This post brought to you by La Crema© winery. The content and opinions expressed below are that of http://thevspotblog.com/.
If I had to do it all over again, maybe I’d train as a sommelier. The more wine I drink, the more interested I am in the differences in varietals and the different stages of the wine-making process. There are so many factors that affect the finished bottle of wine. (And if you’ll recall that famous scene from the movie Sideways, you know that a bottle of wine is actually alive and is constantly changing.)
This time last year, Handsome Hubby and I were up in the Napa area on a little vacation, eating wonderful food and sampling amazing local wines. One of the best things about wine tasting is the opportunity to visit wineries and learn about the wine making process. One of my favorite wineries, La Crema, is up in that area. As we come into harvest season it’s perfect timing for a fun new experience that La Crema is launching: Virtual Vintner™, which is a fun and informative program that allows wine aficionados to not only track a bottle of wine from vine to bottle, but lets them engage in the decision making process! Become a Virtual Vintner!
Both casual wine drinkers and sophisticated enthusiasts alike will enjoy engaging with a rich education platform, including videos and winemaking education from winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas. There are interactive maps, quizzes and more. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to look behind the scenes of an artisan winery and learn directly from the winemaking team.
Ready to make some wine? Sign up to be a Virtual Vintner.
Voting opened on August 25th to begin choosing a vineyard at La Crema, either Laughlin or Piner vineyard. Then the choices become young vines or old? Hills or flatlands? Rocky soil or sand? Each of these aspects leads to different qualities in the finished wine.
For example, did you know that poor soil can actually be a benefit to wine? When vines are stressed they put their energy into just a few great clusters of grapes instead of producing lots of foliage. I find this kind of thing fascinating!
At the end of their journeys, members of La Crema’s Virtual Vintner™ community will not only have gained winemaking expertise, but in the fall of 2015 you will have the first chance to purchase a wine to call their very own, to savor and share with friends and family.
I love learning about wine and I think this is so fun. Are you going to do it? Sign up to become a Virtual Vintner now!
The legal drinking age is 21 years old, as always please drink responsibly.
You would like our area, at least east of Grand Junction is town called Palisade and they have several wineries, have all kinds of wine events, wine tastings, quite an interesting area. Also big area for peaches and other fruit. They have a big peach festival at a big park in Palisade every year, is a busy town. We’ve never gone to any of events except the Lavender festival last year also at one of Palisades parks. It’s kind of an exclusive area for people interested in wine; making,drinking,tasting, enjoying. Since we’re not into wine in any way really we don’t go to events as many are quite expensive to get in. The lavender festival was free.
Enjoy your weekend