Happy Champagne Day!

San Francisco Giants' Pablo Sandoval celebrates the recent win with sparkling wine (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Hooray! Today is 3rd Annual Champagne Day and with the San Francisco Giants doing so well in the World Series so far, we're definitely feeling bubbly. Champagne Day means people around the world will today be sharing bubbly-related tasting notes, pictures, and videos with one another — like one big effervescent international party. (To see the #ChampagneDay Twitter feed, click here now.)

This event is technically focused on wines from the Champagne region of France, but we think it's a great excuse to celebrate sparkling wine in general like our J Cuvée 20 or Late Disgorged J Vintage Brut.

If you've never participated in a real-time social media event before this is a great way to start. Just post any bubbly-related thought on any social media site and be sure to add the #ChampagneDay hashtag, so sparkling wine lovers from around the world can see it. (Note — Twitter-style hashtags now work on Facebook, too.) 

To further inspire you, here are four recent blog posts on sparkling wine:

• Three Inspired Sparkling Wine and Cheese Pairings
• Twitter Suddenly Sparkling with J Wines 
• 7x7 Puts J's Bubble Room On Its Bucket List
• California Cheese and Sparkling Wine Pairings

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Of Bubbles and Butterfat: Four Sparkling Wines To Enjoy with California Cheeses

October is American Cheese Month and we've been celebrating rather, uh... thoroughly. The number of artisanal cheese producers in the United States is exploding these days and Californian cheesemakers in particular have really been breaking out lately — often running neck-and-neck with Wisconsin producers at the American Cheese Society's annual competition.

To recognize their success, here are four perfect pairings of J sparkling wines and California cheeses. 

• Andante Nocture with J Vintage Brut. This delicious bloomy-rind cow's milk cheese from the renowned Andante Dairy in Petaluma is less than 3 weeks old when it comes to market. When it's young, it's buttery and spreadable with a subtle earthy character that develops into a rich mushroomy flavor as it ages. This cheese pairs beautifully with our Vintage Brut which has bright pear and citrus characters that play well against the Nocturne's earthy notes.


• Marin French Gold and J Brut Rosé. A cheese as rich and creamy as Marin French Gold is absolute heaven when enjoyed with a crisp sparkling wine with fresh fruit characters. With its vibrant notes of red berry, blood orange, and lemon peel, our J Brut Rosé is the perfect foil for the decadent butterfat and mild sharpness of this brie-style cheese.
  
  
• Point Reyes Toma and Late Disgorged Vintage Brut. Lucky for us that third generation dairy farmers the Giacomini family chose California to produce their Point Reyes Toma — a unique semi-hard cow's milk cheese with distinct grassy notes and tang. This cheese pairs perfectly with our Late Disgorged Vintage Brut because the wine's toasted almond, caramel, and baked bread characters contrast nicely with the pungent qualities of the Toma. 
  


• Bellwether Farms Crescenza and J Cuvée Brut. We first encountered the sweetish mild charms of Crescenza at Spoonbar here in Healdsburg, where the bright, vibrant acidity of our J Cuvée Brut played perfect counterpoint to its buttery, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Bellwether Farms here in Sonoma County is now doing a lovely rendition of this Italian favorite and we highly recommend it. We also like Bellwether's mild, buttery Carmody with the J Cuvée Brut — so much we put it on our cheese and charcuterie menu.

While we're on the subject of our cheese and charcuterie menu, we should mention it features two other great American cheeses in addition to the Carmody: a nutty goat's milk Cabecou from Laura Chenel and smoky Oregon Blue Vein from Rogue Creamery.  And have you heard about the condiments? Check 'em out here.

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October 26th is International Champagne Day!

Ok, this is our kind of holiday.  This Friday, October 26th is the 3rd Annual Champagne Day, and while the event is technically focused on wines from the Champagne region of France, we think it's a great excuse to celebrate bubbly in general. 

Basically, on Friday, October 26th, people from around the world will be sharing their bubbly photos, videos, and tasting notes with one another — like one big international party. 

If you've never participated in a real-time social media event before, this is a perfect opportunity to start. Just post your bubbly-related thoughts on any social media site and be sure to add the #ChampagneDay hashtag, so sparkling wine lovers from around the world can share in your fun! (Note — Twitter-style hashtags now work on Facebook, too.)

