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Events
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Music: The Michael Clem Trio 4/28, 2-5pm.
Trellis Club Pickup and Meet the Artist: Jen Pelton, Turtle Hill Jewelry 5/12, 1-5pm.
Mother's Day! Complimentary tastings w/food pairings for Mom all day. Music: The 3MTs 5/13, 2-5pm.
Spring Farm Tour 5/19-20, 10am-5pm. Music: Ken Wenzel (Saturday) and Ian & Kevin Gallagher (Sunday) 2-5pm.
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Farmers Markets
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Spring farmers markets are beginning! Join us at:
Falls Church Market, Saturdays, 8am-12pm
Purcellville Community Market, Every other Saturday, 9am-1pm
Cascades Market, Sundays, 9am-1pm starting 5/6 |
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Greetings!
Part of what we love about this business is that there is always something new and exciting going on! Besides the early bud break, bottling, and preparing for planting, we also have several special musical guests and events that we're working on. We're in the process of a complete overhaul of our website, in an effort to provide you with more information in a more organized manner.
The membership in our wine club continues to grow. You can find out more about joining the Trellis Club on our current website. The next shipment/pickup is scheduled for Saturday, May 12th, and we'll be sending a notice out to our members shortly.
Michael Clem (of Eddie From Ohio) will be here this Saturday with The Michael Clem Trio. We love to support local musicians, and usually have some acoustic background music on Saturdays, but once in a while we focus on the music and bring a 3 piece group in for your enjoyment (actually, this one is totally selfish!).
Seems like we're falling into a pattern with the last Saturday of the month being more "music focused". We'll have Ted Garber here the last Saturday of May. He describes his music as "BluesAmericanaRock" and won a 2010 Washington Area Music Award (WAMA) for "Pop Rock Recording of the Year," recognizing his late-2009 studio album, "American Rail." You don't want to miss him either!
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Mother's Day
It's not just a Hallmark Holiday! It's a great excuse to treat Mom and yourself to a relaxing day together! Our caterer Dale Long has helped us come up with a special food pairing for three of our wines. This will be offered along with our regular wine tasting. Wine tastings will be complimentary for Moms all day on Sunday. Our food pairings will be complimentary for Moms as well, and just $5 more for everyone else. You don't need to bring your kids as proof - we'll believe you! Don't worry Dads, we're working on something special for your day too!
The 3MTs will be playing from 2-5pm. Jack, Dave and Sara have been out to North Gate twice already, and they're one of our favorite groups, playing covers (like Mumford and Sons) and originals. |
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Winemaker's Update
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...". Charles Dickens was not talking about wine, but the quote seemed apropos. The first year of having the tasting room open was a great success! Unfortunately, we blew through all of our white wines, and actually ran out! To keep things interesting for our visitors, we brought in Notaviva's Vincero Viognier (because we love Shannon and Stephen!), and also Horton Vineyard's Rkatsiteli (because we're making one next year!). We bottled 1100 cases of whites on April 12, including our 2011 Viognier, Chardonnay, Apple, and a 2010 Roussanne. Fortunately, the Roussanne was ready to be released, so it's available in the tasting room now. The Chardonnay will probably be next, followed by the Viognier.
Roussanne is a very interesting Rhone varietal. In France, it's often blended with Viognier and Marsanne. We were investigating it as a possible bending element for Viognier, but decided to go with Petit Manseng instead, and are moving forward with our Petit Manseng vineyard. So we decided to bottle the Roussanne on it's own. It is very interesting, and we hope you get a chance to try it. It has a bit of an herbal or chamomile tea characteristic, as well as almonds, honey, and a bit of asian fruit (lychee). This is a fabulous food pairing wine, especially with Lobster or Scallops.
Our 2010 Cabernet Franc has received a Gold Medal from the San Diego International Wine Competition, making it the first North Gate wine to get Gold in a major West Coast competition!
The other big news from the winery is that we are ready to release the 2010 Petit Verdot! It will be released on Friday, May 5th! It is already scheduled to be served by the glass at Society Fair in Old Town Alexandria! |
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Virginia and Maryland Distributor News
You may have had the pleasure of meeting our brother-in-law Mark in the tasting room recently. He's also been helping by distributing North Gate wine in Maryland. We've always been interested in tapping in the culinary scene in Frederick, but there are lots more wonderful places in Maryland that have great taste in wine!!!
Over the course of the last few weeks, North Gate Vineyard wine has become available in these restaurants and retail shops:
In Frederick, MD at Isabella's, The Wine Kitchen, The Frederick Wine House, West Ridge Liquors and Beckley's Liquors
In Baltimore, MD at The Woodberry Kitchen and in Hagerstown, MD at D & G Liquors, C & R Liquors and at The Wooden Keg.
We're also very excited to find out that thanks to the hard work of our VA/DC wholesale manager, Doug Caldwell, our wines have been selected at all 8 of the Northern Virginia Total Wines stores. Look for them to be appearing on the shelves over the next month or two.
Thanks for your continued support. Hope to see you soon! Sincerely, Mark and Vicki Fedor
North Gate Vineyard |
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