2012 Alsace Festival Toulouse Open House

Hundreds of attendees turned out on Sunday, February 19th for the Toulouse Vineyards Alsace Festival Open House in Philo,California, despite that the weather report called for rain. As it was, Sunday was beautiful and sunny all day. The palate development and food & wine pairing workshop was conducted out of doors on the crush pad until chilly winds in the late afternoon forced us to move our venue indoors for the last few hours of the Open House (see photo above).

Attendees tasted the 2011 Pinot Gris, 2011 Rosé of Pinot Noir, newly released 2012 Gewürztraminer, and the three 2008 Pinot Noirs: the Lautrec, the Anderson Valley and the Estate. The line up for the day's pairing menu was as follows:

Lemongrass Ginger Coconut Reduction on Roasted Mussels on the Half Shell

2011 Toulouse Vineyards Pinot Gris

Silver Goat Cheese on Belgian Endive with Moroccan Preserved Lemon

and Fennel Fronds

2011 Toulouse Vineyards Rosé of Pinot Noir 

Abbaye de Bellocq Cheese on Grilled Bovolo Bacon Bread

2008 Lautrec, Anderson Valley and Estate Pinot Noirs

I recognized so many repeat attendees from the Pinot Noir Festival Open Houses as well as previous Alsace Festival Open Houses. All in the all, the mood was infectious as guests enthusiastically worked their way through the two tasting boxes of eight profile elements and three sample pairings. 

As always, I feel singularly fortunate to have the honor of working with Vern and Maxine Boltz's lovely wines. I am particularly excited about the 2012 Gewurztraminer. I hope their devout following learns from the 2009 vintage and jumps on cases of the 2012 Gewurz. I am still kicking myself not to have cellared a few of the 2009. Apparently, a notable speaker at the technical conference referred to that vintage as being of particular quality and perfection.

Finally, at 6pm, tired but happy, we shut down the workshop and said our goodbyes to this year's Alsace Festival...until next year.

2011 Pinot Noir Festival Toulouse Open House

On a day that originally called for showers, we half anticipated a reduced number of attendees to the annual Toulouse Vineyards Open House on the third day of the annual 2011 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival. We were....wrong. It never did rain and although Toulouse has always enjoyed a huge turnout to their annual event, this year, the word must have really gotten around because THIS year, attendance was massive.

At the end of the day, the staff estimated over 700 visitors to the winery. I was running the palate development and pairing theory station and never even lifted my head up to look at the crowds until 4:30pm. My entire staff had arrived that morning at 9AM to set up and to prep for our maximum best guesstimate of 650. We weren't too far off. Not a staff member ever even stopped once until 4:30. At that point, we were on the downhill to the 5pm finish line for the event and so...we just kept on going until the last guests departed.

This year, we had a tasting profile box of elements for the 2010 Rosé, a box that straddled the 2008 Anderson Valley Pinot, 2008 Estate Pinot AND the blockbuster 2009 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. The third box was geared to the intriguing 2008 Lautrec. The pairing menu was as follows:

Fresh Goat Cheese on Belgian Endive garnished with Moroccan Preserved Lemon, Fennel Fronds
 2010 Toulouse Vineyards Rosé of Pinot Noir

Fra'Mani Soppressata on Grilled Baguette Crostini

2008 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

Roasted Leg of Lamb dipped in Cortas Pomegranate Molasses

2008 Estate Pinot Noir and 2009 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

Thanks again and again and again to Maxine and Vern Boltz of Toulouse Vineyards for affording me the wines, platform and pleasure to help the public pair food and wine for themselves!

On a First Names Only Basis

Gordon Edgar came to our own Gallery Bookstore the week before last to promo his new book, "Cheesemonger", which I have yet to finish. He was just as I expected based on his writing style--unpretentious, earnest, with a dry sense of humor. I love what I've read so far. Sadly, he snuck up after work on a Friday and left early the next day before we could subject him to the delights of our eclectic area.

Hey Edgar, I mean, Gordon, stay longer the next time you make the trek up here. We have our fair share of illegal cheese goings on as well as some first class beers. And with all of the characters, as well as edibles hiding in these woods, who knows? You may very well find the material for your next book.