The timing of Champagne Day is perfect because the winter holidays are just around the corner — a great time to think about which sparkling wines you'd like to have on hand for dinner parties, family gatherings, and midnight toasts.

Might we suggest J Cuvée 20 Brut as a great place to start? This lively sparkling wine has flavors of lemon zest, Fuji apples, and Bartlett pears and at $28 a bottle, it's a great value. 

The exceptional 2003 Late Disgorged J Vintage Brut is another delicious choice and proof that patience has its rewards. This sparkling wine has warm aromas of toasted almond, caramel, and baked bread, followed by a sophisticated sequence of pear, citrus, and delicate cinnamon flavors. 

Check out our other sparkling wines and mark your calendars for some bubbly fun!

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7x7 Magazine Names Bubble Room One of "50 Things to Do in Wine Country Before You Die"

Always ready with a fresh angle, 7x7 Magazine has done it again with their "50 Things to Do in Wine Country Before You Die" list and we're thrilled to see our Bubble Room has made the list. 

The Bubble Room is our beautifully appointed full-service tasting salon here on the grounds of J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg, California. (Here's a 360 degree view of it.)

At the Bubble Room, guests enjoy three delicious courses of peak season food paired to J wines. (The current menu is here.) Reservations are recommended. Reserve online now or call us at 707-431-5430.

The Bubble Room was also recently named one of 7x7's top ten unique tasting room experiences. 

We love that 7x7 included a few other Healdsburg favorites on its list, too, like enjoying live music and dancing on Tuesdays in the Plaza, "while indulging in food from local merchants like pulled pork sandwiches." (Although, please note this is a summertime event series, so it's not currently happening.)

So, make a day of it and visit J today!

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Three Inspired Sparkling Wine and Cheese Pairings

Holiday party season is just around the corner, so what better time to think about festive sparkling wine and food pairings? Here are three inspired ideas to get your (cheese) wheels turning. 

• Tête de Moine and J Vintage Brut. A great conversation starter, Tête de Moine or "Monk's Head" is a semi-hard Swiss cheese with a deliciously nutty aroma and a highly unusual presentation. To fully develop Tête de Moine's flavors, your cheese monger carefully pares it with a special shaving device called a Girolle. The result is a thin, delicate rosette of cheese with curled edges — a bit like an oyster mushroom. In this form, Tête de Moine has a deliciously silky body that melts in your mouth. The name of this cheese from the Swiss monks of Bellelay who began making it in the year 1292. Tête de Moine is fantastic with a dry sparkling wine like our J Vintage Brut, which has bright pear and citrus characters.
  


• Gougère and J Brut Rosé. Gougère are puffy little balls of savory cheese pastry —  delicious served right out of the oven with a chilled glass of our J Brut Rosé. We especially love these Laura Chenel Chevre Gougere because the slight tang of the gougère's goat cheese tastes so delicious with the Brut Rosé's vibrant fruit flavors and crisp bubbles. This is such a fun pairing and guests absolutely love it. Gougère are surprisingly easy to make, too. The dough freezes well, so just make some ahead, take out of the freezer in the morning, then pop a batch in the oven a half hour before guests start to arrive. Gruyere, Comté, and Emmentaler cheeses are great in gougère as well.
  
  
• Cheese and Charcuterie Platter with J Cuvée. One of the most festive food trends right now is the cheese and charcuterie platter, a great way to engage guests and show off local producers. The easiest way to pull a platter together is to include a diverse array of selections: one fresh cheese like a Burrata, a soft cheese like Brie, a semi-soft cheese like Friulano, a hard cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano, and a veined cheese like a Gorgonzola. Cured meats like salami and cooked items like pancetta will round out your platter. Treat the cheeseboard like a centerpiece and flank it with a few buckets of chilled J Cuvée. With aromas of crushed hazelnut and flavors of lemon zest, Fuji apples, and Bartlett pears, the Cuvée is a versatile sparkling wine that will pair beautifully with all your platter selections.

