Blog Layout

2020 Champagne Tasting

Beth Kuchynka • October 9, 2020
a close up of a person pouring champagne into a glass

Save the Bubbles

take-home Champagne Tasting

Friday, November 20th

5 ~ 375 ml bottles ~ $175


snacks $20,

triple crème brie's, pate & potato chips

Register Online Now

word, lots of words, stay with us...

Friends,

2020 has been a year of hard conversations and seemingly endless setbacks. One particularly difficult choice for us was shutting down all in store tastings. It was a no brainer to preserve the safety of ourselves and our customers, but man! We really miss tasting wine with you... and of those tastings that were lost this year, none have weighed more on me than the fate of our annual Grower Champagne tasting events!

So it is with great pride that we announce the "Save the Bubbles" Take-home Champagne Tasting, coming to you remotely Friday, November 20!

The way it will work: register online or in person for a tasting slot, then swing by the store on the big day to pick up your tasting kit of 5 fabulous half-bottles of real, pop-the-cork-yourself grower Champagne (and maybe some selected snacks to pair too), and then you're ready to enjoy the tasting from the safety and comfort of your own home! We'll send you a link to a video of Owen tasting the wines right there with you, answering questions you send in advance, and using the power of video editing and fancy graphics to help you understand the world of Champagne better than ever.

And the best part: this is a tasting you can enjoy at your own leisure and pace. Taste the wines straight through, or take your time and taste them over the course of the weekend. That's what the pause button was invented for! And if you've already got a few awkward Zoom calls under your belt, don't worry: we're making this as simple and easy as possible. Watching the tasting video is as simple as clicking a YouTube link.

After you've finished the tasting, you'll have the opportunity to order the wines at a special discount just like before. Take your time, pick your favorites, and let us know what you need to get ready for the holidays and the coming year.

We're offering a $25 discount for customers who register this weekend, so jump in now if you want to join us! Even though it's digital, the Champagne is still physical, so slots are limited.

Stay tuned for more updates everyone! And as always, thank you so much for everything you do for us!

