Is it just me or have wedding registries taken all the fun out of buying a gift for a wedding? You go to a store, whether in-person or online, and you buy exactly what the bride and groom have requested. The problem is that there is no creativity in this gesture, no individuality, no personal touch!

Today’s wedding showers have become much more interesting and functional than their more traditional predecessors. The format of yesterday, a ladies-only gathering with an endless supply of lace doilies and cucumber sandwiches, pales in comparison to what the shower can and should be for today’s couples! Consider for a moment….a “Build Your Cellar Party!” I held a wedding shower for one of my best friends Nate, and called it a “Cellar Building Party.” In lieu of a gift, each person brought a bottle of their favorite wine, along with a note detailing suggestions for enjoyment. The contributions ranged from a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne with a note that read…. “To be opened at your 1 year anniversary” to a bottle of Boone’s Farm that read “In case of emergency, break and serve immediately…like during your first fight!” Some of the bottles had deep significance, and others were simply a lot of fun!

By the end of the party, Nate and Stacy had 75 bottles of wine, which represented 75 unique memories! At the very least, they had enough wine to get them through that potentially challenging post-honeymoon phase! And that, my friends, is my kind of party!

I invite you to share your stories. How has the celebration of wine factored into your wedding plans? I'm looking forward to reading all of your comments.

Cheers!
Andrew Firestone

Hello Gang!

One of the most special holidays of the year is upon us - Mother’s Day! This is our opportunity to pay tribute to the women in our lives who fed us, bathed us, scolded us, loved us, and cleaned up after us, all these years! Here is a hint: Flowers and a card are not sufficient recognition for all those years of hard work. I believe the only suitable token of appreciation is the classic Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch! Whether she’s your mother, wife, sister, grandmother, or even a special mom you know, she is in fact a mom and it’s time to celebrate her! Take her out to enjoy Sunday as it was meant to be enjoyed…with an endless buffet, and a bottomless glass of Champagne.

Now, there are all different types of sparkling wines. Everyone makes a big deal out of “Champagne”, because it is actually not “Champagne” unless it is from the Champagne region in France. Otherwise it is called “Sparkling Wine”. Either way, it is basically the same stuff! My favorite is actually sparkling rosé, which is a sparkling wine that has a pinkish color to it. The pink color comes from the winemaker letting the juice sit on the skins for a little while, allowing the color of the skin to turn the juice pink. Many people don’t realize that sparkling wine doesn’t necessarily come from a white grape. In fact, sparkling wine can be made from red or white grapes, but if the juice does come from red grapes, you can turn it pink by allowing extended contact with the red skins. The result is a slightly sweet sparkling wine, with a beautiful reddish hue that is sure to bring a smile to your mother’s face!

To all Mom’s out there… Happy Mother's Day!

Hey guys!

Here’s hoping you all have found some interesting and exciting information on my website, and that you all have had a chance to check out my DVD, “Wine Ways”. This is really the first time anyone has taken all the different aspects of winemaking, and put them together in a DVD format. I wanted to give an overview of wine in an easy to use format, so that the next time the viewer went to a wine shop or restaurant, they could order wine with greater confidence!

Capturing the beauty of wine country was also part of my goal in making Wine Ways. So, to be fair to this stunning valley, I teamed up with Richard Harris, who won an Oscar for editing “Titanic”. Without a doubt, Richard's talent and perspective truly captured all the sights and sounds of making wine. We used the Santa Ynez Valley as a backdrop for this project and leveraged a few local wine experts to explain different aspects of the wine making process. For example, Andrew Murray, whose wines were featured in “Sideways”, does a wonderful job of explaining the difference in white versus red wines. By covering all the different aspects of wine, from growing grapes, to ordering wine with a meal, I think we give enough information to make everyone a budding wine expert!

I do hope you enjoy it, and I would love to hear any comments you may have about “Wine Ways”!

Cheers!
Andrew Firestone

Hello Gang!

“April showers bring May flowers…” Well, that adage certainly held true this year! We have had a VERY wet year so far! Around March, we were all wondering if it was going to rain enough during the year, but Mother Nature answered that question loud and clear and brought us a huge amount of rain.

