Wine Blogs

Kari first worked at Cornerstone Cellars as assistant winemaker under Celia Welch from 2000 to 2007 and then returned for her homecoming as head winemaker for Cornerstone Cellars in 2015. Kari talked about the unique approach that Cornerstone Cellars took when Michael Dragutsky embarked on a quest to deliver on the potential he saw in a select few of Napa Valley’s finest mountain and benchland Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards. We tasted four wines from Farina Vineyard in Sonoma Mountain AVA (Sonoma Valley) and vineyards that are well-known, but not named from Howell Mountain, Oakville Station and Rutherford. * 2016 Cornerstone Cellars Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon – made with 100 percent mountain fruit, there is a reason this is known as the winery’s signature wine.

This Western Burger is packed with beef, bacon, barbecue sauce, and beer battered onion rings. When onion rings are done, grill the burgers and finish prepping remainder of ingredients. The secret to good onion rings is making sure the batter is the consistency of a thick pancake batter, using some type of carbonated beverage (we are using beer). We add a touch of corn starch to the batter for a light flaky texture, and we keep a separate bowl of just flour to dip the onion rings in.

Making Homemade Breakfast Sausages is as simple as combing ground pork with some herbs and spices, and a touch of good maple syrup for sweetness. For our preference we like classic sausage flavor, aromatics, a touch of sweet, a touch of heat, which reminds us of what you’d get from your typical breakfast restaurant. While you can use brown or cane sugar, we love the natural sweet and flavor with good quality maple syrup (not syrup with cane sugar, but real Grade A maple syrup). When considering how much breakfast sausage seasoning total to use for 1 pound of ground pork we use roughly 2 1/2 tablespoons of dried ingredients and 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup.

Making your own corning spices is pretty easy, it just takes time, some special curing salt, and an understanding of how the curing salt process works. In the example we have below, we started with a large full Brisket, also called a packer trim Brisket, (because that was what was available to us) and trimmed it down to the 5-pound Flat-Half, which we are using for our Corned Beef. After 7 days for a Brisket Flat Half, and up to 10 days for a thicker cut, like a cut from the round or sirloin, remove from the brine. You will smoke the Brisket Flat Half until the internal temperature of the beef is 200 degrees F, or when the meat thermometer easily inserts into the Brisket Flat Half with little resistance.

I was physically in the same place that I am today, the Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita, Mexico, where we have spent Spring break as long as we’ve had a kid in school who has a holiday, with several of the same families. We aren’t in a place that hotel services could completely shut down and all food will come via room service to our room. Masks at the airport are mandatory … unless you are the 100 that we counted in the time that we boarded our plane who either weren’t wearing or were wearing improperly. It’s clear the pandemic is far from under control, so I do my best to balance keeping safety and sanity.

Shrimp is dipped in a quick marinade of citrus, cilantro, lime, and jalapeños while the grill is heating up, and then grilled hot and fast in just a few minutes. While the grill is warming up, marinate the shrimp for 15 minutes in the cilantro lime marinade and then skewer the shrimp. Place the cilantro lime shrimp skewers over direct heat, close lid, and grill for 4 – 5 minutes or until you see sear marks. We use similar flavors to the marinade (cilantro, lime, garlic) then add in some avocado and Greek Yogurt (or sour cream) for a nice creamy dipping sauce.

Corned beef hash is an amazing breakfast dish that incorporates meat, potatoes, onions, and other flavors, and is a great use for any leftover meat. Optional – Add a touch of pickled hot peppers for a little kick, or add sour cream, or hot sauce to enhance the flavor. After finishing the potatoes, use the same pan over medium heat and add the leftover corned beef. Add more olive oil to same pan and then add the onions and peppers.

Before you get started, think about the content you want to create for each channel: feed posts, stories, reels, IGTV, live streams etc. Reels: capture 0-5 second video snippets in portrait to stitch together later as a reel – think vine to bottle, behind the scenes, fun stop motion effects. Close-ups: details matter and some wildflowers in the vineyard, zoomed in plunger action, dusty boots, secateurs, steaming coffee, dirty hands, sweat but hopefully no tears, is what vintage makes it such a special time. (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 7 tips on how to work with wine influencers 8 ways to grow your newsletter list

Ask your followers to subscribe Your social tribe might simply not know that you have a newsletter list. Signature Add a link to join your email list to your wineries signature. Be social Post sample content of your newsletters on social and promote it further via ads, linking to your sign-up page. Promos Add newsletter opt-ins to pages on your website that are connected to in-store promos, e.g. necktags.

Do you want to increase your following, engage existing followers or simply create some new brand alignments. Prize Wine is legally NOT an option in New Zealand so source a product or service or even better team-up with a brand that aligns with your values and image. Comment or share to win usually results in fewer but higher quality entries that are actually interested in your brand and stick around afterwards. Make sure you’re following Sip Marketing over on Insta for more wine marketing tips and the odd giveaway!