Miner Family Vineyards Blog

With Summer now officially underway, we’re ready to release another classic vintage of Wild Yeast Chardonnay. Also new and noteworthy this month - our Sierra Foothills Tempranillo. This tempting Spanish red varietal (one of the most popular club wines last year) makes a delicious fruit-forward wine that’s easy to drink and easy on the pocket book… perfect for summer grilling.

2007 MINER WILD YEAST CHARDONNAY

Full-bodied and lush, yet never heavy, our 2007 Wild Yeast Chardonnay shows off flavors of ripe pear and melon with butterscotch and hazelnut notes balanced by oak spice and bright acidity.

NAPA VALLEY AVA

$50 per bottle / $42.50 club price

‘07 Wild Yeast Chardonnay ~ Order Here

2008 TEMPRANILLO

This star of Spanish red varietals is a great food wine with aromas of fresh tobacco, leather and spice complemented by flavors of ripe berry-cherry and plum with fresh acidity and a dry, structured finish.

SIERRA FOOTHILLS AVA

$28 per bottle / $23.80 club price

’08 Tempranillo ~ Order Here

Note: due to heat warnings in certain parts of the country, we may be holding your shipment in our temperature-controlled warehouse until weather conditions in your area are safe for shipping. If you have any questions or concerns about shipping your wine order please contact us: orders@minerwines.com or call 800.366.9463.

Dear Friends of Miner,

Summer is nearly here and to celebrate we’ve put our most popular warm weather wines in one perfect six-pack for under a hundred dollars!

SUMMER SIX-PACK INCLUDES….

SAUVIGNON BLANC ~ 2 Bottles
Available only through the Tasting Room here in Oakville, our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc is fermented and aged in stainless steel to preserve the wine’s bright fruitiness and crisp finish.

ROSATO ~ 2 Bottles
With cherry and floral flavors and a refreshing dose of acidity, our ‘08 dry rosé of Sangiovese pairs wonderfully with summer salads or grilled fish. Chill a couple bottles and drink ice-cold for the ultimate thirst quencher.

VIOGNIER ~ 2 Bottles
With fresh and enticing aromas of peach and honeysuckle on the nose, our ‘07 Viognier from Madera has an excellent balance of flavors and acidity with a clean, smooth palate.

$90 Summer Six-pack ~ Order Here

P.S. Club members get this package for only $76.50. Not a club member yet? Click here to join.

Friends, please pick up a copy of this month’s issue of Women’s Health Magazine. Our own Emily Miner is featured in an article on women bravely battling lung cancer. Here’s a link to the article…

Saturday, May 9 2009, 12:00pm - 4:00pm: Join at Press Club as we celebrate the start of the growing season in the wine country by tasting our summer wines. Enjoy an assortment of light food and music. It’s for a great cause too! A portion of the proceeds will benefit Spark. Tickets are $35 in advance/$45 at the door and include food, wine and entertainment.

Last Friday we announced the winner of the Live in the Vineyard - Miner Facebook fan photo contest. The tickets to this “priceless” concert event plus accommodations in Napa Valley on April 5th went to the Siegel Family of Texas! The winning photo above was taken by Emma Siegel using 116 Miner corks (count’em) with the help of their Miner wine-fanatic dog Jane (apparently she really does like good red wine). Congratulations and thanks to the Siegels for spelling out their love for Miner wines, and many thanks to all those who took the time to share with us your favorite Miner photos. We thoroughly enjoyed your creativity.  Pictures from Live in the Vineyard Spring 2009 will be posted after the big weekend of food, wine and live music.

Although tickets are not for sale for this exclusive concert weekend you can always check to see if your local radio stations participate in the Live in the Vineyard giveaway.  Visit this site for details http://www.liveinthevineyard.com/

 We have an incredible contest for all of our friends in Facebook land! IMPORTANT: We are first asking you to become a FAN of MINER FAMILY WINERY as we will be deleting our GROUP page (apologies for the inconvenience). Once you log into your Facebook account you can become a fan by searching for “Miner Family Winery” in the top right corner of the page (it will have a flag icon next to the name).

We are giving away two tickets to the “Live in the Vineyard” concert on Sunday, April 5th. Winners will also receive overnight accommodations in Napa. The live show includes performances by O.A.R., Lily Allen and Nick Lachey. On Monday, winners will enjoy a private tasting in the Miner caves with an appearance by lead singer from the band LIVE, Ed Kowalczyk. You can’t buy tickets to this event…but you can win them here!

Just e-mail us your best, most creative picture of you enjoying Miner wine or best shot including a bottle of Miner. Please keep it clean people Send your entries between Feb. 28th and March 7th. We will announce the winner on March 9th. Please send all entries to mfwines@gmail.com (low resolution JPEGs will do).

Open to those 21 years of age and older. Rules and regulations at liveinthevineyard.com apply. Cheers!

Attention all Miner fans in the Lowcountry…there is an incredible food, wine and music opportunity coming your way! The Inn at Palmetto Bluff is hosting a Miner Family Vineyards weekend from February 20th-21st in Bluffton, SC.  If you have never been to Palmetto Bluff, you are in for a treat. It is an Auberge property that both Emily and Dave Miner describe as one of their favorite spots on earth.

