Happy New Year again! Happy Lunar New Year 2011!

The Lunar New Year falls on the first day of the first moon on the lunar calendar. For 2011, that day lands on Thursday Feb. 3. Most Lunar New Year announcements for 2011 will call it the Year of the Rabbit, as the zodiac depicts in China, Japan and Korea. The Tet New Year is the most important and highly celebrated cultural holiday of the Vietnamese people around the world. The Vietnamese people represent the rabbit years as cat years.  As the folklore goes, the pronunciation of the rabbit in Chinese is similar to how the cat is pronounced in Vietnamese language.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2011 is the year of the golden rabbit, the fourth sign in the Chinese zodiac which consists of 12 animals. The rabbit is believed to bring a year of calm and quiet after the year of the fierce tiger in 2010.

The Vietnamese year of the cat symbolizes sensitivity, gentleness and kindness.

Although we’ve survived the year of the Tiger in 2010 just fine, from what I read about the Rabbit or Cat Year, I really look forward to the Lunar New Year 2011.   Imagine a calm, peaceful year for wine making, wine drinking and wine food pairings!

Cheers!

Holiday Winemaker Dinner at Barona Oaks Steakhouse

Our 2010 holiday winemaker's dinner was a huge success with our guests.  The weather was perfect, cool and clear. We were thankful that the rain storm came the day after!


We really enjoyed the evening. We were touched by Barona Oaks Steakhouse’s generosity and kindness to us and to our guests.

We have fond memories of course after course of delicious food paired perfectly with our wines. The 5-course gourmet meal created by Executive Chef Duncan was paired perfectly with the Mahogany Mountain wines.

The evening was off to a fabulous start with a glass of Mahogany Mountain White Zinfandel paired with Cured Pork Rillette served with a cider mustard sauce– such a great pairing!

Next we enjoyed an appetizer of House Smoked Salmon with Root Vegetables Remoulade. The Mahogany Mountain 2007 Zinfandel paired wonderfully with this second course.

The following course was, presented in a cappuccino cup, a very unique and tasty Wild Mushroom soup. The Mahogany Mountain 2007 Merlot paired with this course was outstanding.

At last we were presented with the Main Course. Our guests had a choice of Dry Aged New York Steak with Mushroom Crust, Slow Cooked Scottish Salmon with Herb Fingerling Potatoes and Swiss Chard, Stuffed and Roasted Free Range Chicken with Roasted Carrots, Spinach and Sage Jus.  The main course was paired with the powerful 2008 Mahogany Mountain Mourvedre or the robust 2007 Mahogany Mountain Zinfandel.  I chose a beautifully presented Dry Aged New York steak served with Potatoes Au Gratin topped with delicious morsels of ham and Baby Asparagus.  Both of the wines, Mahogany Mountain Mourvedre and Zinfandel, paired so well with the juicy and tender steak. Yummy!

Knowing a delicious dessert would be waiting, I saved some room. The Mascarpone & Pistachio Stuffed Pear poached in Mahogany Mountain Port, Cinnamon Ice Cream and Warm Chocolate Sauce was unbelievably good together and definitely a sweet treat we would like to enjoy again. The Mahogany Mountain Vintage Port paired with this final course left us all smiling with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

The service provided by the Barona Oaks steakhouse’s staff was friendly, gracious and impeccable. We all walked away from the evening with many happy and delicious memories.

Many of our guests told us how much they enjoyed our winemaker's dinner at Barona and would look forward to the next one.

Our compliments to the Barona Oaks Steakhouse, Executive Chef Duncan, and Manager Scott.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Prosperous and Happy New Year!

Cheers!

The most beautiful time of the year

I am thankful for the nice and cool weather we are having in Ramona. While the North East and Midwest regions are under some awful snow storms, we’ve had some rains. But other than that, our weather has been beautiful: cold mornings with a little bit fog and sunny afternoon. The last two weekends have been absolutely golden and warm. Our evenings and nights are chilly, but it’s a nice and snuggly kind of chilly weather. Our vineyards had the most gorgeous fall colors this year, thanks to the wacky (not typical Southern California) weather that we have had all year long. The grape leaves changed their colors daily. The vines and their leaves have a new look every day. God is very artistic after all.

Since we opened our tasting room, we have had a very positive experience. So far, the local folks in Ramona, especially the members of Ramona Vineyard Association and Ramona Wineries Association have been exceptional in their support of our tasting room. I am surprised and touched by the generous and collaborative spirit exhibited by the local winemakers in Ramona. People from all over San Diego County found out about our tasting room and went up the hill to Ramona to visit our winery, even when it rained. Our friends, neighbors and relatives have been wonderful. Despite the fact that they have tasted our wines many times, they still came by and bought some more. Without the support of these good and kind hearted people, our winery would not have had a chance for survival. I truly believe that it takes a village to nurture a boutique winery.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday since childhood. As it turned out, our holiday celebration has started much earlier this year since Thanksgiving Day, thanks to invitations to holiday parties to which we could not say No. So far, there have been four holiday parties with good company, good food and excellent wines! My waistline can attest to that (I will go on a diet next year, after the Lunar New Year!). With all of the excitement of opening our tasting room and holiday celebration, I am a little behind in getting our Christmas cards mailed and presents wrapped. All that will have to wait until after our winemaker dinner at Barona on Saturday. Ah, c’est la vie.

We look forward to another out-of-this-world gourmet dinner prepared by Chef Duncan at the Barona Oaks Steakhouse. As we have anticipated, our winemaker dinner at the Barona Oaks Steakhouse is another sold-out event. Several of our wines will be featured and paired with food exquisitely prepared for us and our guests. Although there are other choices for the main course, I can’t wait to indulge myself eating a juicy and tender steak and drinking a glass of our Mourvedre or Merlot estate-bottled wine! Life is good!