Register Online Now
By Beth Kuchynka November 18, 2024
 Below are the wines poured at this year's Annual Champagne Tasting. Please reach out with interest.
By Beth Kuchynka October 29, 2024
Success!
By Beth Kuchynka May 15, 2024
Amazing
By Beth Kuchynka April 18, 2024
Spring Cleaning?
several glasses of champagne are lined up in a row
By Beth Kuchynka October 31, 2023
Really there is so much to know.
a man with glasses and a mustache is drinking a glass of wine
By Beth Kuchynka October 17, 2022
Fall Wine Extravaganza Join us for an afternoon of delicious wines! Unlike our tastings of the past, this will be more like what we call a "trade" tasting. Each rep will be stationed at a table with 4 of their wines - a mix of chilled whites/roses and reds. You are welcome to mingle, pose questions to the reps, bounce back and forth and taste at your own pace. We'll provide solo cups to encourage you to pace yourself and spit. We'll have staff passing bites of food to pair. We'll be joined by Eric, Jesse and Ken in the Coupeville Rec Hall. This will give us all plenty of room to spread out. There will be discounts offered, lots of conversations had and as much education as you would like. This is a standing, social tasting. Wine club members enjoy discounted ticket pricing as well as deeper discounts on orders at the event. Join one of our wine clubs before the event to take advantage of these extra discounts. You don't want to miss this one! A great opportunity to taste before you buy, restock your wine rack and choose a few special bottles for the upcoming holiday season. Saturday 29 October 3 - 5 Coupeville Rec Hall tickets are required Non-wine Club member Wine Club member
a close up of a plate of food with tomatoes and mozzarella on a table .
By Beth Kuchynka July 6, 2022
Grande Fior di Latte Pasteurized Cow's milk fresh Mozzarella - Wisconsin - USA It's summer and we want to encourage you to eat your weight in fresh mozzarella. Fresh, whole milk, well made mozzarella that is light and delicate. The touch of tang from cheese cultures, the stretch and melt point perfection are why we love this mozzarella over all others. It truly is the flower of the milk! Stop in the shop and mention this post, we'll give you a sweet discount... From the dairy, Our milk is collected daily from cows at dedicated Grande producer dairy farms that have committed to our Producers Assuring Consumers of Excellence (PACE) program to ensure quality, animal well-being and environmental best practices are in place as well as proper employee management and labor practices. After milking, it is quick cooled and taken directly to our nearby state-of-the-art facilities, where our cheese artisans craft it to bring out that great Grande taste. The story, Grande’s story began in 1891, in the small Sicilian village of Montelepre, Italy, where founder Filippo Candela was then born. It was in this warm, agriculturally rich region where he learned the art of making fine Italian cheese. In 1925, shortly after marrying his wife Provvidenza, Filippo moved from the economic instability of post-war Italy to America in search of better opportunities. Initially purchasing a small dairy farm and orchard, he moved to Wisconsin to pursue his passion for cheese making. Speaking only a few words of English, he met an Italian cheese buyer from the Old World. This meeting sowed the seeds of a new cheese company formed by Filippo and a handful of family and friends. They named it Grande – a fitting name as the Italian word for ‘greatness’ – and its authentic cheeses soon became favorites with Italian immigrant families across the United States. A few ways to enjoy your mozz, Caprese Salad PIZZA! Top grilled vegetables A simple appetizer of Mozz with fresh pesto, your favorite vinegar, your favorite EVOO, the list goes on!
a close up of a piece of cheese on a table
By Beth Kuchynka June 1, 2022
Onetik Bleu Des Basques Pasteurized Sheep - Onetik - Midi-Pyrenees, France It's true! Not all blue cheeses are the same, this couldn't be more true of this personal favorite. Most people who detest blue cheese have only experienced strong, often bitter (cheap) blue cheese. An artisanal blue such as this one is a game changer. It's a delicate, rich, toothsome blue expression. You are encouraged to come try it. Located in a small village at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountans, Macaye Onetik has been making delicious cheese for over 30 years. The goal being to preserve and share the bounty of the Basque heritage. The quality of the milk is the most important process of this cheese. Transhumance - the traditional grazing methods of moving livestock in a seasonal cycle is practiced. Three ancient breeds of sheep traditionally kept by Basque farmers are used. Black-Face Manech [manèche] Red-Face Manech Basco-Bearnaise Made with great skill and care the cheeses are crafted and aged at Onetik. This blue has a natural rind (always the strongest in flavor, eating it is a personal choice) and is aged for 2.5 months. It's creamy paste is lined with fine blue veins that give way to a delicate nutty punch of blue. Not over salted this can sometimes present sweet. We love to enjoy this in place of dessert with a glass of Muscat Beaumes de Venise. We carry other Onetik cheeses but this Blue is a treat. When you see it in the case, don't hesitate in bringing some home with you. It will change the way you feel about blue cheese! "Today marks my 10th year as a cheese maker at Onetik and it's still a pleasure to work with this noble ingredient. Milk collected at the beginning, the middle or the end of the animal's lactation period does not behave the same way. We must employ all our skills during the different steps of cheese making from the delivery of the milk until the cheese is sent to the cellars. The high quality of the milk provided by our farmers is what allows us to prepare our cheese under the best conditions, so they develop aroma and taste, so they sing, you know? Today, our cheese makers set themselves apart from the competition through the meticulous care taken by all of us at Onetik cheese dairy. We each contribute our experience towards one goal: to make our cheeses a showpiece of the Basque Country. There is one important thing I learned at the start of my work: cheese is a living thing, and that's certainly true! In my occupation it's important to remain humble and respect cheese: that's the key." Kayet Gastellu Cheesemaker at Onet
a piece of organic cheese from cowgirl creamery
By Beth Kuchynka May 9, 2022
American Legacy In 1997, we started with a dream shared between two college friends and business partners, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith : To celebrate organic practices and spotlight the craftsmanship of local sustainable agriculture in Marin and Sonoma counties. Today, we’re carrying the torch of the food revolution that started in our backyard. Organic. Farm-to-Table. Delicious, award-winning cheese. The cheese production business is rough. Expensive, time sensitive and licensing to name a few hurdles. Friends Sue and Peggy started in a renovated barn in Northern California, the first operation called Tomales Bay food, with the thought of featuring foods from West Marin. Cowgirl Creamery was launched in 1997. Smith and Conley created a legacy with these specialty cheeses, all made from organic milk and sourced from surrounding dairies committed to farming practices through regenerative agriculture in Northern California’s Sonoma County area. The awards are many over this time – the most recent - Mt Tam triple cream made with cow’s milk sourced from the Straus Family Dairy won a 2021 Good Food Award – we stock this cheese regularly. They produce eight artisanal cheeses plus fresh cottage cheese, fromage blanc and creme fraiche. In 2016 Cowgirl Creamery was sold to Emmi Group, read more here . The result being good thus far, expanded resources and no compromise made in the end product. We are so grateful that these two women pursued their dream and that we get to share these cheeses with you! This month we feature a specialty spring cheese - Pierce Point. It seemed the perfect seasonal cheese to share from this beloved creamery. We hope you enjoy. Limited in the shop this month. Our Pierce Point cheese transports you to the scents and sights of late spring in West Marin on the Northern California Coast. Named for a ranch on the Pt Reyes National Seashore, Pierce Point starts with single-source organic cow's milk from nearby Bivalve Dairy. Each piece is rich with the aromas of the surrounding pastures. The core and paste unite in their journey to deliver all the herbaceousness of our local milk source, accentuated with sprinklings of stunning field flowers, chamomile, calendula, and Thai basil, Pierce Point captures the essence of the season. Read more here .
a row of wine glasses are lined up on a bar .
By Susan Wenzel May 9, 2022
 Rosés are Reds and Oranges are…Whites?! Anyone in the know knows bayleaf has a remarkable cache of fine red, white, and rosé wine, but few know much about the luscious orange wines sprinkled inconspicuously around the shop. Orange wines, made from white wine grapes, are an oft overlooked alternative to a savory red which makes them the perfect pairing for strong cheeses, red meat, roasted root veggies, and even curry. Skin is in Maceration is a fancy word for soaking the wine with the grape skins, stems, and seeds to extract color, aroma, and tannins. White wine is exempt from this process which ensures it is typically tannin free and best sipped chilled and fresh. For rosé wine, skin contact is brief, measured in hours, long enough for the red grape skins to impart a hint of tint and a touch of tannins. Orange wine, conversely, is left to soak with the white grape skins for anywhere from several days to many months, resulting in hues from golden straw to deep amber. (Red wine, too, macerates for a similar length of time.) In essence, orange wine is made from white wine grapes in the same manner that red wine is made from red wine grapes. Orange is not the new pink While the preparation process is practically parallel, rosés and oranges are two totally different wines. Rosés, because of their brief soak, are generally light and fresh, and like the aforementioned whites, best schlurped when the weather is hot and the wine is cold. Orange wines are better served cool-ish (think cellar temperature) and are far more thought-provoking than their quaffable cousin. Oranges are a savory sipper with astonishing depth, body, and texture courtesy of the tannins gathered during the lengthier maceration period. Orange you curious? Armed with your newfound knowledge, stop into bayleaf and grab a bottle (or two) of this unique but highly versatile style of wine. (And don’t forget the cheese!)
More Posts
Share by: