Here Comes the Sun...

After a hail storm yesterday and quite a chilly night, I'm looking forward to spending a few days in Southern California in a couple weeks for the NVV's "Taste Napa Valley" tour. With several events planned for both wine trade and consumers, we're really hitting all the marks and painting the town red!

Good-bye Howell Mountain!

Hello LA traffic!

I spent my morning making travel plans - reserving plane tickets and renting a car to scoot around LA, Orange County and San Diego. (Anyone need to carpool?) I sent out a dozen or so personal invites for the trade tasting to the restaurants and wine shops which best support VIADER & DARE by Viader wines. I've counted every bottle needed and the NVV is collecting it all tomorrow. Have I forgotten anything? Hotel, maybe?

You can come taste wines with me too! I'll be participating in a few consumer tastings, including a wine dinner at Spago's Beverly Hills on Monday March 22nd, and "Nightlife Napa Valley" in Orange County on Wednesday March 24th.

Here's a photo from a tasting event last year:

Janet Viader & Alison Burger

Besides tastings, I will also be "teaching" at a couple wine education seminars. In the LA area, I was invited by Master Sommelier Elizabeth Schweitzer of "Wine, Wisdom and Wit" to speak to her class of wine enthusiasts on "Napa Night" on Tuesday, March 23rd. I'll be pairing up with another vintner, Barry Wiss of Trinchero Family Estates, to discuss Napa Valley's geography and various appellations, and also the important people and historic developments in our local wine industry. I have to credit the NVV for putting the great presentation together. They even gave it a nice whimsical name: "Napa Valley Rocks." I'm also bringing wines to taste from our single-vineyard DARE by Viader wines: Tempranillo from Chiles Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon from St. Helena.

Cin cin!
Janet Viader, sales & marketing at VIADER

NVV in NYC

While many vintners are busy bringing in their winegrapes, others are on the road and involved in a different staple of harvest season: the promotion of September as California Wine Month.

In the photo above, taken today on the balcony of Grand Central Station, three Napa Valley vintners (left to right: Dick Ward of Saintsbury, Kathleen Heitz Myers of Heitz Wine Cellars, and Suzanne Groth of Groth Vineyards & Winery) pour for invited trade buyers and wine media.

Napa Valley winery promotions of California Wine Month include:

• Consumer, trade, and media tasting in New York City, September 14-16 and September 26
• Consumer, trade, and media tastings in Chicago, September 15-17
• Winery-based events in Napa Valley

NVV @ Whole Foods Napa

The Napa Valley Vintners are proud to be partnering with our local Whole Foods market. During alternating months Whole Food's Napa tasting bar will feature an exciting lineup of NVV member wineries.

Rhiannon Bernard, left, and Ann Pepi of Joel Gott Wines poured samples from 5-7PM on Thursday, September 3rd, as the inaugural winery in this new series. A nominal cost of $2 bought patrons a taste of five wines, including Joel Gott's newest wine, "Gott", a 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon by his winemaker wife Sarah Gott.

Tasting Schedule
September 3 & 4th - Joel Gott Wines, 5-7PM, $2
September 10 &11th - Duckhorn Wine Company, 5-7PM, $2
September 17 & 18th - Heitz Cellars, 5-7PM, $2
September 24 & 25th - Newton Vineyard, 5-7PM, $2