Cheers! A votre santé!

Tasting Room Opening

After years and months of working toward the goal of opening a wine tasting room next to our vineyards, we finally did it.  No one in their right mind would want to go through this long journey that we've put ourselves through. But wine is love and love can be painful as it requires lots of TLC and sacrifices.

Our first weekend went well.  The Ramona Vineyards Association members and the Ramona residents were our great supporters this weekend.  It was really nice to have a chance to chat and get to know some RVA members and local people that we have not had a chance to meet.   We even received some gorgeous  flowers from Carolyn and Andy Harris which match our decor and paint color perfectly.   How sweet and thoughtful of them! Love the flowers!  Our winemaking mentor, the man who was responsible for igniting our passion for winemaking, Lum Eisenman, stopped by to see us too.  Michael's cousins, Paul and Hanni, stopped by and bought some wines for their Thanksgiving dinner. How nice! Hope our White Zinfandel and Merlot go well with their Austrian-American gourmet meal.

We also had visitors from all over the county, including one lady from Boston.   We had some brand-new customers who were referred to us by the Schwaesdall winery where they had stopped for wine tasting. Nice job, John and Shirley, keep up the good work!  

What a great weekend! We felt love and support from everyone who came through our door. Thanks to All.

Our tasting room hours are: Saturday and Sunday from 11 - 5 pm.  We'll close the Thanksgiving weekend as we all deserve a break after all of this work.  Besides, Santa needs to go Christmas shopping right after Thanksgiving!

Cheers!

P.S.:  Meet some of our Volunteer Staff Members! ;-)

Gourmet Winemaker Dinners planned for Dec. 11 and Dec. 18

The Holiday Season is fast approaching. We hope you can  join us in one or both of the Winemaker's Dinners that we've planned at Barona Oaks Steakhouse in December.

Our last winemaker's dinner at the Barona Steakhouse was a great success. Everyone enjoyed it and was glad that they attended.  Now, they've asked for a repeat!  I must say the wine-food pairing was expertly prepared and executed. OMG, it was a gourmet meal that one cannot easily forget.   Our wines were beautifully and deliciously paired with gourmet dishes that were delish.

So if you love wine and enjoy gourmet wine-food pairing dinners, RSVP as soon as you can as the seating is extremely limited. You'll enjoy an excellent culinary wine food pairing dinner prepared by a world-class chef.  There will be a 4-5 course meal including amuse-bouche, appetizers, choice of main course and dessert.

You can reserve one or both of the following dates:


Date: Saturday December 11 or Saturday December 18
Time: 6 pm
Price: $60.00/person

Seating is limited.

Must pay in advance by December 1st.
You can pay via Paypal from our website winelist: http://www.mahoganymountain.com/ or pay with cash or credit card.

Email or call us if you have questions.

If you wish to join us for both dinners, it would be fine as Chef Duncan will have a different menu for each dinner!

Cheers

Love + Faith + Technology = Life

It has been a very productive month! The harvest was all done just before the rain came. Thank God. Our timing couldn’t have been better. Our 2010 vintage is progressing nicely. All wine varietals were fermented and pressed. Although the harvest is over, we still have lots of wine making work to do between now and January.


Miracles do happen as we witnessed the rescue of Chilean miners this week. To commemorate the miraculous rescue of the 33 Chilean miners this week, we’ll name one of our 2010 wines, “Los 33”. The wine that will be named after the Chilean miners will have to demonstrate some if not all of the miners’ characteristics that we so admired: Hope, Faith, Strength, Courage and Love for Life.

Most of the summer, we all witnessed the despair and sorrow of the Chilean miners and their families. But their faith and hope inspired the whole world. Then through sheer determination, unity and love, the whole world came to their aid. How technology combined with faith and tenacity uniting the humankind would always be one of the few bright spots in a world that is sometimes filled with negativity and pessimism. Their story inspired us to live our dream and have faith!

Harvest Report

The harvest season is over at Mahogany Mountain Vineyard!

Our harvest season lasted for the entire month of September. Although we had a cool summer and lots of uncertainty in August, we ended up with a bumper crop. The fruits tasted and looked so good, much better than we had expected. If God is willing, our 2010 vintage will be a great one.

Our European friends had told us that during the harvest season, their whole village would show up at each vineyard to help harvest when it was time to harvest. We experienced the same level of support from our friends, relatives, neighbors and their friends. We felt so blessed and grateful for their love and support.

We started the harvest season a week before the Labor Day. Our friends, Carol and Jerry T., helped harvest the Merlot at 6 am. During the Labor Day weekend, despite the scorching heat wave, we were so touched when our friends and relatives (as far as Bakersfield) showed up to help harvest the Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre. Afterward, we all indulged a huge Mexican food fiesta that Carol T. and Carol I. helped prepare and set up the buffet. Everyone seemed to enjoy iced cold sangria, appetizers and the food and wine pairings. The following weekend, with help from Geoff and Amie, we harvested more Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. This weekend, our neighbors and their friends helped us harvest more Cabernet Sauvignon. Susie, our cousin, helped set up and prepared the harvest feast. Susie made all of the desserts including her famous chocolate fudge sauce. Needless to say, we are so thankful for each and everyone of you who came and helped with our 2010 harvest. Thank God for the bountiful harvest and for the priceless memories that we shared with our friends and loved ones!

We have another good news! Our tasting room has been approved and is open for business!!!




Cheers!