grgichwinery - Tumblr blog

[grgichwinery]

How to Host a Wine Tasting

An at-home wine tasting with fellow wine enthusiasts provides a casual and friendly opportunity to learn about and compare different types of wines, and to gain an understanding of your own taste preferences. As a bonus, wine tastings require less planning, shopping, and cleaning than dinner parties, allowing you to spend more time enjoying both your guests and the wines.

Wine Selection: I’m Sensing a Theme Here...

As with a birthday party, we recommend choosing a theme for your wine tasting. A specific theme will prompt your guests to pay greater attention to the wines at hand as well as simplify planning, thus making it overall an enjoyable and enriching experience. However, unlike a birthday party, a themed wine tasting event will focus on the wine itself.

Many wineries now offer virtual wine tastings, which are great options because the heavy lifting is done for you. With our virtual tastings, you can either choose a pre-fixed wine selection or customize your selection, which takes care of the theme. For example, our Vertical Vault Tasting Package consists of 6 bottles total — 1 bottle each of our 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The theme here is focused on a single varietal from different vintages. From there, the wines are shipped directly to you, and you have the option of a wine educator to walk you through the wines you’ll taste.

Set-up for Success

On the day of your wine tasting, once you have everything you need (see list below), you can start to set up!

What You’ll Need:

▪ Wine glasses

▪ Decanter

▪ Two corkscrews, in case one breaks

▪ Foil cutter

▪ Wine and wine bottles

▪ A large table for glasses, bottles, tasting sheets, and notes

▪ Water glasses and filled pitchers of water

▪ Palate cleansers, such as unsalted crackers

▪ Note pads, pens, and pencils for recording impressions of each wine

▪ Dump bucket to pour out excess wine (or any container with high sides that will keep the wine from splashing)

▪ Small paper cups for guests to spit out the wine (this is a good idea if you are tasting multiple wines, as drinking rather than spitting out the wine will exhaust your palate more quickly)

How to Prepare for a Successful Wine Tasting:

▪ Cover the table with a plain white tablecloth. On top of the tablecloth, place white sheets of paper (legal size) to observe the color of each wine.

▪ You may want to print the accompanying technical information sheet for each wine you will taste. It is likely that the wine producer has these on their website. (See example here)

▪ Remove anything from the room that could compete with the wine's aroma, including floral arrangements and candles, especially scented ones. If you are doing in-person tastings, ask your guests not to wear perfume/cologne.

▪ Display the wine bottles so the guests get a preview of what they'll be tasting.

▪ If you will be pouring red wine, use a decanter so that it has time to breathe. White wine should be chilled prior to serving, but not too much. Too much chilling dulls the flavors and aromas of wine.

▪ It’s ideal to have a different glass for each wine but using one glass during the tasting is acceptable as long as excess wine is discarded before moving onto the next.

▪ Taste from lighter to heavier wines. In the tasting room, we start with our Chardonnay, then Fumé Blanc before moving on to Zinfandel, Merlot, and finishing with the Cabernet.

Most importantly, enjoy the wines and your friends! And, if you enjoy hosting tastings, consider forming a wine-tasting club.

[grgichwinery]

The best food-and-wine pairing is a balance between a dish’s elements and the characteristics of the selected wine. Learn more about our wines below and discover the best foods to pair with each varietal.

[grgichwinery]

Winemaker Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, one of the towering figures of Napa Valley, is a Croatian immigrant whose hardships and accomplishments would lead him to wow the world with his Chardonnays, and now he can add “author” to his list of achievements.

[grgichwinery]

Violet Grgich, Miljenko “Mike” Grgich’s daughter, was in New York recently to show us Grgich Hills Estate’s current wine releases. Mike Grgich was born in Croatia, the youngest of 11 kids. He grew up in Croatian vineyards and learned to make wine.

[grgichwinery]

Mike Grgich became world famous for crafting the 1973 vintage of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that ranked top at the famous Judgment of Paris tasting in 1976, beating out some of Burgundy's most famous white wines.Grgich Hills Estate's Chardonnay is one of the more popular wines in the range, sourced from cooler vineyards in American Canyon.

[grgichwinery]

Grgich Hills Estate's Chardonnay is one of the more popular wines in the range, sourced from cooler vineyards in American Canyon and Carneros.

