I know the summer seems a very long way off right now. So just for fun, I created this slide show of some of the places and people I visited this summer on my Bubbly Bar book tour. Maybe these pictures of wineries in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino will inspire your summer vacation plans this year. Cheers!
The lovely ladies of Behind the Bench gathered for a fundraising weekend at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Maria Hunt)
Behind the Bench is a non-profit charitable organization run by the wives of current and former NBA basketball players. This year’s festivities culminated in an awards luncheon that honored actress Angela Bassett and director Penny Marshall.
Schramsberg’s Cremant was the featured wine at the luncheon staged at the hip and modern SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. A blend of Flora and Gewurztraminer grapes, the Schramsberg Cremant is a sweeter style known as a demi sec. The ladies sipped a cocktail from my book called the Stiletto, a subtly potent blend of Grand Marnier, Navan cognac and sparkling wine as an aperitif.
Schramsberg's Cremant is a demi-sec style of wine that's great for pairing with subtle desserts or spicy foods. (Photo by Maria Hunt)
Chef Nikki Shaw and DeShawn Snow formerly of Real Housewives of Atlanta were the co-emcees of the luncheon where Marshall and Bassett took the stage to accept their awards. Bassett’s husband Courtney B Vance, who played District Attorney Ron Carver on five seasons of Law & Order Criminal Intent, was there to cheer his wife on.
Domaine Carneros winery
California is dotted with beautiful wineries from one end of the state to the other. And in my opinion, some of the most beautiful are the places where sparkling wine is made.
I love the French chateau style winery at Domaine Carneros, the gorgeous foot bridge that leads to the modern J Winery, the rock gardens at Domaine Chandon and the quaint Victorian style house set against the forest at Schramsberg. And I can’t forget the gorgeous gardens and redwood trees at Korbel or the rustic barn and tasting room at Iron Horse.
Apparently Food Editor Margo True at Sunset Magazine agrees; the February 2009 issue features an article called All That Sparkles on California sparkling wine tours. Hmm, wonder if she had seen my former blog All That Sparkles before coming up with that headline?
Anyway, the article also includes a slide show with scenes from some of the beautiful places where California sparkling wine is made. .
Trying to decide what kind of bubbly to drink with my personal celebration of Barack H. Obama’s inauguration, I was immediately drawn to two American sparkling wines.
Though there’s lots of fizz made in the U.S., there are only two that were founded by cosmopolitan Americans who believed in the potential to create world class sparkling wine in California: Schramsberg and Iron Horse. Both are are family-owned, both wineries are in Northern California and both make fine methode champenoise sparkling wine from chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. And both have been poured by American presidents on important state occasions.
Iron Horse Vineyards is in Sebastopol in Sonoma County, surrounded by forests and beautiful meadows. Founded by Barry and Audrey Sterling in 1976, it’s headed by their vivavious daughter Joy. The sparkling wines have a very lean and crisp quality reflecting the cool Green Valley climate. Their wines including the Wedding Cuvee and Russian Cuvee have been served by four consecutive presidents since the 80s including at the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit that led to the end of the Cold War.
Schramsberg Vineyards is in Calistoga headquartered in a Victorian home on the top of a wooded hill. Founded in 1965 by Jack and Jamie Davies, the winery makes a range of sparkling wines. Their wines — especially the J. Schram tete de cuvee — offer fruitiness balanced by nutty and toasty flavors often found in vintage champagne. G.W. Bush served Schramsberg Cremant Demi Sec for Mexican President Vicente Fox and Reagan poured their Blanc de Blancs for British PM Margaret Thatcher.
I think Barack Obama strikes me as more of Schramsberg drinker; while the fashionable and adventurous Michele Obama might prefer Iron Horse. We’ll have to wait and see which they’ll choose for upcoming state dinners.
