Dijon and Soy Oven Baked Steelhead

Nicole's husband Jarrod with a steelhead fish

Growing up and living so close to the Russian River, fishing was always something I enjoyed doing as a child. Now married to a fisherman, winter time also means steelhead fishing. Steelhead are a species of salmon native to the Pacific region and they are the most common fish caught in the Russian River. We enjoy steelhead for its nice, round texture and it has a more mild fish flavor than regular salmon.

1 1/2 lb fresh Steelhead (or Salmon)
Kosher Salt
Fresh black pepper
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
2 tablespoons honey
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Pat steelhead dry with a paper towel season with salt and pepper. Line baking sheet with foil. Whisk together garlic, soy sauce, mustard and honey in a small bowl. Place salmon on baking sheet. Cover salmon with 1/3 Dijon−Soy mixture. Place salmon in oven for 10 minutes. Baste with remaining mixture and cook additional 10 minutes. Serve with white rice and steamed broccoli along with our 2007 Wente Clone Pinot Noir. BonAppetit!

Harvest 2011- Celebrating 55 years of grape growing in Russian River Valley

Fall and harvest are finally here and we want to share with you what has been happening in the vineyards! Our Fall 2011 Free Run Wine Club has just shipped to all our members.We are excited to be releasing our 2007 Zinfandel sourced from our own, Bacigalupi Vineyards in Russian River.

This winter we will also be releasing our first vintage of Petite Sirah. This highly anticipated release is coming soon and with only 200 cases produced it is sure to sell out fast. To pre-order e-mail tastingroom@johntylerwines.com or call the tasting room at 707-473-0115.

We will also be pouring for Winter Wineland 2012. To purchase tickets visit The Wine Road website and come visit us over this fun weekend of food, wine and art!

Happy harvest and cheers from John Tyler Wines & Bacigalupi Vineyards

Fall 2011 newsletter side1
Fall 2011 newsletter side2

ZAP!

ZAP’s 20th Anniversary Festival January 27-29, 2011 celebrates the legacy and future of Zinfandel. Renowned producers will present their Zinfandel’s over four days of events. Zinfandel has quickly become one of the most popular grape varieties and is second only to Cabernet in the most acreage planted. Whether its Lodi, the Sierra Foothills, Napa or even my own back yard of SonomaCounty the success of Zinfandel as a prominent wine in California is everywhere. With a whole weekend of Zinfandel inspired events such as food and wine pairings, winemaker dinners and of course the Grand Tasting on Saturday the 29th at Fort Mason, this event is sure to be ZINSATIONAL!

This year Katey and I will be pouring our new release 2006 John Tyler Bacigalupi Vineyard Zinfandel which was just awarded a Gold Medal at the 2011 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  We will also have some special library wines on hand to showcase the unique style of our wines and their incredible age-ability. See you there! For tickets click here

~Nicole Bacigalupi

Introducing Tomesto!

A great twist on an Italian favorite!

1/4 cup pine nuts almonds
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes (2 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 small pepperoncini
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb pasta, linguine or spaghetti
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Toast pine nuts in small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently (about 2-4 minutes)
2. Combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, pepperoncini, 1 teaspoon salt and red pepper flakes in food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Add oil and mix again, about 30 seconds.
3. Meanwhile bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and salt and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to cooking pot.
4. Add pesto and 1/2 cup Parmesan to cooked pasta, adjusting consistency with reserved pasta cooking water so that pesto coats the pasta. Serve immediately and with the 2006 John Tyler Pinot Noir!

Tasting room diary part 2

We are now in what I like to call “fun part” of the decision making process for the tasting room. While there is still a lot of paperwork, calculations and other not so fun decisions to make, we are getting closer to the actual construction of the building, which is very exciting and the part I have been waiting for!  I do not think that I was prepared for the extent of this project…and this is a small tasting room! We have been working closely with Lindsay our architect to really pin down how we want the building to both look and feel. My goal for this project has always been to keep it simple and clean yet rustic with a twist of refinement.

