Meet Amber

There is a true art to life, and if you listen it will speak to you in a poetry that moves beyond words.  Wine, too, is a language that speaks through poetry.  As humans we each have our own terroir, or sense of place, that has seasoned our lives with experience.  Each place we go and each person we meet adds something to who we are.  It is the same as how soil type, surrounding climate and yearly weather patterns affect the flavors of the wine we drink.  I am Amber Weed and this is a preview into my personal terroir.

I was too excited to sleep on the plane over to Paris.  I had never been outside of the United States and the thought of being surrounded by a completely foreign experience made my imagination go in all sorts of directions.  I met my friend Cristiana, who was studying French abroad, at the Gare Du Lyon train station.  It was a gorgeous yet frosty November evening.  We stopped by an adorable French shop to pick up a fresh baguette, cheese and a bottle of Champagne.  This variety of treats was a far cry from the pizza and kegs I was used to back home, which was then the infamous college town of Isla Vista, California.  We arrived at her third floor unit where she immediately popped the cork of the champagne out the window and we toasted to being in Paris.  That toast marked the beginning of my interest in wine.  Wine was everywhere in Paris and seemed to be the center focus of French art and culture as a whole.  I loved seeing people enjoying a glass of wine with their books in the afternoon or with a long, relaxed meal for their late dinners.  I saw this theme continue throughout Europe as later travels brought me to Spain, Italy and Switzerland.

After college I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico with my then boyfriend, now husband Josh.  We lived atop a hill in his parent’s guest house overlooking the artful town on one side and the beautiful high altitude desert on the other.  Around that same time Josh’s younger brother, Chris, moved back home after graduating from Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland.  Chris avidly studied wine atlases and encyclopedias.  Europe had nurtured his love for wine culture as well.  He was studying for his upcoming sommelier exam. Until then I did not know the depths and complexities of wine.  I began to care a little more with each glass I enjoyed.  Words like, “Bouquet, legs and decanter,” danced in my mind.  We had many family dinners where we spent much of the conversation talking about the wine we were sipping.  The serenity of New Mexico inspired me to develop my art.  I painted and made jewelry for hours on end and wine played an integral role in helping my creative juices to flow. 

By the end of our year in Santa Fe, Josh has changed his mind about going to graduate school for political science and instead enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.  We packed up our life and hit the road heading to the Northwest.  It was there where we met John Eliassen who was Josh’s wine and beverage teacher as well as the winemaker at La Bete winery in the Willamette Valley.  We were asked to help bottle their 2009 vintage of Pinot Noir.  A group of us worked together on the bottling line while the Oregon sky was heavy with clouds and drizzling rain. At that time I knew that the wine industry was home for me.  The sense of camaraderie and community had inspired me.

An externship opportunity for Josh brought us to San Francisco.  He worked at the Michelin starred Masa’s Restaurant off of Union Square under Chef Gregory Short, a French Laundry alumnus from the days when Keller still manned the stoves.  We were soon surrounded by great friends from all walks of life in the culinary world.  Food and wine became our everything, so naturally we gravitated to Napa Valley.  We moved here over a year ago and became married in April.  I first worked at Duckhorn Vineyards and began here at Cornerstone Cellars just about a week ago.   

I am excited to be a part of such an interesting and innovative team of people.  Jeff, Craig, Allison, Alex, Adam and the rest of the staff have been more than welcoming.  This should be a fun adventure!  I would like to invite all of you to the Cornerstone Cellars tasting room in Yountville.  I am really looking forward to getting to know Cornerstone fans as well as help to create new ones!  Please visit us the next time you are in Napa Valley and share with me a bit about yourself.

Amber joins the tasting room!

Meet Amber Weed, our newest Wine Educator! Amber has 6 years experience in the restaurant and wine industries. Amber relocated from San Francisco to Napa a little over a year ago to pursue a career in the wine industry. 

Amber enjoys going wine tasting throughout Napa and Sonoma in her off time and frequents the local hotspots such as Bistro Jeanty, Bottega, Fagianis (The Thompson), Zuzu, and Angele. Ambers love of art and jewelry prompted her to start her own jewelry business, Lustrea, in 2009 after working in a bead shop in New Mexico. Her other loves in life are world travel, photography, fashion and music. Amber has two favorite Cornerstone wine and food pairings: Cornerstone 2010 Sauvignon Blanc paired with a sesame crusted seared ahi tuna steak over lemon wasabi mashed patties and the Stepping Stone 2010 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir paired with shaved truffle and Parmesan risotto.  We are thrilled to welcome her to our team. Her wine knowledge and passion for providing our guests a phenomenal experience will be a wonderful addition to our Yountville Tasting Room.

