Upcoming Events
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Our 7th Annual Wine & Chocolate Pairing
AKA Valentine's Day in June!
Oh yeah, is this going to satisfy that sweet tooth! Many years ago during a visit to Venice I discovered Venchi Chocolatiers, and fell in love. I was immediately thinking through..."ohh this one will pair up soooo nicely with our Barbera! and, and, and this one..definitely our newly released Primitivo". So, I made arrangements to get some (they actually have a gelato shop in New York City!). Thus our annual Wine & Chocolate Pairing, typically held around Valentine's Day, was born.
What: Our 7th Annual Wine & Chocolate Pairing
When: 1pm-4pm, Saturday, June 12th
Where: Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
Cost: Come on, we never charge for this stuff!
Anything Else: We have a limited supply of 1 oz samples, so we will be doing the pairings formally at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm (although don't wait until 4...we might run out by then).
AKA Valentine's Day in June!
Oh yeah, is this going to satisfy that sweet tooth! Many years ago during a visit to Venice I discovered Venchi Chocolatiers, and fell in love. I was immediately thinking through..."ohh this one will pair up soooo nicely with our Barbera! and, and, and this one..definitely our newly released Primitivo". So, I made arrangements to get some (they actually have a gelato shop in New York City!). Thus our annual Wine & Chocolate Pairing, typically held around Valentine's Day, was born.
What: Our 7th Annual Wine & Chocolate Pairing
When: 1pm-4pm, Saturday, June 12th
Where: Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
Cost: Come on, we never charge for this stuff!
Anything Else: We have a limited supply of 1 oz samples, so we will be doing the pairings formally at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm (although don't wait until 4...we might run out by then).
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Adopted Family ReUnion!
In 2015 we were able to expand our vineyard, adding nearly three acres of vines. It was an exciting time and we didn't want to keep that all to ourselves, so we put each of our new Primitivo and Negroamaro vines up for "adoption", and thus 75 new adopted vine families were born. As part of the adoption process, each Adopter has a personalized sign over their vine, and are always welcome to visit. Additionally, two bottles of the first vintage in 2018 were created for each adopted family. This wine was bottled and prepared for release in the summer of 2020. Well, you know the old saying, when men make plans, the gods laugh. So, let's give it another go! What: Montoliva South Vineyard Adopted Family Reunion When: 1pm-4pm, Saturday, July 31st Where: Montoliva Vineyard & Winery Anything Else: We will have a professional photographer at this event so you can get a picture of you with your adopted vine. Two bottles of wine from the first vintage will be available to pick up. We have called this wine "Figlia", Italian for "daughter". Feel free to plan a picnic, bring a guitar and play for your vine, whatever...this is your day with your adopted vine. |
Saturday Night Movies in the Vineyard
A perennial favorite at Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
What do you get when you mix a warm foothill evening, wine and an outdoor movie? Montoliva Vineyard & Winery Saturday Night Movies in the Vineyard, of course. This is season...hmm, I think this might be our 12th year of showing movies in the vineyard. It has always been a pretty low keyed affair. Bring your lawn chair, beach blanket, and a mild sense of adventure. We provide a gorgeous setting, high quality 8ft x 10ft movie screen and state of the art sound and of course, wine. As always we have certain themes. Our first movie of the year is always a Bogart movie. In mid-August, most years, we like to show a musical of some sort. Naturally, one or two movies related to wine. Toss in a personal favorite or three, and we've got a summer schedule! Gates open at 7pm, the movie starts at dusk, around 8pm in mid-June. The cost is only $15 for a glass of wine and a movie ($12 for members of the Chicago Park Wine Society). A bargain at twice the price. We even provide popcorn!
some small print: Please note, we used to provide pizza with this event, as a part of the event. In February of 2020, just before the start of the pandemic, this activity caught the eye of the head of the Nevada County Health Department. She strongly insinuated that continuing this tradition could bring difficulties to Montoliva. Thus, we have been forced to suspend that part of our event. Our apologies.
A perennial favorite at Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
What do you get when you mix a warm foothill evening, wine and an outdoor movie? Montoliva Vineyard & Winery Saturday Night Movies in the Vineyard, of course. This is season...hmm, I think this might be our 12th year of showing movies in the vineyard. It has always been a pretty low keyed affair. Bring your lawn chair, beach blanket, and a mild sense of adventure. We provide a gorgeous setting, high quality 8ft x 10ft movie screen and state of the art sound and of course, wine. As always we have certain themes. Our first movie of the year is always a Bogart movie. In mid-August, most years, we like to show a musical of some sort. Naturally, one or two movies related to wine. Toss in a personal favorite or three, and we've got a summer schedule! Gates open at 7pm, the movie starts at dusk, around 8pm in mid-June. The cost is only $15 for a glass of wine and a movie ($12 for members of the Chicago Park Wine Society). A bargain at twice the price. We even provide popcorn!
some small print: Please note, we used to provide pizza with this event, as a part of the event. In February of 2020, just before the start of the pandemic, this activity caught the eye of the head of the Nevada County Health Department. She strongly insinuated that continuing this tradition could bring difficulties to Montoliva. Thus, we have been forced to suspend that part of our event. Our apologies.
