Ricci Vineyards | Carneros

Ricci Recipes - Grilled Shrimp + Sausage Summer Salad w/ Ricci Vineyards Rosé

4/13/2023

As the weather starts to heat up, people can sometimes learn towards lighter fare that can be enjoyed on the back patio. A fresh salad incorporating lots of ripe fruit is an excellent choice — especially when some BBQ flair is mixed into the equation. We think we've created an awesome recipe that will provide lots of summertime enjoyment and deliciousness. Pairing the salad with some of our rosé of Pinot Noir wouldn't be a bad idea either. Just sayin'. ;)

Ingredients (serves two)
• 1 head of Romaine lettuce
• 2 sliced strawberries
• 1 mango
• 10 large shrimp or prawns
• 1 mandarin orange
• 1 artisan sausage
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/3 tbsp. paprika
• 1/3 tbsp. onion powder
• 1/3 tbsp. garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. pine nuts

Prep (30 minutes)
In two separate bowls, shred and divide Romaine lettuce. Divide evenly the strawberries, mandarin wedges, and avocado. Season shrimp w/paprika, pepper flakes, onion and garlic powder. Drizzle with olive oil. Grill shrimp and sausage and let them cool. From the mango, cut thin slices and add to salad. Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper for dressing. Mix well and apply based on preference. Add sliced sausage, shrimp and sprinkle with pine nuts. Enjoy!

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They're Alive! — What Happens To Vines Before and During Their Springtime Wake-Up Call?

2/28/2023

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Just because we're stuck in the waning days of winter and the grape vines remain looking a little drab doesn't mean there isn't a lot happening in the vineyard. Quite the opposite is true. The vines are just starting their annual wake-up period as they prepare for a new growing season ahead — but what does this actually mean? Well, to explain things better, we have to rewind a bit with some backstory to this Spring reemergence.

Towards the tail end of the growing season, as the fruit of the vine has matured and ripened, the vine starts shutting itself down for the colder months ahead. Shoots will stop growing outward and all foliage will slowly start to dissipate. This process is called acclimation. By the time the growing season has fully stopped, and all the leafy canopies are gone, a grape vine can appear as just a trunk and a bunch of bare "twigs" sticking out of it. During this process of dormancy, most energy reserves of the vine retreat into the trunk and are stored, ready to be expended to start new growth when the weather warms.

Fig. 1 - A spur-pruned vine ready for the new growing season. The thick, horizontal extensions of the vine are called cordons.

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Sneak Peak of the April/Spring 2023 Membership Wines

2/27/2023

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Let me start this post by stating that I apologize for the amateurism of my video skills. Both behind the camera, and in front of it, my talents are rudimentary at best. Hopefully I'll get better with time, but at this present juncture it is abundantly clear that Zoey is the true star of the production. With all of that being said, Zoey and I took a few minutes during a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon (hence why we are in front of a firepit) to share a preview of the upcoming wines in the April/Spring 2023 membership allotment. I've offered a summary of these wines in writing below in case the video only skimmed the surface.

Note: If Zoey seems a little wobbly in the video, she's on some medication that makes her a bit uncoordinated. Just wanted to alleviate any concerns. ☺

UPDATE 3/16/23: Due to our current inventory levels, some vintages in the April shipment have been changed to meet demand.

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Join Us At Garagiste Northern Exposure April 30th!

4/27/2022

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We are very excited to be an active participant in the 4th Annual Garagiste Northern Exposure event being held on Saturday, April 30th in Sonoma, CA. The Garagiste organization is a champion for highlighting the small, unknown and otherwise undiscovered wine producers throughout California. In fact, one of the prerequisites for inclusion is that you have to make under a certain amount of wine per year (under 1,500 cases); so yes, they truly do cater to the little guy.

This will be a wine pouring event open to attendees with the purchase of a ticket that ranges in price of $75 to $100. The event will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 PM for the Grand Tasting/General Admission, but for those that want to splurge, there is a VIP option ($100 per person) that allows you to access the wines ahead of everyone else at 1:00 PM. In addition, some of the proceeds of the event go into a scholarship fund to help support future California winemakers that are studying viticulture and wine production at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

COVID didn't allow for this event to be held in 2021, but thankfully we at Ricci Vineyards had a chance to participate at the 3rd Annual iteration in February of 2020. It was an awesome experience and a guaranteed good time will be had by all. If you are looking to purchase a ticket, the direct link can be found by clicking here along with a 10% discount code below.

10% Discount Promo Code: NEWINERY22

We look forward to hanging out with you on Saturday and, like you, we are pumped to try the awesome wines that inevitably will be poured in abundance. Cheers!

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What Exactly is a Pét-Nat?