While this sounds easy to do, it can get really complicated.  I think our biggest challenge has been the design of the office/storage area. This space not only has to serve as our office but is also going to be our main wine storage area, which in the wine world means it must be temperature controlled. Yeah….So we decided to put in a small wine closet which we will seal and force cold air into so that the rest of the space won’t feel like Antarctica. The decisions that have to be made are endless, from where to put the fireplace to the size of the bar down to, do you want oil rubbed handles or bronze for the door and windows? It is enough to make you question your own sanity at times. I have learned a lot about architecture, lighting and what handicap accessible means. I have also learned how much fun it is dealing with the county….right. Even though we are very close to starting construction I still work daily on this project, it has definitely been a labor of love thus far. We are incorporating a rustic yet modern look that compliments the natural scenery of the area.

Here are some of the designs so far:

So we are wondering… what do you think is the most important design aspect of a tasting room? Is it the bar?  patio? fireplace? the bathroom perhaps? Let us know!

How much does it really cost to start a winery?

It always sparks my interest when people ask me about getting into the wine/viticulture business. Just yesterday my finance and I were in a tasting room in Healdsburg, I like to check out other tasting rooms to get ideas for our own which is starting construction soon.  I pulled out my John Tyler business card and the couple standing next to me were curious about my name. It is a conversation starter anywhere I go pretty much. Once I said that my family owned vineyards they couldn’t stop asking me questions about growing grapes. The couple was from LA and come up to wine county once a month, they confessed they would really like to live here but their jobs prevent them from moving out of the city to the country.

“What do you think about growing grapes verses owning a winery?” asked the husband. Wow, where do you start with that question? Neither of course is easy by any means, I said. But if I had to think about which one was more cost effective I would have to say growing grapes. With a winery you spend literally millions on equipment that basically stands idle for more than half the year, except for when you are crushing.  Lets just say you spend 3 million, on a small winery. Then if you don’t own your own vineyards you must go out and by grapes. Depending on the wine you want to make, Two-Buck-Chuck verses a 45$ bottle of Pinot Noir will dictate how much you spend on the grapes.

In our area, (the Russian River Valley), it is not unheard of to charge $4,500 a ton for high-end Pinot Noir or Chardonnay grapes. So right there you are looking at a nice chunk of change on buying grapes. Lets just say you spend $27,000, which would buy you about 6 tons, not a lot but enough to do a few hundred case of wine.

So you have your winery, and your grapes but what about a winemaker? Unless you plan on making the wine yourself you will need a hire a wine maker, running you approximately $85,000-$100,000 a year, maybe more.

Unless you are planning on bottling the wine in glass bottles and making a homemade label on your PC, you will need to develop a label for your wine.

If you are talented enough that you don’t have to hire a graphic designer you can save a bundle there. Hiring a designer for a wine label can run you $4,000-$10,000 dollars, this might include the development of a website too, which is crucial it you want to sell this wine.

And, this price does not include wine making supplies: yeast, dry ice, labor etc. Those can run you a few thousand dollars as well each year. Lets just say $10,000 a year. What about corks and foils? You will need those too… rough estimate for 500 cases, top grade corks and foils $5,000.

What about bottling this wine? Renting a bottling line can be very pricey and cost you a few thousand dollars, probably about $3,000 each time you plan on bottling.

How do you plan on selling this wine? And please don’t plan on just selling it to family and friends, it is not that easy. Especially if you want to build a brand. So you will need marketing efforts, sales people and travel expenses. If you are a new brand, be prepared to give a lot of wine away to competitions, media outlets and distributors to try and get your name out there.  This can be thousands upon thousands a year, lets just say $20,000 a year as an estimate, it could be more or less depending on your situation.

Needless to say, when you add everything up, starting a winery if not for the faint at heart. Nor is it profitable until you have been up and running for years.  I have heard the average is 10 years to pay off the cost of starting a winery and to become profitable.

