2nd Barrel Tasting!!

That's right the first barrel tasting on Saturday, May 3rd is sold out. Because of the big response though, we are adding a second date. Now there is another opportunity to try unreleased wine directly from the barrels while you munch on delicious appetizers and entrees prepared in person by one of the expert chefs from "Fast and Fresh Food" in Boulder, CO. Enjoy a five course (click here to see the menu) meal paired with BookCliff wines at the winery, with the winemaker. This is your chance to see where and how our wine is made and have a great meal while you do it. Don't wait, this will sell out fast!

When: May 4th 2008, 4:00pm

Cost: $50

Reservations: (303) 499-7301

Location: 5501 Aztec Court, Boulder, CO 80303 (At The Winery!)

Components of Wine Class

Have you ever heard a wine geek talk about silky tannins or a wine that's too "hot"? Do you know where you taste acid or sweetness on your palate? If you would like to find out what all this stuff means then you have to come to this event. We are proud to feature Ann Coppinger from Pettyjohn's Liquor & Wine who will be presenting her "Components of Wine" class. Learn how to recognize wine's different components and how they compliment or fight with your favorite foods. By the way, a full meal including your favorite foods will be prepared for you by the artists over at Trattoria on Pearl.

April 17th 2008, 7:00pm
Cost: $40.00 includes fabulous food from Trattoria on Pearl.
Reservations: (303) 449-WINE
Location: BookCliff Vineyards' tasting room, 15th Street just South of Pearl, Boulder

2008 Spring Barrel Tasting

Join us for the annual BookCliff Vineyards Barrel Tasting event. Spend an evening with us at the winery on Saturday May 3 for a dinner event you won't soon forget. Sit down to a special five-course meal prepared by a private chef, each course expertly paired with a BookCliff Vineyards Wine. Try unreleased wine directly from the barrels while you munch on delicious appetizers and entrees prepared in person by one of the expert chefs from "Fast and Fresh Food" in Boulder, CO. Check out the menu below.

When: May 3rd 2008, 5:00pm
Cost: $50
Reservations: (303) 499-7301
Location: 5501 Aztec Court, Boulder, CO 80303 (At The Winery!)

Appetizers

Endive with Goat Cheese and Maple Glazed Pecans (As pictured above)
-Paired with 2006 Chardonnay

Grilled Salmon with Mango Lime Salsa
Salmon Grilled with a Great Smoky Flavor and Topped with a Slightly Spicy Mango Lime Salsa.
-Paired with 2007 Viognier/Roussanne Blend

Veal and Veggie Tagine
This North African Stew is cooked in a Conical Shaped Earthen ware pot. With Flavorful spices, fresh tomatoes and served over couscous.
-Paired with 2007 Merlot and 2007 Syrah

Rosemary Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin
Beef Tenderloin pan seared with Fresh Organic Rosemary and Served with Roasted Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes and Steamed Veggies.
-Paired with 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 Cabernet Franc

Belvedere Belgian Chocolates

-Paired with Finali port-style dessert wine

BookCliff Vineyards Reaches the Summit!

Summit County that is! Its true, now you can find many of our fine wines near your favorite Summit County Ski area. In Silverthorne we'd like to welcome Blue Valley Liquors, convieniently located just north of I-70 at 191 Blue River Parkway. You can find our 2004 Ensemble, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Touch of Red on the Blue Valley Liquor shelves now.

On Main Street in downtown Frisco you can find our Touch of Red, 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ensemble and Merlot now as we welcome Frisco Liquors of 416 E. Main Street to our list of fine wine vendors.

As of next week you'll find us in Keystone, Colorado as well. Starting Monday you will find BookCliff 2005 Syrah, 2006 Viogner, and our popular Orange Muscat Dessert Wine, "Allegretto" at Summit Liquors, 22801 Highway 6 in Keystone. Just down the road at Loveland Pass Liquors, 22837 Highway 6, you'll be able to find our 2004 Ensemble and Cabernet Sauvignon.

We are continuing to visit and taste with other mountian region vendors, at both restaurant and retail venues. Look forward to additional updates on other Rocky Mountain locations where you can find your favorite BookCliff Wines in the upcoming weeks.

Once again I would like to welcome and thank our new vendors.

Cheers,

Mark M. Stephan

BookCliff Vineyards

Sommelier/Colorado Mountain Region Sales

Getting the most from your BookCliff Table Wines

In addition to our exceptional line of fine blends, varietals, and dessert wines, here at BookCliff Vineyards and Winery we also produce two table wines.

