Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 11:14 AM
Subject: Orangewood Wines - Newsletter- Volume 3, Issue 2
Introduction
The summer is coming to an end in Arizona, snowbirds are returning, customers
are buying Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. We are one week away from the
High 5 trade events and our portfolio has grown some more.
Box Score
New
Restaurants: 4
New Wineries:
6
Contents
Trade Tasting Event
New Restaurants
New Wineries
Awards
Rambling
Trade Tasting
“High Five” Trade Tasting Events
Scottsdale
Sunday September 24th 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Scottsdale Culinary Institute’s L’Ecole
Restaurant
8100 East Camelback Rd, just East of Hayden Rd.
Tucson
Monday September 25th 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Elle, Wine Country Restaurant
3046 East Broadway Blvd, just West of Country Club Rd
These events are
next Sunday and Monday. Orangewood Wines and four other small
distributors will be greeting their customers and providing a sampling of wines
from their portfolios. The restaurants will be providing wonderful hors d’œuvres to allow food and wine pairing experimentation – and
to keep the rumbling stomachs below 6.3 on the Richter scale.
New
Restaurants
My Wine Cellar
5030 East Warner Rd
Phoenix, AZ
85044
(480) 598-9463
Spice Bistro
10325 North
La Canada Drive
Tucson, AZ 85737
(520) 297-3777
Casa Vicente
375 South Stone Ave
Tucson, AZ
85701
(520) 884-5253
Garland’s Oak Creek Lodge
8067 North Highway 89A,
Sedona, AZ
86336
(928) 282-3343
New Wineries
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Terry Hoage – Paso Robles
Terry Hoage Vineyards is a small family owned vineyard that is
dedicated to producing the finest grapes and wines. The John Alban designed
vineyard is planted with Rhone varietal grapes on 26 acres of a southwest facing
hillside in Paso Robles. Terry and Jennifer Hoage
produce minimally processed wines that show intense fruit and complexity
showcasing their passion for excellence.
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Tolosa Winery – San
Luis Obispo
Located in San Luis Obispo’s
Edna Valley,
the Tolosa vineyards are ideally situated close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, with its cooling breezes and frequent
evening fog. This moderating effect provides a long growing season, allowing
complex flavor to develop in the fruit while protecting it from
over-ripening.
(Check out the short videos of punching down and batonage at their website).
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Topel Winery - Mendocino County
Close to Hopland in some
delightful hills that used to be an artists colony,
is the Topel vineyards and winery. The first grapes were planted in
1989. At 1400 feet and with ideal soil structure for grape growing,
high diurnal temperature swings, this a perfect and unique place to grow
grapes. Mark and Donnis Topel have planted
the vineyards and built the winery and produce wines with a minimum of
intervention and a maximum of flavor.
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Naggiar Vineyards –
Nevada County
Mike and Diane Naggiar
started experimenting with grape growing and winemaking in 1993, and
eventually decided to get serious. They purchased 160 acres in Nevada County, the northernmost county in the
Sierra Foothills. First dedicated to growing excellent grapes using
sustainable practices and then to making wine that allowed the fruit to
express itself, they produced their first wines from the 2003 harvest.
Now helped by many of their relations, they are becoming a standout in grape
and wine production.
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Ortman Family
Vineyards - San Luis
Obispo
The winery is founded on four
decades of experience, two generations of winemakers and family roots that
reach deep into California
agriculture. Based in San Luis Obispo, in the heart
of the Central Coast wine country, Chuck and Matt
Ortman have been making wine there for 25 years.
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Richard Grant - Napa Valley
Dr Richard (Grant) Peterson, Napa
oenologist extraordinaire, discovered this grapevine in Wrotham
(rot ‘em) England. Originally brought
to England
by the Romans 2000 years ago, this turned out to have identical DNA to Pinot
Noir. Dr Peterson established 4 acres of these grapes from which he
makes a small quantity of sparkling blanc de noir.
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Awards
Once again Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave worthy
mentions of some of our wineries. In the California Rhone Rangers section were Blackjack
Ranch, Terry Hoage Vineyards, Tolosa
and Topel Winery. In the California
Central Coast
section was Blackjack Ranch again,
We do have most of the wines that were rated. Contact us for
further information.
Rambling
We were standing in line to order lunch at La Super Rica Taqueria, at 622
North Milpas Street in Santa Barbara, watching
the tortillas being made by hand. Kelly and Szymon and I had started out
well before breakfast in order to reach this New York Times and David Crosby
recommended taco stand. We were on our way to visit 4 wineries in under
48 hours. Blackjack Ranch in Solvang was first. We talked to Roger Wisted, the owner, tasted his wines and learned more about
his history, hopes and aspirations. Heading North to San Luis Obispo we met with Bob Schiebelhut one of the owners of Tolosa Winery. Bob
and his partner were early planters of vines in Edna Valley
and had only recently become serious about making their own wines rather than
selling the grapes to others. We toured and were wined and dined before
crashing at their guest house. In the morning, just around the corner, we
met with Chuck and Matt Ortman and tried the wines produced by this father and
son team at 8:00am with breakfast. And they say that beer is no longer
just a breakfast drink. Finally we drove up to Paso Robles and met with
Terry and Jen Hoage. Terry was a professional
football player for the Arizona Cardinals, and while we liked the wines they
had sent us, I wanted to check that they were serious about their vines and
wines. They are very serious. They also advised us that the traffic
in LA builds up in the afternoon, but we still stayed to see the vineyards and
winery.
The wine business is really tough. I had not intended
to represent any more wineries this year, but who can resist?
Cin-cin, alla salute!
From
all of us at Orangewood Wines
Richard
(newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles (editor)
Orangewood
Wines