The State of the Street
FIREWORKS

President's Message:

FIREWORKS

As if frost, drought and two heat waves were not enough, we on the North Coast were hammered with over 1000 forest fires last week. Never in my life have I seen the skies so darkened by smoke. Very weird. Fortunately, most of the fires were in sparsely populated areas, and no vineyard damage has been reported.

In the winery, Evelyn and her gang have been busy bottling, both for ourselves and for our clients. All of the 2007 Chardonnays were bottled: the 2007 Russian River Valley Chardonnay(2456 cases); the 2007 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (1427 cases): and the 2007 Russian River Valley Chardonnay “Garagistes” (395 cases). Look for fall release dates. Evelyn has also been out to several of our vineyard sites, checking the progress of this year’s crop.

Awards, awards, awards continue to pour in. At this year’s Orange County Fair we were awarded a GOLD MEDAL for our 2006 Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc and a SILVER MEDAL for our 2006 Mendocino Ridge Pinot Noir. Then came the California State Fair where we took a DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL – BEST OF CLASS  with our 2005 Russian River Valley Zinfandel Cobblestone Vineyard(98 POINTS); a GOLD MEDAL- BEST OF CLASS  with our 2007 Russian River Valley Rose of Pinot Noir (95 points); a SILVER MEDAL with our 2007 Mendocino County Gewurztraminer; and a SILVER MEDAL with our 2006 Russian River Valley Chardonnay. We will be pouring the medal winners at the California State Fairgrounds at a public tasting July 10^th.

Welcome to two additions to the Taft Street gang. Sales Manager Paul Hecht has begun managing our distribution network in the Northeast, Midwest and South. Paul’s 30 years of experience in the wine business will be put to good use. He lives in Massachusetts. Laurie Keith has begun work as Key Accounts Manager in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Laurie will concentrate on restaurant accounts in San Francisco, the East Bay and North Bay. Find out more about Paul and Laurie in www.taftstreetwinery.com/thewinery/people.

Wine tastings have taken us a number of places over the past month. Steve Sack traveled to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to sample retailers on our wines. Pinot Days took place in San Francisco last week, where Steve poured at a public tasting at Ft. Mason, and Evelyn participated in a Pinot Noir dinner at Issa Restaurant. We also participated in the Pinot Family Reunion at John Ash Restaurant in Santa Rosa.

In the Tasting Room our staff is greeting the summer crowds with their usual enthusiasm and good cheer. One face will be missing for now. Kaitlyn Healy is off to Hawaii to get married; Kaitlyn Medieros will return on the 11^th.

We will be open on the 4^th of July and for the whole weekend. Come join us for respite from the rigors of holiday celebrations. We will offer our 2007 Alexander Valley Viognier at a 25% discount – just $12 a bottle.

Cheers,

Mike Tierney

Blackberry Crisp

Blackberries are a couple of weeks early this year, and the crop is huge. We’ll serve a couple of these at our 4^th of July celebration. The recipe doubles quite easily.

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups fresh blackberries (or any other berry) 2 x 12 oz packages of frozen berries works

½ cup light brown sugar

¾ cup + 1 tbsp all purpose flour

¾ cup rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

6 tbsp melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
2. Combine berries, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tbsp flour in a bowl. Transfer to glass dish.
3. Combine remaining flour, oats, sugar, spices and butter. Sprinkle over fruit mixture.
4. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving with ice cream and perhaps a 2005 Russian River Valley Zinfandel Cobblestone Vineyard.

Cheers folks, and see you on the next State of the Street!