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January 2019 - Vol. 22
Open Fri - Mon
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
and by appointment.
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Welcome to the Bridge
Bridging all aspects of our Winery from the Vineyard, to
the Cellar, Winery Grounds, Tasting Room and beyond. Our ongoing newsletter is an ideal way to stay up to date with all aspects of the Winery
and our newest wine releases!
In this Edition:
Learn what happens during the winter months, check out our new Pre-prunner and learn what interesting developments have come about with our luxury of experimenting with wines during the off season. Read about our upcoming Chenin Blanc release party (Sat. Jan 19th) and of our successful toy drive with the Shriners Hospital. Meet Gerado Romero, another wonderful employee and friend and get an expert rundown from our winemakers on why the upcoming Chenin Blanc Release is truly special. Happy New Year from all of us at Grand Island Vineyards! We wish you and your families a wonderful year and we look forward to seeing you.
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What's Going On During the Winter?
by Operations Manager, Joe Salman
What's happening out in the vineyard? Well, not much. The vines are all in dormant sleep mode, the leaves have fallen and all you will see now is bark, wood, some hard tendrils, and maybe some grape mummies. But the good news is we have a ton of excellent wines for the holiday season! It's an excellent time to stop by for a wine tasting for sure. Tell them Joe sent you :)
At these winter temperatures, pests are no longer an issue which is a good thing, because there is no way to get a tractor out in the field without getting stuck in the mud! Sadly, we've learned this from experience.
Some of our workforce uses this time to go on vacation like the Philippines, Mexico and Tess went to Hawaii! Those who stayed helped out with bottling this month and in doing some of the heavier landscaping tasks around the winery.
We are very grateful for the workforce we have and this month in the wine family spotlight you will meet Gerado Romero! Gerado is a second generation worker of ours, and without him, bringing our amazing wines to you would not even be possible. Gerado and the rest of the crew have actually just started pruning vines and I will touch on this in more detail in the new year.
Speaking of the new year, we all hope you have a great one and if we don't see you soon, Happy New Year to you and your family!
Check Out Our Pre-Prunner in Action!
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Cellar News
The Beauty of Experimentation with Wine
We are excited to have a ton of new wines that have just recently been bottled! These will be popping up in the Wine Spotlight very soon. This month I wanted to give a closer look at how our ability to experiment and control every step of the winemaking process here in our cellar. This methodology is likely to lead to some of the most exciting wines we have ever made!
The 2017 Premier is our take on a classic Bordeaux blend. This was a style that David and I were interested in making here at GIV as a reserve quality wine, but we knew it couldn't be forced. During harvest we had one bin each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Verdot that were looking outstanding, and we were able to let the wine sit on its skins for almost a month. This further concentrated the awesome flavors, tannins, and colors they already had. Knowing we had something special, we ordered new French oak barrels specifically for this wine to age in and over time, identified a barrel of Cabernet Franc as well as Merlot that could compare to the quality of these wines in our blend. This wine is literally why the Salman Family Reserve label was created, and we're very excited to see it's release soon!
Another wine that was not planned for but has become maybe the wine David and I are most excited about is our 2017 Chenin Blanc Reserve. We had some extra Chenin Blanc this harvest, so we were very excited to have the opportunity to experiment. We allowed this wine to ferment in barrel, using the natural yeast found in the vineyard, and let it sit on its lees (the accumulated yeast that falls out of suspension) after fermentation for almost a year. What we ended up with was an incredibly complex, rich, and elegant Chenin Blanc, and the second wine that would enter our Reserve line!
Getting to experiment in the cellar is definitely one of the big perks of making wine at an estate grown winery like GIV, and with successes like these we will certainly continue to see what else we can come up with in the future! We invite you to join us at any of the upcoming events and taste the wonderful wine we've created. We think you will really enjoy them.
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Tasting Room
Another Successful and Packed Event in the Books!
By Tasting Room Manager Tess Jonson
The Grand Island Vineyards 2nd Annual Holiday in the Vineyards Event was a huge success! A big thank you to all vendors and guests who joined us. If you missed this one, you should put next years event on the calendar now! It's always on the first weekend in December.
We wanted to again say thank you to all guests who brought a new unwrapped toy for our toy drive. All the many gifts were dropped off December 17th and found homes with our friends at the
Shriners Hospital. These gifts made a huge difference for many children this holiday season.