With my calculations, just for one year of starting and operating a small winery you are looking at around $3,200,000.  Wow! We are not talking about a few pennies here, And keep in mind this is for your first year of operation, not to mention I am sure I have forgotten other misc things, like hiring an accountant, monthly electricity bills and other expenses that occur with running a business.

So overall starting a winery or planting a vineyard can be time consuming and expensive. But anything worth doing is worth doing right and if your passion and love lies within starting your own wine label or vineyard go for it!

Passing the first test

There are all sorts of areas of the wine business that people can pursue. If you like sales then perhaps you want to work for a distributor and sell wine wholesale, or work in a tasting room. Working for my family’s winery where everyone does a number of different jobs there is a vast array of education needed.

I had the extreme pleasure of meeting seven Master Sommeliers, there are only 90 in the US, and let me tell you, these guys wowed me! The amount and extent of knowledge that they posses is just mind blowing. In order to become a Master, which in my opinion is basically equivalent to being a doctor of wine, you have know a massive amount of information from wine regions, to production of different wines to macro and micro climates of countries and appellations all over the world.

During the course we did a series of blind tastings, these I thought were the most fun part. I have had experience with blind tastings but very little with wines all over the world. Most of the wines we tasted were fairly specific to the appellations they were from they included a Nebbiolo from Italy, Gruener Veltliner from Austria, Zinfandel from Lodi and Riesling from Germany (of course there were more but those are just a few off the top of my head.)  Although the blind tasting part was my favorite it was the most nerve racking…. one by one we had to stand up in the middle of the class and talk about the wine (varietal, region etc).

Overall I might some amazing people during the course and learned SO much information about wines from all over the world. Right after the test I wanted to go to Bottle Barn and look at all the wine labels!!

AND I PASSED MY TEST! *which is the best news of the experiance.

Sharing a glass of John Tyler with Thomas Arivd

San Diego Auction Event, originally uploaded by johntylerwines.

For those who don’t know, Thomas Arvidis a still life artist out of Georgia who specializes in paintings of high end wineries and their wines. He is most known for being exceptional with his paintings and the reflections of glass and wine bottles. He is quite well known in the wine world and his paintings can be found all over from galleries in Sonoma County to Hawaii.
At the San Diego Wine and Food Festival I got the chance to hang out with him and his VP of Marketing Rob. Let me tell you Rob and he and some of coolest guys you will meet. Besides playing the ukulele (which I think is awesome) Thomas’s talent is self taught. As the host of the San Diego AIWF Auction Luncheon Thomas gave a speech that paralleled the similarities between art and wine. Thomas went on to describe his thoughts: his paintings to some people would be considered fabulous, priceless pieces of art. In the same way a fantastic bottle of wine can also be considered a work of art. While those of us that are in the production side of winemaking might think that to be a little far fetched to those on the consuming end of the spectrum it makes sense.
In all I had a great time getting to know Thomas and Rob, I am looking forward to a trip to Georgia to see his gallery!

