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Ahwahnee’s past and future memories at Vintner’s Holiday

Friday, November 11th, 2011

My association with the Ahwahnee Vintner’s Holiday goes back to its very beginnings thirty years ago. Actually, Acacia was invited along with a couple other wineries who were represented by a rep named Lee Leardini to do a tasting with staff and guests of the Ahwahnee a year or so before the Vintner’s Holidays began. Out of that tasting the idea for the Vintner’s Holiday developed. I have been to many of them over the years. I’ve lost track of the exact number. Besides delicious food and a beautiful setting there have been some magic moments up there. I remember once walking outside after one of the dinners. It had been snowing all day and the skies cleared revealing a moonlit and snow blanketed Yosemite Valley. It was beyond spectacular. In the early days there were also some wild parties with the staff afterwards. For the winemaker the chance to give a long form seminar with the guests is one of the highlights. I particularly enjoyed one with Gerald Asher (legendary wine writer) who I had long been a fan of. This year I am planning on giving a modified version of the seminar I gave to the Southern Pinot Noir Workshop in New Zealand this past January which looks at the changes in structure and style of Pinot Noir globally over the last three decades.

 

Come out and join us for the last session on December 7th and 8th and I would love to share more epic stories. Here are the details:
Each session includes:

  • Exclusive “Meet the Vintners” wine tasting reception
  • Four lively and fascinating seminars in The Ahwahnee’s Great lounge
  • Gala dinner in The Ahwahnee’s grand Dining Room featuring an elegant five-course gourmet meal specially developed and prepared to complement the wines o f the distinguished vintners of the session.

Tolosa is part of Session VIII: December 7 – 8, 2011:
Moderated by Dan Berger, Wine Journalist & Judge
Wednesday, December
1:00 PM Tasting Seminar: Ceja Vineyards – Amelia Moran Ceja,
Proprietor & President
3:30 PM Tasting Seminar: Karjy Winery – Lawrence “Buck” Cobb,
Proprietor & Wine maker
6:00 PM Meet the Vintners Wine Tasting Reception
Thursday, December B’”
1:00 PM Tasting Seminar: Tolosa Winery – Larry Brooks, General
Manager & Winemaker
3:30 PM Tasting Seminar: Chateau Montelena Winery – Bo Barrett,
Portner & Moster Winemaker
6:30 PM Vintners’ Holidays Gala Dinner in The Ahwahnee
Dining Room

Packages and Rates available on the Yosemite Park Website. Click here for booking and details.

-Larry Brooks

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Trick or Treating isn’t just for kids…

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!! Come by the Tolosa tasting room to trick or treat for frightening discounts up to 50% off! Every customer that visits the tasting room will have a chance to draw from the witches pot of discounts ranging from 5% to 50% off your purchase for the Holiday! Knock on our door and see what fate has in store for your wine drinking future this Halloween.

Open 11-5pm Daily.

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Harvest update- it’s raining

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Raining_harvest_day9

"The first rains of the winter moved in this morning. We’re set for a little rain today, and apparently a lot tomorrow. It’s an arctic storm which means that it will be cold and will move through quickly. During the harvest this is the best type of storm if you’ve going to have one. The alternative is tropical moisture which with its combination of rain and warm still air can cause common rot to quickly destroy your fruit.

Not all rain during harvest is harmless, and several vintages I have made were diminished by rain, but by and large it is benign. I recall my very first harvest in 1979 at Acacia when a storm moved in like this year towards the end of picking. I was very concerned, but Mike Richmond my mentor and boss at that time said, "Don’t worry, it always rains during harvest." Good advice in general about attitude towards weather if you’re going to be at all happy as a farmer. Our second harvest together we were receiving the very last fruit of the season and as we were loading it into the press the first rain of the season began falling. It felt both fated and magical. My fondest memory of harvest rain was in the late 80′s. I don’t recall the exact vintage but I suspect it was ’87 or ’88 as my son who was born in ’83 was 4 or 5 at the time. We were driving to Lee Hudson’s always anticipated harvest party. The fruit had been in for a week or so. Rain began falling heavily as we drove up. The party, always held outside, continued despite the rain. Everybody danced in the mud and got soaked. As the evening wore on, and the rain intensified, the adults retreated under the shelter of the barns while the children like little savages continued to dance around the bonfire until we took them home and to bed."

-          Larry Brooks, Winemaker

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The first grapes have arrived!!

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Harvest has officially begun at Tolosa! Today we brought in our first grapes from our Pinot Noir block 593, which most customers know as our Lily Gil. Block 593 is the highest point on the eastern hills of Edna Ranch. It is on a mix of soils the dominant one is reddish and of volcanic origin.  The flavor influence of the soil trumps the clonal material in this location. We also brought in the neighboring Pinot Noir block 587. In a few of these photos you’ll see winemaker, Larry Brooks, who is starting his 34th harvest, doing analysis of the grapes as they are being processed and in the last photo he is using the refractometer to measure the brix.

Come on by in the next few weeks to catch a glimpse of the action from our patio while sipping on the final product!

P9130712 P9130722 P9130732 P9130734
See the full gallery on Posterous

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Central City Market Winemaker Dinner

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

New_york_steak_course

A mall in Santa Maria is an unlikely place at best to eat a multi course winemaker dinner, but the owner of this mall likes good food and so enticed some first rate talent to run three restaurants and a catering operation within the mall in a town better known for growing strawberries than crafting gourmet food. The evening started with canapes and a sweet sparkling wine in a roped off area in the atrium of the mall. Odd location for appetizers – it felt a bit like being a rare tropical fish in an aquarium with the citizens circulating around us as we awkwardly sipped and supped. Once we moved into the dining room things relaxed a bit into the more settled routine of winemaker dinners. There was nothing routine about the food and wine pairings. The chef, Ryan and his staff did a superb job with this. All the food was excellent and the three, yup, three main courses were all ridiculously delicious. As good as the fish dish was with the baby carrots nicely setting off our luxurious 2008 Tolosa Block 569 Chardonnay, my favorites were the meat courses. The first of which was turkey done traditionally including light and dark meat, gravy, stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce paired with our 2008 Estate Pinot Noir. This light jazzy Pinot was lit up by the food and vice versa – a nice preview of Thanksgiving pleasures to come. Despite being completely stuffed at this point I somehow managed to eat all of the final course a NY steak served on a bed of spetzel and wild mushrooms. The 2008 Tolosa Estate Syrah helped ease the pain and was an excellent foil for this rich dish. Out of embarrassment at my own gluttony, I won’t even talk about the heavenly pastries and the Viognier dessert wine that ended the evening. The fact that I can’t even remember the last time I ate so much that my stomach hurt speaks volumes about the quality of this restaurant.

-          Posted by Larry Brooks, Winemaker

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