Membership Pickup will be July 11th, 2009

    Well we are running behind schedule as usual so our membership pickup date is July 11th.  The wines are our 2007 Duet, our 2008 Sonata, and our 2008 Cranberry.  We selected these wines because they have changed from last year's wine.

The new Duet is spicy with a zing!  We think you'll really like it.  The new Sonata is much lighter and just slightly sweet - very refreshing.  It is perfect served cold for summer refreshment.  We think it's our best ever.

The 2008 Cranberry is also fantastic.  With the recent studies showing that cranberries are the highest in antioxidants, we decided to offer this one now, instead of waiting until fall.  We want you to be healthy all summer.


Join the Wildside Winery Membership Club!

It's free and has lots of benefits as you'll see below.
The club is offered to everyone.  Members of the old frequent buyers club get an extra benefit to switch to the Wildside Winery Charter Club.

Here are the benefits that you'll enjoy from a Wildside Winery Membership:

Member Benefits:

• Free membership
• Free Wildside Winery Logo stemware glass with the twisted stem.
• 10% off all wine every time.
• 15% off cases of wine (mixed is OK)
• Three bottles of wine will be selected by us every quarter to be picked up at the winery by the member.
• The member can trade the purchase price of any wine in the club selection for any other wine of their choosing when they come to pick up their wine.
• barrel and tank tastings will be available to members (as determined by the winemaker)
• Two member appreciation days per year with free appetizers.
• Special wines will be made available only to members.
• Newsletters will be emailed to members.

  Member Requirements:

  Name, address, email, phone, and credit card info is needed on file.  Your card will be charged for the three bottle club selections on the quarterly pick up date selected by the winemaker - usually the first or second day of the quarter (January, April, July, October). 

 

 

 Charter Memberships will be offered to our current frequent buyer card members to entice them to convert to the Charter club.  There are additional benefits in the charter club.  Check out the letter that went out if we have your contact info, or ask us at the winery. 

Charter Membership Requirements:
Must have a frequent buyer card on file as of 8/31/08.
Same other requirements as regular members.

How to sign up:
Either sign up at the winery or email us at wild-side@juno.com or call the winery at 859-879-3982 or call Neil's cell at 859-321-5046.

Thanks for supporting us,
Neil and Rachel


OLD Membership Letters:

April 8^th 2009 Membership Pick up Date.

It’s almost that time again for the wine club pick up.  We will be a week late on the pick up due to the fact that we are waiting for our labels for the Bourbon Barrel Red.  So the pick up will start on April 8^th and that’s when we’ll run your card.    Here’s a rundown on the three wine club selections for April:

1)      We filled two fresh Woodford Reserve barrels with our 2007 Cynthiana and Chambourcin and let them age in bourbon barrels another year.  Several barrel tastings with members has shown that this wine will be very popular.  We decided to give the wine an extra kick, so we recently got two more newly emptied Woodford Barrels and pumped the wine into them.  The wine will have been soaking up bourbon flavors in these new barrels for one additional month by bottling day.   Tastings show that the bourbon flavor has really stepped up.

 

2)      Recently we bottled our 2008 blackberry wine, and if you liked last year’s blackberry, you’ll love this one.  We harvested the most blackberries ever this year because of our increase plantings and due to our share picking plan.  That’s where you can come out and pick-your-own berries for free, as much as you want.  The only catch is we get half.  It works out.  We did a taste comparison with the very popular 2007 blackberry and this year’s 2008 wins hands down.

 

3)      Finally, our Kentucky Chardonnay.  If you haven’t tried it our Chardonnay, is entirely made in stainless rather than the heavy oak that most Chardonnays are in.   So rather than a big heavy oaky Chard, we have a crisp refreshing one.  Try it out.

 

Here's our December, 2008 member wine selection letter:
           Hello Wildside Wine Club members.  It’s that time again.  Due to the fact that we will be closing soon in January for a short time, we’ve picked out the wine club selections for the first quarter 2009.  We are going to have the wines ready for you to pick up a little early so you can have them for that New Year’s celebration or family get-together.   We will have them ready by Monday, December 29.  Pick them up until January 6^th.  Between January 2^nd and January 6^th we will only be open between the hours of 5:30 and 7:00 PM for pick up.  The winery is closed beginning on the 7^th  until Feb 1st.  We will be “cold stabilizing” the wines by turning off the winery heat and letting the wine chill until the tartar settles out.