Friday night, both Emily and Dave will be your hosts along with Chef  Mike Lata of Fig restaurant in Charleston, SC. Chef Lata has created a truffle menu using his own truffle hunting bounty. You will also be treated to the delightful tunes of the famous Howard Paul of Benedetto Guitars along with a glass of the very limited edition Benedetto Cabernet.

Saturday you can spend the afternoon on a foraging trip down the May River and then enjoy the cuisine of the Lowcountry at an oyster roast and Miner wine dinner at the exquisite Moreland’s Landing where once again Howard Paul will be serenading you. Truffles, oysters, Benedetto Guitars, Miner wines and an amazing setting…this weekend is not to be missed. And for anyone not from the Lowcountry who desperately needs to get out of the freezing winter weather, Bluffton temperatures average 60-70 degrees in February!

À la carte pricing:
$200 Truffle Dinner 20th - Wine Cellar 7pm
$60 Foraging Trip 21st
$125 Moreland Dinner 21st - 6pm
Food Package $385 per person - a la carte pricing available
Contact reservations for room rates: (866) 706-6565

Click here to learn more.

No plans for Valentine’s Day weekend yet? How about spending February 15th  at our annual wine dinner exclusively for Oracle Club members and their guests? We have a handful of tickets left to a special Library Wine Celebration where Dave and Emily Miner are opening wine from their personal cellar for this amazing dinner in the caves.  You can join us to drink some fabulous Miner wines accompanied by an incredible menu. To make reservations please call 800-366-WINE ext. 27 or click here for more info about the dinner including special room rates at local hotels.

Menu:
FIRST COURSE
Maine Lobster Salad on Purple Peruvian Potato
(Wild Yeast Chardonnay)
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SECOND COURSE
Maine Scallop Served with Black Truffle Jus and Baby Leeks
(2002 Rosella’s Pinot Noir)
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THIRD COURSE
Braised Duck and Porcini Mushroom Tart with Petite Arugula Salad
(Pinot Noir- Vintage TBD)
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ENTREE COURSE
Broken Arrow Ranch Venison Medallions with a Miner Red Wine Silver Thyme
Sauce, Gratin of Potatoes and Bundle of Baby Vegetables
(1996 Oakville Merlot)
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VEGETARIAN ENTREE OPTION
Portobello Mushroom Napoleon
Layers of Lentils, Couscous and Roasted Vegetables
Served with a Red Bell Pepper Sauce
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CHEESE COURSE
Selection of Artisan Cheeses to Include: Humboldt Fog, Point Reyes Blue and St. Andre
Served with Walnut Bread, Honeycomb and Red Wine Poached Seckel Pear
(2001 Cabernet Sauvignon)
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DESSERT COURSE
Valhrona Chocolate Splendor Layers of Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla
Custard and Rich Fudge Cake Served with Raspberry Coulis
(2003 The Oracle)

What could be cooler than watching an outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field to bring in the new year? Well… watching a hockey game at Wrigley while drinking a bottle of the NHL Winter Classic red wine made by your friends at Miner. Anyone who has stepped inside Dave Miner’s office and seen all the hockey memorabilia knows what huge hockey fans we are.  To kick off 2009 we partnered with the NHL to make a limited release bottling to commemorate the 2nd Annual Winter Classic held in Chicago on January 1, 2009. The Winter Classic is a new event for the NHL. Each New Year’s day the game is moved to a different outdoor field where fans can bundle up and watch their favorite players battle it out in an outdoor setting. Official NHL wines are available from Joseph George Wine Shop in San Jose. Visit www.josephgeorge.com/winesNHL to check out these special bottlings. All proceeds from this year’s Winter Classic wine will go to the Hockey Fights Cancer charity.

Miner will be running exclusively on solar power starting in 2009. Dave and Emily Miner are of the mindset that it is our responsibility as a winery to reduce our impact on the environment if we want to continue to make meaningful wines. If you’ve visited the winery during this past harvest season it would be hard not to notice the “solar field” planting project taking root behind the winery. Miner’s system will produce enough energy to…

• Power 50 California homes for a year
• CO2 mitigation equivalent to planting 72.2 acres of trees
• Remove the equivalent of 35 cars driven 15,000 miles/year over 30 years

The 1,750 solar panels are situated along the southwest facing slope above our hillside caves and are secured with a anti-theft system. These 216-watt photovoltaic modules will soon help us save close to $92,000 annually in electric bills. Most importantly, over the next thirty years we will prevent the emission of over 16 million pounds of carbon dioxide. Miner will be able to generate more than enough kilowatts for all the winery’s electrical needs during especially sunny times of year, thus allowing us to share the additional clean power with our neighbors. This impressive project is near completion and once we are up and running Miner will be the 2nd largest winery solar producer in Napa Valley. We will also be adding a “green” page to our website in the coming year explaining more about the steps Miner is taking help the environment such as cork recycling, waste water recycling, reduced paper mailings, recycled packaging and soy based ink on shipping materials and boxes. If you want to learn more about our system and the folks who installed it, visit  Sunlightelectric of San Francisco.