On the East coast, one of the fastest-growing wine regions is the North Carolina one. Along with Virginia, they have seen a blossoming of new winery owners and tourism. In their most visited area, the Yadkin Valley, a growing number of wineries are opening, and they offer tastings and tours. This all started way back when the settlers arrived, and if you can believe it, NC was one of the first places that wine grapes were grown in the country. A variety known as Muscadine was first planted here. The Scuppernong grape, the most famous of the muscadine varietals was designated the North Carolina state fruit in 2001.

Today, North Carolina is home to more than 120 wineries and is the 9th largest in the country when it comes to number of operating wineries. You may have heard of some of these brands like Daveste, Treehouse, Raylen, and Laurel Gray to name a few. You can see a complete list of these locations, along with information about each at http://www.visitncwine.com/wineries

Pritchard Hill’s rugged terroir has become legendary for producing wines with great intensity and depth—qualities that define the world’s finest Cabernet Sauvignons. As a result, Chappellet wines have consistently received the highest praise from critics, and are sought after by the world’s premier collectors.

Today, a second generation of the family has joined their parents in embracing the romance of Pritchard Hill. They are passionate about preserving the land and continuing what Donn and Molly began—making extraordinary wines.

Know more about Chappellet Estate Vineyards: http://www.chappellet.com/Estate_Vineyards

Speaking of the wine and food – they’re both amazing. An award-winning chef leads the kitchen crew, and they prepare more than your usual nibbles to go along with the wine tasting. Visitors can choose from a full menu, inspired by locally sourced produce and meats. They produce some fantastic wines, including their Sonoma County Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The majority of their production is sold to visitors at the winery, through their website, and to their wine club members.
If you’re planning a visit to wine country, be sure to make a stop at Ram’s Gate. They might be the closest winery to San Francisco too – in about thirty minutes you can be sitting atop 147 acres of vineyard hillsides, enjoying some of the finest wine in the country. And if you need a place to rent for an event, they can do that too, as they can host your next private party.

Winemakers like to have fun with their labels, and often name them after certain things – from the “Prisoner” to “OMG” I have seen quite a few memorable ones. But I recently came across one brand that had several interesting labels, each with a story behind it and a relation to something totally separate from wine. The brand was Lawer Family Wines, and they are a small producer out of Calistoga CA. They make a limited production of their wines, and have won plenty of awards and medals for most of them. So you know they’re putting out some quality juice.

The three wine labels represent the family’s history on a number of levels. As they state on their site, “Our three limited production wines, Three Coins, Hooker and Duck Shack, were each inspired by generations of family pursuits in gold mining, rugby and spirited fun at the duck shack during hunting season.”

If you know a duck hunter, or a hunter in general, then consider this offering from Lawer Family Wines. The “Duck Shack” line of wine they have is named after the family hunting outpost that, as legend has it, exploded mysteriously at one point. But really, it’s a wine that celebrates friends and family coming together to honor a tradition like duck hunting. They also have a group of “Hooker wines“; and no, they aren’t named after some lady in Las Vegas. A “hooker” is a player on a rugby team, and pays tribute to the marriage between Betsy Lawer and her husband, a former rugby player. Thus, they named one of their wines after this favorite sport of theirs. Lastly, they offer a “Three coins” wine, perfect for all those coin collectors you know.

Curious about what their wines were like, I sourced a bottle of their 2010 Hooker Cabernet. It was an all-around great wine, and I found out later that it won some recent Gold medals at California wine competitions. A bit big on alcohol, coming in around mid 15%, although it wasn’t very “hot” in the mouth. The flavor was big and rich, with a good texture and fairly soft tannins that didn’t leave the mouth feeling parched.

So next time you’re in the market for a unique gift for a rugby player, a duck hunter, or an avid coin/gold collector, consider these offerings from Lawer Family Wines

For the money, Garnet’s wines are hard to beat. It’s hard enough to qualify just one pinot under a brand as great, but I’d say both Carneros and Roger’s Creek ones from Garnet qualify. It’s big on flavor and finish, but doesn’t have 15%+ alcohol that some Pinots (central coast especially) have, which I think tends to stray from the way this wine should be made. Alison Crowe, the winemaker, has done a great job with this one.
Have I had better Pinots? Yes, I have – but not for the price.
2010 Monterey Pinot Noir
Well, for $14.99, you can’t go wrong, but you could go a lot more right if you spend the extra $5 for the Carneros one. This Pinot is pretty average, and doesn’t have the balance that the Carneros one has or the powerful flavor of the Rogers Creek. It’s a bit more fruit-forward, with less acidity, and not as complex flavors.

