OpenBottles

New World Wines from Old World Vines	Jun 25, 2008
I’m proud to welcome O’Vineyards to our community. Ryan O’Connell and his parents founded O'Vineyards in 2004. The winery is located in Languedoc in the south of France. On this 17-hectare estate the O’Connells grow Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Most of their wines are blends of these varieties, but they also produce single variety wines as well. All of their wines are grown, produced and bottled on the estate. Ryan started making wine before he was old enough to drink it in the U.S. Good thing he lives in France! He was born and raised in Florida, and now spends much of his time in the U.S. selling the wines that his family makes in France. His constant focus is on striving to blend the best techniques and attitudes (and drinking habits) of the new world with the refinement, wisdom and character of the old world. There is lots of interesting information on the O’Vineyards website – things about the wines and the winery, and other information that you would expect to find. But the most interesting thing about the site is actually the FAQs. Here you’ll find pages and pages of Ryan’s insights about life on a winery, making wine and even some interesting digressions about the current legal regime restricting wine trade in the US. Really interesting stuff! Ryan’s light-hearted, funny and intelligent personality really comes through – and I expect that the same is true of his wines (which I can’t get in California, it seems). Check out O’Vineyards announcements page. Ryan posted a little youtube video to introduce his winery. Good stuff!
Posted By: sagi \| Category: Winery Members \| Permalink

Prunes, Cherries, Grapes Oh My!	Jun 22, 2008
Cherry Hill Winery and Vineyard is a 12,000 square foot winery in Oregon's Willamette Valley. They primarily produce Pinot Noir (about 7,000 cases each year), which is all grown in Cherry Hill vineyard, their estate vineyard. The winery and vineyard takes its name from local lore, which reflects on the wild cherries (and prunes before that) that have always grown in the area. In the early 1990’s the property was purchased by William Hill of Napa Valley fame – he developed Atlas Peak, Diamond Mountain Ranch, Mount Veeder and other appellations in the Napa region. In 1998, after several visits to the Willamette Valley of Oregon, Mike and Jan Sweeney purchased the undeveloped 150-acre vineyard that is now the home of Cherry Hill Winery and Vineyard. Their winemaker, Chris Luby, has been winemaker since the winery was built in 2003. Chris’ goal is to “craft Pinot Noir in the traditional Burgundian style and let the distinct terroir of our estate fruit show its flavor. Our handcrafted wines are aged in neutral oak and are a delicate light style. We are minimalist oak vintners that love to let our fruit show the outstanding natural flavors of our three distinct clones, multiple Jory soils, and varying elevations in the vineyard.” Please join me in welcoming Cherry Hill Winery and Vineyard to our community.
Posted By: sagi \| Category: Winery Members \| Permalink

Announcing OpenBottles 3.0!	Jun 15, 2008
I'm very pleased to announce the release of OpenBottles 3.0! Whoo hoo! The goals of this redesign were to make the design more engaging visually, simplify navigation throughout the site and even include some new features. This is a huge step forward in the evolution of our community (some of you may remember what the site looked like in 2005). What more, OpenBottles 3.0 is iPhone friendly. Now you can post reviews in real-time using your iPhone. Sweet! So while we allow ourselves to take a little bit of time to celebrate this great moment, our thoughts are always on finding ways to make the site better, faster and funner (is that a word?). I'd love to hear your thoughts. Cheers, Sagi
Posted By: sagi \| Category: News & Updates \| Permalink

OpenBottles 3.0 Is Coming...	Jun 13, 2008
We've been working hard over the last 2 months to redesign our site from top to bottom. We have a new logo, a sleek, new user interface and some new functionality. It's coming soon. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak.
Posted By: sagi \| Category: News & Updates \| Permalink

OpenBottles in the Silicon Valley Business Journal	May 17, 2008
Check out this week's edition of the Silicon Valley Business Journal. OpenBottles is the featured company in "The Pitch" column. The article talks about who we are, what we're doing and how we plan on making some waves in the wine industry. Check out the article online at SVBJ's website - OpenBottles taps wine lovers' savvy.
Posted By: sagi \| Category: Press \| Permalink

Vina Moda - The Balance between Tradition and Innovation	Apr 17, 2008
I’m very pleased to welcome Vina Moda to our community. The name of the winery is Italian and means “styled or fashioned from the vine,” but for winery’s partners the name embodies the fruition of creative, distinct and expertly fashioned wines. Vina Moda is located in Murphys, California in the heart of the winemaking region of the Sierra Foothills. All of Vina Moda’s wines are handmade. Nathan Vader, winemaker and passionate artisan, hand selects the finest fruit for his wines. All of the grapes are hand sorted to ensure that all damaged fruit, second crop grapes, leaves or other unwanted elements are discarded. The grapes are gently pressed by hand. The wine is fermented is small batches to assure control of this delicate process. Vina Moda recently opened its tasting room in Murphys and so far the reviews have been fantastic. leskaji was so impressed with her visit to Vina Moda that she joined the wine club! Vina Moda is committed to the artisanship of winemaking and to producing the highest quality wines. This commitment is paying off as you can see from our community’s reviews and from all the awards its wines have won. I’m personally very excited that Vina Moda to our community. I am certainly going to visit Vina Moda next time that I am in Murphys, and I’ll be sure to post my reviews. Please help support our newest winery member by posting your reviews.
Posted By: sagi \| Category: Winery Members \| Permalink

Eco-Friendly Winemaking at Sky Saddle Wines	Mar 30, 2008
Please welcome Sky Saddle Wines to our community. Sky Saddle is a small boutique winery in Santa Rosa, California that is committed to local sustainable agricultural practices. Their wines are made exclusively from organically and/or biodynamically grown grapes. In addition, the barrels used to make the wines are made from eco-Certified French oak, which originates from environmentally sustainable managed forests. Even the foils are decorated with environment-friendly water-based paints. Each Sky Saddle wine is a single vineyard designate and is made to capture the essence of that vineyard. Sky Saddle’s first vintage, a 2003 Zinfandel and a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, was handmade in small lots of only 440 cases! Some of their second vintage wines are already sold out! It just goes to show that being eco-friendly does not result in inferior wines (I actually heard that from someone, can you believe it?!).
Posted By: sagi \| Category: Winery Members \| Permalink