Stay tuned for more videos with each new wine release.
Monday, February 14, 2011
A new video endeavor
Tasting with Jean-Michel: Estate Reserve Pinot Gris
Stay tuned for more videos with each new wine release.
Stay tuned for more videos with each new wine release.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
2011 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
The results are in and we are excited to announce the following Del Rio wines and their accolades:
2009 Pinot Noir - Bronze
Our 2009 Pinot Noir has a bright ruby color and displays aromas of cherry, rosemary, and vanilla. The nose leads to delicate violet flavors, accompanied by a structured mouth feel that will ensure long aging. - - $28
2009 Viognier - Best of Class!!!!
The nose displays aromas of peach, grapefruit and fresh mint flavors. On the palate the smooth texture is held up by the acidity with a slight lemon characteristic. The barrel ageing gives a light nuance of oak flavors and complexity to the wine. - - $20
The nose displays aromas of peach, grapefruit and fresh mint flavors. On the palate the smooth texture is held up by the acidity with a slight lemon characteristic. The barrel ageing gives a light nuance of oak flavors and complexity to the wine. - - $20
2009 Pinot Gris - Silver
The light gold color of the Pinot Gris brings in the true varietal flavors of apple, pear with a touch of almond and vanilla. The creamy and buttery mouth follows and lengthens because of the acidity which will allow this wine to age well. - - $16
2008 Syrah - Silver
The intense and deep violet color of the 2008 Syrah is followed by a fusion of bay leaf, thyme and berry flavors. The mouth shows spicy black pepper aromas, vanilla and oak taste from the barrel ageing. - - $35
2008 Petite Syrah - Silver
Del Rio Vineyards' Petite Syrah displays a deep red color followed by rich flavors of black currant, spices and finishes with intense tannins. The partial oak aging in French and American oak barrels adds further nuances to the wine. -- $48
2009 Pinot Noir - Bronze
Our 2009 Pinot Noir has a bright ruby color and displays aromas of cherry, rosemary, and vanilla. The nose leads to delicate violet flavors, accompanied by a structured mouth feel that will ensure long aging. - - $28
2008 Claret - Bronze
The 2008 Claret shows the qualities that have made this blend a favorite. The nose shows intense fruity notes of black currant and cherry. It is then followed by woody flavors of cedar and coffee. The 18 month barrel aging, contributes to a well balanced mouth feel with silky young tannins. - - $35
The 2008 Claret shows the qualities that have made this blend a favorite. The nose shows intense fruity notes of black currant and cherry. It is then followed by woody flavors of cedar and coffee. The 18 month barrel aging, contributes to a well balanced mouth feel with silky young tannins. - - $35
The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the an American wine competition and this year it drew in a record number of entries, 5,050 wine from 23 states. Southern Oregon wines did quite well at this years event. Here is a link to the full list of results: http://www.winejudging.com/medal_winners.htm
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Adventures in Winemaking Installment #6
We are still making wine, but the excitement of the wine club party and holidays placed winemaking on the back burner. It is about time we share our progress.
We left off in mid November when we were “punching down” the cap on our four buckets of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then quite a bit has happened to our wine and I would like to mention a few particular milestones. The first big and possibly my favorite step was pressing our wine. In order to extract color we left our wine on the grapes skins for just over two weeks. The skins and seeds also contribute to the amount of tannin our finished wine will have. As we personally don’t have a press we purchased a cheese cloth, strained our wine through the cloth, and pressed with our hands the remaining berries. Although, our fingers were frozen we had a great time squeezing as much juice as possible. As luck would have it, we ended up pressing the very same day that Jean-Michel pressed his Cabernet Sauvignon, it made us feel like we were doing something right.
Check out this quick video of the day we pressed.
The second milestone, that is important to mention, is the completion of the fermentation process. In order to stop fermentation you must kill the yeast. There are a variety of ways to stop the fermenting wine such as Campden tablets, but we decided to get ours cold by placing it in large refrigerator. After a night in the cold we then experienced our third milestone, racking. Racking consists of removing the wine from the lees at the bottom of the bucket or the residue from the grapes. This will take place a number of times before our wine is finished. We also were transferring the wine from the four buckets to two five gallon carboys.
Now with our carboys full and our wine having gone through fermentation we had a few things left to do. The first is adding oak. Both Jen and I like slightly bigger and spicier wines so we decided to add a bit of French oak. As we don’t have a barrel the size we need, nor does Jean-Michel have barrels to spare our option was to use oak supplements. We quickly learned that there are a variety of oak enhancements to choose from. Jean-Michel was kind enough to offer us his sample kit. We had the choice of type of enhancement from staves, beans, chips, and rice, in addition to the choice of oak from Hungarian, American, and French and even the choice of toast light, medium and heavy toast. We chose to go with medium toasted French oak staves. Oak enhancements can be powerful so we have slowly added ours and continuously tasted the wine to make sure the oak flavor does not take over.
