Tag: Wine

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The wines of Castello di Amorosa

Okay, yes. This isn’t Really Redding. But it’s not all that far away. This is Castello di Amorosa in the Napa Valley, to the south. What is seen above ground is stunning, but perhaps even more amazing is that there are 8 levels below.

I describe this place as “Disneyland for Oenophiles.” It’s not nearly as old as it looks. And the tastings are plainly designed to entice you to buy some fine wine, cheese, and chocolate. Nothing wrong with that.

Amarosa8sm
Amarosa13sm
Amarosa12sm
Amarosa5sm
Amarosa10sm
Amarosa11sm
Amarosa6sm
Amarosa9sm
Amarosa4sm
Amarosa Karry and Skip-sm
Castellano1sm
Amarosa 1a-sm

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Redding falls between the Napa Valley and South-Central Oregon for wine appellations. We are west of the Inwood Valley appellation, and the several good wineries in Shingletown and Manton. My good friend Angelo Passidakis grew Zinfandel grapes here in the Redding heat, with some success. And we have Matson Vineyards on the east side of town. They produce a number of fine local vintages. And local favorite Moseley Family Cellars is based in Redding.

A recent story about the proposed Shasta Wine Village had me thinking, “what if it was as awesome as Castello di Amorosa?”
As we left, I couldn’t help but notice their parking area was filled to overflowing.

Something similar would certainly get passersby on I-5 to stop and stick around. I hope the new wine village project doesn’t just provide more of the usual interstate highway stripmall ambiance. We’ll see.

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Castello di Amorosa. It’s Really Northern California. And the Redding of our imagination.

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Sparkling Pomegranate Mead

Took a sip of this fine handmade Sparkling Pomegranate Mead I got for Christmas from Alex and Kimberly Gabel, wondering what food goes with Pomegranate Mead?
Sparkling Pomegranite Mead sm
Mmmm. Oh. All food. Thanks, you guys!

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Local winery having a big Thanksgiving Sale!

Our friends at Moseley Family Cellars are having a Thanksgiving Sale!
We love their vintages, and so are passing this info on to you:
Moseley

We have a BIG sale for you! Get 30% off all wines from now until Wednesday, November 26.
AND I WILL DELIVER FOR FREE!!!

May I suggest greeting your guests with our chilled Rose’. The light refreshing taste will set the mood for your gathering.
Our Sauvignon Blanc will be a fabulous crossover with your appetizers.
Our Viognier is going to go GREAT with turkey. Trust me. Chill it just a bit for perfect pairing.
Although our reds are probably not the best with Turkey, go ahead and order them because the price is so stinking good and drink them on Black Friday! That would be our Zinfandel, Cabernet and Syrah. Those who love getting great deals all year round, and not just on food and drink, can find here a great variety of discounts and coupons available for some of the big-name stores and brands. Grabbing a bargain online is certainly something worth raising a glass to!

Reply to this email with your order, or come into the Tasting Room Thursday – Saturday 5 – 8:30 p.m. Please include a phone number and address where you would like delivery. HEY! WOULD BEV MO DO THAT FOR YOU? Let’s keep it local.
Sincerely,

Mimi Moseley
Moseley Family Cellars
Moseley Tasting Room
Make it a Moseley Christmas!
Moseley and Dungeness Crab Christmas

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Picking local wine grapes for Moseley Family Cellars

Mimi from Moseley Family Cellars asked for some help with the picking and crushing of Zinfindel and Syrah grapes at Tuscan Ridge Vineyards near Red Bluff. I spent some time Sunday learning about harvesting wine grapes on a hot day in California. Learning by doing. I don’t have any pictures of grapes on the vine, since I was busy picking, not shooting. And then when I went for the camera, they were all harvested.TR6TR4TR3Picking isn’t a cushy job. I didn’t stay all day, but it served as a glimpse of life in the fields under a Northstate sun.TR2Tuscan Ridge Vineyards is a pleasant example of the Northern California style of life.TR1TR5I think the hot sun and adobe soil will impart the complexity of the terroir to the vintage. Looking forward to tasting the Moseley Zin that I had some small part in creating!