-Adam Palafox

Why We Are In Oregon

The Cornerstone Oregon Pinot Noir blocks in the Clay Court Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountiains AVA

The Napa Valley is one of the few perfect places on earth to grow cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc. Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the few perfect places on earth to grow pinot Noir and chardonnay. One thing I know for sure is that if you have a cabernet vineyard next to a pinot vineyard, one or both of them are in the wrong place.

So although we had been in the Napa Valley for two decades when we decided to make pinot noir we knew we had to look somewhere other than our home. After all, it is more important where the vine puts down roots than were we had put down our roots. Our vision is to go where the variety loves to be, not to force the variety to grow in a place just because we were there. After all, nothing is more important to a wine than the soil that gave life to the vines. That essence flows from the soil through the roots to be mixed with sunshine to create wine.

Cabernet and pinot need just the opposite things as, for that matter do sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Cabernet sauvignon is a slow ripener you need to speed up and pinot noir is a fast ripener you need to slow down. The Napa Valley is just not a great place to grow pinot noir and the Willamette Valley is no place to try to ripen cabernet sauvignon.

Cornerstone Cellars is famous for our distinctive Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine of great longevity and breed and we wanted our pinot noir to be equally distinctive. That goal could only lead us to Oregon. In Oregon pinot noir and chardonnay have found a home as regal as their home in Burgundy, just as Bordeaux's cabernets, merlot and sauvignon blanc brought their blue blood to the Napa Valley.

Then there was Tony Rynders. How could we pass up the opportunity to work with one of the most dynamic winemakers anywhere? Tony’s talents led Domaine Serene to fame during his decade as winemaker there and before that he made his mark as red winemaker at Hogue Cellars in Washington. When Tony left Domaine Serene to strike out on his own we knew the time was right for Cornerstone to follow our dream to make pinot noir.

We make three wines at Cornerstone Oregon. Our Cornerstone Oregon, Willamette Valley Chardonnay is a lean, mean fighting machine type of chardonnay. No sweet oaky fruit bombs for us. If you love classic Chablis, you’ll love our Oregon Chardonnay. The Cornerstone Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a classic, age-able pinot noir with great structure, depth and breed. Our newest Cornerstone Oregon wine is the Stepping Stone by Cornerstone Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. Every vintage, as you taste through the barrels, certain ones just seem so pretty and drinkable right now so we figured why resist them? Our Stepping Stone Pinot Noir is a barrel selection of those charming wines, while our Cornerstone Oregon Pinot Noir is a barrel selection of wines destined for greatness. One is pure charm and the other a true aristocrat.

Now as we approach our fifth vintage in Oregon our roots have grown deep in both the soils of the Napa and Willamette Valleys where with each vintage they get deeper every year. Soon they will be as deep as our roots on Howell Mountain. Great wine comes from deep roots.

The Cornerstone Concierge

Summertime is never quiet in wine country.  With lots of new friends and familiar faces visiting us, our Yountville Tasting Room is always buzzing. Sadly, hot weather through out United States has forced wine shipping come to a halt.  This thankfully has given me a chance to get a leg up on our next big wine club shipments and rush for the holiday season!  I have been extremely busy planning events for our tasting room (details to come in the near future!), working on our Holiday Gift Guide (September 1 release!)  and revamping our Wine Club Concierge Program!

Our complimentary concierge program helps our wine club members create nothing but the most memorable wine country vacation.  We have carefully selected some of the best hotels, bed and breakfasts, limo companies, restaurants and other organizations making them available to our club members at special members only rates. This past month, I have had the chance to make new partnerships and connect with our long standing friends to ensure we have the best possible options available for our wine club members.  One of our new partners includes Yountville based Napa Valley Aloft Hot Air Balloon Tours taking our members high above Napa Valley!  We have also joined up with a favorite Yountville restaurant, Hurley's, to make a complimentary appetizer prepared by Chef Bob Hurley available for all of our members.  As always, our members have the option of staying at one of our premier hotel partners in Yountville, including Bardessono Hotel, Hotel Yountville and many more!

I cannot give every wonderful detail of our Wine Club Concierge Program away.  Sign up for any level of our Wine Club and reap all the benefits of this wonderful program. Let us help you take advantage of all the Napa Valley has to offer! 