So just what is a table wine? In the United States, the official definition of a table wine is a wine that contains a minimum of 7 percent alcohol and a maximum of 14 percent. There is no consideration of quality in the U. S. definition, although some consider it to connote a lower quality or less expensive wine. In the U.S this is often an incorrect assumption as many table wines are quite fine and expensive. This misconception is probablly due to the European Union and pre-EU wine laws in European countries, as an EU table wine is defined as a wine that doesn't qualify as a quality wine under various appelation(regional), wine production rules.

BookCliff Vineyard and Winery table wines are, A Touch of Red and Fridays Folly. At BookCliff our table wines are produced through blending various vintages and varietals of some of our other fine wines.

The first of our table wines is our very popular sweet blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot called, A Touch of Red. After the Cabernet and Merlot is fermented completely dry we back blend unfermented merlot juice into the wine to create a uniquely friuty sweet wine which John, our owner and winemaker likes to compare to a Sangria. The difference is, instead of resting on cut fruit, our version gets it sweetness from the unfermented merlot juice in the blend. A great wine to come in from the heat of summer for, this wine is best enjoyed as cold as you can make it. Like its' Spanish inspiration Sangria; BookCliffs, A Touch of Red serves equally well over ice.

Our second, and newest table wine is BookCliffs Fridays Folly. Released late last year, Fridays Folly is named for a common climbers route on the back of the third Flatiron in Boulder. Fridays Folly is a blend of various vintages of BookCliffs Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Fridays Folly is completely dry, although quite fruity and crisp. The trick to getting the best out of your bottle of Fridays Folly is through decanting. So dust off that decanter, decant your Fridays Folly, allow it to breath and open up for 15 to 30 minutes prior to drinking, and enjoy a table wine that easily rivals many wines costing 2 to 3 times as much. If you don't have a decanter, decant into a pitcher or pour the wine into glasses 10 to 15 minutes prior to serving. Just opening the bottle and letting it sit will not allow enough air exchange for the wine to open up. If you would really like to experience the difference this aeriation decanting makes pour yourself a glass of Fridays Folly and set it aside for 15 minutes. When you are ready to taste, pour another glass from the bottle and taste both side by side. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference.

Cheers,

Mark M. Stephan

BookCliff Vineyards

Sommelier/Sales

Winter Update in the Vineyard from Sam

Despite the consistently cold winter, I'm remaining optimistic thanks to the abnormally wet season. The two biggest challenges we face growing winegrapes in Colorado are winter-kill, when cold winter temperatures kill the vines to the ground and must be trained up from the roots; and high levels of salt in the soil, which grapevines are particularly sensitive to. The high moisture we've had has a positive effect on both. Having a soil profile that doesn't dry out during the four months we don't irrigate relieves the vines of additional stress during cold spells, and it also helps to leech the salts out of the top layers of soil. Winters are a good reminder that Colorado is a difficult grape growing region. Despite my optimism, we won't really know how the winter has affected the plants until the spring comes and the vines wake up, or don't. The next step in the vineyard is pruning. Pruning is key to determining your crop load for the upcoming season. By spacing the budspurs along the vine we are hoping to balance the amount of vegetative growth and the amount of clusters one vine will produce. We first have a pre-pruner come through and chop last year’s new growth. We then go back through and do the final pruning by hand. We will finish this process, hopefully, when the first Chardonnay buds start pushing out their new shoots. If anyone finds themselves in Palisade, look me up and I'd be glad to show anyone the grape growing process firsthand. Check this out...for a video of the pre-pruning in action click here.

Samuel Stetser

Vineyard Manager

BookCliff Vineyards

Finali!!

Well, the wait is almost over. Our port-style dessert wine, Finali, is almost ready to be bottled. This wine is a blend made up of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with just a dash of Syrah. It is fortified to about 18% alcohol. We use an alcohol that we had distilled from some our wine a couple years ago. The wine is pot-distilled (the same method used to make fine whiskeys) which gives the resulting alcohol a smooth and floral character. We then add the 140 proof alcohol to the wine during fermentation to bring up the alcohol content to 18%. This high level kills the yeasts and leaves a delicious sweetness in the wine. Finali, with it's dark fruit flavors and slight spiciness, will be amazing with any chocolate dessert or maybe even drizzled over ice cream! Get a sneak preview of Finali at our first wine class on Feb 28, at the tasting room. Call (303) 449-WINE for more info.