[grgichwinery]

Wine Tasting, Reinvented

As we pass the near the one-year mark of being in the Coronavirus pandemic, many of us are searching for activities to keep ourselves entertained, engaged and productive. The way we lived our lives previously is far removed and we’re continuously thinking of ways to reinvent our favorite pastimes. It’s no surprise that wine tasting is at the top of our list, and we strive to creatively provide memorable and authentic experiences for our guests as we have since 1977.

With the weather on our side lately, we’re elated to bring back outdoor tastings at our Rutherford Estate! Making friends is at the heart of our winegrowing philosophy and our team thrives with each opportunity we have to interact with our guests directly. For those who have enjoyed a tasting at our winery, we hope that experience comes to mind each time you sip on a glass of Grgich Hills wine.

The distinctive characteristics of each season in Napa Valley make any month of the year an ideal time to visit. Springtime is a stunning sight to see; shoots and buds begin to grow, the valley becomes carpeted in bright yellow mustard blooms, shoots and buds begin to grow and we welcome the return of warm weather and blue skies. Drinking wine with a view of the vineyard where it was born is a truly magical experience which we remain with you forever.

Though we have always prioritized the safety and wellbeing of our staff and visitors, we have adapted our service structure over the past year to keep safety at the forefront. Our passion for wine, hospitality and Napa Valley bursts through our masks and gloves, and we come alive when we’re able to share it with you.

For those who aren’t able to join us in person, let us bring Napa Valley and the Grgich Hills experience to you! When you connect with us for a virtual tasting, you can choose from our pre-selected options or work with a member of our team to curate your perfect virtual tasting. One of our Wine Educators will virtually guide you through your favorite wines, recommend pairings or even take you through a sensory experience and a tour of our five estate vineyards and our cellar. We’ll take care of the logistics so you can focus on the wine.

Our team at Grgich Hills is constantly creating new and innovative ways to share our wines and our unique and inspiring story. No matter what circumstances we face in the future, we’ll always find wats to personally connect with you. Thank you for all of your support throughout the last year – it means the world to us!

[grgichwinery]

The story is well known among wine lovers. Steven Spurrier, a young British expat who owned the Académie du Vin and an adjacent store, Caves de la Madeleine, in central Paris, and his American associate, Patricia Gallagher, held the tasting of California and French wines in honor of that year’s American Bicentennial.The Wine Tasting That Shocked The World And Forever Changed What We Drink.

[grgichwinery]

Exactly forty years ago, Napa Valley wineries were quietly making a name for themselves with worldwide acknowledgment only a slim hope.  While the wineries around Modesto, California still reigned as the center for American wines, Robert Mondavi was traveling the world praising the Napa Valley as a future home for great wines.

[grgichwinery]

Grgic Vina was established in 1996 by legendary Napa Valley winemaker, Croatian-born Miljenko “Mike” Grgich and his daughter, Violet Grgich.  Mike started the winery to produce the finest wines from native Dalmatian grapes and concentrates on crafting Croatia’s very best varietals: Plavac Mali and Posip.

[grgichwinery]

The concept of terroir is rooted in the idea of place. Organic farming allows the land to be unadulterated, thus the wine will show the true essence of the vineyard.The flavor of wine captured in the wine glass starts with the grapes which are fed by the nutrients found in the vineyard soil.

[grgichwinery]

The king of Chardonnay, while creating a battery of classic red and white wines. A bottle of the    1973 Chardonnay was enshrined  in the Smithsonian Institution as one of “101 Objects That Made America,” ranking along with such icons as Abraham Lincoln’s hat, Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Neil Armstrong’s space suit.

[grgichwinery]

There are certain producers whose name must be included when discussing Napa Valley’s rise to prominence in the wine world. Grgich Hill Cellars is on the shortlist. Back in the ‘70s, founder Mike Grgich was the winemaker at Chateau Montelana. It was Mike who produced the 1973 Chardonnay that ultimately won the Paris Tasting in 1976.

[grgichwinery]

Grape vines are a notable exception to the bee-pollination rule. Grape vines have both male and female reproductive characteristics and can self-pollinate, eliminating the essential need for an external pollination force, like bees.

[grgichwinery]

Grgich Hills Estate is an iconic Napa Valley winery, consistently producing world-class wines. Committed to natural winegrowing and sustainability, we farm our five certified organic estate vineyards without artificial pesticides or herbicides, rely on wild yeast fermentation and use our passion and art to handcraft food-friendly, balanced and elegant wines. Our portfolio of wines consist of three distinct tiers.