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Wine tasting fundraiser for the Palo Cedro Community Park

The good folks of Palo Cedro have been busy raising funds for their community park, which is under construction. Saturday, they had a wine tasting and auction event at the lovely Gaia Hotel. Everyone enjoyed the dazzling wine-food pairings, set to music by the one of the northstate’s true gems, The Pat Karch Trio. It is unclear how much money has been raised at this point, but it will soon be counted, verified and then donated. This was a great way of locally raising money by the locals in Palo Cedro, as everyone looked to be having a great time and will have no doubt donated generously. There is always the option of using a fundraising site like GoFundMe too, which would allow the community to gather donations from those further afield or from anyone unable to attend the wine tasting and auction event. For those who do attend the event, if they are split into teams, they may want to look at having branded apparel such as shirts and jackets to help distinguish between the teams. Organizers can go now to websites like imprint.com to see how this can be done.

Palo Cedro Community Park
Sold out fundraising event!

Palo Cedro ParkPalo cedro fundraiser in Anderson CA at the GAIAPalo cedro fundraiser in Anderson CA at the GAIAPalo cedro fundraiser in Anderson CA at the GAIAGaia food

Pat Karch gets a friendly wave from Shasta County DA Steve Carlton
Pat Karch gets a friendly wave from Shasta County DA Steve Carlton

Marty Moseley of Mosely Family Cellars
Our friend Marty Moseley of Mosely Family Cellars of Redding suggests Cabernet with the beef skewers.

Moseley Family Cellars selection

The Shasta Association of Realtors was an event sponsor
The Shasta Association of Realtors was an event sponsor
Skip Murphy Jamie Kline Garcia
Wine Taster Skip Murphy, and Wine Helper Jamie Kline Garcia, of The Address Realty

Not Really Redding, but reflecting the true spirit of community fundraising for a Community Park for Palo Cedro. Thank you sponsors and participants all!

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Redding’s 15th Annual Beer and Wine Festival

We attended this year’s 15th Annual Redding Beer and Wine Festival at the Promenade, and I took a few shots, er, photographs.
redding ca eventshomes for sale in redding cafood in redding cafood in redding caserving food in redding caIt would be hard to pick a favorite food or drink vendor. Some standouts include Gaia’s Woodside Grill, Market Street Steakhouse, Bricks Smokehouse, Grilla Bites, CR Gibbs, and seen pouring here, Shameless O’Leery’s.

We tried some terrific home brew from the Shasta SOB (Society of Brewers) club. And of course there was so much fine wine. It was a great opportunity to try out vintners like Matson and wineries from the Manton wine country. We had some great tastings at the Mosely Family Cellar booth.
beer and wine in redding caRedding Beer and Wine festivalfood events in Redding CaErin Murphy and Mimi Mosely Erin Murphy and friendsLots of fun, and some great opportunities to to try some different things. As always, it was good to see family and friends. See you next year!

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Make wine in 2 days

That’s the claim of Spike Your Juice. We’re going to find out if it works. For $10 usd, you get an airlock that fits a 64 oz bottle of grape juice, and some packets of the wine yeast.

I bought some Welches Concord Grape, which always seemed to me to be unfinished wine anyway. It has to be 100% juice, and at least 20 grams of (non-corn) sugar per serving. Supposedly, the yeast strain takes 48 hours to make the juice into a fizzy, sweet wine. Waiting longer to refrigerate it increases the alcohol, and makes for a drier wine.

Instant winery. I don’t think I’ll be getting any French Oak overtones from the plastic bottle fermenter. As a longtime beer brewer, I was intrigued about this idea when I first read about Spike Your Juice online.
I notice the box says you must be 21 to purchase, but all I needed was a credit card. Hm. Kids, don’t try this at home. Anyway, will keep you informed of the progress.