Happy Good Friday! Here come the medals!

The good news came to our winery on Wednesday, March 27 when we received the most wonderful news about a wine competition that we had entered earlier this year in New York: we entered two wines and both have won medals.


Mahogany Mountain Vineyard and Winery 2009 Estate Mourvedre - Silver Medal

Mountain Vineyard and Winery 2008 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon - Bronze Medal

What we like about the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition is that the judging is double blind, where the judges do not see the brand of wine or where it came from, and judge it based on a standard. To have medals from this competition means that the quality of our wines measure up competitively and winningly against the world's greatest wines produced by well-known and well-established wine producers. The wines were judged by 70 of the world's top wine judges from 14 countries.

The Finger Lakes International Wine Competition is the world’s largest charitable wine competition judged 3,502 wines from 20 countries and 50 states of the United States last weekend in downtown Rochester, and results were released Wednesday. The 13th annual competition and its associated dinner and auction benefit Camp Good Days and Special Times, a nonprofit organization serving children and families dealing with cancer and other life-threatening challenges.

2012 Holiday Winemaker Dinner

Last Saturday, we kicked off the holiday season with a fantastic wine-food pairing holiday dinner at the Barona Steakhouse. Chef Duncan's delicious tasting menu was meticulously prepared and each dish was expertly paired with our 2009 Mahogany Mountain wines.  Once again, I was able to live out my fantasy of serving our wines and sharing a gourmet feast with our wine club, friends and family with everyone sitting around a very long table in a stately and exquisitely decorated private dining room, served by a team of professional wait staff, just like in the movies.  I felt blessed as I looked around the table seeing happy faces enjoying themselves as they tasted our wines and delicious food.

I loved the Seared Sea Scallop in Champagne sauce that was paired with our Pinot Gris. The crispness and floral aroma of our Pinot Gris brought out the sweetness of the scallop which was beautifully floated on top of the Champagne sauce.

The entire table hummed with happy sounds when everyone tasted the Smoked Short Rib Risotto with our 2009 Merlot. What a perfect pairing! Words simply cannot describe the sensational senses in my mouth when I took a sip of Merlot after taking a bite of the Short Rib Risotto.  I think Chef Duncan and staff outdid themselves again.

Our 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon was fantastically paired with the main course that I chose: Wood Grilled Filet Mignon and the Truffled Mashed Potato with a splash of Red Wine Sauce.  The medium-rare tender steak was cooked to perfection.  

I thought my dress would burst around the waist line when the dessert came out. The chocolate lava cake and caramel homemade ice cream were put together in a beautiful dish decorated with fresh raspberries, strawberry slices and blueberries. Of course, I had no will power to say no, especially, when the wait staff started passing out two of our dessert wines in beautiful port glasses.  Since everything looked so good, I decided to go for it.  What the heck! I thought I was in heaven after the first taste of the lava cake and ice cream, and a sip of our 2003 dessert wine.

Last but not least, Anna, Geoff's girlfriend, sent everyone home with a beautiful bouquet of homemade cake pops, that she and Geoff spent hours making. The cake pops were presented in our logo glass filled with gourmet chocolates.

After that heavenly dinner, I felt that life was still good and the fiscal cliff seemed to be less scary.

Happy Holidays! Joy, Peace and Love to All!

Cheers

The Mahogany Mountain Winery Family

Appellation SoCal: MAHOGANY MOUNTAIN VINEYARD AND WINERY

Appellation SoCal: MAHOGANY MOUNTAIN VINEYARD AND WINERY

Hot restaurant trends for 2012

I’ve recently read that the hottest restaurant menu trends for 2012 is creating food from locally grown produce, locally sourced meat and seafood and serving locally produced wine and beer.

As a firm believer in eating local produce and drinking local wine and beer, the new trends make perfect sense to me. Eating local produce and fruit appeals to me as I always want to know where the ingredients come from and how they are raised or produced. These days we have a greater chance of ingesting unwanted chemicals in the food we eat, we must be vigilant in finding out ingredients in our food and drinks and knowing where they come from.



Growing a garden is a great way to eat fresh vegetables. Last summer, we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. We made fresh salsa every day which tasted so good with multi-grain tortilla chips and a glass of our own wine. We ate fresh salsa all summer long with just about everything. We also canned tomatoes which tasted so sweet and were much more flavorful in soups and stews than store bought canned tomatoes.



As a winemaker and a local winery owner, I am happy to tell you that the new 2012 restaurant menu trends could not have come at a better time for San Diego County wineries which are making their marks in the world by crafting high-quality wines from locally grown grapes. In Ramona alone, we have a dozen or so bonded wineries which offer wine tasting to the public. Twenty years ago, no one would ever imagine Ramona as a wine region. Today, we have people come from all over the country and overseas to Ramona for wine tasting.



As we close out 2011, I’d like to raise a glass to wine lovers and to my fellow winemakers wishing everyone another good year with lots of good wine, good food and good luck!

Cheers!

Have a Joyful Holiday Season!

We wish you a Joyful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

For our family, our holiday season starts with Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Year. The holidays remind us of the important things in life: Family and Friends. We are so blessed to have the love and support from our families, cousins and friends throughout the year.

The following describes best our wishes for you for the holiday season:
“May you be blessed with warmth in your home, love in your heart, peace in your soul and joy in your life.” -- Irish proverb

Cheers!

Holiday Winemaker's Dinner!

It's time again for our Holiday Winemaker's Dinner! We'll do it one more time at the Barona Oaks Steakhouse. If you love our wines, you’ll enjoy the exquisite wine-food pairing that Chef Duncan prepares for our dinner. If you haven’t tasted our wines, this would be a beautiful way to try our wines paired with a world-class gourmet dinner.  This year, the dinner will be paired with some of our new wines that have not been released to the general public!

Send us an email if you are interested as seating is limited.  Cheers!

Hoodang 2011

Santa Ysabel Casino presents HOODANG 2011 - a craft beer, local wines and Julian Hard Cider music festival featuring Louis XIV, Sprung Monkey, Safety Orange, Midnight Rivals, Vokab Kompany, Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects, Devastators, Slpwlkrs & The Stoney B Blues Band.


Mahogany Mountain Vineyard and Winery and four other Ramona Valley wineries (Chuparosa Vineyards & Winery, Edwards Cellars, Pamo Valley Winery, Hellanback Ranch Winery),  and over 30 San Diego craft brewers will participate.

Each $30 ticket gets you 10 tastes and entrance to the music festival.

A portion of the proceeds will go to help reforest Cuyamaca State Park which was devastated by wild fires, with each ticket purchased a tree will be planted.

Stop by the wine tasting area and say Hi to our volunteers for the event: Geoffrey, Laurie, Dave and Susie.  They will be there from the opening time until 2:30 pm.

Saturday, Oct 15 11:00a to 10:00p

at Santa Ysabel Casino, Santa Ysabel, CA

Cheers!