If there are two important moments in a year for the wineries; the first one would be the commencement of the harvest and the second, the end. Most wineries celebrate one of these important moments, and share it with their employees and consumers.

On August 13th, we had the Harvest Party of Inglenook winery, which is located in Rutherford and owned by Francis Ford Coppola. The party started at 7 pm, perfect time to enjoy the view of the vineyard with the hills under the pink sky. We received our wine glasses at the entrance and after a couple steps, they were filled with Sauvignon Blanc wine from Inglenook.

The light bulbs were hung up all over the garden for decoration, and that was enough to show the natural beauty of the garden and the winery. On the two sides of the pool, they lit fires which illuminated and heated the night.

At the beginning of the night, Eleanor Coppola made a speech to share her feelings about the harvest. Later on, the general manager and winemaker of the winery, Philippe Bascaules, made a speech and shared his observations about the harvest 2016. After the speeches, the live music started and continued until the end of the night.

Chef Alex Lovick and his team cooked pork and lamb on fire by using wine barrels to hang them. It’s a creative way to reuse the old barrels. They also prepared different side dishes to go with meat.

The menu of the night was:

• Devil’s Gulch Heritage Pig
• Don Watson’s Milk Fed Lamb
• Escalivada with Achiote Oil
• Fingerlings with Chimicchurri Rojo
• Spiced black beans and Rice
• Salad of Romaine, Avocado, Tomato, Radish, Scallion, Corn, Cilantro and Lemon vinaigrette.

I filled my plate with all these delicious side dishes and meat and accompanied them with their Cabernet Sauvignon 2013. It was tasty and enjoyable with the vineyard view.

For the dessert, Chef Alex made Whole Grain Tres Leches Cake with Roasted Strawberries served with Whipped Cream. The salty crumbles on top of the whipped cream balanced the sweetness of the cake. As well as in the palate, the dessert was enjoyable for the eyes with the elegant decoration of the plate with edible pink flowers.

There was a blind tasting booth, which was led by Anthony Mueller, Wine Educator of Inglenook Winery. According to his instructions, we tasted the wine without knowing what it was and then we had to decide between Cask 2007, Cask 2008, Rubicon 2005 or Rubicon 2008. We voted on the boxes under the wines. I voted for Rubicon 2008, which later came out to be the correct answer. They made a lottery from the box and the name came out won 2 bottles of Rubicon 2008. Such a lucky night for the winner!

Another booth was the barrel tasting, to taste the last vintage right from the barrel. Apart from the booths, wine service continued all night long with the wines of Inglenook: Sauvignon Blanc 2015 and Blancaneaux (blend of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier) from whites; Cabernet Sauvignon 2013, RC Syrah 2013 and Edizione Pennino Zinfandel 2013 from reds.

The night continued with more music and a breathtaking dance show with fire which was a real spectacle. After that, we filled the dance floor with happy dances. We celebrated a great harvest and raised our glasses for the good wines to come!

Cheers,

Nesli

All images © 2016 by Wines of Nesli. All rights reserved.

Categories: Wine Stories, Wines