It's the age-old question: what wine to have with spaghetti and marinara sauce? Duh, you say, Chianti! ...Really? You sure about that? 'Cause these days, Chianti (and pretty much any red wine you care to name) is made in a mellower, lower-acid style, making it ineffective when put up against the acidity and fruitiness of a marinara sauce. I can't tell you how many different red wines I've tried in this situation with ruinous results. The wines just can't hack it, and end up tasting like dark, twisted versions of their normally harmonious and delightful selves.
So the other day I was revisiting this problem and I thought well, maybe I should just give up on the red wine and go with a nice, crisp...white wine. Silence. A dog barked in the distance. A stranger standing in the shadows eyed me from a distance while he struck a match against the wall, lit a cigarette, and pretended that he wasn't watching me. At the same time his menacing eyes warned me that he couldn't be blamed for what might happen to me if I followed through with this barbarism.
Tonight, the chance to test my theory arose. With the marinara simmering on the stove, I dashed to the cellar and pulled the crispest, fruitiest wine I've got: the 2007 Eleven Sauvignon Blanc. To stand up to the sauce would take a gutsy white, and this wine's got loads of flavor. Served it at cellar temperature (about 55), not chilled, in order to avoid temperature shock in the mouth between the warm sauce and the cool wine (ok, so the real reason was because I wasn't planning ahead - but it worked out!). By now you can probably guess the result: this was a dynamite pairing, the kind that makes you glad to be alive and to have a mouth. I strongly recommend that you order several bottles immediately, just so that you have them on hand next time you're having spaghetti, pizza, lasagna, or any other marinara-based dish.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Oysters, anyone?
Our Sauvignon Blanc got a nice writeup in a recent tasting of wines to go with oysters, conducted by Chuck Hill at Wines Northwest. Put together some of the best and freshest oysters from the Hood Canal and some crisp, fruity Sauvignon Blanc, and you're in heaven. Chuck invited us to submit wine for the tasting, but unfortunately we were not personally invited to attend. I guess that wouldn't be fair. Maybe if I offer to wear a blindfold? That would probably improve the oyster consuming experience anyway (I mean, no matter how much you like them, they're not pretty).
Thursday, January 22, 2009
What is January?
Ah, January. I don't reckon January is the most popular month, but it's one of my favorites. There's little to do in the winery and sales slow to a trickle, allowing me to do some mining in the mountain of stuff that's piled up since August, back when Harvest preparations began. The end of Harvest pretty much rolls into the holiday sales season (this year with a little bottling thrown in, for good measure) so by the time the new year rolls around, I'm as cooked as a truck stop burger.
Plus, sometimes I get letters like this:
From: Jennifer in Georgia
Subject: Your Port
I bought a bottle – nice, tall – when I was on the island last year for the first time in May. Just opened it this week and have been sipping every night. I love it! I wish you had a distributor in Atlanta!
Plus, sometimes I get letters like this:
From: Jennifer in Georgia
Subject: Your Port
I bought a bottle – nice, tall – when I was on the island last year for the first time in May. Just opened it this week and have been sipping every night. I love it! I wish you had a distributor in Atlanta!
Happy Saint Vincent's Day!
January 22 is St. Vincent's day; St. Vincent is the patron saint of winemakers. Curiously, he's also the patron saint of vinegar makers, which is something that most winemakers hope not to become. I guess it's convenient for the winemakers in that if the winemaking doesn't go well, they don't have to buy a new talisman...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wine Makes Good
Ok, so here's the deal. I love making wine and being in the wine business. But ultimately, I don't want to be just another schmo schlepping wine. Where's the fun in that? I want to make a difference in the world - I think all of us do, in one way or another. But it's a challenge - you grow up, you have kids, and pretty soon you've got financial and time commitments that make it all but impossible to give of yourself. Amazingly, many people still do, which is a real tribute to the human spirit. But for the majority of us, whose paths have led us outside the direct philanthropic arena, and whose careers don't have a lot of cushion in them, it can be very difficult to help realize the changes that are so desperately wanted in the world.
My calling is winemaking. I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. So how could I turn that passion into a force for the greater good? My inspiration came from my friend Scott James, founder of Fair Trade Sports. Like that company, I decided (with Sarah's support) that Eleven Winery will always donate all of its profits to charity, specifically charities that focus on ending the cycle of poverty, in the U.S. and abroad. We anticipate reaching profitability in 2009; until then, we will donate $1,000 annually to World Bicycle Relief, an organization that provides bicycles to communities in Africa (they had a cool segment on the Today Show recently, btw). We will also continue to donate to charity auctions in our hometown and the Seattle area, as we have done since our first year - our contributions in this area totaled $9,000 in 2008, and helped those charities raise even more.
So that's it. I hope that what we have done is to create wines that you not only love and have fun with, but feel really good about drinking. You've earned it - by buying our wines you really are helping to make a difference. We will continue to keep you updated on these efforts as they progress.
If you'd like to know more about how it works to be a company that gives away all of its profits, read this great FAQ put together by Fair Trade Sports.
Cheers!
Matt
My calling is winemaking. I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. So how could I turn that passion into a force for the greater good? My inspiration came from my friend Scott James, founder of Fair Trade Sports. Like that company, I decided (with Sarah's support) that Eleven Winery will always donate all of its profits to charity, specifically charities that focus on ending the cycle of poverty, in the U.S. and abroad. We anticipate reaching profitability in 2009; until then, we will donate $1,000 annually to World Bicycle Relief, an organization that provides bicycles to communities in Africa (they had a cool segment on the Today Show recently, btw). We will also continue to donate to charity auctions in our hometown and the Seattle area, as we have done since our first year - our contributions in this area totaled $9,000 in 2008, and helped those charities raise even more.
