vine cliff 
wine club members news
 
JULY - AUGUST 2020

Hi Club Members,

July is a special month at the winery because we can start witnessing the vineyards' move towards the 2020 harvest. Just before Veraison, it is a great time to visit and take some of the Covid Blues away by enjoying the outdoors and sipping a Chardonnay or Rosé  at Vine Cliff. 

Since our re-opening mid June, we have welcomed many of our Club members back and we continue to expand our offerings. Our guests seem to be particularly enjoy our Picnic Baskets.  Experiences.

We continue our daily service hours from 10am to 5pm at both St. Helena and at Oakville with appointments starting from 10.30am and last at 4.30pm.   

If you are too far away to drop by, Wine Club Members do enjoy a 1 cent shipment price for all purchases of 12 bottles or more. As part of our support of the Spirit of Napa Valley campaign, we are offering a $1.00 next day delivery if your address for delivery is within 40 miles of our Tasting Rooms and your purchase is for more than 3 bottles.  Please call Becky at 707-944-2019 direct or 707-944-1364 to order your wines for delivery. 

Please keep safe, keep healthy and keep happy!
 
Happy 4th and Happy Summer,
Nell Sweeney, Proprietress

Chef Tom's Corner

CHEF TOM'S RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Each month, Vine Cliff Estate Chef Tom Stafford will be featuring a recipe for a dish that will pair nicely with one of our current vintages which you can order online or with a call to the winery. A graduate of the Cordon Bleu and a former instructor at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Tom Stafford's talents stretch beyond the kitchen. He is an avid gardener and assists Nell Sweeney with our Vine Cliff Estate vegetable and fruit garden. He uses the fresh garden products in many of his dishes. Tom is also a pickler and sauce maker, and have featured some of his bottlings for sale at the 
Vine Cliff Wine Room. 

grilled rack of lamb in a red wine sauce

Summer is here and that means its grilling season. While our Rosé and Chardonnays are perfect for when guests arrive, when the meat comes off the grill you have to reach for Vine Cliff's Malbec. The aromas of crushed violets and fresh black cherries on the nose with plums and sweet tobacco on the palate are perfect for most red meats. Personally, I think that a grilled rack of lamb has just the right amount of gaminess and fat content to pair perfectly with our Malbec. I chop a lot of fresh herbs and use some for a rub and also use some of the herbs for a red wine basting liquid.

Servings

2-3

Prep time

20 minutes

For the Herbed Rub:

3 TBL canola oil

5 cloves of fresh garlic finely chopped

3 sprigs fresh rosemary 

4 sprigs fresh thyme 

4 sprigs fresh oregano 

1 sprig fresh mint 

1 TBL freshly ground pepper 

2 TBL kosher salt



Remove all leaves from the stem of the herbs. Chop all of the herbs together and mix in bowl with canola oil and chopped garlic. Add salt and pepper. Mix again. Reserve half of the mixture for the rub and the other half for the basting liquid



For the Basting Liquid:

2 cups red wine

1/2 batch of the herbed rub recipe (shown above)



Mix together the red wine with a half batch of the herbed rub recipe. Set aside.



Grilled Rack of Lamb:

1 rack of lamb (frenched)

1/2 batch of herbed rub

Basting Liquid (recipe shown above)



Heat grill to medium heat. Rub the rack of lamb down in the herbed rub mixture. Once grill reaches 400 degrees add the lamb. Shut the top, and every three to four minutes, using a brush, move lamb 45 degrees and baste with basting liquid. Flip the rack of lamb when it is seared on the fat side, and repeat the process until the internal temperature of the lamb is 130 degrees. Remove the rack of lamb and let rest for 15 min. Slice the chops and serve with a glass of 2017 Zinfandel. Enjoy.





Watch Chef Tom Make His Recipe for Lamb

club tasting notes


2016 Vine Cliff Oakville Estate Malbec
Aromas of blue and red fruits, tobacco and cocoa. The front palate is broad, rich and mouth coating and only punctuated briefly by chewy tannins before the wine builds through a long finish. Additional flavors on the finish include black tea and cocoa mole. 

91 Points Wine Enthusiast ~ March 2020 "Earth and richness, underlie high-toned blue fruit and black currant in this soft, rounded and full-bodied wine. Seamless tannins find complementary oak, allowing room for the fruit to sing." V.B.

REORDER NOW

previous club news

JUNE-JULY 2020