The Start of a New Season

Today is the beginning of my favorite time of year! Our harvest season has started (we have brought in our first ever lot of Pinot Gris and almost all of our sauvignon blanc!), all types of squashes are in abundance at the farmers market, the days are getting shorter, and the autumn colors are just about to show! In addition to all of the wonderful changes and bounty this new harvest is granting us, the weather has cooled down throughout the country and we are finally able to ship wine out to our friends, fans and wine club family!

Because of of the summer heat and potential of heat damage, we are unable to ship wine from mid-May through the majority of September. In temperatures above 75 degrees, the wine can be damaged in the bottle by hot storage conditions (i.e. the back of a shipping truck) and develop raisined and stewed flavors, flavors the winemaker did not intent our wines to have. In order to preserve our wine, we hold all shipments until the weather has cooled down throughout the country.   

Now with the weather cooling off, we are finally able to kicking off our Wine Club shipments in full force! Our first shipment is going out in this last week of September and it will be to our Connoisseurs Club!  The Connoisseurs Club is my favorite club level because it gives our members a sampling of all of the wines we craft under Stepping Stone by Cornerstone, Cornerstone Oregon and Cornerstone Cellars, including our small lot and tasting room exclusive wines we produce each year. With special pricing, special parties, special dinners, and exclusive experiences at our Yountville Tasting Room, our wine clubs is the best way to continue and I am thrilled to share this September club shipment with our club members.

Our Connoisseurs Club Members will receive one bottle of our inaugural vintage of the Cornerstone Oregon Chardonnay.  A wine that is exclusive to our tasting room and Wine Club Members, the Oregon Chardonnay will pair beautifully with all of the wonderful Fall squash dishes readily available on every chef’s menu.  Our Connoisseur Club Members will also receive our current release 2009 Stepping Stone Cabernet Franc and pre-release of 2010 Stepping Stone Cabernet Sauvignon (the most elegant Cabernet we have made yet). 

It is going to be a few more busy months sending out all of our various Wine Clubs, but don’t get left out of the fun and miss any of our new releases first by by signing up for yourself!

~Allison Zickfeld