‘06) This award is regarded as the most important wine award not only in Sonoma, but throughout California.
Recently, with the help of investors, Bill Myers (White Oak winery owner) acquired a unique parcel of land in Alexander Valley to expand the operation. The property contained some sixteen acres of old vine Zinfandel that had been planted sometime during the 1920s and now houses White Oak’s new winery and tasting room, a splendid Mediterranean-inspired villa that Bill Myers designed and built almost by hand.
The new acquisition adds to White Oak’s 325-acre ranch in Sonoma’s Russian River Region that is planted entirely in Chardonnay and that produces unusually high-caliber fruit, and 420 acres in Napa Valley that is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec and Syrah.
Myer’s goal has been to do well even in a down economy. He has accomplished his goal and attributes this to to the fact that White Oak’s wines are perceived as exceptional values in that national and international marketplace.
Gold Medal features the White Oak Vineyards & Winery’s 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2005 Syrah for the most recent Gold Series wine club selection. We consider both of these wines excellent values.
Connoisseurs’ Guide awarded this Cabernet vintage 90 points and names it a ‘best buy’. Wine & Spirits awarded the 2005 Napa Valley Syrah 90 Points. The Syrah also received a Gold Medal from the Orange County Wine Society Commercial Wine Competition and an 88 from Connoisseurs’ Guide.
Gold Medal Wine Club is also offering the 2008 Chardonnay as a special selection wine. As a brand new release, when the 2008 Russian River Valley Chardonnay is sent out for review in the coming months, we are confident it will garner both the attention and accolades to match those of its popular predecessors.
“When we started in Healdsburg, there wasn’t any money for marketing or anything. It was simply word of mouth and most of our customers were from the local area. I realized that if I could make wines that impressed these people who had a whole assortment of wines and wineries to choose from, I might just be able to make it. Over the years I have made some incredible friends and they have enjoyed some remarkable wines.”
We hope our Gold Medal Wine Club members will enjoy these wines as much as we have. As always, we have a limited amount of these wines available for sale in our wine store . Whether you are a member or not, you can order White Oak wines at discount prices (deeper discounts are available for wine club members).
Enjoy and Cheers!
Tags: cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, Gold Series, syrah, White Oak Vineyards, wine club, wine clubs, wine of the month club Posted in Gold Series | No Comments »
Monday, September 21st, 2009
The PLUS! program is an optional program for wine club members. You can elect to receive an extra bottle of premium wine with your regular monthly shipment. The wines that Gold Medal Wine Club selects for it’s PLUS! program are also award-winning, fine wines, but are usually available in smaller quantities than what we need to make the selection available to all our wine club members.
For the Gold Series, this months PLUS! selection is a CANA 2007 Proprietary Estate Red Blend. CANA, named for the city where water turned to wine, is the label for Tamayo Family Vineyards, owned by Jeff and Sarah Tamayo. Tamayo Vineyards is located in Contra Costa County, south of Napa and home to the oldest vineyards in California. CANA wines are all 100% varietals produced from European varietal blends.
The 2007 CANA blend combines Petite Sirah, Syrah, Mourvedre, Malbec, Carigagne, Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Cao and Viognier. It was awarded 92 points and a Gold Medal at the World Wine Championships for its sumptuous elegance and an engaging complexity of flavors.
This wine is still available for re-orders from our online wine store. Winery direct, the 2007 CANA is $30/bottle. Gold Medal Wine Club members can receive two bottles for just $20/each or four for $19/each.
Consider adding a PLUS! bottle to your next Gold Medal Wine Club shipment. You must be a member of one of our wine of the month clubs to take advantage of this offer.
Posted in Gold Series, PLUS! program, Wine Store | No Comments »
Monday, September 14th, 2009
The Tiera 2008 Dry Creek Valley Estate Grown Sauvignon Blanc, and Tiera 2006 Sonoma County Zinfandel are two excellent wines that have been named ‘best value’ by several wine publications. Gold Medal Wine Club is pleased to offer Tiera wines as this month’s wine of the month club selection.