Summer 2021 Movie Night Schedule
June 26th - Casablanca
July 10th - Bottle Shock (a great wine related movie)
July 24th - Help! (it's the Beatles! Cmon, you know the words!)
August 14th - Groundhog Day (I couldn't help myself...wayyyy to appropo)
August 28th - French Kiss (our annual "Date Night" movie)
July 10th - Bottle Shock (a great wine related movie)
July 24th - Help! (it's the Beatles! Cmon, you know the words!)
August 14th - Groundhog Day (I couldn't help myself...wayyyy to appropo)
August 28th - French Kiss (our annual "Date Night" movie)
Past Events and/or Later in the Year Events
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Friday November 26th
A Montoliva Vineyard & Winery Tradition.... 12th Annual Barbera Friday! 
The kitchen is cleaned up...well, more or less. The Detroit Lions lost...again. Getting up at 5am to be 10,000th in line at Best Buy just doesn't sound that appealing. What to do, what to do? Come on, we've been doing this for ten years now, you know what to do! We'll be open on Friday, November 26th, from 1 until 5pm. 6-packs of our tasty 2018 Barbera are only $96. A case of 12 is only $170! That's about $14 a bottle, and four out of five dentists surveyed agree, Montoliva Barbera is just about the best Barbera in California. But, that's not all, all Montoliva Magnums (1.5 liters) are 40% off Nov 29th, 30th and 31st. Here's a list of available Magnums reg price SPECIAL! 2012 Barbera $75 $45 2012 Estate Sangiovese $80 $48 2012 Teroldego $100 $60 2013 Sinistra $100 $60 2014 Primitivo $75 $45 2014 Mark's Magia $80 $48 2015 Estate Sangiovese $75 $45 2015 Nebbiolo $70 $42 2015 Sinistra $100 $60 2016 Negroamaro $75 $45 Supply of these magnums are very limited, I only bottle at most 3 or 4 magnums of each wine, a few of these there are only one or two left. (no other discounts apply!) |
Comfort Food 2021
Saturday, November 20th
Low music, exotic cheeses, delicious wine, softly discussing the day's events while the rain creates a gentle background ambiance. We feel a bit selfish for keeping this to ourselves, so Saturday, November 20th, we are going to roll out some cheese wheels, cook up some traditional Puttanesca sauce, see how it pairs up with a couple of different pastas. This year we are pairing up our wines with a few different goat & sheep's milk cheese, our fan favorite Puttanesca with '16 Sinistra (a Teroldego/Barbera blend), and lentil & spicy Italian sausage soup with our always amazing (if I do say so myself...and I do say so) 2016 Estate Sangiovese! We have a new dish we've recently added to our repertoire that we'll be pairing with our newly released '15 Nebbiolo. You are going to need some wine for your Thanksgiving table, so you may as well enjoy some food & wine pairings while you figure out what works best with your Mom's special turkey recipe (hint, it is probably our 2018 Negroamaro).
What: 14th Annual Comfort Food
When: 1-4ish Saturday, November 20th
Where: Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
Cost: It's Free! Seriously...we don't charge anything for this.
Anything Else: Great wine, tasty food, fun prizes....you really want to be here!
2021 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition
I am quite ambivalent about commercial wine competitions. In the best of circumstances they can be a bit of a crap shoot. You don't want to be the first wine that the judging panels samples (they aren't going to give a gold medal to the first wine they taste), and if you are in a really large category, like Chardonnay, where there might be 300 entries, you definitely don't want to be the last one judged (how do you still taste a wine after about 15 or 20?). That being said, they do have a utility. Commercial wine competitions are expensive to enter, so I don't generally enter very many wines, only the ones that I think will do very well, and allow me to gauge how my skills are developing. The California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition is the best known, the Orange County Fair competition is the largest, the San Francisco Chronicle is the most prestigious. Of the hundreds of wine competitions in America, these are the only three I enter regularly. The SF Chron is my favorite, mainly because they don't allow winemakers on the judging panels. This may seem counter-intuitive; it is not. Winemakers have a tendency to be myopic. They know what they do, they like what they do, their scope can be somewhat limited.