~Allison Zickfeld

Alex on the Road: North Carolina Mountains

The thick, steamy air was new to me. It was warm and heavy -not typically what a native Californian would be used to- yet comfortable and inviting. The creaks, chirps, and dull hum of the hickory forest further solidified that I was no longer home. The mountains of western North Carolina are a majestic place unlike anything I have seen or experienced throughout The Golden State. Rolling hills stretch as far as the eye can see and lush green forrest carpets every inch that is not a shear granite cliff face.

Mountain Air Country Club is by far one of the most unique clubs I have ever visited. For starters, it boasts a private runway capable of landing Learjets. It’s views fully encapsulate the expansive beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and are only overshadowed by the exquisite meal cooked by Chef Jared and paired with Cornerstone’s wine. Jared and I had been going back and forth for the better part of two weeks tweaking the menu to ensure that only the best food and wine pairings were created. We started off with an assortment of passed hors d'oeuvres and the 2010 Cornerstone Sauvignon Blanc. This was a great way to ease many of the gusts into the evening as they socialized & enjoyed our refreshing wine on that hot summer’s day.

After being seated we were served three fried oysters with compressed melon paired with the Stepping Stone 2011 Corallina Rosé. Many guests showed apprehension as this decidedly pink wine was poured into their glass. Fear turned into surprise and then into astonishment as the soft melon and strawberry notes from the wine along with it's bright acidity complimented the oysters. Grinning from ear to ear, we were ready for course three, poussin two ways paired with Cornerstone Oregon 2009 Pinot Noir. From there we went to grilled and braised lamb with the 2009 Stepping Stone Cabernet Franc. We finished the meal with both the 2008 Napa Valley and Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignons. We talked for hours about Cornerstone’s winemaking methods and philosophy before moving on to life in the Napa Valley.

Walking away from the club I felt as if I had truly gotten to know the food, the people, the culture, and how integrally linked all three were with our wines that evening. It was a night which we will all look back upon and smile. Just as we did when that pink wine was sipped after a bite of fried oyster.

Alex on the Road: Milwaukee

The journey began early, at 7:30 in the morning on a Sunday. Before me lay a week of market visits to the midwest. Milwaukee, a city I had not visited since 2007, was my first destination. Justifiably considered a beer town - it is the home of Miller Brewing Company and Pabst among others - Milwaukee’s fine restaurants, much like its wine scene, is growing rapidly. I met with John Wise, the director of operations for the Bartolotta Restaurant Group, to taste through our latest vintages and show him our Rocks! blends. Harbor House a seafood restaurant, located on the Lake Michigan waterfront, is just one of their concepts. People travel far and wide to enjoy the relaxing ambiance coupled with the fresh, light summer dishes. In fact, a gentleman seated next to me at the bar told me he drives up at least twice a month from Chicago, a town known for its great restaurants. He explained to me that while there are great places to eat in the windy city, nothing there comes close to Harbor House’s inviting patio overlooking the lake. When you dine, be sure to grab their wine list as this is one of the very few places in Milwaukee where you can order the Cornerstone Sauvignon Blanc. I would enjoy the sauvignon blanc with the seared sea scallops, their sweet briny flavor brought out even more by the subtle citrus notes in the wine. The Bartolotta group is expanding into two new restaurants due to open in the late summer and early fall. John and I tasted through the new Rocks! blends in order to see if a match could be made. It was and they will be available, by the glass, on your next visit.

Bonne Bastille: July 14th!

Bastille Day is always a fun celebration in the Napa Valley.  But this year, we are taking July 14th to the barricades: in and outside our Yountville tasting room!  The Cornerstone team will be participating in two events as well as commemorating the storming of the Bastille at the tasting room all day Saturday.

First and foremost, we are offering a special tasting menu for Bastille Day focusing on some our our favorite French varieties. including the 2010 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc and the 2009 Stepping Stone Napa Valley Cabernet Franc.  We are also making our soirée even sweeter and bringing in a special treat from our favorite boulangerie Bouchon!  Meanwhile, Adam will be heading down to Napa to 1313 Main for Rosé Day!  From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. guests can taste our 2011 Stepping Stone Corallina Rosé paired with carefully selected small bites along with three other producers Rosés.   

If you are in San Francisco for the weekend, Allison will be at The Old Mint for Romancing the Rhones!  From 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Allison will be pouring the 2011 Stepping Stone Corallina Rosé in addition to sharing the 2009 Stepping Stone Syrah and pre-releaseing the 2010 Stepping Stone Syrah!  

If you can not make any of these events, be sure gather your friends to raise a glass of Cornerstone or Stepping Stone and toast with us Vive la France! 

In Napa:

• Cornerstone Cellars Tasting Room - Bastille Day Celebration

6505 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599  -  10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

• 1313 Main - Rosé Day!