The next step in the process of making red wine would be to allow the wine to go through a secondary fermentation called Malolactic fermentation. This process is a bacterial fermentation that transforms the tart tasting Malic acid to the softer Lactic acid. The purpose is to stabilize the wine. We, however, have not started the Malolactic fermentation. The fermentation will only take place if the wine is kept at a warmer temperature. At the moment we are keeping our wine cold and have chosen to wait until later this winter or early spring to kick off the secondary fermentation. Our wine will remain in the cool warehouse and will be checked on periodically with tastings.
Stay tuned for more of our winemaking adventures in 2011!
We left off in mid November when we were “punching down” the cap on our four buckets of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then quite a bit has happened to our wine and I would like to mention a few particular milestones. The first big and possibly my favorite step was pressing our wine. In order to extract color we left our wine on the grapes skins for just over two weeks. The skins and seeds also contribute to the amount of tannin our finished wine will have. As we personally don’t have a press we purchased a cheese cloth, strained our wine through the cloth, and pressed with our hands the remaining berries. Although, our fingers were frozen we had a great time squeezing as much juice as possible. As luck would have it, we ended up pressing the very same day that Jean-Michel pressed his Cabernet Sauvignon, it made us feel like we were doing something right.
Check out this quick video of the day we pressed.
The second milestone, that is important to mention, is the completion of the fermentation process. In order to stop fermentation you must kill the yeast. There are a variety of ways to stop the fermenting wine such as Campden tablets, but we decided to get ours cold by placing it in large refrigerator. After a night in the cold we then experienced our third milestone, racking. Racking consists of removing the wine from the lees at the bottom of the bucket or the residue from the grapes. This will take place a number of times before our wine is finished. We also were transferring the wine from the four buckets to two five gallon carboys.
Now with our carboys full and our wine having gone through fermentation we had a few things left to do. The first is adding oak. Both Jen and I like slightly bigger and spicier wines so we decided to add a bit of French oak. As we don’t have a barrel the size we need, nor does Jean-Michel have barrels to spare our option was to use oak supplements. We quickly learned that there are a variety of oak enhancements to choose from. Jean-Michel was kind enough to offer us his sample kit. We had the choice of type of enhancement from staves, beans, chips, and rice, in addition to the choice of oak from Hungarian, American, and French and even the choice of toast light, medium and heavy toast. We chose to go with medium toasted French oak staves. Oak enhancements can be powerful so we have slowly added ours and continuously tasted the wine to make sure the oak flavor does not take over.
The next step in the process of making red wine would be to allow the wine to go through a secondary fermentation called Malolactic fermentation. This process is a bacterial fermentation that transforms the tart tasting Malic acid to the softer Lactic acid. The purpose is to stabilize the wine. We, however, have not started the Malolactic fermentation. The fermentation will only take place if the wine is kept at a warmer temperature. At the moment we are keeping our wine cold and have chosen to wait until later this winter or early spring to kick off the secondary fermentation. Our wine will remain in the cool warehouse and will be checked on periodically with tastings.
Stay tuned for more of our winemaking adventures in 2011!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Del Rio's Kitchen: Volume 2
Susie Moore had the winning recipe from our staff bake off for our December wine club party. Enjoy her wonderful recipe!
Instructions:
Rinse cherries and dry very well – the chocolate won’t stick if the cherries are wet (roll them around on a towel) Melt chips in a double boiler over hot NOT boiling water. (It is important not to let any moisture invade the chocolate while melting or it will burn into a big glob.) Dip each cherry including part of the stem into melted chocolate and place on waxed or parchment paper. Using some of the melted choco., place 1 morsel on cherry for nose and nestle almonds behind nose for ears. Decorate with eyes and nose with a color of your choice. Chill until set and you are ready to eat.
Not a Creature Was Stirring . . . .
Ingredients: - Maraschino cherries with stems
- Chocolate chips (white, dark, or milk) depending on the color of mice you want or flavor you want.
- Sliced almonds (for ears)
- Frosting for eyes & nose (you can use store bought tubes)
Instructions:
Rinse cherries and dry very well – the chocolate won’t stick if the cherries are wet (roll them around on a towel) Melt chips in a double boiler over hot NOT boiling water. (It is important not to let any moisture invade the chocolate while melting or it will burn into a big glob.) Dip each cherry including part of the stem into melted chocolate and place on waxed or parchment paper. Using some of the melted choco., place 1 morsel on cherry for nose and nestle almonds behind nose for ears. Decorate with eyes and nose with a color of your choice. Chill until set and you are ready to eat.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A Del Rio Thanksgiving Meal
Wine and food have always been meant for each
other. This week offers a significant opportunity and challenge to making the combination shine. Thanksgiving is a meal filled with a delicious variety of flavors often making the pairing of wine a slight challenge. Here are our recommendations for pairings for traditional Thanksgiving dishes.
White Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Gris
The light gold color of the Pinot Gris brings in the true varietal flavors of apple, pear with a touch of almond and vanilla.
The Pinot Gris would be a great wine to serve and start off your dinner. It pairs wonderfully with fresh veggies and green salad.
2008 Del Rio Chardonnay
This wine has a very nice weight to accompany its exciting crispiness.
Our Chardonnay would balance nicely with a crab cake appetizer or a base for your turkey. The wine would also compliment the creamy traditional green bean casserole.
2009 Del Rio Viognier
The nose displays aromas of peach, grapefruit and fresh mint flavors. On the palate the smooth texture is held up by the acidity with a slight lemon characteristic.
As many will tell you pair a white wine with a light meat and our Viognier is a perfect match for your turkey. It too will marry well with a green salad.
Red Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Noir
Our 2009 Pinot Noir has a bright ruby color and displays aromas of cherry, rosemary, and vanilla.
This delicate red is a traditional favorite to pair with a turkey dinner. Our 2009 Pinot is a great staple to have on every Thanksgiving table.
Dessert
2009 Del Rio Rose Jolee
Fragrance of honeysuckle and roses, this delicately sweet wine is the perfect partner for summertime fun! Aromas leap out of the glass in an explosion of peach and tangerine. The flavors of citrus balance well with the aromas and, a slight spritz completes this fun wine.
This wine is the perfect refreshment to the end of your meal. It can stand alone as dessert or be paired with your jello salad or sweet potatoes.
Cheers to a delicious meal surrounded by those you love. We hope you all will have warm and full bellies this Thanksgiving!
other. This week offers a significant opportunity and challenge to making the combination shine. Thanksgiving is a meal filled with a delicious variety of flavors often making the pairing of wine a slight challenge. Here are our recommendations for pairings for traditional Thanksgiving dishes.White Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Gris
The light gold color of the Pinot Gris brings in the true varietal flavors of apple, pear with a touch of almond and vanilla.
The Pinot Gris would be a great wine to serve and start off your dinner. It pairs wonderfully with fresh veggies and green salad.
2008 Del Rio Chardonnay
This wine has a very nice weight to accompany its exciting crispiness.
Our Chardonnay would balance nicely with a crab cake appetizer or a base for your turkey. The wine would also compliment the creamy traditional green bean casserole.
2009 Del Rio Viognier
The nose displays aromas of peach, grapefruit and fresh mint flavors. On the palate the smooth texture is held up by the acidity with a slight lemon characteristic.
As many will tell you pair a white wine with a light meat and our Viognier is a perfect match for your turkey. It too will marry well with a green salad.
Red Wine
2009 Del Rio Pinot Noir
Our 2009 Pinot Noir has a bright ruby color and displays aromas of cherry, rosemary, and vanilla.
This delicate red is a traditional favorite to pair with a turkey dinner. Our 2009 Pinot is a great staple to have on every Thanksgiving table.
Dessert
2009 Del Rio Rose Jolee
Fragrance of honeysuckle and roses, this delicately sweet wine is the perfect partner for summertime fun! Aromas leap out of the glass in an explosion of peach and tangerine. The flavors of citrus balance well with the aromas and, a slight spritz completes this fun wine.
This wine is the perfect refreshment to the end of your meal. It can stand alone as dessert or be paired with your jello salad or sweet potatoes.
Cheers to a delicious meal surrounded by those you love. We hope you all will have warm and full bellies this Thanksgiving!
Visit our online store to purchase your holiday wine today. Enter coupon code: NovShip for free ground shipping. Excludes HI & AK.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Roam the Rogue: Fall Passport Tour
We are excited to announce our participation in the "Fall Passport Tour," Roam the Rogue. On Saturday, November 27th from 11:00am to 5:00pm take a tour of the Upper Rogue Valley Vintners. Join us as each of the Upper Rogue Valley winemakers introduce their newest wines and share their inspiration while paring delicious appetizers with some of the best wines from each of the participating wineries.The following wineries are participating:
Agate Ridge Vineyard
Cliff Creek Cellars
Crater Lake Cellars
Daisy Creek Vineyard
Del Rio Vineyards*
Folin Cellars
Madrone Mountain Vineyard
RoxyAnn Winery
Tickets are only $25 per person and include a commemorative Riedel glass; plus delicious appetizers and wine tasting at all 8 participating wineries. Tickets are only available for purchase online. Click here to purchase tickets. Visit the Roam the Rogue website for more information including a tour map. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, taste@delriovineyards.com
*Del Rio will be pairing a delicious cheese soup with our 2008 Chardonnay. Watch the video below for the recipe. We also will be offering some wonderful Roam the Rogue six pack deals.
Del Rio's Kitchen: Cheese Soup
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