Here’s the selections:  We are now bottling our Cab Franc.  Cabernet Franc is not traditionally made as a varietal.  It is one of the famous three grapes used in the French Bordeaux blends.  Bordeaux wines are a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.   The percentages vary by region.  St. Emilion has a majority of Merlot whereas; the Medoc area blends a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Cabernet Franc adds a unique flavor that helps build the wine’s complexity.  Lately, as single grape varietal wines have become more popular it has also been more common to make a Cabernet Franc.  This is a great opportunity to become familiar with this grape.  It is much smoother than Cab Sauvignon, and has a flavor all its own.   Below is an excerpt from www.tasting-wine.com:

“Franc Food Pairings

A favorite food pairing with cabernet franc is warm toasted walnuts, Anjou pears and blue cheese crumbles. When enjoying a serving of cabernet franc, resist the urge to swirl your glass. Cabernet franc is best enjoyed undisturbed. The unique bell pepper aroma of cabernet franc makes it ideal for a variety of recipes, including:

• cheeses
• dishes with tomato sauce
• ham, pork and veal dishes
• Mediterranean fare
• pizza
• poultry dishes
• red meats and heavy game.

This wine should ideally be served between 65 to 70 degrees. Servings on the warmer end of the spectrum may seem fruiter and less dry. After being opened, the flavor of the wine will change gradually over a period of a few days.  Unlike many other wines, cabernet franc can be enjoyed after dinner and before dessert. Cabernet franc is versatile and can be enjoyed young or aged for up to a decade. After long aging, it may develop a subtle fleshy aroma.”

 

The next selection for the wine club is our sparkling cider.  We’ve had the sparkling cider for a while, but maybe you haven’t tried it.  We have a limited supply but it goes really well this time of year - either for New Year’s celebration or just with a bowl of popcorn.  It is not sweet, but completely dry.  However, it’s smooth and tastes remarkably like champagne.

Finally, we picked out our Sweet Harvest Seyval Blanc.  This is a full flavored sweet wine that we make from Seyval Blanc grapes that we leave on the vines until they are really ripe and sweet.  Sip on this wine as a dessert in itself.

The total cost will be Franc=$14, Cider=$11, Sweet Harvest=$11; with 10% off, the Total = $32.40.

Don’t forget that we have a good selection of Christmas baskets for last minute Christmas gifts.  We can also custom build a basket for you.  

See you soon,

Neil and Rachel
Wildside Winery

Here's the Membership Club selection letter below for the October 2008 pick up:
Hello Wildside Winery Members,

Tomorrow, October 2, and is the first pick up date for your wine club bottles.  Here is where the benefit of membership comes in:  We did a preview bottling of our 2007 Syrah just for you.  Our Syrah is everything it should be deep, dark, and spicy.  We will be pricing it at $14.00 when we release it to the public in a week or two; however, we are only charging you $11.00 minus your 10% membership discount.  The other two wines in your club bag are Seyval Blanc and Blueberry.   Come and pick up the wine anytime that we are open starting October 2.  We will charge your card on file for $11 + $11 + $9 = $31 x 0.9(member discount) = $27.90.

Try our Seyval Blanc with your dinner.  This white wine has a lot of flavor so it can pair up with a very flavorful dish and really add to your enjoyment.  We recommended it with fish especially since the citrus notes in the wine complement the fish.  It will go with chicken dishes too, especially lemon chicken but also grilled chicken.   We also think that Seyval has enough character to go with a hamburger, although the Syrah would be my first choice in that case.   Your perception of the flavor of a wine changes depending on what you’ve eaten.  Take a few bites of your meal first, and then take a sip of the chilled Seyval Blanc.   We’ve discovered that wine never goes with soft drinks.   They are so sweet that they spoil your taste buds for the wine.   We recommend that if you want something in addition to wine at your meal, choose ice water.   If you decide to try the Seyval later in the evening, then I suggest you buy some hard Romano or Parmesan cheese, cut some slices and nibble on it while sipping the wine, it is a wonderful treat that you will love.

The blueberry wine, I think, is best enjoyed by itself.  It has so much body and flavor; it is like a dessert in itself.  That’s why we call it Blueberry Dessert.  We have customers who recommend it with pork.   Of course, if you happen to have some cheese cake… can you imagine!  It is definitely a wine to sip at slowly, maybe while watching a good movie.  It has more flavor at room temperature but is also very good chilled.

Now, let’s talk Syrah.  This wine will go with anything a Cabernet will, plus some.  The spiciness of the wine in addition to its depth of flavor enhances the biggest flavors from Blackened chicken to Roast and Steak.  But don’t wait till Christmas to drink it, since it will go with hamburgers and meatloaf too.  If you are like me and like dry reds a lot, then live it up and have some Syrah with just snacks during a movie.

We like to think up with additional membership benefits, so here’s one:  We sold out of Blackberry Wine.  That’s sad for us and for many of our customers.   The new batch is a few months away from being ready.   However, we grabbed the last case and hid it.  This wine will be saved for members only until it’s gone.   Just ask for it and we will sell you up to one bottle per member per week.

We haven’t decided on our next club selection in early January, but here’s a preview of possible candidates:  2007 Cabernet Franc, Strawberry, Peach Mead, dry Pawpaw wine (I am Not insane), not to mention our normal line up.

See you soon!

Neil and Rachel