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Bubble Room Named 'Unique Tasting Room Experience' by 7x7 Magazine

Flip through Spencer Spellman's recent stories for 7x7 Magazine and it becomes immediately clear he's a lover of the unexpected. Whether he's venturing to the state's most unusual accommodations or detailing the quirky attractions of Northern California, Spencer consistently uncovers juicy novelties for a cosmopolitan congregation of Bay Area sophisticates. 

Recently Spencer set himself the task of finding tasting room experiences that really stand out from the crowd, and we're tickled to report his top pick was The Bubble Room, our beautifully appointed full-service tasting salon here on the grounds of J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg, California. (Here's a 360 degree view of it.)

"Visitors get a much more personalized and tastier opportunity inside the Bubble Room," he writes of the three-course wine and peak season food pairing. "Give yourself a couple of hours for the tasting and consider a lunchtime visit, as the pairing serves as a light meal."  

Reservations are recommended for the Bubble Room. You can make a reservation request online here or just call 707-431-5430.

In other bubble-related news, our Vintage Brut is now a finalist for Snooth's 2012 Peoples' Voice Wine Awards in the "Best Super Premium Sparkling Wine" category. Vote before October 22nd.

Finally, if you're going to be in Sonoma County this Saturday, September 22nd, there are still a few tickets available to our annual Harvest Party, one of the best seasonal events in the region. Get yours today!

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Grape Harvest Tart

To celebrate the annual grape harvest, here's a recipe for a tart filled with homemade grape jam. When baked, the jam helps to bind the tart's top and bottom layers and its musky, sweet flavors work well with the buttery crust. For added festiveness, we cut a cluster of our favorite crop into the top layer. Try this with a glass of J Cuvee 20 Brut or any of J's other crisp sparkling wines. 

Grape Harvest Tart

Serves 8 to 10.

Ingredients

For the Jam
    •    1 1/2 pounds red grapes, stems removed
    •    4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    •    Pinch of salt
    •    1 cup granulated sugar 

For the Dough

    •    2 cups flour, plus more for surface
    •    1/4 cup sugar
    •    1/2 teaspoon salt
    •    2 sticks cold butter, cut into cubes
    •    1/4 cup ice water
    •    1 egg, lightly beaten
    •    Sugar for sprinkling

    •    Fresh whipped cream for topping (optional)

Directions 

    •    To make the dough, put the flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and pulse briefly to mix. Add the small cubes of butter and process until mixture is a coarse meal (about 15 seconds). With machine running, add the ice water gradually until the mixture begins to bind. Shape dough into two disks. Wrap each disc in plastic and refrigerate for one hour or up to 48 hours.

    •    To make the jam, combine grapes and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over high heat. Cook, stirring often, until grapes release their juices, about 7 minutes. Strain mixture through a fine sieve, which should yield 1 1/2 to 2 cups juice. Discard grape skins and return juice to saucepan. Cook over high heat and stir in the sugar along with pinch of salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and simmer 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer jam to bowl, let cool -- stirring occasionally. The jam will be a thick liquid but will firm as it cools.

    •    On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Transfer one round to a baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment, and fit the other round into a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim edges flush with tart pan. Freeze both until firm, about 15 minutes.

    •    Using a paring knife or mouth of a bottle, cut clusters of holes in dough on baking sheet to create a bunch of grapes and a stem at the top.

    •    Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread one cup grape jam over dough in the tart pan, making sure to keep it 1.5 inches clear from the edge so jam doesn't leak out of the edges when you place the other dough round on top. (You can keep any remaining jam in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.) Brush the top edge of dough with egg. Slide the remaining dough round on top and center the design. Press the edges to seal, trimming up any excess with a paring knife or kitchen shears. Brush the top layer with egg and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.


    •    Place the tart in the oven and bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Take it out and gently tap the pan to remove any bubbles that have formed. Return the pan to the oven and bake until golden brown (it'll also be bubbling a bit), about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire baking rack, and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Take the tart out of the pan and transfer to a platter. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Enjoy!

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J Winemaker, Melissa Stackhouse, Harvest News!

We are looking to begin our sparkling vintage sometime early this week. First grapes will be Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from our Nicole’s estate vineyard in the Russian River Valley.  This fruit was recently sampled at 17 Brix, and the current heat wave will certainly move it to the desired 19 Brix in the next 5-6 days.

