Welcome to the Bridge - Monthly Newsletter of Grand Island Vineyards | |
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For more than 50 years our family has tended our vineyards and grown our own grapes, for our wines, along the lush banks of the Sacramento River. We are striving to perfect the art and science of grape growing, and we’re proud to share the rewards of our labor by creating wines that showcase distinctive grapes perfectly. Bridging all aspects of our Winery from the Vineyard, to the Cellar, Winery Grounds,Tasting Room and beyond. | | |
Grand Island Vineyards will be open July 4, 2022! | |
Two Grand Island Vineyards Clubs to Choose From! | |
The Grand Island Vineyards 2021 Chardonnay!
Written by Winemaker, David Shattuck
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While in the middle of this heat spell, we are excited to release a crisp new white wine for your enjoyment: The 2021 Grand Island Vineyards Chardonnay!
This white wine comes from our estate chardonnay block and is made in stainless steel tanks with no oak aging. We use a very slight amount of secondary fermentation to bring a soft character to the natural high levels of acidity in this block. I love to pair this wine with pool time on a hot day. All joking aside, this wine is incredibly versatile with summer foods. I recommend it with grilled elote style corn, bruschetta and fresh bread, blackened fish tacos, and jambalaya.
This wine is a brilliant hay hue with a hint of green in the meniscus. The initial aromas are peach, bartlett pear, corn silk, and fresh creme. The wine opens with a punch of seville orange on the palate followed by a hint of oyster shell and brioche, while mouthfeel manages to be both zippy with fresh acidity and juicy at the same time.
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Great Summer Events Continue...
Written by Tasting Room Manager, Tess Jonson
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A big thank you to all of our guests and members for your continued support and helping make all events a huge success!
Speaking of events, we have more coming up. We will be releasing our newest vintage of GIV Chardonnay on July 16!! Join us for some music on the patio with Tressa Gaye’s Twisted Jazz Duo from 12-3pm. We will have a popup food truck, Todo Al Grill Chef, so please no outside food.
We will also be welcoming back Kim Mack for another cheese class, this time she’s bringing on the Brie! Class will be held on Sunday, July 17th starting at 11am. Class has limited space so reserve your spot early!
Extra extra read all about it, wine discounts coming up in your August shipment! Keep an eye out, you don’t want to miss these.
One last event for July, Sipping at Sunset, July 29th from 6-9pm. Brian McPherson of Flat Busted will be rocking the patio, make sure to pack a picnic and come and enjoy the tunes.
While you RSVP for our July events be sure to check out our August events too! We have our Comedy Uncorked coming August 20th. See all of our Upcoming Events or Tours and Tastings at GrandIslandVineyards.com
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Finding GIV Wines Beyond the Winery / Vineyard
Written by Operations Manager, Joe Salman
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At Grand Island Vineyards, we strive to show our appreciation to our loyal customers and make them feel they are part of our family. We aim to have a relaxing homey feel to tastings and events.
We name our clubs the GIV Wine Family and Family Reserve and try to either spotlight our staff family or sometimes our customer family members. Grand Island Vineyards has recently added three new reselling customers that we would like to welcome to our family!
To date we haven't really pursued much of the offsite sale of our wine in the past, but are very excited to explore this more and mostly hope that these wines can be successful for our new family members:
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Freeport Bar and Grill has been a core staple of Delta dining and fun for many years. (I would recommend the French Onion Soup and a glass of GIV Cabernet Sauvignon)
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Delta Queen Lodge is new to Iselton (Formerly Rogelios), not only is a bar and restaurant but once again has the lodging part open as well.
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Ben's Friend of the Vine is also new to Rio Vista on Main Street. They have chosen many GIV and Bridgehead wines for their establishment. Can't go wrong there.
We hope that you'll explore these local delta establishments while having some great Grand Island Vineyards wine in a fresh location! If you would like to resell GIV wines or know somewhere that might, send us a quick note!
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Properly Reading a Wine Label - What to Know?
Written by Winemaker, Ed Seikel
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There is a lot of required information on a wine brand label, but one missing piece that is mandatory in many other food and beverage industries is the Nutrition Facts Label. We've always been open about what goes into our wine because we are proud of what we make here at GIV, and have even gone over the process in detail right here in the newsletter, so I think it would be interesting to look at what you are drinking when you open a bottle of our wine.
First and foremost, you are drinking 100% estate grown grapes that are produced and bottled all on site here at the winery. We use no artificial colors or flavorings, and even try to limit our use of new oak barrels so that when you taste our wines you are tasting the wine as it is meant to be from the vineyard. We like to say that our main goal in the cellar is to not mess up the incredible grapes that Joe grows for us!
Outside of the much discussed antioxidants in wine, there is not much else to note. For most dry table wines, a 5-ounce glass will contain about 120 to 130 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Most of the calories come from alcohol and any residual sugar that is present, so if you are looking to cut calories look for a dry wine with a lower alcohol content like our 2021 Chenin Blanc.
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The Animals of the Vines
Written by Operations Manager, Joe Salman
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No this isn't a Stephen King novel, I didn't mean to scare you.
I just wanted to draw your attention to how much wildlife lives in and around our vineyards and winery. I am not a professional so you have to see my phone's camera abilities while I'm out in the vineyard. Nearly everyday I see a bird's nest tucked in the vines when I'm doing my vine scouting.
The cottontail and jackrabbits are abundant around the winery. Turkey is a newer bird to the area, while the hawks tend to move around and the waterfowl come and go as well depending on the season. So many that I am not able to capture with photos: owls, foxes, coyotes, raccoons and the not very attractive possum.
Just the other day my workers said they saw a deer in one of our vineyards. Of course I threw in a picture of the goats that we use for the levee maintenance just because.
So as the grape berries are sizing up and hopefully starting to soften soon I will just be gazing outside.
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