Let me introduce a genuinely nice GSM with a little “V” on the end.  The wine, Le Jardin Rouge – 2015 Capay Valley  This blend was produced by Moseley Family Cellars.

Capay Valley is a rural valley northwest of Sacramento in Yolo County California. This California AVA is about 102,400 acres region in size and borders Napa County, Lake County and Colusa County. Actual vineyards planted are about 25 acres. Some excellent fruit comes from this AVA and you will find a few wineries such as Cache Creek, Taber Ranch and Capay Valley Vineyards. This little AVA produces Tempranillo, Merlot, Viognier, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Mourvedre, Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, Petite Sirah, Sangiovese and Petite Verdot. Moseley Family Cellars has selected for this blend Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Viognier wine grapes. The blend is 55%/33%/10% and 2% respectively for their 2015 Le Jardin Rouge.  

The primary grape in this blend, Grenache (gruh·naash) is a dry, red wine that is typically full-bodied and interestingly light in both color and tannins. Grenache produces wines that are loaded with strawberry, cherry, blackberry, purple plum and in the richest examples, even cocoa, black tea or licorice. 

Next is Syrah and it often carry flavors of black cherry, black pepper, blackberry, plum, bell pepper, clove, licorice, espresso, and dark chocolate. 

Westbrook Wine Farm – 2007 Mariposa Count, Cabernet Sauvignon
Ingredients: Cabernet Sauvignon
Nose: earthy deep and rich
Taste: dark cherry for the fruit, hint of chocolate or mocha with just a hint or leather.
Character: Full flavored, fleshy and well-structured
Cellaring: good for a few more years if cellared but my last bottle will not last that long.
Alc. by Vol.: 14.5%
Personal note: While my favorite from this boutique winery is their Flagship wine, Fait Accompli, this wine has flavors of dark cherries, dark roses, chocolate, truffles, cedar, and Cabernet sauvignon fruit.
Tasting notes: smooth, well-balanced
Suggested pairing: Grilled ribeye steak

Westbrook Wine Farm is a vineyard and winery in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of eastern Madera County, California, near Bass Lake and Yosemite National Park. Westbrook’s mountain vineyards are planted to field blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Gros Verdot and Carmenere. The Krause’s, Ray and Tammy, practice sustainable farming and minimalist winemaking and make their wine in the traditional Claret style by co-fermenting grapes, rather than by making separate varietal wines and blending them. Their Flagship wine is their Fait Accompli includes six and our Museum, three of the eight red varieties permitted for use in Bordeaux or Meritage style wines.

Westbrook Wine Farm – 2004 Fait Accompli

Ingredients: California Boudreaux Blend – Field Blend

Nose: Wonderful bouquet that evolves as it waits for your enjoyment in the glass

Taste: I hope it is sufficient to say this is a California Boudreaux blend that will give some of the best French Chateau’s a run for their money.  Think of Chateau Pipeau, Lynch Bages and a few other wonderful French wines.

Character: Simply Wow. Glorious, superbly balanced and beautifully integrated fruit. Tannins soft and mellow. Wonderfully long finish.  Outstanding.  This vintage simply singings. Spectacular wine.  Well done.

                                 (Picture- Courtesy of Russian Ridge)

Today it is pretty clear that beverage to customer business is stacked incredibly so, to the really big wine, brew and spirit industries. Their dominance in the industry leaves little room for so many of those passionate with their dreams and desire to produce quality wines, beer and other spirits.  It can be a lot of work to scratch out a living doing what they love to do best.

Wineries and distilleries lovers that are affluent and savvy beverage lovers prefer the small boutique distilleries and wineries. Still it can be a challenge for the small producers to survive or thieve while carving out their quiet niche.  In addition, with so many hats to be worn, it can be a real challenge to retain members to wine clubs with the huge influence of the giant beverage organizations and their advertising budgets.  Some boutique and micro-breweries do very well, but many others just survive.  With that we have seen a growing number of associations banding together to extend their reach to the customer.  Most of us have participated with the associations via wine walks and passport arrangements that are scheduled during the year to get people into the tasting rooms of their member wineries or vineyards within the association. With the growing number of microbreweries similar efforts are underway as well.

Judy Schultze interest in wine and winemaking goes back about 25 years, when she first lived in Chicago, but took numerous business and pleasure trips to Europe, and began learning about winemaking in France.  The attraction to the world of wine continued when Judy and her husband Jim lived overseas, first Australia for five years, where they came to love Australian wines, particularly the small boutique wineries near where they lived in Melbourne; then England for two years, which enabled them to make frequent trips to the vineyards of France, Italy and Spain.

Judy and Jim Schultze are the sole proprietors of Windy Oaks Estate Vineyards and Winery. This pair is dedicated to making the finest wine possible combining the best of Burgundian tradition with recent advances in winemaking knowledge. The sole focus of this winery is on the two great varietals from Burgundy, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, grown in their own estate vineyards.

In the summer of 1994, Judy returned home to the central coast of California; in 1995, land adjacent to their property in Corralitos became available, and this is when Judy and her wine-loving partner began to think of growing grapes. The two of them started doing research as to which grapes were most suitable to their microclimate in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, and found that it was uniquely suited for pinot noir grapes. (Wine Spectator has identified the Santa Cruz Mountain appellation as the most underrated wine appellation in the world.)