J Nicole's Vineyard

We are on deck for a beautiful vintage this year; having luxuriated in brilliant winter and spring conditions, as well as finally getting the summer temperatures that we’ve been robbed of the past couple years.

Fruit set was spectacular in 2012, giving us relatively large and compact clusters in all varieties. We continue to green drop fruit in our varietal vineyards, ensuring even ripening and balanced fruit load for each vine.

J Nicole's Vineyard Pinot Noir Clusters (April 2012)

Since Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay grapes for our varietal programs won’t be ripe until the end of August, through September and October, our focus at this time is on sparkling wine production.   Therefore, with that said, we are expecting a “Sparkling” Harvest, one that represents the essence of J’s Russian River Valley terroir!

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Cheers,

J Vineyards & Winery

Harvest is Coming, Harvest is Coming!

It Takes a Wine Village to make every bottle of inspired J, especially during harvest.  We are so appreciative of our adoring J Fans that we want to share the hard-working J Harvest Team Members that bring your favorite bottles of J to your table for sharing with family and friends.

J Team Member: Melissa

Position at J: Winemaker

Years working on the J Team: 1 Year & 3 Months

Favorite J Wine:

J Vineyards Robert Thomas Pinot Noir

Collaboration with Melissa’s team in making the best wine possible keeps Melissa inspired at J Vineyards & Winery, Melissa says, “my hope is that the next vintage will yield the best wine I’ve ever made.  I also feel incredibly blessed to be a part of a great team as winemaking is so collaborative, that collaboration keeps me very inspired.”

Melissa is very team-centric, easily approachable, brief and to the point, and quite a mellow soul, Melissa says, “during harvest I thrive in a chaotic stress driven environment that allows me to be very decisive.  I value everyone on my winemaking team, so much so that I give them thoughtful challenges, especially during harvest; this provides them the ability to be great decision makers as well so our team thrives harmoniously during harvest.”

Melissa values her career choice as a winemaker as agriculture has played an important role in her life from growing up in Michigan and having grandparents who were farmers in Minnesota, she became clearly aware of their dedication to the land.  Melissa says, “aside from being able to wear jeans to work every day (which is a big plus!)…winemaking is a career choice that combines science, art, and agriculture. It is rewarding to make a product that is received with joy, and acknowledges a quality to life.  It’s an incredible opportunity as a winemaker to be able to produce sparkling wine, as well as high end Pinot noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay at J Vineyards & Winery.”

Melissa not only values her career choice as a winemaker, she values her greatest joy of all, being a mother, Melissa says, “as a single-mom of a 9-month old, my life away from work is all about my daughter.  I grew up in a very family-oriented environment, and there is no better enjoyment then spending time with my family, my beautiful daughter and my loving dog Scout playing at the beach or reading my daughter’s favorite book to her, Ten Little Lady Bugs.”    

Melissa loves and thrives for the stress of harvest. “I love that moment, when the vintage is unfolding, when you realize what sort of harvest it is going to be, you have an “aha” moment.  I look forward to the unknown with all the twists and turns that harvest brings, and this harvest I look forward to creating exceptional J wines.  I am especially looking forward to blending some of the 2012 Pinot Noir blends. Mmm…! The weather this winter and spring has put us on deck for a spectacular vintage. We’ve had a great summer season as well. Fingers crossed…this one will be memorable, in a good way!”

Melissa’s passion as the J Winemaker shows in her approach as she uniquely connects with people, whether it is connecting with her J team members, consumers, growers, media, trade, or her peers in the winemaking world.  Melissa has a great appreciation for what Mother Nature has to offer and loves to share her wealth of knowledge through her skillful winemaking.  Her strong family values are very widespread with everyone she connects with and has a genuine inspiration when conveying the warmth and admiration she has for her family members at home or work.  For those who know Melissa’s warmth, kindness, and nurturing regards to Mother Nature’s deep roots, knows the timeless personification Melissa exemplifies with everyone she touches.  We adore you Melissa and are so fortunate to be surrounded by your continuous inspiration!     

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Cheers,

J Vineyards & Winery