Welcome to the Bridge
Bridging all aspects of our Winery from the Vineyard, to
the Cellar, Winery Grounds, Tasting Room and beyond. Our ongoing newsletter is an ideal way to stay up to date with all aspects of the Winery
and our newest wine releases!
In this Edition:
Learn what's happening in the vineyards after this strange winter weather and get the first head's up on two major Anniversaries we have coming up in May! See what's happening in the tasting room and how much fun we had with recent events! Meet some more of our friends and family, Karen and Mark Thompson! Learn a bit about our new 2019 Chardonnay and catch up on the wine clubs if it's been awhile.
We have a number of upcoming events throughout the next few months so don't forget to check out our super-full
Event Calendar
!
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Vineyard News
It Looks like Spring has Sprung!
by Operations Manager, Joe Salman
Well that was a weird February...
I think everybody noticed the strange lack of rainfall in this area along with temperatures not being very cold either. I was probably complaining about the excess rain last year at this time if I remember correctly. This year's extraordinary weather did make for an amazing Valentines pick-up party, and I wanted to thank you all for coming.
The great thing about this area with the abundance of fruit and nut trees, means you get to see some amazing colors in blossoms and foliage on your journey to the winery. Our ornamental plums are blooming now along the driveway and before long, the pears will as well. It is a beautiful time of the year.
In the vineyards we have continued our long journey of pruning vines and will continue through March. I have started to see the first signs of vines starting to wake up as can be seen from this chardonnay vine that was pruned back in December. On a grape growing standpoint, I am not ready to make any predictions on how this year is going to wind up, but I will tell you one thing for sure: It's going to be a journey and I will stop and look at all the colors every now then and invite you to come the same.
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Cellar News
Looking Forward to May Anniversaries!
By Winemaker Ed Seikel
Our Anniversary event is coming up this May, and this year we'll be doing some new and exciting things! Not only will May be the anniversary of Grand Island Vineyards first opening to the public, but it also represents the one year anniversary of our Salman Family Reserve label and club. David and I were very excited to release these wines to all of you. We truly believe that to us they really represented some of the best that GIV has to offer. The response to these wines has been great, and the club has continued to grow throughout the year, so to all of our members we thank you for helping make this launch a success!
One of the things David and I have always tried to do here is be accessible and approachable to all of our members. Whether it's pouring upcoming releases at past anniversary parties, giving tours at the harvest dinner, or just stopping by the tasting room to pour fermenting juice samples during harvest, we love being able to tell our story to you, and be available to answer any and all questions that you have.
 With that in mind, since this anniversary will be celebrating our Reserve Club's first year, it gives us an opportunity to realize a dream we've had since we began here at GIV, and that's hosting a Winemaker's Dinner. This will be a limited seating, plated dinner where we will pair our range of Salman Family Reserve wines with courses we have hand selected to best highlight each of these wines. This event will take place after the day time anniversary festivities, and we're very excited to get to spend the evening with you.
On top of that, David and I will be doing small, guided barrel tasting tours throughout the day. These will be a much more intimate experience where we'll really have the time to talk about our wines and answer questions while tasting through our wines that are currently aging in barrel.
Both of these events have a very limited number of tickets available, so if you are interested in either
get your tickets soon!
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Tasting Room
New Wines, New Events... This Year is Looking Good!
By Wine Club Ambassador Melanie Jonson
Wowza. The Valentine's Pick-up Party was wild. We had 100 tickets to sell and they sold out so fast! It's no wonder. The weather was beautiful, Fish 'N' Chicks (not food) was playing awesome in our barrel room, and the fondue fountain provided everlasting chocolate and treats to go with the Rouge et Blanc, the RED blend, and our dessert wine After Dark.
February's After Dark (not the wine) brought a ton of people, too! Which surprised me but also didn't surprise me? We were releasing the RED blend that night, after all. I'm glad so many of you come out to these events and have a great time. That's what we like to see. I hope I'll see you all again for
March's After Dark on March 6th or for our
Chardonnay Release Party! That's happening on March 21st.