A new year equals new, amazing wines! GIV is very excited to start our monthly wine releases that come along with great music, pairings, wine and of course fun. Our first release party of the new year will be held on January 19th, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. We will be releasing our very first vintage of Chenin Blanc into the wild, and this is surprise you definitely do not want to miss!
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GIV Wine Family
Say Hello to Gerado Romero!
We just can't say enough about how valuable Gerado is for our efforts. Having worked here for over 6 years as a tractor driver, winery cellar worker and landscaper, Gerado even lives on-site at one of the many ranches we farm in Courtland. It even goes deeper as the Romero family is a huge part of the winery as his father Ismael has worked with us for around 25 years and his mother Sylvia works with us as well. Even his brothers join us during the summer! This really speaks to how close of a community we have here, everybody has known each other seemingly forever and we've known Gerado since he graduated from Delta High School. Before joining us at the winery, Gerado was employed at a packing shed where he made boxes and stacked to the rafters.
His favorite GIV wine is the Rosé and his favorite non-GIV wine is Modelo beer, both of which he commonly enjoys with his friends. Gerado is a second generation worker for Salman Farms as well and one thing we truly love about him, is he really, really enjoys his landscaping work. If you've ever been here then you know the extent of that project.
Stop by the winery and if you happen to see Gerado between his many duties, say hello and thank him for us as his work makes a huge difference to all of us.
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Wine Spotlight
The 2018 Grand Island Vineyards Chenin Blanc!
By Winemaker David Shattuck
We are very excited to be bringing our first 100% pure Chenin Blanc that was made at the winery into the tasting room! Chenin Blanc is one of the premier grapes of the Clarksburg appellation and is one of my personal favorite white varietals. This wine has the perfect balance of bright acidity and richness that allows this Chenin Blanc to be such versatile wine. This wine pairs extremely well with lighter flavored meats like chicken, turkey, pork chops, and halibut. It also works well with vegetarian cuisines like palak paneer, pasta with pesto, and baked brie.
The wine pours a pale straw color and has initial aromas like melon, peach, and linalool. As this wonderful wine opens, additional aromas of grapefruit, jasmine, and musk invite you to take a delicious sip which we think is just outstanding. The wine has a rich flavor of ripe pear and greengage plum that slowly fades into a flinty minerality with a hint of coriander seed. The wine finishes with a prolonged sense of apricot and vanilla.
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Wine Club
Grand Island Wine Club - Delivered Straight to Your Door!
What is better for the New Year than wine? Nothing. Have you tried the Sparkling Wine, our Bridgehead Bubbles? That was a huge favorite on New Year's Eve. The best part is you can regularly get any of our wines delivered straight to your home or office if you join our fabulous wine club.
For roughly $40 a quarter, Wine Club Members receive three bottles (shipped or picked up at the winery) and the ability to customize each order from our many, many wines.
Wine Club Members also receive an ongoing 15% off any bottle purchase as well as 20% off all case purchases! Members also have access to wine family only wines, discounts on live events, exclusive Members-Only quarterly parties and one free group tasting for up to 20 people per year!
To enroll in the
Wine Club,
or to access your existing account and make changes on which wines you would like to receive each shipment, please login using our
online access area.
To verify your account upon signup (via Billing Information or by Email) you can do so at our online
Account Verification
page.
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Upcoming Events
View all events, R.S.V.P. or get tickets to Grand Island Events and Tours here!
GIV After Dark - Friday, January 4, 2019
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Featuring Live Music - PRICE: Free!
 Let's start the first friday of the new year off right! This monthly event, during our after hours is the perfect place for live music and delicious wines. Buy your favorite wine by the bottle or by the glass and enjoy the talented musicians we've chosen for the event. Indoor and outdoor service is available in an intimate setting to enjoy all that Grand Island Vineyards has to offer.
Chenin Blanc Release Party - Saturday, January 19, 2019
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - PRICE: Free!
 We are proud to release GRAND ISLAND VINEYARD'S first vintage of Chenin Blanc, the 2018 GIV Chenin Blanc, with fun and food pairings and live music!
Here is the party in a nutshell:
THE RELEASE: 2018 GIV CHENIN BLANC = amazing!
THE LIVE MUSIC: TBD = amazing!
THE FOOD PAIRING: TBD = yummy amazing!
THE FUN: We will be releasing a bottle of 2018 GIV CHENIN BLANC back into the wild! Say what? Come and see.
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