Van Ruiten Family Vineyards has been setting the standard for exceptionally grown wine grapes for over fifty years! Located midway between the Sierra Foothills and the San Francisco Bay Delta, this celebrated family winery is nestled in Lodi off of Highway 12. Since the winery’s inception, the Van Ruitens have been producing award-winning wines and have become especially well-known for their Old Vine Zinfandel. While this varietal can be delicious on its own, Zinfandel is also a wonderful wine to pair with food. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the recipes presented from Van Ruiten Family Vineyards….a great idea for these cooler winter months, and the perfect choice for pairing with a bottle of Zinfandel! Enjoy!

Coby Van Ruiten’s Zinfandel Beef Stew

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. boneless beef stew meat cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch cubes

Cooking oil

24 pearl onions (braised)

2/3 cup sliced carrots

12 halved small red potatoes

3 cups quartered sautéed mushrooms and juices

5 to 6 cups Zinfandel (or 1 bottle of wine plus beef stock or broth)

2 or 3 large unpeeled cloves of garlic, smashed

2 cups canned, chopped tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

3 Tbs. flour and 2 Tbs. softened butter, blended to a paste, for the beurre-manie sauce

Browning the meat: Dry the meat thoroughly. Add a ¼ inch of oil to the bottom of a Dutch oven and set over high heat. When hot, brown as many pieces of the meat as will fit in one layer without crowding. Turn frequently to brown on all sides (about 3-5 minutes); remove and set aside until all meat is browned.

Pour a cup of the wine/broth into the Dutch oven, swishing and scraping up any coagulated juices. Add the meat, garlic, and four more cups of the wine/broth into the casserole; fold in the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. You should have enough liquid to almost cover the beef; add more if needed.

Stew the beef for 2 hours at 325 degrees. After 2 hours, add the vegetables and continue to cook until tender. Cook at a slow simmer, either on top of the stove or in the oven, stirring occasionally. To finish and thicken the stew, stir in butter-flour (buerre-manie sauce) paste to desired consistency.

Serve and enjoy with a bottle of Van Ruiten Zinfandel!

It’s that time of year again. The twinkly lights are out, the décor is up, the festive music is on, and the malls are packed – everyone is out and about and searching for that perfect gift for everyone on their gift list. It’s the Holiday Season, and time to do something special for the loved ones in your life. If you’re tired of resorting to the cliché gift ideas (or if you have no idea where to begin), then why not step outside the box and surprise your friends and family with something different?

This year, Gold Medal Wine Club helps solve the dilemma with an assortment of new gift packages and wine clubs designed especially for everyone from the wine novice to aficionado. Wine makes a great gift because it’s not something that will be put away and forgotten about – it will immediately be opened, shared, and enjoyed with friends and family. What’s more is with a wine club gift, your recipients will have something to look forward to not just during the holidays, but throughout the year.

Wine Clubs also make a great gift for your boss in the office – or if you are the boss, think about giving wine to your best accounts, employees, and business partners. The Holiday Season is a time to look back on the success you’ve had over the past year, and thank those important people who helped you get there. What better way to show your appreciation and commemorate the year than with a special bottle of award-winning wine?

With a multitude of wine clubs out there, it can be hard to decide which one is the best fit – maybe your Dad is into those really prestigious wines with small production and top-of-the-line ratings, whereas your Son or Daughter might benefit from a wine club more catered to featuring “everyday wines” that still introduce their palates to nicer wines, but without the intimidation factor. With five different wine clubs to choose from, ranging in price point, wine varieties, and quality level, Gold Medal Wine Club is a one-stop-shop for everyone on your holiday gift list.

The most popular gift choice from Gold Medal Wine Club is the Gold Series wine club, featuring hard-to-find, medal-winning wines from small, family-owned California wineries. Each month, your recipient will receive two outstanding bottles, beautifully presented in gift-wrapped tissue and bows and a full color newsletter publication called “The Wine Press.” This exclusive publication presents information about the wines, the fascinating backgrounds of the winery owners, a behind-the-scenes tour of the vineyards, and special food pairing recipes direct from the winemakers themselves. Starting at just $35 per month, the Gold Series is a great value and truly an impressive gift.

Gold Medal Wine Club also offers upper-level and international wine clubs to help you find the right fit for everyone on your gift list. The Platinum Series features 90+ rated, ultra premium wines from California; the International Series highlights a different country with each shipment and offers a special add-on option of gourmet imported food items; the Pinot Noir Series is the perfect choice for the Pinot lovers in your life; and the Diamond Series selects only those most prestigious bottlings with legendary 93+ rated marks and serious “wow” factor. Sure to be enjoyed by any wine enthusiast on your list, the wine club offerings from Gold Medal Wine Club are just plain hard to beat.

For a limited time, find FREE Bonus Gifts (stainless steel corkscrews, neoprene totes, and Vinturi Aerators – just to name a few) included with various wine club gift options (www.GoldMedalWineClub.com/gift_guide). It’s an easy way to make that holiday gift extra special.

In business since 1992, Gold Medal Wine Club has the reputation as one of the leading independent wine clubs in the world – and for good reason. With unbeatable standards for quality and customer satisfaction, and consistency in offering simply incredible wines to their members at unbelievable discounts, this wine club gift is the choice for this year’s Holiday Season.

Place your orders by logging on to www.GoldMedalWineClub.com or calling 1-800-266-8888 to be sure your gifts will arrive in time for the Holiday.

Our annual Earlybird Special is in full swing, and this year we have SO many new specials and gift ideas for everyone on your holiday gift list. Whether you’re shopping for wine clubs, gift baskets, case packs or gift sets, we have you covered – and at seriously discounted prices. For a limited time, you can save up 46% off winery direct prices - that’s a value you won’t find anywhere else!