There are so many great wines we're bringing to the tasting room that are brand new and some are back from a short hiatus. Don't miss out on their release days! Or any other event we're having, for that matter.
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Wine Family
Say Hello to Karen and Mark Thompson
Karen and Mark Thompson have been wine club members since July, 2016! They joined just a couple months after we opened. Currently residing in Ripon (north of Modesto and south of Stockton), Karen and Mark are in a great position to come visit us at the vineyards.
Karen works in the department of transportation for the State of California for over 40 years now, while Mark has been an self-employed concrete contractor for four decades. Thirsty work no doubt. Karen went to college while Mark couldn't wait to get working out of high school and never looked back. We laugh that it's funny for one person to work 40+ years at the same job, but both Mark and Karen have done it. This totally makes sense when you consider how long they've been together. 43 years in fact. After meeting at the Oakdale Rodeo ;)
Karen and Mark love to drive the delta on weekends and completely enjoy the beautiful area. They say they love it, they just can't get enough, they love the food, the people and every experience they've had here since day one. Their favorite events so far are the ones were we bring out the gourmet s'mores bar. Yum! They have excellent taste.
Karen's favorite GIV wines are the Cabernet Franc and our Gewurztraminer, a wine we will hopefully be bringing back soon sometime in the future. Her favorite non-GIV wine is not one in particular, but she does love a good Cab. She enjoys her wine any day of the week, whether it's sitting on the couch binge-watching some Netflix, having it with dinner, sitting on the back patio, or pretty much anywhere. She's a wine enthusiast! Enthusiastic about enjoying a glass, for sure. I'm with her.
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Wine Spotlight
The 2019 Grand Island Chardonnay!
By Winemaker David Shattuck
Ed and I are very pleased to be releasing our new 2019 Grand Island Vineyards Chardonnay. This vintage of Chardonnay came into the winery with very high levels of acidity and beautiful fruit character. We decided to take a slightly different approach to winemaking this year and not use any oak in the production of this wine. Interestingly, we also used ML fermentation and lees contact to soften the impact of the acidity and to bring complexity to this wine. It will pair well with a variety of lighter style dishes including sushi, bread and olive oil, ceviche, spring vegetable pasta dishes, and lightly spiced fish cakes.
The wine pours a delicate straw color. The initial aromas are bright orange zest, lychee, and jasmine blossom. As the wine opens, hints of ripe bartlett pear, honeydew, and crushed oyster shell begin to emerge. The palate balances between plucky acidity, fleshy fruit, and minerality without becoming too austere. A prolonged sense of peach and lemon pithe leave the mouth watering for another sip.
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Wine Club(s)
Two Wine Clubs to Choose From - Wine Family and Reserve
By Wine Club Ambassador Melanie Jonson
GIV WINE FAMILY (3 bottles, quarterly shipments, 15% discount on GIV and Bridgehead)
If you haven't picked up your shipment, what are you waiting for! It's the BRIDGEHEAD RED, Rouge et Blanc, and 2019 GIV Symphony that are ready for you to take home with you. We're open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday from 10AM until 5PM.
Have questions about your wine club? Want to know something specific for an event? Then feel free to contact us via telephone, email, or come to our tasting room. Our hours are Friday through Monday, 10 AM to 5 PM. We also recommend that you add
[email protected]
t
o your contacts to ensure emails don't end up in your spam folder.
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RESERVE CLUB (2 bottles, biannual shipments, 20% discount Salman Family Reserve)
Just a couple more months to go until the next Reserve shipment in May!
Those of you who are a part of both of our clubs, GIV Family and Reserve, remember that you get a 20% discount off all wines! Yes, even Bridgehead and our Grand Island Vineyard label.
If you are not already in the Reserve Wine Club, or to access your existing account, please sign up or log in using our
online access area
on our website.
To verify your account upon sign up (via Billing Information or by Email) you can do so at our online Account Verification page.
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View all events, R.S.V.P. or get tickets to Grand Island Events and Tours here!
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