Fenestra Winery Blog

Had to do a quality check!

Tender, tender, tender!

OOoh the beef is tender! I don't have a plastic knife but the beef pulls apart with a fork. Pair with the '03 Zin, man, this is great! chicken is tasty too!

Kudos to Blue Sage catering & Matthew Bos for presenting a wonderful main course!

The hors d'oeuvre were great!

I forgot to mention that the hors d'oeuvre included gorgonzola encrusted grapes & Brie & bacon tartlets, and spicy olives.

Kudos to Marla & Warren James, Jan Bachman, janet&Dave Owens for making the hors d'oeuvres! This is the 1st time the ace Fenestra staff has made part of the Fanatic dinner!!

Now it is onto the Main course. Will the beef be tender enough that you could cut it w/ a plastic knife? Will see!

Live blogging the Fanatic dinner!

I am here at the fall Fanatic dinner! The hors d'oeuvre are wonderful & plentiful, consisting of smoked salmon tartlet & cold shrimp. I need to find nice fenestra white to go with it!

Mid-October Crush Update: First Grenache from Our Vineyard!

We are mostly finished (about 85 %) with the crush.  We have crushed 123 tons so far, of which 22 tons were custom crush.  We still have about 24 tons yet to process: our estate Mourvedre; red grapes from Ghielmetti Vineyard (Cab Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah); Tempranillo from Ron Silva and Livermore; and a couple of other small lots.  We got our first crop of Grenache from our own vineyard, about 3 tons, and 2.25 tons of Grenache from Rick Hansen's vineyard opposite Ravenswood Park on Arroyo Way. 

 

The recent heavy rains put a halt on harvesting, but as far as we know, have not caused problems.

 

So far the grapes have been nicely ripe with good flavors.  There were two unexpected, but interesting lots of grapes: 2.23 tons of Carignane from 100+ year old vines near Oakley (Contra Costa County) and 1.78 tons of Souzao from a local vineyard

Annual Fall Fanatic Dinner - Oct. 24, 2009

 Details for this years Fall Fanatic Dinner have been announced and invitations are in the mail!  The dinner will be held on Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 6 to 9pm.  Fenestra wine club membes should RSVP by October 18th as space is very limited!  (The dinner is for club members and their significant others only.)

We are excited to report that Blue Sage Catering from Livermore will be preparing delicious food for this year's Fall dinner.  As always, the food will be paired with some of our award-winning wines, specially selected by the Winemaker and Owners, just for the dinner.

This year's menu will promise mouth-watering selections including: a variety of passed appetizers; Signature Angus Tri-Tip with House BBQ Sauce; Breast of Chicken Piccata Nuvole; Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes; Grilled Summer Vegetables with Infused Artichoke Olive Oil; Mixed Greens with a Lemon Poppyseed Dressing; and an Assorted Dessert tray with coffee.

  We are excited to also offer a special wine discount for this evening ONLY: 5% off 1 - 5 bottles; 15% off 6 - 11 bottles; 25% off a case or more!  The cost for the dinner is $60/person, and you must be a Fanatic (club member) in good-standing to attend.

For more information contact 800-789-WINE or email us at info@fenestrawinery.com.
 

New Restaurants Feature Fenestra Wines!

We are excited to announce that four new local restaurants are now offering award-winning wines from Fenestra Winery!  Enjoy your favorites during your next dining experience:

Yan's China Bistro

2929 N. Main Street

Walnut Creek 94597

925-944-5968

www.YansChinaBistro.com

 

 

Vine Cinema

1722 First Street

Livermore 94550

925-447-2546

 

Swirls at Blacksmith Square

21 S. Livermore Ave.

Livermore 94550

925-447-1400

 

Girasole Grill

3180 Santa Rita Rd.

Pleasanton 94588

925-484-1001

www.GirasoleGrill.com

Further Crush Update

We have crushed 4.9 tons of Cab Franc, 7.8 tons of Cinsault, , 3.1 tons of Alvarelhao, 3.2 tons of Mourvedre and 1.9 tons of Souzao from Silvaspoons Vineyard.  In case you are not familiar with Cinsault, it is a Rhone-type variety which has light color and fruity bouquet.  We will use it in a True Red blend.  We also crushed 4.0 tons of Merlot from Thatcher Bay Vineyard and 11.2 tons of Syrah from our Estate vineyard.  The Syrah was quite ripe at 28 deg. Brix, but a much better yield than last year when we only got 7.5 tons.

Our Estate Grenache and Mourvedre are still hanging.

Later this week we expect to get Semillon and Zinfandel.

New Releases for Fall 2009

Our new releases are: 2008 Semillon, 2008 Semonnay, 2006 Alvarelhão, 2005 Merlot and 2006 Grenache. I think our ’08 Semonnay is one of the best we have produced. It won a Gold Medal at the San Francisco International Wine Competition, and Silver Medals at Riverside, Orange County and California State Fairs where it was also selected as Best of Class of Region.

Our Grenache got a Double Gold at El Dorado County Fair and Silver Medals at San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and Riverside. We continue to produce the obscure, dificult-to-pronounce Alvarelhão (we just call it Alva). Although we have been making Merlot from Thatcher Bay Vineyards for many years, we have decided to designate the vineyard on the label since we think it merits that distinction. It is a bigger wine than usual.

Award Update - 82 Medals!!!

We have done very well at various wine competitions this year, receiving 82 medals—12 Gold, 41 Silver
and 29 Bronze! We won four Gold Medals at Orange County Fair, for the 2008 Torrontes, 2007 Semillon,
2006 Touriga and 2006 Zinfandel.

At the Riverside International Wine Competition our Touriga got a Unanimous Gold and Chairman’s Award, and it missed winning Best Red Wine of the Show by one vote! Our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, Thatcher Bay Vineyard was voted Best Red Wine of the Show at the Best of the Bay Wine Competition. Also, at that competition, Gold Medals were awarded to the “regular” 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2006 Cabernet Franc and the 2006 Petite Sirah