Happy Valentine's Day!
FEBRUARY |
2010
PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST 2009
CAKE Photo Contest Winners
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The votes are in, the readers have spoken and the winning photographs of the CAKE Photography Contest 2009 have been chosen. From the outset, our hats are off to not only the winning photographs, but all the photographers whose work has appeared in the newsletter over the past 4 years. To a shooter, these men & women push the envelope and pull no punches. Go for the cheap shot? Get outta town! Are they creative? Thank you, Captain Obvious! This understatement belies the fact that thanks to a universal love of Bridal eye candy, these photographers' work points the way toward Wine Country, benefitting all involved in Temecula Valley Weddings. |
It's our pleasure to proudly present the winners of the CAKE Photography Contest 2009
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people
will stare
[» PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH «]
Photographers are invited to e-mail
out-of-the-ordinary
Wedding photographs for CAKE's Photograph Of The Month to:
CAKE
"people will stare" photograph courtesy of shadowcatcher imagery
"The camera
is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
- Dorothea Lange, photographer -
CAKE. Wine Country Wedding Newsletter. Temecula Valley & Fallbrook, California
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"I love
everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old
wines and, I believe you’ll own, I've been pretty fond of an old
wife."
Oliver Goldsmith
(1728–74), Anglo-Irish author, poet, playwright.
[» LABEL OF THE MONTH «]
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THE KING It'd have to be a coin-toss for bragging rights to the greatest franchise in the wine business: Graceland Cellars (Elvis Presley) or Marilyn Wines (Marilyn Monroe). Quien es mas popular? A lesson to be learned from this rivalry is if you plan to market a wine around a celebrity, choose one who's first name alone sells the product. January 8th would have been Elvis' 75th birthday. Yeah, yeah, we know. Elvis? Like, how wearisome. That is, until our boy's You Tube videos began playing last month, showcasing not only one of the best-looking blades ever to walk this proud land, but a guy who kicked serious rock and dance booty! Wine lovers and Elvis fans are now offered a new way to celebrate The King of Rock 'n Roll's legacy – Elvis Wines, hailing from vineyards along California's picturesque Central Coast. |
We paired The King 2008 cabernet with one of our preferred weekend comfort foods: pork-chops-on-the-bone. At the risk of overstating the obvious, these chops come with the bone still intact and as they caramelize on the grill, an additional element of flavor is seared in. We encrusted them with our dry rub of choice, consisting of kosher salt, coarsely-ground black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic, and - yes - finely-ground French Roast coffee. (Starbucks!). These culinary tidbits were accompanied by - OMG! - heirloom tomatoes grown in Carlsbad. How are these summer delicacies summoned-up in February? Don't ask, don't tell!
As for the wine? As we poured it into our Riedels, the color was light, bright and ruby red. The wine's bouquet was an extremely aromatic, fascinating mystery. Of all things, we detected whiffs of sassafras and root beer. Upon tasting, though, the vintage was pure cabernet, with glimpses of black cherries and blueberries. The finish is smooth and the wine is drinkable now. Long live the King!
Available at Barons Marketplace
Rancho California Road
Temecula Valley Wine Country
THE KING
2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
$12.99 13.5%
GRACELAND CELLARS
Santa Rosa, California
888 | 968 7946
www.gracelandcellars.com
[» HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE «]
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SMOKEHOUSE RESTAURANT "[Chefs] must be sacrificed to
their craft. Cause for celebration! Ponte Winery's bursting at the seams as - with great fanfare - they usher in their new Chef for the Smokehouse Restaurant - Chef Frank Miller. Although the restaurant's sitting pretty with 7 successful years of operation under its belt, Chef's deep-bench culinary experience represents a significant step forward. As Chef Frank crafts a blueprint for the Smokehouse's future, Ponte expects to move the goal posts in Temecula Valley with serious foodie-cred. Cuisine-lite prohibited! |
Chef Miller brings 30 years of culinary experience to Wine Country, encompassing cooking for restaurants, hotels, entertainment events, film productions and professional sports. In addition, he's performed the duties as personal chef for several high profile clients, including celebrities, athletes and music industry execs. Among his notable achievements, the gentleman recently served for 2 years as personal chef to Mary J. Blige. Not too shab!
What do we take away from this changing of the guard? Just one question: as Chef Frank's signature style comes to be the model for Smokehouse cuisine, where do we get in that line?!
