Spring has arrived, and we are very excited to announce new wines! For you Tribe members, in your April Tribe shipment. We are also thrilled to share more info on upcoming Tribe-Only events at the winery.
We're proud to share the February 2012 Tribe wines with great newsletter stories from Molly & Charlie. Enjoy the tasting notes, nature report and winemaker's update by clicking here. To get you started, here's a great story from Charlie.Read more about February Tribe Newsletter
You're here to find the November Tribe Newsletter and note from Charlie, right? You're in the right place!
Tribe:
I first want to apologize for my very brief comments in the last Tribe newsletter. The past several months have kept me unusually busy – both with the motion picture project I mentioned in the last newsletter and with our inclement fall weather.
I’ve been actively involved with growing grapes and/or making wine in Sonoma County since 1977, and 2011 has without question been the most difficult grape growing and harvesting year in all that period of time. It started cold and remained unusually cool throughout the spring and summer. As a result, bud break was very late and grape maturation quite slow. A factual example will make the point. Verasion – the period when green grapes turn red for the red varietals – normally starts around June and is finished in late June or early July. This year, however, verasion generally didn’t begin until late July, or August, or worse -- we were contracted to purchase grapes from a Sonoma County vineyard that didn’t even begin verasion until September. So grape maturity was at least a month behind, and significantly more than that in most cases.
In September, Molly was fortunate to host, for the second time, the Silverlake Country Club’s Vintners’ Golf Tournament and winemaker dinner. Part of her duties included manning a wine pouring station on the course at the “turn.” This important responsibility came with perks as well: She had time to observe the wildlife on the course between foursomes.
Here's a question we hear everyday: "Where can I buy your wine close to home?" Thankfully we work with a terrific network of distributors to sell our wines to shops and restaurants in 23 states. To track down where you can find Meeker wine in your neck of the woods, we've created this handy list of our distribution partners. Please let us know if you have questions, requests or suggestions! Read more about Where Can I Find Meeker Wine?
Gary Vaynerchuk is a legend in the wine world - an innovator in social media who connects people to wine with honesty and as little fuss as possible - and the creator of WineLibrary.com, a pioneer site in selling wine online. Read more about Thanks, Gary Vaynerchuk!
As a winemaker, I’m captivated by the winery: barrels, tanks, hoses, young wines, cases of maturing wine, wine of all kinds. The winery is my home base -- but the tasting room is where the wine comes to life. The tasting room is our opportunity to connect the wines to the people who will love and enjoy them. It’s our place to meet and keep up with our loyal Tribe, to share a glass, make new friends and enjoy the products of our hard work. We work hard to make sure that the folks in our tasting room know how to create fun, interesting and delicious experiences for you when you call, write or visit. Molly, Lucas, Kelly and I enjoy spending time in the tasting room as the winery and travel schedules permit, but we work hard to hire great people to take the helm at the tasting room year-round. Read more about Summer Tribe Newsletter #55
In the last couple of days, we've had the pleasure of offering two more wines on Woot - the 2007 Grenache and the 2006 Carignane. The Woot readers asked for a description of the Grenache, and Luke graciously complied:
Anyways, this 2007 Grenache (which we lovingly call Forklift!) is an awesome awesome awesome wine. This is probably in my top 5 favorite wines that we've released in the past 5 years or so. Here's why...
Grenache, as you all probably know, is a varietal that can make a variety of different styles of wine. Some light and fruity, some dark and inky. This is not only because of massive variance in just plain old winemaking style, but also because the different vine clones that we have available to us can vary greatly in color and tannin production.
One of our most popular wines is our FroZin - a Zinfandel dessert wine that is emphatically not port, not ice wine and not like anything else. It features fresh, fruity flavors, with a healthy acid balance and low alcohol. It's fabulous served chilled alongside an elegant fruit or dark chocolate dessert (more of these recipes to come!) or as a glaze on a delicious hunk of meat. But one of my very favorite uses for FroZin is as the bases for a delicious cocktail - our famous Frozini.
Every now and then we get fabulous notes from customers, sharing a story about a special evening, event or trip in which one of our wines has made an appearance. We love these notes, as they fulfill our primary goal in making wine: enhancing the lives and stories of our customers and friends. Please don't hesitate to share your Meeker wine stories with us - and trust us, these posts are even better with photos.
With gracious thanks to our friend Bob Meeker, we're sharing his note below.
Gary Vaynerchuk is a legend in the wine world - an innovator in social media who connects people to wine with honesty and as little fuss as possible - and the creator of WineLibrary.com, a pioneer site in selling wine online. 
In the last couple of days, we've had the pleasure of offering two more wines on Woot - the 2007 Grenache and the 2006 Carignane. The Woot readers asked for a description of the Grenache, and Luke graciously complied: 
Every now and then we get fabulous notes from customers, sharing a story about a special evening, event or trip in which one of our wines has made an appearance. We love these notes, as they fulfill our primary goal in making wine: enhancing the lives and stories of our customers and friends. Please don't hesitate to share your Meeker wine stories with us - and trust us, these posts are even better with photos. 