We were thankful not to have suffered any damage due to the amount of rain, but unfortunately some vineyards up North were not so lucky. Flooding and some erosion wreaked havoc up in the Russian River, Sonoma, and Napa Valleys, and it seems that Santa Ynez came away virtually unscathed. Our biggest worry was that the rain would interfere with the annual Santa Barbara County Vintners Festival, held in early April. The festival is a way for Santa Barbara County to show off its huge array of wine, food, and music found in our region. Heavy rains saturated the Firestone Meadow, which was set to be the site of the event, hosting close to 4000 visitors. Tents were set up throughout the 17 acre meadow in preparation for whatever weather we would have to endure. However, Bacchus was looking down on us, and the weekend turned out beautiful! Sunny skies and warm temperatures welcomed the many visitors who were able to leave their umbrellas at home!

What this weather means…we are looking for a late harvest this year. “Bud Break”, the point when new growth begins to appear on the pruned vines, began slightly later due to the late rains and colder weather we experienced. This prolongs the growing season and will push expected harvest dates back a few weeks. Where normally we would anticipate picking in early September, we may actually begin in early October. Nonetheless, the vineyard looks beautiful right now, and we are looking forward to another spectacular harvest!

At the intersection of food, wine, friends, and family lies a sweet spot in life where memorable experiences are produced. These experiences are, at the very minimum, worth sharing, but as a collection, they represent something much greater - something we can all enjoy.

The Grapevine is a fun and educational collaborative online community that celebrates the culture of wine. It’s a place to explore the world of wine by sharing stories, recipes, tips, and all things wine-related. So with this in mind, I open my very first blog. I hope that you all enjoy some of my postings, and also participate by contributing some of your own thoughts and experiences about wine, food and travel! So thank you for logging in, and being part of my blog!

I have been lucky enough to travel to some really interesting destinations, and enjoy food and wine at some of the most random places in the world! From Minneapolis to Mykonos, my 30 years have brought me around the globe, and I have been documenting the sights and flavors of all of those experiences.

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New Orleans, 1998
It was the Spring of my senior year at the University of San Diego, and a whole group of my friends descended upon New Orleans for Mardi Gras. As expected, the city was alive with the energy that could only be provided with tens of thousands of rowdy visiting revelers. With so many people from out of town, it is easy to overlook the population and culture that has been making this part of the country so appealing to the rest of the country. Luckily, some friends who attended Tulane were hosting us and were determined to show us the other side of Mardi Gras.

One hot, muggy afternoon, we all piled in a station wagon and headed across town to visit of the classic New Orleans mansions. The sight was stunning! A long windy driveway revealing a massive structure, complete with 20 foot pillars framing the entrance. We were greeted there by the residents, and escorted around to the back of the house, to an expansive back yard. There, in the yard, were rows and rows of picnic tables, covered with newspaper. Massive pots of steaming and boiling liquid rested squarely on open flames. This, my friends, was a Crawfish boil!

As the pots of crawfish were dumped out on the tables, we all swarmed! Now, if any of you have eaten crawfish, then you already know and your senses are likely in overdrive at the very thought of a Crawfish Boil! If you haven’t…well, there is a certain method to eating crawfish that is tough to explain. All I can tell you is that it is messy, and tasty! Some of the most buttery and spicy flavors you could imagine, with the tender meat of the little crawfish soaking up hours of marinating and preparation.

Along with the large pots of boiling crawfish, there were also tubs of ice filled with bottles of Riesling. I can’t begin to tell you how well the acidity and subtle sweetness of the Riesling paired up perfectly with the Crawfish. As we poured, the glasses of cold wine frosted up against the muggy hot air.

At first, some of my friends were pumping furiously at a keg of beer, which had also been provided, and thought I was crazy drinking wine. However, my mistake was having them try the combination of Crawfish and Riesling, and realizing that we were soon going to run out of wine! Everyone loved it! The aromas of honey and apricot softened the smells of rich Cajun spices, and the sweetness of the wine cut through the initial shock of the heat from the spice, and allowed everyone to better enjoy the depth of the different flavors. The beer soon sat lonely in a corner, as I opened up the remaining bottles of Riesling!

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Food and wine have a way of allowing for a prolonged enjoyment of a particular moment, with the experience lasting long beyond the meal itself. Some of the best times I have spent with family and friends have been around a dining room table, sharing stories, memories and laughter. Wine and food have always been a welcome addition to that experience, adding to the mood of the moment.

Now I invite you all to share your memorable stories and comments about wine. And I hope that you will return so that together we can build this community into what it can and should be – a journey and a celebration of wine!

Thanks for participating and have a great day.

Cheers!
Andrew Firestone