Vineyard {511} 2016 Harvest Party

As the leaves were slowly changing from green to orange in Napa Valley, our good friends gathered in our outdoor entertainment area Sunday to celebrate our 2016 Harvest and to toast the release of our new and delicious Vineyard {511} 2015 Carneros Chardonnay. It was such a hit, we couldn't pour enough of it! It will be available to our wine club members and at wine dinners.

In addition to the newly-released Chardonnay and our award-winning 2012 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon, we also poured a pre-release of our 2013. We were lucky to have our winemaker Rob Lloyd and his wife Bonnie in attendance. Rob remarked how great the 2013 was tasting, which he hadn't sampled for awhile. Unfortunately, he had to leave early to get back Jessup Cellars to press our grapes, but which is also very fortunate for us as he uses a truly unique process for it.

The Chardonnay paired nicely with our appetizers, which included deviled eggs with crispy prosciutto and asparagus wrapped with fra mani ham, and the Cabernet Sauvignon paired wonderfully with the whole roasted pig, slow roasted marinated chicken thighs and yummy desserts of Chocolate It's It ice cream bars and strawberries and cream.

For entertainment, Tim Ryan, national sportscaster for CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox, talked baseball and football, as well as his new book, On Someone Else's Nickel: A Life in Television, Sports, and Travel. And to top it all off, we raffled off two magnums of our Vineyard {511} 2013 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon. The lucky winners were our designer Christian McDaniel and good tennis buddy Martha Bothwell.

We are looking forward to another year and another great vintage.