PONTE WINERY
35053 Rancho California Road
Temecula, California 92591
info@pontewinery.com
www.pontewinery.com
951 | 694 8855
[» THIS JUST IN «]
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MONTE DE ORO WINERY Temecula Valley's newest arrival's thrown open its doors - Monte De Oro Winery. Located on Wine Country's main thoroughfare - Rancho California Road - the 100 acre Winery, not to put too fine a point on it, is gorgeous! Appearing for all the world as a grand hotel, the property is spectacular. Indoors, the tasting room is vast, sporting a 28 foot ceiling with dramatic chandeliers lighting the tasting-of-wine below. |
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However, considering that wine tasting among the vineyards is also an outdoor sport, Monte De Oro's being situated on a rise lures wine buffs to linger on the outside patio to take in the scenic views offered. The vistas include the Palomar Observatory in the distance, sitting atop Palomar Mountain. Taking another bearing, the grounds are bordered by the beauty and fragrance of an expansive citrus grove. In a different direction are stables of horses. And finally, the eye takes in neighbors Wilson Creek Winery and The Castle B & B. Whew! Let's not over do it taking in all that scenery. We'd better pace ourselves with another glass of wine.
As for making the wine, Monte De Oro's creating its vintages from estate grown grapes courtesy of the Winery's vineyards throughout Temecula Valley. As of now, the grapes being cultivated include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. Although presently making their wine at Leonesse Cellars on Temecula Valley's De Portola Road, by 2011 Monte De Oro plans for their wines to be made entirely at the Winery.
We dropped by the Winery to order take-out, a bottle of red to accompany dinner, and learned they offer 6 reds, including a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and 2 award winners - a Syrah and a Cabernet Franc. However, we were tantalized by the 2005 Synergy 65 Red Blend. This wine is a bit like having your CAKE and eating it too, a meritage of "all the above," blending 36% Syrah, 20% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc and 10% Zinfandel, all partnered with barrel-ageing in 100% French oak.
We proceeded to run home, corkscrew the bottle, and as we poured the wine, it was the alluring color of brick, with chocolate, cedar and herbal aromas drifting up out of our glasses. We took our first taste and were struck by two impressions: 1). This is fruit-forward, jammy California wine. 2). This is real wine! Big, forceful and pulling no punches. It was full and smooth on the tongue with a lingering aftertaste. We found it bright and exuberant, with a good mix of tannins to stare-down the fruit. As mentioned above, there's quite a collection of varietals in this vintage and the Winemaker has balanced them well. We also appreciate the fact the wine's 5 years old. We miss the "old days" when the everyday wine offered up for sale had been around for awhile.
To accompany the wine, we hit Fresh & Easy on Margarita Road to buy the goods for some serious carne asada tortas. We threw the carne asada on the grill, along with new potatoes sprinkled with garlic and home-grown rosemary. When the carne asada came off the fire, we put it on bolillos - Mexican-style soft rolls. We accompanied the tortas and new potatoes with arugula covered in chopped sharp white cheddar, heirloom tomatoes and avocado aioli with cumin. Oh! Yum! Although an admittedly off-the-wall menu for such a premium wine, we had absolutely no complaints.
2005 Synergy 65
Red Wine
$33 14.7%
MONTE DE ORO WINERY
35820 Rancho California Road
Temecula, California 92591
888 | 757 9246
deejohnson@ca.rr.com
www.shorelinedesignandconstruction.com/mdowinery.php
[» IN FURTHER WINE COUNTRY NEWS «]
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TEMECULA VALLEY WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION The Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association presents their spring barrel tasting, a self-guided tour visiting 25 wineries offering tastings from barrels, tanks and bottles. The wine samples will be paired with cuisine, offering the perfect |
complement of food and wine. With a map of Temecula Valley as their passport, participants will visit the wineries at their leisure, receiving a souvenir wine glass at each destination.
This welcome-to-spring event always sells out, so don't hesitate in placing your order for tickets. Two-day tickets are $89 per person. (Guests must be 21 years of age). Sunday-only and Designated Driver tickets are available at a discount. Contact the Winegrowers Association for further details.