Duck Shack wines – A great gift for your hunting friends

Well it’s almost that time of year again, when the Holiday season springs upon us and we’re faced with lots of decisions about what to buy for friends and family. Today, we’ll look at some wine-related gifts and see how they crossover into other lifestyles. Winemakers like to have fun with their labels, and often name them after certain things – from the “Prisoner” to “OMG” I have seen quite a few memorable ones.

If you know a duck hunter, or a hunter in general, then consider this offering from Lawer Family Wines. The “Duck Shack” line of wine they have is named after the family hunting outpost that, as legend has it, exploded mysteriously at one point. But really, it’s a wine that celebrates friends and family coming together to honor a tradition like duck hunting. They also have a group of “Hooker wines“; and no, they  aren’t named after some lady in Las Vegas. A “hooker” is a player on a rugby team, and the winery owner apparently married a rugby player. Thus, they named one of their wines after this favorite sport of theirs. Lastly, they offer a “Three coins” wine, perfect for all those coin collectors you know.

When you start to look around, you’ll find wines from all over the country. Have a relative in North Carolina? Then send them something from North Carolina Wine Gifts. I’m sure the same can be said of the Finger Lakes, Virginia, Maine, and other regions where these little niche wineries operate.

Your content can be moved over to the new site too. This includes all your text, all your images, all your products including pricing information. You won’t have to worry about losing any data in the transfer from your old site to your new site. Within your eWinerySolutions website, you will be able to easily manage the customer experience across all channels. Our CRM features allow you to interact with customers based on their behavior, attributes, purchases, and preferences.

eWinery Solutions allows you to import your existing mailing list and wine club membership, while allowing you to integrate tasting room POS data. This is multi-channel retailing as it was meant to be. Manage customer profiles from one place so that your tasting room personnel will know instantly your best customer’s buying history and preferences. This single view approach to customer interaction ensures relevancy in all forms of customer communication. This in turn leads to higher response rates and lowered direct marketing costs.

The robust business intelligence reporting tools that come with the wine software then allow you to understand the customers in your lists. You can market to the ones who spent the most money, or ones who you have just first made an impression on and you hope will become future members.

You’re able to collect information about your customers at all points during the process: through email campaigns, visits to the tasting room, online purchases or off-site events. By collecting and maintaining valued information about their buying habits and preferences, you are placing your winery one step ahead of the competition.

Learn more about wine software and ecommerce for wineries at http://www.ewinerysolutions.com

The Coombsville AVA is named for an area of the city of Napa called Coombsville. It’s namesake was Nathan Coombs, one of the founders of the city of Napa and a large landholder there. At one time, he held 2,525 acres east of the Napa River. The area has been referred to on official maps as Coombsville since at least 1876. Wine grapes have been grown there since 1870, if not earlier. It was then that the Carbone family started a vineyard. About ten years later, the Carbones built what was probably Coombsville’s first winery.

The Coombsville AVA totals 11,075 acres, 1,360 of which are within commercial vineyards. It is roughly bordered by the Napa River on the west, the ridge of the Vaca Range on the east, Monticello Rd. on the north and Imola Ave. on the south. Much of the AVA is at sea level, but it rises to 1,900 feet on Mt. George in the northeast corner. The soils of Coombsville are substantially alluvial on top of volcanic ash. The alluvium includes large stones and gravel, formed by erosion of volcanic rhyolitic tuff from the Vaca Range. It drains well. The volcanic ash, which settled after eruptions of Mt. George, holds water that can be tapped by deep-diving vines.

The horseshoe shaped area is regarded for its volcanic soil, which produces an extraordinary terroir that lends itself to the complexity of the grapes. Its microclimate is also unique to the area. Many AVAs have their own subtle differences that define the growing conditions, and Coombsville is no different. Bordering the Los Carneros and Oak Knoll districts, and below the Lake Berryessa area, it receives adequate temperatures and rainfall.