San Diego food and wine auction event

We have been attending the San Diego Food and Wine Festival for the past 4 years. Every year we met great people and have a wonderful time, but I have to say this year topped them all. We started the weekend hosting a table of 11 guests at the San Diego Marriott and Marina. The Auction raises money for the American Insitute of Food and Wine, Thomas Arvid was the host for the afternoon. Also there hosting tables were high end wineries like Joseph Phelps, Silver Oak, Quintessa, Silverado and Stags Leap, and John Tyler of course!
Thomas’s Vice President of marketing Rob Preiditsch sat with mom and I at our table. Both gentleman are the nicest people in the world. Also at our table James Thorn and his wife Ruth Ann of the Exclusive Collection. I also had the pleasure of meeting Julia and Giselle Prejs, a mother and daughter who had come out from New Jersey just to sit with us and drink John Tyler !
As if great wine was not enough the food at this event was out of this world. The menu which was created by celebrity chefs all over San Diego consisted of: “estate crafted” Lardo -Wrapped Prawns, Sea Scallop and Lobster Ravioli, Brandt Farms Beef Duo (AMAZING!!!) and ended with desert of Griottes Cherries Chao Pot De Creme, Bitter Sweet Kona Almond Tart and a Gianduja Chocolate Crunch. The Auction was a great success raising more than $30,000 dollars in scholarship money. Our auction item of a tour and wine and cheese pairing went for $750! Thanks to James and Ruth Ann!
Later that night we poured at the Reserve tasting on top of the Hornblower Cruise ship. The ship over looks the harbor and it a fantastic setting. The reserve tasting is an elegant and formal event that brings San Diego’s biggest wine fans.
I had an interesting encounter with a quite intoxicated man, who supposedly was “in the media”. Luckily I was saved by Trey, the rep for Jospeh Phelps Winery. He was stationed next to us for the tasting and could tell I was in need of some assitance and came to my rescue, having the drunk “media man” kicked out of the tasting. I think that telling dirty jokes to someone should get you kicked out of a formal tasting…don’t you?
Seriously some people should not be allowed at these things! Besides that situation, the tasting went great, we met alot of people who were already fans of our wine and new followers as well.

We wrapped the festivites up Sunday at Seaport Village with the Grand tasting. We saw more than 4,000 people and poured out of wine in 21/2 hours! One of our biggest events yet. The 2004 wines were a hit, and although we ran out of Pinot Noir first, the Zinfandel was a big hit. Again the food at this even was killer. All the top restuarants in San Diego come out to play and we get to eat!
This event is always great, but I have to say this year was particulary wonderful with the addition of Thomas Arvid and his talented paintings. Thomas had a booth there with a few of his new works on display. We ended the afternoon with a beer on top of the Hyatt right in Seaport Village with a view of the festival from above and the sun setting right over the horizon.
I was definitely exhausted after all our events but it makes it worth it when you meet people that love your product. That is what gives me motivation to continue to travel and share our wine with as many people as possible!

Family business: how we do it!

This is a photo of my grandfather Paul Heck in the vineyard with his favorite horse Pinot. Many people ask me how I can work in a family business. We have all seen and heard the unfortunate stories of families that have big dreams for a business and in the end just can’t seem to make it work. Mondavi Family ring a bell on this one?

I think the first and most important things you must do is always treat the family business as though it was not family at all.  You should not run your family business any different than you would run any other business. There can’t be any “cutting corners” so to speak. Everything must be kept up to date and accurate. There can be no favoring, my sister and I both work together and do a variety of the same jobs. Her job is no more important than mine.

You must also try to keep emotions out of the picture, I think this is the hard one. When you build a business as a family there are so many more emotional ties to it. Some people have ego tied in as well, and have a hard time admitting when things aren’t going well. They don’t want to be seen as a failure. But if you can manage to keep these things in tact, you are on your way to being able to work together and succeed.

I myself often wonder what it is about being in business with family that can sometimes make it harder to succeed. I work with my sister, mom, dad, cousin and winemaker Tyler and both my grandparents on some occasion. I guess it can be frustrating when not only does everyone have their own opinion about how things should be run, but because this is your business you are more emotionally tied to it than you would be if you were working for someone else. There is that element of extreme passion to make things succeed.

We have quite a history of family businesses. My grandfather, Paul Heck and his brother Adolf bought Korbel Champange Cellars from the Korbel Bros in the early 1950′s. As a family, they reinvented the Korbel name, producing higher end champagne and even started making still wine and brandy. My mom was the youngest of 3 when they lived at the winery and remembers having a childhood full of family and good times. The family had reached great success, I think both men After reaching great success some members of the family became greedy and suffered from problems with alcohol. However it was after an affair, corruption within the family and money issues that there was no mending the problems that had occurred in the 40+ years of business.

Even though he died before I was born, I have learned a lot from my grandpa Paul. I hope that my sister and I will learn from what happened with Korbel to become positive family leaders with our new family venture, John Tyler. I love working with my family, every day I feel like I am providing a service to the legacy that my grandparents and parents have created.

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