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TEMECULA VALLEY WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION Further on the subject of the Winegrowers Association - although an admittedly belated report - we had the pleasure of attending the TVWA's holiday party at the Association's quaint cottage on the grounds of La Cereza Winery. Gracing the occasion, we spotted TVWA Executive Director - Her Vineness - Peggy Evans and TVWA staff Cori Cocca and Darla O'Leary. Attending, too, were Ponte Winery's Karon Cartwright and Lynn Barnes. (We have to flatter Lynn with glowing praise for the primo hors d'oeuvres she served up). |
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The only Yin to the evening's Yang was that CAKE Sauza Tres Generaciones-pal, Denise Sutterfield, was under the weather and unable to attend due to a whopper of a cold. It might seem odd for one of Wine Country's credentialed Wine Wenches to be proselytizing tequila, yet we had to chuckle during the Winegrowers Association Christmas party as we observed the majority of Wine Country's sorcerers - the Winemakers - drinking ale from Escondido's pride & joy, Stone Brewery.
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TEMECULA VALLEY WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION Continuing on with our all-TVWA-all-the-time feature and their world-of-wine outlook . . . as was previously reported on the pages of CAKE and the North County Times, representatives from the Association - plus Riverside County Supervisor, Jeff Stone - planned a spring jaunt to China to proselytize Temecula Valley wine. That's the good news. The bad? The trip had to be cancelled due to the Chinese only being willing to lay out $1.25 a bottle! WTH?! Even 2-Buck Chuck squanders more than $1.25 on their bottles alone. |
On blue-sky speculation, the excursion appeared promising due to China's rapid ascent in taking its place on the world's economic stage. They've currently kicked Germany's butt as the #3 largest economy and are closing in on Japan for bragging rights to #2. (That leaves me, you and red, white & blue holding fast to #1). China has a burgeoning middle class containing scores of potential wine drinkers with the wherewithal to purchase Temecula Valley wine.
In truth, the notion was a bit of a stretch and - paraphrasing Wilson Creek Winery's Bill Wilson, President of the TVWA, "There's 26 million people in Southern California and [only a fraction of them] have tried Temecula Valley wines."
At the risk of flogging a dead horse (CAKE's forte), we're astonished each year by the number of Brides we meet who, while being wine lovers and wanting to be married at a winery, have ab-so-lute-ly no idea there's a Wine Country in The SoCal. We're talking about girls from Riverside, San Diego and The OC. ["CAKE to TVWA: let's join forces and focus on our back yard!"].
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_be9f1b73-a050-578a-8fbf-ab953e11f23a.html
TEMECULA VALLEY WINEGROWERS ASSOCIATION
34567 Rancho California Road
Temecula, California 92593
951 | 699 6586
peggy@temeculawines.org
www.temeculawines.org
[Editor's Note: We just have to squeeze-in one last note from the Winegrowers Association: that being, all the Love's-In-The-Air activities taking place in Wine Country during the Valentine's Day Month of February. As for specifics, we're going to cop a plea and send readers to the Winegrowers Association newsletter to browse for what plucks your heartstrings!].
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/520013/30542a22bc/1577001787/722228ff4d/
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TESORO WINERY The CAKE staff is proud to be supporters of the arts. We're Lifetime Members of the Art Center At Fallbrook, as well as former committee members of Fallbrook's iconic Art Of The Flower Festival. |
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So when we hear of a Temecula Valley winery presenting each of us the opportunity to support wine & the arts, we're all over that! Case in point: Buzz & Kimberly Olson, proprietors of Tesoro Winery, who are debuting their 2010 Artist Series. A Second Thursdays event launched in January, featuring all mediums and price ranges, the Winery encourages artists wishing to participate to contact Tesoro Winery's media director - Linda Kissam of Kissam Consulting - lindakissam@kissam.net.
TESORO WINERY TASTING ROOM
28475 Old Town Front Street at 6th
Temecula, California 92590
951 | 308 0000
info@tesorowines.com
www.tesorowines.com
[» AND FINALLY «]
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THE ROUNDABOUT The day of reckoning is close at hand for speed demons high-gearing it through Wine Country, as Riverside County's transportation officials plan as many as five roundabouts at crossroads on the main thoroughfare through the vineyards- Rancho California Road. The first of the traffic-calming circles is currently being designed for the intersection of Anza Road and "The Street" (as locals call RCR). Construction is slated to begin next year. |
As opposed to signals and boulevard stops, transportation officials consider roundabouts more efficient for vehicle control due to their slowing down speeders, while at the same time keeping traffic moving. As the design is fine-tuned, the County is as well taking into consideration horseback riders, bicyclers and foot traffic.
VENUES & VENDORS:
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news you'd like to share,
please contact:
CAKE
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CAKE is the Wedding newsletter
of the
Temecula Valley wine country /
Fallbrook area
2 Inform. 2 Entertain.
|[caution: please read responsibly. CAKE is not your mother's wedding newsletter!]|
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