Ted Allen, Former Queer Eye and host of the TV series "Uncorked! Wine Made Simple" rated Tolosa's tasting room in his top 5 picks in the 2007 winter issue of Out Traveler.
Tolosa is very pleased with this rating and would like to say "THANK YOU" to Ted! We're are very gracious for your choice and are happy to be alongside with the other top 5 wineries you chose!
Cheers!
“Lets fly lets fly away. If you can use some exotic booze, there’s a bar in far Bombay!”
One of my favorites, penned by Sammy Cahn and sung by Ole Blue Eyes himself, had me thinking in the shower this morning. Why would anyone think of flying away today as adventurous or romantic? Particularly after arriving at the airport three hours prior to your flight, hungry, only to have time for concession food prior to your “pat down” and walk thru; shoes in hand, beltless trousers slipping off, only hoping your lap top makes it through the scanner. Ugh- - - just the thought of it!
But wait, I have an idea for a flight, which takes place every Saturday at 11 am, beginning June 6th in our Heritage Room. No lines or security pat downs. Just arrive, pay ten dollars (complimentary for wine club members) and relax to quiet soothing jazz ballads while enjoying a wine tasting flight!
Wine flights include selections from our winery library as well as new limited release varietals. A theme one week could be Chardonnay, old to new or perhaps Pinot. What about the Rhone itself with both northern and southern expressions. Our Syrah is crafted in the style of northern Rhone, which for the most part utilizes only the Syrah grape. With that spicy pepper like characteristic, it is unmistakably “cool climate”. We even have a Southern Rhone style blend, which includes both Syrah and Grenache.
At the same time, and in the same “terminal” (VIP lounge), we will be offering our wine and cheese pairings for the week. We usually work with Monterrey Street Wine & Cheese and change the menu weekly to reflect our mutual curiosity, resulting in the best pairing possible. We offer four cheeses paired with four wines for $20($15 members) served in a Riedel glass.
At your trips final destination, we will be able to mark your ticket (menu) with purchase choice to take to our register to be packaged (not lost like an airport bag) and rung up. Now how civilized is that!
Captain John, Concierge
In March, I took some time away from winemaking to travel to El Salvador as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity’s ‘Global Village’ program. Kristin and I joined about 100 other volunteers from the United States, Canada, and Barcelona for a week of hard work, constructing simple, decent homes for people who need them.
Although Kristin has volunteered on Habitat trips for the past few years, travelling to India and Africa, the trips always seemed to coincide with harvest or other busy times at the winery. This time, I was able to go, and I see why it has been such a gratifying experience for her. We worked side by side with the family members whom will become the new homeowners, played soccer with their kids, shared meals with them, and learned from each other. The work was hard, and the food was simple and repetitive, but we enjoyed the time that we spent, and it was amazing to see how much progress we made over the course of the week. I think of all the great little kids that we met, and about how they will be growing up in these houses that we helped to build with our own hands, and how they will have a clean, safe home to call their own – it feels pretty good!
You don’t have to go to a different country to help other people around you – there are a lot of opportunities all around us every day. I’m thankful that I was able to make this trip, and hope that I will have more opportunities in the future.
I guess I better say something about wine, since this is a winery blog… A couple things that I noticed about wine in El Salvador; most of the wine was from Chile and Italy, and the few wines that I recognized were at least 2-3 times more expensive than they would be the U.S. All the wine was served cold, even the reds, and they were brought to the table in an ice bucket. As it turned out, that wasn’t a bad idea, as the wine quickly warmed up to serving temperature in the tropical temperatures! (We drank a lot more of the local beer, which wasn’t bad at all, and Nicaraguan rum, which was quite delicious, and quite inexpensive!)
Lots more of my photos on my flickr.com account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18097654@N05/sets/72157604280281956/
-NRC
