Best of the Foothills Celebration

On Saturday March 6th, I attended the Foothills Celebration in Downtown Grass Valley with CC and a few close friends. It was such a nice treat to see the area crowded with people and thriving. (Well, not so much the crowded part when I was in line for wine tasting…Just kidding!)


This photo was taken inside Stucki Jewelers (one of the several stops on the event path). Nevada City Winery was there pouring a Gewurztraminer and a Zinfandel. I mention Nevada City Winery because I am fond of their Rough and Ready Red, and because they produce a Petit Verdot, which is not found very often as the main grape in a wine. Off topic, but FYI, another great (100%) Petit Verdot can be found here.



Here is a shot of the Avanguardia tasting room. They were pouring a white blend I liked called Selvatico.

Another of my favorite stops was The Owl Bar & Grill. They were serving up a garlic and nut bread that I would have to describe as addictive. The funny part is, if you go to their website, it is indeed described as addictive. I did not read their website before I came up with a descriptor for the (I guess it's called Billy Blue) bread! I wrote about it and then grabbed the URL afterward. :)

Lone Buffalo Vineyards was at The Owl to accompany. Their wines not only have cute names, they are quite tasty. You can test them out here or at their tasting room.

Finally, our last stop (and my personal favorite food wise) was a spot called Jim E's Club 141. It is a wine and tapas "bar" with a big fireplace and couch. And they serve bacon wrapped dates. If that isn't enough to convince you, below are some other things you might see on the menu:

Mini Grilled Cambazola Brie topped w/ Cranberries and Orange Marmelade



Artichoke Jalapeno Cheese Bread




Brie & Pear Quesadilla w/ Raspberry and Chipotle



Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms wrapped in Puff Pastry


You can become a fan of Downtown Grass Valley, follow them on twitter @gvdowntown, and support their small businesses by attending their upcoming events. If you missed the fabulous Foothills Celebration, there is another food and wine spectacular taking place in September at the Nevada County fairgrounds called a Taste of Gold. If you can't wait that long, here's a link to the downtown tasting rooms, and the great local shops and restaurants!

Foothills Celebration is this Saturday! Chance to Get $30 Tickets Ends Friday Night!

On Saturday March 6th from 1-4pm, spend the afternoon strolling Historic Downtown Grass Valley perusing its boutique shops while sampling fine wines, gourmet food and music - Over 50 Wineries & Restaurants will be participating in this year's event and are sure to please everyone’s palate. Grass Valley California's unique stores, hotels, bed & breakfast inns, wine tasting rooms, art galleries, world-class restaurants, are nestled in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

Purchase your tickets now and save $10. Tickets are just $30 when you reserve them online here, they are $40 the day of the event. Click here to reserve tickets today!

Restaurants represented at the celebration will be: Amigo's, Beach Hut Deli, Bella Sera, Bret Harte, Caroline's, Cirino's, Confectionately Yours, Diego's, Dining Diva & The Cobbler Guy, Florio's, Goomba's, Ike's Quarter Café, Island Beachtro, Club 141, Kaido, Kane's, Kat's World Foods, lazy Dog, Maria's, Marshall's, PV Grill, Taste of Thai, Thai Kitchen, The Cake Artist, The Owl, Tofanelis, Villa Venezia, & more.

There will be unlimited wine tastings from Avanguardia, Barefoot, Bent Metal, Clos Saron, Coufos, dkCellars, Dono Dal Cielo, Double Oak, Fawnridge, Fitzpatrick, Green Family, Indian Springs, Jodar, Lone Buffalo, Lucchesi, Montoliva, Mt. Vernon, Naggiar, Nevada City, Oakstone, Perry Creek, Pilot Peak, Renaissance, Sierra Knolls, Smith, Solune, Sierra Starr, Szabo, Villa San Juliette, & more.

If you'd like to make accommodations for the evening, you can reserve a room at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Grass Valley at a special rate (including two event tickets) for just $169! Click here for more information or to reserve.

If you are a restaurant, confectioner, or a winery and would like to participate in this event, contact Julie at (530) 272-8315.



For all the latest information, you can follow Historic Downtown Grass Valley on Twitter here, or you can connect with them on Facebook here.