1313 Main Street, Napa, CA 94559  -  1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

In San Francisco:  

• Romancing the Rhones

The Old Mint, 88 5th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Bonne Bastille!

Allison Zickfeld

On the road again!

One last beautiful morning in Yountville before I hit the road for a month. Orange County, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Asheville, Charlotte, and Queens will be visited over the next four weeks. In all of these destinations I'll be visiting with distributors, restaurants and even working a wine festival or two! I'm most looking forward to Santa Barbara, where I will be introducing new fans to Cornerstone's great wines. The California Wine Festival is being held the weekend of July 20th and we are participating in two events. Friday night is the reserve tasting with Saturday afternoon set aside from a beach front festival. Aside from Napa's vineyard setting, I can't think of a better place to enjoy our Corallina Rosé and Cornerstone Sauvignon Blanc. Hope to see you there!

-Alex Crown

Rosé with friends

A wave of refreshment washed over me as I took my first sip of our Corallina Rosé. Much of the long, hot day had been spent visiting accounts throughout the Napa Valley. Exiting the oven that was my car, all I could think about was getting to that chilled bottle, pulling the cork, and enjoying its bright flavors alongside a round of époisses. A few friends ware joined me that evening. We enjoyed the Corallina as it was meant to be; with food, good company and nowhere to go. For them this was their first experience with our rosé. I couldn't think of a more fitting wine for the occasion as the first day of summer had just passed. This wine encapsulates the season. Fun, playful and to be shared with close friends. When will you be sharing tour rosé with yours? 

James the Wine Guy on 2011 Corallina Syrah Rosé

Summer Grilling in Yountville

Summer is officially here and that means one thing, grilling season! I can't think of a single Cornerstone wine that is not BBQ friendly. 2011 Stepping Stone Rosé (with salmon), 2010 Cornerstone Oregon Chardonnay (with marinated chicken), or the 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet (with oakwood grilled rib eyes) will keep everyone around the fire happy durring this backyard grilling season! 

Video Tasting Notes: 2011 Stepping Stone by Cornerstone Corallina Napa Valley Syrah Rosé

Winemaker Jeff Keene gives an inside look at our exceptional 2011 Stepping Stone by Cornerstone Corallina Napa Valley Syrah Rosé.

A visit from Arizona

A few weeks ago one of our distributor sales managers from Arizona, Ricky, reached out and asked if I would be able to meet his guests at our tasting room. I'm always happy to show Jeff Keene's wines to new fans and this time I was able to arrange something special, a field trip! Jeff was able to conduct a tour of our vineyards in Oakville and Oak Knoll followed by barrel tastings and then lunch. Watching the delight on their faces as Jeff explained viticulture techniques and a cluster selection was great. Our guests are always able to be in touch with the vineyards. We have a lovely demonstration Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard just steps from the tasting room. After being in the fields, cellar, and tasting room, these two truly have a connection to the Napa Valley and to Cornerstone Cellars!

The Cornerstone Collectors

This past month has been a pretty exciting month for me at Cornerstone.  I processed my first wine club! Four Wine Clubs to be exact, and certainly the best wine clubs to go out yet!  

I never really realized how much energy goes into processing the wine clubs, everything from writing and putting together our brochures, making sure that the members are clued in to what they will be receiving, to getting everything our shipping company needs to process the wine clubs and actually get it to our members.  

Now that the club has gone out, and everyone has their wine, or is just about to get the UPS guy knocking at their door, its time for me to dive into one of my favorite wines in the shipment, the 2009 Cornerstone Cellars Sauvignon Blanc.  We re-released our inaugural vintage of our Sauvignon Blanc and ours is a wine that enjoys a little extra time in bottle, and now is absolutely beautiful!  Meyer lemon and grapefruit are exploding our of the glass with a balance of Mango and other tropical fruits.  

Our Sauvignon Blanc will make an appearance at my friends barbecue tonight, and if I can get my hands on a few more bottles (there are only a few more cases left) I am sure it will not be the last.  Hopefully my friends will save me a glass.

If you missed out on the 2009 you can find the exceptional 2010 Cornerstone Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc on our website right here!

~Allison Zickfeld

St. Helena Bocce

Tuesday night is wine industry night in the Napa Valley Bocce circuit. Winemakers, owners, presidents,  viticulturists, and representatives flock to St. Helena challenging each other to a best of three match. Tonight Allison brought our soon to be released Cornerstone Oregon 2010 Chardonnay! Chablis inspired and aged in mature oak, the chardonnay is perfect for this warm spring evening spent on the court.