Savings at Gold Medal Wine Club have NEVER been this big, so take advantage of these incredible offers while you still can! Give 3 months of the Gold Series wine club for under $100 or peruse the Combo Case Packs for award-winning red wines and 93+ rated legendary bottles. Find a luxuriously wrapped Gift Basket filled with wine and gourmet treats from Napa Valley, or add on a FREE Gift Set to 12-month gifts of the Platinum Series wine club. These are just a few of this year’s amazing Earlybird Specials – check out the website for everything we have in store for you.

Shop early and save! Happy Holidays.

Viognier is a relative newcomer to California wine country, but it is quickly gaining hype due to its refreshingly floral notes and its ability to compliment some intruiging food options. If you haven’t tried the Peltier Station 2007 Viognier from July’s Gold Series, pour yourself a glass and enjoy it with this great summer recipe. Cheers!

Thai Chicken Wrap with Red Chili Sauce

Ingredients:
½ Butter Head Lettuce, washed, drained, shredded
4 oz. Carrots, julienne
½ Red Cabbage, shredded
½ Red Bell Pepper, julienne
½ Yellow Bell Pepper, julienne
1/5 oz. Thai Coconut Curry Noodles (recipe follows)
1 oz. Bean Sprouts (recipe follows)
1 Thai Marinated Cucumber (recipe follows)
2 oz. Thai Satay Chicken (recipe follows)
2 oz. Thai Sweet Red Chili Sauce (recipe follows)
8 large Vietnamese Rice Papers 

Thai Satay Chicken
1 lb. chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
2 oz. fish sauce
2 oz. lime juice
2 each garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger
½ tsp. Thai chili peppers
1 Tbs. water
4 green onions, with tops, cut into 1 inch pieces
8 wooden skewers, soaked 

Thai Coconut Curry Noodles
12 oz. fresh egg noodles, flat
1 garlic clove, minced
½ oz. red curry paste
8 oz. coconut milk
8 oz. chicken stock
½ oz. curry powder
1/8 Tbs. turmeric powder
½ oz. lime or lemon juice 

Bean Sprouts
1/5 oz. bean sprouts
1 Tbs. sesame oil
1 Tbs. fish sauce
1 tsp. black sesame seeds, roasted 

Thai Marinated Cucumbers
2.5 oz. rice vinegar
2 oz. granulated sugar
2 oz. water
Salt and pepper
1 large English cucumber, seeded 

Thai Sweet Red Chili Sauce
3 oz. chili paste, ground
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. rice wine vinegar
12 oz. water
12 oz. granulated sugar
½ Tbs. salt
½ oz. cornstarch
7 sprigs cilantro, chopped

Preparation
Thai Satay Chicken: Cut chicken crosswise into ¾ inch wide strips; place in gallon sized zip lock bag. Combine fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and peppers in large bowl and add water. Pour over the chicken, toss well to coat. Seal and marinade in refrigerator for up to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Drain the chicken; reserve marinade. Weave 3-4 pieces of chicken, accordion-style, onto each skewer, alternating with green onion pieces. Brush chicken and onions with reserved marinade. Grill skewers on uncovered grill over med. heat for 6-8 min. or until chicken is no longer pink; turn half way through grilling time. Remove skewers from the grill and let rest for 5 min. Remove chicken and onion from skewers; cut into strips and set aside.

Bean Sprouts: Heat oil in sauté pan. Add bean sprouts and remaining ingredients into pan. Cool until bean sprouts are tender. Set aside and chill in refrigerator.

Thai Coconut Curry Noodles: Separate noodles in hot water. Drain and keep warm. In large saucepan, heat coconut milk on low heat and slowly stir in curry paste. When simmering, add remaining ingredients. Heat and stir about 2 minutes. Stir in noodles and set aside.

Thai Marinated Cucumbers: In large pan, combine vinegar, sugar, water, salt; cook over med. Heat, stirring until liquid boils and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp. Peel or score cucumber and cut into quarters. Place in large bowl, pour in marinade, and stir to blend. Set aside.

Thai Sweet Red Chili Sauce: Combine everything except cilantro in large pan and mix. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 5 min. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Set aside.

Assembly of Thai Wraps: Fill large mixing bowl with med-hot water. Take 1 sheet of rice paper, place in water for 5 seconds to soften, then remove and spread on damp cutting surface. Layer your filling in this order: lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, bean sprouts, noodles, chicken. Roll one end of rice paper over filling, tuck it tightly under, and bring in sides by folding towards the middle. Roll the wrap in sesame oil to keep sealed. Cut roll into 5 segments and serve with dipping sauce.

Chicken Tomatillo Enchiladas

Ingredients
2 Lb tomatillos, husked, rinsed and quartered
12 oz chicken broth
2 cups green onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 cups cilantro, chopped
2 serrano chiles, sliced
1 tsp. ground cumin
12 six-inch corn tortillas
4 cups cooked chicken meat, roughly chopped
1 Lb queso blanco, coarsely chopped
1 cup half and half

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix tomatillos, broth, garlic, and cumin in a saucepan. Cover and  bring to boil, then lower heat and cook about 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to food processor. Add cilantro, onions, and chiles and coarsely puree.

Overlap 6 tortillas in a 13 x 9 baking dish. Top with half chicken, queso blanco and half tomatillo sauce. Repeat. Pour half and half on top and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 25 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a glass of Taft Street Russian River Valley Chardonnay!

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.

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.

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.

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?!

Gift Baskets, Gift Packs & FREE Gifts with Memberships!

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!

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!