Well, I need to make a couple of quick corrections/additions to the Feb newsletter that went out on Friday last week.

First off, the Wine & Chocolate Day is February 11 (Saturday), not the 10th as I incorrectly stated in the write-up.  My apologies for the confusion.

Second, I have an addendum to the recipe.  Clyde likes using chicken stock instead of water when he can for extra flavor.

You can find a copy of the Feb. newsletter by clicking here.  And you can sign up for our monthly newsletter by clicking here.  Thanks so much!

Sorry to be so out of touch this week.  Old Wooham Custom Bottling LLC showed up on Tuesday with their brand new mobile bottling line.  It’s kept us busy with set up and test runs the last couple of days.  Hopefully we’ll actually bottle some wine using it this afternoon.

I’ll wait until next week for another WWWW entry and hopefully I be back tomorrow with a short video showing the bottling line in action.  Cheers!

ETA: I just posted up the video, which you can find here.

We got busy last night and bagged up 120 bags of Sweet Pink Grapes of Raft.  A big thank you goes out to our neighbors Rob & Karen who came in to help us on the ‘inflating’ line!

Today, a mobile bottling line will be showing up to set up for a trial run here at the winery.  Clyde will be cranking out some bottled wine this week if all goes well.  Keep your fingers crossed for him.  Cheers!

]]> http://peacefulbend.com/2012/01/31/more-grapes-of-raft-wine-available/feed/ 0 http://peacefulbend.com/2012/01/23/the-courtois-is-back/ http://peacefulbend.com/2012/01/23/the-courtois-is-back/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:00:55 +0000 Katie http://peacefulbend.com/?p=2708

We were busy bees in the cellar this weekend.  Clyde and I were able to bottle the Courtois again, and with some help from friends, he was also able to bottle up more Whittenburg (many, many thanks Scotty, Natalie & Ginger!).

We are waiting for the labels to come in on the Whittenburg, but that shouldn’t be too long.  This week we are hoping to have time to bottle Yadkin Creek and to bag up the Sweet Pink Grapes of Raft.

I’ll put up a notice here as we bring our wine shelves back to life  so you can fill your own wine shelves!  Cheers!

Here’s a sneak peek at what the new bags will loook like (front and back)…

 What do you think?  I hope you like them, since getting an approval for the new labels was a bit tougher than we anticipated.  We’ll be inflating bags with a dry red wine, a dry white, a semi-sweet white, a semi-sweet red and of course, the ‘flagraft’ Sweet Pink Wine!  I’ll let you all know here on the blog when they are available for sale again, but I anticipate that it will be a month or more before most of these will be on the shelf.  The exception to that will be the Sweet Pink GOR, which we hope to have bagged soon.

Also in the spirit of holding our feet to the fire – we are currently planning on bottling Courtois and Whittenburg late this week.  I’ll be sure to post here once we have those available again too.

Cheers!

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

This is an especially fitting quote for the month of January when many of us are embarking on new resolutions and it seems like an uphill climb without an end in sight.  Great to have a day to reflect on the the life of this great man and how he was able to inspire us all to keep taking steps forward.

On a totally different note, Clyde and I just arrived back home on Saturday morning from a week-long vacation.  Our neighbor Crystal over at Murphy’s Place kept our dogs while we were gone and took great care of them.  Of course, as soon as we unpacked our bags, we couldn’t wait to see our ‘pups’ again!

This morning was the first walk I’ve had time to take with Maggie and Pepe since we arrived home again.  It was so warm, we headed down the river path to check out what new smells might have developed over the week.

Those two are always out in front of me, sniffing the ground, sniffing the air, digging in the dirt and running off after a squirrel or occasional rabbit.

Of course a long walk makes a doggie thirsty, so we always climb down the bank so that Maggie and Pepe can get to the water.  They’ll drink their fill, and then they engage in an odd ritual.

Can you see what they are doing down there?  Not quite?  I’ll zoom in….

They are licking the old concrete next to the water!  Weird.  I never see them lick anything else like this, so there must be something on those rocks that taste good. I suppose it probably tastes a bit salty (but it sure seems like a rough way to get your salt in!).   Maybe they are in dire need of a few customer treats?

Cheers!

Have a great night everyone!

]]> http://peacefulbend.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-year-2/feed/ 0 http://peacefulbend.com/2011/12/28/wwww-20-the-last-of-2011/ http://peacefulbend.com/2011/12/28/wwww-20-the-last-of-2011/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:21:20 +0000 Katie http://peacefulbend.com/?p=2665 Here we are at the last Wednesday of the month.  I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season so far!  With the new year just around the corner, I seem to be on an organizing kick….and contemplating a few resolutions too.  Before I get too carried away, I think I’ll dig into the last Wine Web Wandering Wednesday of 2011.  Hope you find some interesting reading in here!

There were many year-end ‘best of’ lists this week, but I have to admit they started to get a bit boring to me so I’m not sharing here.  The one article focused on contemplating 2011 that I really enjoyed was written by Wine Spectator’s Matt Kramer who recounted his personal wine lessons of 2011.

Did you receive money over the holidays?  If you are considering buying a wine cooler with that money, the points in this blog post will help guide you in making a decision on what style to purchase.

Going out to eat this week?  Read this article to see whether you should take your own wine glass or not.

And finally we’ll end with a health article.  According to this blurb in the New York Times, beer and martinis might just provide the same health benefits as wine.

So that’s the last ’round-up of articles for 2011.  I hope you’ve found some interesting reading in these segments this year.  I plan to continue the series next year, so check back in on January 4 for a new installment.  Cheers!