3/10/2022

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If you've never heard of the term "Pét-Nat" in the world of wine, you're definitely not alone. Although these wines have been burgeoning in popularity the last few years, Pét-Nat is a style of winemaking, not a type of grape, that has been around for centuries. Known officially as pétillant naturel (pet•tee•on), but commonly shortened to "Pét-Nat" because it's much easier to say, the term refers to a wine that is "naturally sparkling". So yes, this is a sparkling wine very similar to Champagne, but made in a much different method and (in our opinion) results in wines that are way more fun to drink.

To compare Champagne-style wines to Pét-Nat, there are a lot of similarities but a lot that is different as well. Think of it in terms of the two wines being classmates in school. The Champagne-style wine is the studious one, book smart but also super popular. This wine was probably the valedictorian and also part of the homecoming court. It is the safe bet. Pét-Nat on the other hand hangs out in a different social clique. This is a wine that could probably get a 4.0 GPA if it wanted to, but instead chooses to ditch 6th period to go smoke pot in the parking lot on campus. It is the unruly rebel that the head cheerleader falls in love with instead of the quarterback. There is a wild and unpredictable side to Pét-Nat which is what makes it so intriguing.

Okay, you're right, enough of the high school analogies. You get the point. So, how is Pét-Nat made? Glad you asked. Most Champagne-style wine is made through controlled techniques and created from a finished, still wine that undergoes a second fermentation. There is also the process of disgorging, the extraction of the expired yeast (also called lees) from the bottle. All of this takes time and these wines require a lot more energy and effort to put forth a finished product. Pét-Nat is much different in this regard. Rather than start with a finished still wine, Pét-Nat is made with a wine that is still undergoing primary fermentation. Right before the fermentation is finished, the wine is bottled and capped to allow the fermentation to actually finish inside the closed bottle. As the yeast finishes munching away at the last bit of sugar remaining in the bottle, the byproduct of this process is carbon dioxide which is trapped and has nowhere to go. Voilà! You now have your bubbles for your sparkling wine.

Video: Explanation of our Chardonnay Pét-Nat (and apologies for our dog popping a squat towards the end. Haha.)

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A Year In Review + What's Ahead For 2022

2/1/2022

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Another year at Ricci Vineyards is all buttoned up and in the books, and yes, what a year it was. If anybody reading this is searching for physical proof of the peaks and valleys we all experience under this crazy circus tent of life, you need not search beyond the day-to-day of a typical farmer. In what most would consider a disaster-riddled 2020 nothing went right or well.

Onto 2021. Oh, what a difference a year makes. There still was COVID and wildfires, but speaking in a purely selfish sense, neither really affected what we were doing at Ricci Vineyards. In fact, if everything that seemingly could go wrong transpired in 2020, the very opposite was true in 2021. Unlike 2020, the smoke from the wildfires stayed away, the weather was perfect, and harvest couldn't have gone much smoother if we had asked for it. There was an incident where a person apparently wasn't paying attention and careened off the road and through a block of our Chardonnay vines going 80 MPH...but that is a story for another time.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, the best thing of 2021 was...YOU. During the year we were fortunate to share our family legacy, our stories, and our wine with so many like-minded and truly awesome friends and ambassadors to the Ricci wine brand. Without you we truly wouldn't be able to keep our wine dreams alive, so thank you for enjoying the ride with us and drinking the wines we have unleashed into the world. The awesomeness of 2021 culminated with a harvest party that we hosted on our vineyard at the end of October. This coincided with the release of our brand new and already super popular Cesta Cuvée. Even though there was a storm bearing down eager to dump 5+ inches of rain on us, we threaded the needle and were able to shoehorn our party in-between the last few dry hours of a Saturday evening and the onslaught of a monsoon. If you were there and reading this, we hope you has as much fun as we did. If you didn't attend, there will be more parties to follow. By the way, pictures from the event are forthcoming (laziness and the reluctance to dive into the time-suck that is photo editing are both very real things).

Now, here we are in 2022. Our holiday hiatus is over and we are ready to fully immerse ourselves into the thick of things once again. We obviously can't predict what we can't control, but we have faith and a good feeling that things are going to be a continuation from the great year that we just experienced.

The Ricci Family thanks you for an awesome 2021. We'll see you in 2022!

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Check Out Our Friends At Ownroot Collective!

9/30/2021

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We're pretty excited to announce a partnership with an awesome company that celebrates some of the same things we do: support for local businesses, a deep appreciation for awesome, quality-made wines, and a general distain for wines and/or wineries that are too pretentious for their own good (you know who you are).

So, who and what is Ownroot Collective exactly? In a nutshell, they shine a spotlight on small, mostly unknown wine producers in the industry in an effort to share their goods with a wider audience. The wine industry is highly competitive and a lot of boutique brands will never be on the shelf of a major grocery chain or have a review in a hoity-toity wine publication. For us a Ricci, we prefer it that way. However, it doesn't hurt to have more people know about you. Ownroot Collective works with the families, growers, winemakers and others in the industry that make their own wine purely out of passion and love for what they do. Essentially, when you signup to be part of the Ownroot Collective, you are paying for access to this very rare, normally-never-get-distributed-beyond inner-circle type wines. Here is how it works:

A partnership to cheers to!

