by dave on August 14, 2009
I love Sparkling red wines.
What are you talking about, Sparkling red wines?
Well, I am talking about quality red wines made in the same way as Champagne – that is, bottle fermented, aged on lees, then liqueured and left to develop in the bottle. However, instead of using Chardonnay and Pinot as the base wines, we change it up and use quality Syrah wine.
What should you expect from these wines?
Well, imagine tilting an empty glass and pouring the bottle … down the side runs a frothy liquid, black-purple in color with violet and pink fizz. Jumping out of the glass comes the smell of blackcurrants, blackberries, chocolate, cherries, strawberries.
You finish pouring and slowly the froth settles into purple red wine with a steady mousse. Another sniff now shows oak, sweet fruit and firm acid. Try some …. powerful fruit, dry yet seeming sweet, some acid and tannin on the finish as the flavours run over your tongue, berries, mushroom, spice, cherries and more.
Makes me thirsty just writing about it! We will have some bottles ready for New Year, but we will also hold some back for longer aging.
Wine Spectator Editor Harvey Steiman wrote a nice little piece on the 2008 Bright White Riesling in his ‘What We’re Drinking Now’ space on the Winespectator website: “A California White With No Need for Pretense”. Au contraire! I would like to point out that the Municipal Winemakers do have a great disdain for all that are beneath us (aka not Awesome). I am pretty sure that most of you reading this are in fact not good enough to buy our wine.
The photo above was taken of the Municipal Winemakers at the award ceremony for being mentioned in the Wine Spectator. We love the medals!
The whole article is here.
Don’t feel bad. There is hope for you. You can become Awesome here.
AppellationAmerica.com gave Muni a nice little nod today commending our DIY Spirit in a piece they called “The Millennial Dance: How Wineries Connect with a New Generation”. The gist of the write-up is that young people are a huge (and the fastest growing) part of the wine-consuming population and wineries want to sell them stuff, but capturing their savvy-consumer, advertising-averse fancy can prove to be difficult. How does one market to people who don’t like to be marketed to?
If you ask me, I think it is all about being real with people and making good products while throwing around lots of love. It’s about making stuff the right way and doing the right thing and all along the way, trying to share the experience. According to Courtney Cochran in her article, Millennials are
“far more likely than Gen Xers or Boomers to place importance on finding their jobs interesting, and are less motivated by titles and earnings than previous generations, too. As a result, they’re hard wired for entrepreneurship themselves, and they gravitate towards brands that speak to this spirit of doing it yourself – determining your own fate, if you will.”
Even better than the marketing talk was being called a ‘talented young winemaker’. Why, thank you! The whole article is here.
Attention all Awesome people… The Club Awesome Summer Shipment is less than a month away now. Summer shipment this year has 2 super refreshing summer wines packed inside – the 2008 Bright White Riesling, and the 2008 Pale Pink Rose. Get them nice and cold and drink them in the sun. If you are not awesome, you can sign up to become awesome here.
by dave on April 30, 2009
Our 2008 label designers (Print Liberation) did some awesome work – pounding some free wine. Snappy photos they took of a muni party at their place. Symbiosis.
by dave on April 23, 2009
If you are thirsty for wine and looking for an exceptional night out, you should come on down the SB courthouse this Saturday. Elements, the resto, is putting on their second annual futures event. The tix are $75, but that includes delish dinner and access to wine bargains from tiny producers (like the Muni). Here is what the SB Independent has to say:
Attendees enter through the County Courthouse’s archway and then are set loose on the entire first floor, where wineries line the walls and a full dinner buffet is served. “It’s a beautiful location inside the Courthouse,” said Winchester. “For a reception, you can’t beat it. There will be 35 wineries—buyers must purchase at least six bottles per selection—and perhaps more than 500 people. It’s “classy” attire too, so men are urged to wear sport coats and ladies to wear cocktail dresses.
More details are here, on the elements website.
by dave on April 15, 2009
Matt Kettmann from the Santa Barbara Independent gave us a nice little write-up in their Vintner’s Festival Preview:
Municipal Winemakers: Recently unveiled during a Funk Zone warehouse tasting party, Dave Potter’s creatively named and decorated wines are full of youthful vigor and cultish buzz. Get jazzed on the Pale Pink (grenache and cinsaut) or the Dark Red (syrah from Camp Four and Tierra Alta with cabernet from Star Lane), but make sure to try the Bright White, Potter’s exciting take on dry riesling.
Check out the the whole review here…