So that's it. I hope that what we have done is to create wines that you not only love and have fun with, but feel really good about drinking. You've earned it - by buying our wines you really are helping to make a difference. We will continue to keep you updated on these efforts as they progress.
If you'd like to know more about how it works to be a company that gives away all of its profits, read this great FAQ put together by Fair Trade Sports.
Cheers!
Matt
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sustainable Christmas Wine
If you're looking for a sustainable Christmas gift, Eleven wines are ideal. We source from vineyards that are sustainably farmed, we use packaging that is wholly recyclable or renewable, and the winery itself is carbon-neutral.
For more sustainable gift ideas check out the Sustainable Bainbridge Holiday Guide.
Making the winery carbon-neutral was easy, since we use so little energy. Being located in the Puget Sound area, having really good insulation is just about all that is needed to maintain the winery at a cool temperature year-round. All of our on-site energy usage is electric, no gas, which in Washington means most of it is from hydro power. We purchased carbon credits to offset our on-site usage as well as all of our driving, including wine deliveries and trucking of grapes. In fact, our entire household is now carbon-neutral, not just the winery. It was very reasonably priced. Find out how you can go carbon-neutral at Native Energy (just one of a plethora of sources of carbon credits).
Many wineries are now using screw-caps or plastic corks to seal their bottles, but we continue to use natural cork. Why? In addition to the fact that a top-quality cork provides just as good a seal as a screw cap (and way better than a plastic cork after the first few years), natural corks are biodegradable, renewable, and (as though that weren't enough) cork farms are old-growth forests, providing habitat for many species of birds and other animals, some of them endangered. Audubon magazine published a brilliant article on this topic, and even went so far as to encourage its members to only drink wines sealed with a cork. It turns out that while there is no shortage of cork (that's a lie promulgated by promoters of synthetic closures to justify their actions), wine corks are the only use of cork that pays enough to keep cork farmers in business. No wine corks, no cork forests. And when they're done being wine corks, the cork can go on to be other things. We save all of our used corks and send them to Korks 4 Kids, which sells them to recyclers and donates the proceeds to children's charities.
The other parts of our package may not save the world, but at least they don't screw it up. Our tin capsules are printed with water-based ink, and the manufacturer will buy them back from you for scrap if you send them in (or send them to us and we'll take care of it - we save all the capsules from bottles we open). The bottles themselves are glass, which is completely natural and recyclable, though even glass is under attack - some wineries are switching to plastic and claiming it's eco-friendly. This is so utterly ludicrous I'm not sure how they can spout this nonsense with a straight face. Like with synthetic closures, the real reason for their shift is to save money (in this case shipping costs, since plastic bottles are lighter than glass). But they're creating mountains of marginally-recyclable garbage and using up non-renewable resources to do it - and ignoring the potential health risks of putting wine into plastic bottles. And finally, our labels are paper, made from trees, which have a well-documented habit of growing back...
We try hard to recycle everything that comes into the winery, in addition to making our package as eco-friendly as possible. More on that in future posts.
For more sustainable gift ideas check out the Sustainable Bainbridge Holiday Guide.
Making the winery carbon-neutral was easy, since we use so little energy. Being located in the Puget Sound area, having really good insulation is just about all that is needed to maintain the winery at a cool temperature year-round. All of our on-site energy usage is electric, no gas, which in Washington means most of it is from hydro power. We purchased carbon credits to offset our on-site usage as well as all of our driving, including wine deliveries and trucking of grapes. In fact, our entire household is now carbon-neutral, not just the winery. It was very reasonably priced. Find out how you can go carbon-neutral at Native Energy (just one of a plethora of sources of carbon credits).
Many wineries are now using screw-caps or plastic corks to seal their bottles, but we continue to use natural cork. Why? In addition to the fact that a top-quality cork provides just as good a seal as a screw cap (and way better than a plastic cork after the first few years), natural corks are biodegradable, renewable, and (as though that weren't enough) cork farms are old-growth forests, providing habitat for many species of birds and other animals, some of them endangered. Audubon magazine published a brilliant article on this topic, and even went so far as to encourage its members to only drink wines sealed with a cork. It turns out that while there is no shortage of cork (that's a lie promulgated by promoters of synthetic closures to justify their actions), wine corks are the only use of cork that pays enough to keep cork farmers in business. No wine corks, no cork forests. And when they're done being wine corks, the cork can go on to be other things. We save all of our used corks and send them to Korks 4 Kids, which sells them to recyclers and donates the proceeds to children's charities.
The other parts of our package may not save the world, but at least they don't screw it up. Our tin capsules are printed with water-based ink, and the manufacturer will buy them back from you for scrap if you send them in (or send them to us and we'll take care of it - we save all the capsules from bottles we open). The bottles themselves are glass, which is completely natural and recyclable, though even glass is under attack - some wineries are switching to plastic and claiming it's eco-friendly. This is so utterly ludicrous I'm not sure how they can spout this nonsense with a straight face. Like with synthetic closures, the real reason for their shift is to save money (in this case shipping costs, since plastic bottles are lighter than glass). But they're creating mountains of marginally-recyclable garbage and using up non-renewable resources to do it - and ignoring the potential health risks of putting wine into plastic bottles. And finally, our labels are paper, made from trees, which have a well-documented habit of growing back...
We try hard to recycle everything that comes into the winery, in addition to making our package as eco-friendly as possible. More on that in future posts.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So tonight, after weeks of punch-downs and pressing, and a particularly long week of late nights pumping wine into barrels, I drank the Coors Light. I was hoping to share the brew with whoever happened to be helping at the time, but as I finished at midnight I had to drink the whole thing myself. Whew! It's been a while since I had cheap beer.
It bears repeating: YIPPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It bears repeating: YIPPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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