Wine and Cheese Pairing Class at BookCliff Vineyards

For the past month Haystack Goat Dairy and BookCliff Vineyards invited people to the winery for a wine and cheese pairing class. The class starts out with a welcome glass of Viognier. Haystack and BookCliff are two local gems that are dedicated to making an awesome local product and the two of them double up for a great experience. You get to taste six cheeses from fresh to wash rind perfectly paired with six wines (three red and three white) each accompanied with cold cuts and crackers from Cured in Boulder. You will learn about wine and cheese making from the people involved in doing it. The evening concludes with a light fare and more wine and every guest receives a courtesy gift.
Here is what some attendees said:
"This was an awesome experience overall. It is was well worth the price of the event as you left with a free bottle of wine and package of cheese. There was absolutely no pressure to buy anything else, but trust me, you'll want to!"

"Lots of good information, wines & cheeses were in abundance and wonderful!!"
Date: Friday March 1st
Time: 6:00pm- 8:00pm
Cost: $70.00, use discount code "cheese-3-1-13" to receive a 50% discount
Location: BookCliff Vineyards Winery and Tasting Room, 1501 Lee Hill Road #17, Boulder, CO 80304
Reservations: [Click Here]

Have a Blind Tasting Party

This is what we did just recently at BookCliff Vineyards. We got together and tasted five different white blends, which made for a fun and informative experience. We put all the bottles in brown bags and numbered them before we proceeded to taste. Here are some of the comments. For example our number two wine received the following two comments (1) Apples, nose is different from taste, (2) Good tart clean taste. Here are the wines we tasted:

1. Evolution from Sokol Blosser
2. Conundrum from Conundrum Wine
3. 47-ten White from Canyon Wind
4. Fly over White from Foris Winery
5. Friday's Folly White from BookCliff Vineyards

You can have an entertaining evening with your friends. Go buy five or six wines, uncork, put them in brown bags, number and GO.

Local Chefs Dinner on Thursday 2/21/13

BookCliff Winery Dinner

We still have some seats available for the dinner at the winery on 2/21/13. The chef is Bradford Heap from Salt. You will get a chance to taste six red wines comparing different vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. This should be fun. This is a unique opportunity to meet the chef and winemaker and enjoy a five course dinner in a relaxing atmosphere.

Date: Thursday 2/21/13 Bradford Heap with Salt
Time: 6:00pm
Cost: $65.00/dinner
Location: BookCliff Vineyards Winery and Tasting Room, 1501 Lee Hill Road #17, Boulder, CO 80304
Reservations: [Click Here]

Menu 1. Finochietta with cana de cabra organic first fruits pears and crostini paired with Friday’s Folly White
2. Crispy duck confit gnocchi, truffle, tomato,madera paired with Tempranillo 2008 & 2011
3. Pork cassoulet aromatics, duck confit, braised pork, tomatoes paired with Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 & 2004
4. Pasture raised steak tartare roque farm egg yolk, shallots, horseradish, olives, dijion and grill bread paired with Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 & 2011
5. Pomegranate pine nut tart smoked white chocolate ganache paired with barrel-aged Black Muscat

Global Warming in the Vineyard or Not



Healthy (alive) bud

 There has been a change in weather patterns in the past three years in the Grand Valley (Palisade area) where the peaches grow and the majority of the vineyards are in Colorado. It has gotten warmer over an extended period in the spring and summer in 2012, but the winters have gotten significantly colder than usual. 2010 and 2011 brought several cold spells from January through April causing significant bud damage or causing the vines to die back to the ground. In January 2013 the Western parts of the Grand Valley saw night temperatures as low as negative 14 degrees Fahrenheit. It looks like all vineyards experienced at least some bud damage in 2013. Farming means living on the edge and over the years I have gotten used to the fact that all the worrying does not help. Now is the time to dissect the buds to check on the damage and then adjust the pruning. In June after fruit set we will find out what damage the cold spell caused.


Dead bud