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It's Time To R.A.D.!

6/3/2021

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Summer is suddenly upon us and in the world of wine it means it's time to R.A.D. Chances are if you're reading this, you are pretty familiar with this catchphrase "rosé all day" (and in our parlance, R.A.D. for short). If not, well, it is best to familiarize yourself because the pink wine is going to be flowing in abundance now that backyard barbeques, pool lounging, beach outings and other related outdoor excursions are a common occurrence. Simply put, rosé is the quintessential summer wine because it is so easily chuggable. When properly chilled, is the perfect respite from a sweltering summer day.

Although you're probably already aware, there is no single grape varietal that produces rosé as you know it. Instead, rosé can be crafted from a plethora of red wine grapes. Basically, any red grape varietal can yield a rosé wine. Rosé is the result of a winemaking style and there are two main ways to go about creating it: the saignée method and the intentional style. Saignée (saun-yay) is a French term that means "to bleed". Essentially winemakers creating a saignée start by making a red wine and removing excess juice to create a wine that is more concentrated in color, tannins and flavor. The juice that has been bled-off is a byproduct of the red wine, and instead of dumping it down a drain, winemakers will bottle it as a standalone wine. Voilà! You have rosé.

The other main method of making rosé is done intentionally. Instead of bleeding-off excess juice, fruit is picked with the notion of making a rosé purposely. These grapes are generally picked earlier in the harvest than the other fruit to impart a high level of acidity and brightness to the finished wine. When making the wine itself the juice has a very limited contact with the grape skins, also known as maceration, for only a few hours. The result is a wine that is often times very light in color with a slight to heavy pinkish hue. If you have a darker rosé, you can safely assume that it had longer maceration time.

Jump in: Rosé season is here!

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Our Dry Muscat is Sold Out...For Now

4/7/2021

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Maybe you noticed, or maybe you didn't, but our ever popular 2019 Dry Muscat has sold out. When there are only 41 vines planted of this particular varietal to begin with, we suppose it's only inevitable that the small amount of wine we made with it would be gone quickly.

If you were loving this wine, or perhaps just hoping to try it, fear not as we will be releasing the next vintage in August/September (just in time for the hottest days of Summer). With that being said, the 2020 iteration of this wine will be mostly going out to members in our allocation program with the October shipment. The bottles that remain will be extremely limited.

We will be sure to keep you updated on the release of the 2020 vintage as we get closer to that date. In the meantime, if you're interested in ordering any of our other delicious offerings, please feel free to reach out as we would love to put some bottles in your hands. Cheers and all the best!

The 2019 Dry Muscat is sold out, but a new vintage is coming!

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First Impressions On Our St. Laurent - Pinot Noir Blend

1/30/2021

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It's fair to say that 2020 was less-than ideal for most; a year pockmarked with challenges and adaptation. In wine country we not only had to contend with COVID, but another round of wildfires ripped through the region and provided plenty of strife as well. We at Ricci Vineyards were not directly harmed by the flames, but the accompanying smoke that drifted into the valley reeked havoc enough on its own. Prior to being picked, when grapes are overly exposed to smoke, the resulting effect can lead to a wine that exhibits "smoke taint"...a characteristic that imparts an unpleasant, ashy taste to the finished product.

Since the wildfires were so widespread, many farmers growing grapes throughout California had to contend with smoke taint. In particular this blight was most noticeable with Pinot Noir, as it is a thinner-skinned varietal more susceptible to this unwanted attribute. Our vineyard was no exception. Most of our Pinot Noir fruit fell victim to smoke damage and was simply not harvested; left to dangle and rot on the vine.

While some might have interpreted this as a tragedy, we saw it as a unique opportunity to try something new. Since our Pinot Noir yield ended up being so small, we salvaged what we could and decided to do something different: blend it with another varietal to make a completely new wine. This other varietal ended up being our St. Laurent, which has a greater tolerance against the effects of smoke damage. At the time we didn't know if this little experiment would work, but we had nothing to lose and we pushed forward; optimistic and hoping for the best.

Above: The first taste of our new St. Laurent - Pinot Noir blend.

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MUST
+
MUSINGS

Ricci Recipes - Grilled Shrimp + Sausage Summer Salad w/ Ricci Vineyards Rosé

They're Alive! — What Happens To Vines Before and During Their Springtime Wake-Up Call?

Sneak Peak of the April/Spring 2023 Membership Wines

Join Us At Garagiste Northern Exposure April 30th!

What Exactly is a Pét-Nat?

A Year In Review + What's Ahead For 2022

Check Out Our Friends At Ownroot Collective!

It's Time To R.A.D.!

Our Dry Muscat is Sold Out...For Now

First Impressions On Our St. Laurent - Pinot Noir Blend

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