Tiera Winery, located in the Dry Creek Valley area of Sonoma County, was started in 2001 by husband and wife team Dan Donahoe and Alexis Woods. Alexis is the daughter of Frank Woods, founder of Clos du Bois Winery. Woods saved one 120 acre parcel of land upon selling Clos du Bois which now produces the fruit for Tiera wines. Their intention is to remain small, with a goal of producing just 10,000 cases per year. This year they will probably peak at about 6000. They produce all the wine themselves.
Dan fell in love with wine and food as a freshman in college after having dinner with his grandmother’s closest childhood friend-non other than Julia Child. They were of course, treated like royalty and offered the best dishes with exquisite wines. He had an epiphany at that meal and vowed never to take food or wine for granted again! After a successful career in business, with the help of Alexis, he finally became part of the wine producing business. He and Alexis love raising their girls on the vineyard and turning people on to wines. Their mission is to produce really good wines at an accessible price point. Given that previous vintages have received 90 points and the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc earned the distinction of ‘The Top Ten Values of the Year’ , they seem to have achieved their goal.
The 2008 Sauvigon Blanc comes from Woods Vineyards grapes that are farmed sustainably and organically and was named “A Top Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc by the San Francisco Chronicle. The 2006 Zinfandel has been nominated in the American Wine Awards for Food and Wine Magazine for it’s balance and elegance.
We hope you enjoy this month’s wine club selections. Remember, you can always reorder the Tiera Sauvignon Blanc, Tiera Zinfandel, or many of our previous wine club selections from our wine store.
As always, let us know what you think. Leave a comment here, or go to ‘Judge the Wines’ and let us know what you though of this wine of the month club selection.
Tags: sauvigon blanc, tiera, wine, wine club, wine of the month, wine of the month club, wines, zinfandel Posted in Gold Series | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
This month, Gold Medal Wine Club has selected the 2006 Sur Le Pont, and the 2007 Grigio Bianco from Carmichael Vintners to deliver to our Gold Series members.
Carmichael Vintners was born out of a desire by its original owner to produce a number of blended wines that were European by design and Californian by nature. Carmichael, started by Michael and Carmen Levin was sold to the current owner Richard Spencer in 2003. Spencer has continued the tradition of the original vision. “We are aiming for an old world feel for our wines, a feel that also includes a fruit vibrancy that the wines might not enjoy were they made in Europe.” says Debra Morris, the general manager and two-decade wine industry veteran.
Immediately after buying Carmichael, Spencer, whose background is in construction, built an impressive 20,000 square foot winery in Madera, California. Carmichael is one of the few smallish boutique wineries in Madera usually known for large wineries who rely primarily on Central Valley grapes. Madera is centrally located within California’s wine country, allowing the Carmichael to easily pick and deliver from a variety of grape sources from all over California’s best grape regions: the Central Coast, Napa Valley and the Sierra Foothills. This allows for cost effective production of well-priced blended wines-a niche in the wine marketplace. “We wanted to utilize grapes from a number of sources that would provide us the ability to make our Euro-style blends. We have managed to stick with that philosophy and it seems to have worked out quite nicely,” added Spencer.
The 2006 Sur Le Pont is a Rhone-style cépage (a French term describing wines made primarily from a single grape variety) made from 77% Syrah. This wine showcases old world Mediterranean influences while achieving the characteristic fruit-forward varietal style that thrives in California. Look for red rasberry aromas, and dried herb earthiness (typical of Syrah) coupled with peppery notes from the Grenache that makes up a good portion of this red wine.
The 2007 Grigio e Bianco is a beautiful, unusual white wine blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay emphasizing melon, herbal, fruity and floral notes with hints of mango, sweet pea, lavendar and lanolin. This fresh and tantalizing wine is very versatile for sipping or pairing with light summer dishes.
Stylistically, these unique proprietary blends are structured for immediate drinkability and their attractive prices make them exciting
selections for our Gold Series members this month. Enjoy these wines and re-order them through the Gold Medal Wine Club at 22-25% off winery-direct prices for Gold Series Members.
Please let us know what you thought of these wines from Carmichael Vintners. What dishes did you enjoy them with?
Tags: blended wines, carmichael vintners, gold medal wine, gold medal wine club, gold series wine, wine club, wine of the month club Posted in Gold Series, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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