Wine Appreciation: Bottling at Sierra Knolls

Last Saturday, CC & I joined another couple and traveled to Sierra Knolls Winery to help bottle 100-120 cases of their 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sierra Knolls is a small family-owned and operated vineyard and winery located in the Sierra Foothills, between Auburn and Grass Valley, 20 minutes off of Hwy 49.

The owners at Sierra Knolls are Steve & Brenda Taylor and John & Linda Chase. They are long time friends and wine lovers. John is the main winemaker.

Sierra Knolls wines are aged in French & American oak barrels in their 50 foot barrel cave. They are environmentally conscientious and solar powered.

After spending the day on the production line, I can report that winemaking on a smaller scale is definitely a labor of love.

CC & I started our day gluing boxes together, then I moved to foiling the bottles, while he wiped down bottles, then my last job (where I spent the most time, trying to give my arms a workout) was wiping down bottles, and CC moved to the labeling machine. It was tedious work, but fun working with others and talking about wine, work, running, restaurants, work, wine, running, and even this web site!


So here is how the production line went (get ready for some awesome ACTION shots *kidding*!!):


Here is the bottle filling station, 6 bottles at a time, then passed down to the corking machine.




The bottles are then corked one by one. Then passed down to be wiped free of any spots from filling them up.



This was the bottle wiping station. Hooray for micro-fiber towels! They made the polishing task much easier.



After the bottles are wiped down, they are passed again, one by one to the bottle labeler. I have attached quite a few labels by hand in the past at Frasinetti, so I was impressed by this automatic labeler! :)



The bottles are then passed to be foiled at the top and then sealed. Again, one at a time.



And here is the final product. We did about 100 cases (nearly 1,200 bottles that day).

There was no shortage of quality control during the bottling (if you know what I mean *wink, wink*). Every bottle of Sierra Knolls Cabernet gets my personal stamp of approval! ;)

After bottling, the whole crew was treated to a salad (YAY), chili and cornbread dinner, and we were given a bottle each to take home. CC & I will be laying ours down for at least 6 months (if we can wait that long).

If you would like to come out and taste the wines of Sierra Knolls, call them at (530) 268-9225 and schedule a tasting.

You can also follow them on twitter here, or friend them on facebook here.

Finally, they will be at the March 6th Foothills Celebration. Taste their wines as well as wines and food from all of these venues!

Foothills Celebration on March 6th, 2010!

On Saturday March 6th from 1-4pm, spend the afternoon strolling Historic Downtown Grass Valley perusing its boutique shops while sampling fine wines, gourmet food and music - Over 50 Wineries & Restaurants will be participating in this year's event and are sure to please everyone’s palate. Grass Valley California's unique stores, hotels, bed & breakfast inns, wine tasting rooms, art galleries, world-class restaurants, are nestled in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

Purchase your tickets now and save $10. Tickets are just $30 when you reserve them online here, they are $40 the day of the event. Click here to reserve tickets today!

Restaurants represented at the celebration will be: Amigo's, Beach Hut Deli, Bella Sera, Bret Harte, Caroline's, Cirino's, Confectionately Yours, Diego's, Dining Diva & The Cobbler Guy, Florio's, Goomba's, Ike's Quarter Café, Island Beachtro, Club 141, Kaido, Kane's, Kat's World Foods, lazy Dog, Maria's, Marshall's, PV Grill, Taste of Thai, Thai Kitchen, The Cake Artist, The Owl, Tofanelis, Villa Venezia, & more.

There will be unlimited wine tastings from Avanguardia, Barefoot, Bent Metal, Clos Saron, Coufos, dkCellars, Dono Dal Cielo, Double Oak, Fawnridge, Fitzpatrick, Green Family, Indian Springs, Jodar, Lone Buffalo, Lucchesi, Montoliva, Mt. Vernon, Naggiar, Nevada City, Oakstone, Perry Creek, Pilot Peak, Renaissance, Sierra Knolls, Smith, Solune, Sierra Starr, Szabo, Villa San Juliette, & more.

If you'd like to make accommodations for the evening, you can reserve a room at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Grass Valley at a special rate (including two event tickets) for just $169! Click here for more information or to reserve.

If you are a restaurant, confectioner, or a winery and would like to participate in this event, contact Julie at (530) 272-8315.

For all the latest information, you can follow Historic Downtown Grass Valley on Twitter here, or you can connect with them on Facebook here.