This can be problematic when your focus is obscure varietals that many, if not most, California winemakers have never even heard of. Wine writers, bloggers, critics, sommeliers on the other hand, tend to have a much broader wine experience. For this reason, my wines always do better at competitions like the San Francisco Chronicle competition. Which seques me to the 2021 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition:
Montoliva 2016 Estate Sangiovese - Gold Medal
Montoliva 2016 Due Baci - Gold Medal
Montoliva 2016 Sinistra - Silver Medal
A Gold Medal is awarded when the judging panel agrees that the wine is an "Excellent" example of the varietal/style. A Silver Medal is awarded when the judging panel agrees that the wine is a "Very Good" example of the varietal/style. Not bad, although I believe that all three deserved a better score, there's my ambivalence towards competitions. Sometimes you just can't account for taste. Cheers, Mark
Montoliva 2016 Estate Sangiovese - Gold Medal
Montoliva 2016 Due Baci - Gold Medal
Montoliva 2016 Sinistra - Silver Medal
A Gold Medal is awarded when the judging panel agrees that the wine is an "Excellent" example of the varietal/style. A Silver Medal is awarded when the judging panel agrees that the wine is a "Very Good" example of the varietal/style. Not bad, although I believe that all three deserved a better score, there's my ambivalence towards competitions. Sometimes you just can't account for taste. Cheers, Mark
Chicago Park Wine Society 2nd Quarter Release
Montoliva Vineyard & Winery 2017 Primitivo
Our 2017 Primitivo follows in the tradition of our Primitivo exhibiting a distinct white pepper spiciness in the finish. For a long time it was believed that Primitivo and Zinfandel were the same grape; we now know that they are in fact siblings, so genetically very closely related, but not identical. Their parent is an obscure Croatian grape, Crljenak Kastelanski, grown on the island of Split in Croatia. In looking for similarities between our Primitivo and Zinfandel, don't look to Lodi for inspiration...our Primitivo is lighter on its feet, has more structure, less jam/more spice. Think more along the lines of an upper Russian River Valley Zinfandel.
Retail: $30/bottle Chicago Park Wine Society Price: $24/bottle
Montoliva Vineyard & Winery 2016 Due Baci
I am very particular about Due Baci. Italian for “Two Kisses”, I first made this blend (only about 5 cases of it) in 2008 from vintage 2006 estate grapes. The occasion was my wedding to my soul mate and muse, Julianne. Our guests liked it so much I decided to continue producing it. The last time I produced a Due Baci blend was from vintage 2014…like I said, I’m particular about it. This vintage is a blend of 75% Sangiovese and 25% Aglianico. I make this wine to be dry and lean, perfect for my favorite meals, which usually include a spicy marinara sauce and some well seasoned chicken. Only 85 cases produced. $30/bottle, $24 to CPWS members.
Our 2017 Primitivo follows in the tradition of our Primitivo exhibiting a distinct white pepper spiciness in the finish. For a long time it was believed that Primitivo and Zinfandel were the same grape; we now know that they are in fact siblings, so genetically very closely related, but not identical. Their parent is an obscure Croatian grape, Crljenak Kastelanski, grown on the island of Split in Croatia. In looking for similarities between our Primitivo and Zinfandel, don't look to Lodi for inspiration...our Primitivo is lighter on its feet, has more structure, less jam/more spice. Think more along the lines of an upper Russian River Valley Zinfandel.
Retail: $30/bottle Chicago Park Wine Society Price: $24/bottle
Montoliva Vineyard & Winery 2016 Due Baci
I am very particular about Due Baci. Italian for “Two Kisses”, I first made this blend (only about 5 cases of it) in 2008 from vintage 2006 estate grapes. The occasion was my wedding to my soul mate and muse, Julianne. Our guests liked it so much I decided to continue producing it. The last time I produced a Due Baci blend was from vintage 2014…like I said, I’m particular about it. This vintage is a blend of 75% Sangiovese and 25% Aglianico. I make this wine to be dry and lean, perfect for my favorite meals, which usually include a spicy marinara sauce and some well seasoned chicken. Only 85 cases produced. $30/bottle, $24 to CPWS members.
What: Chicago Park Wine Society 2nd Quarter Release
When: 1-4 Saturday, May 1st, 2021
Where: Montoliva Vineyard & Winery
15629 Mount Olive Road, Chicago Park, California
Anything Else: I have long carried a fascination with our 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. Not only was he one of our more complex/complicated Founders, he was also one of America's first Viticulturalists and had a life-long love affair with wine. Little known fact, he also loved a good Mac-n-Cheese, often serving it at formal dinners. I think my home-made Mac-n-Cheese pairs up nicely with our Primitivo. Come find out for yourself.