Purple Teeth Cellars

2007 Syrahs Are Ready To Go

2009-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

We know it has been awhile since we have posted. We have been busy with the bottling and subsequent release of our 2007 Purple Teeth Cellars Syrahs, which we are happy to report are available for purchase on our online store.

Let's talk about how awesome these wines are. Seriously. They were bottled in March, but we like to wait 3 months after bottling before we release them.

The Purple Teeth Cellars 2007 Alder Springs Syrah (Mendocino County) is one of those subtle wines that doesn't try and grab your attention when you initially taste it. Instead it is a wine that really wants to showcase its fruit on the finish, and will linger in your mouth for awhile. More specifically, we picked up some black fruit, pepper, some chocolate and just a tad of smokiness that really mesh well together.

On the other hand, the Purple Teeth Cellars 2007 White Hawk Syrah (Santa Barbara County) is one of those wines that immediately informs you of its presence - in its color, on the nose and on your palette. The White Hawk Syrah has blackfruits like it's sibling from Alder Springs, but this one has more "jammy-ness" (is that a word?) and spice - black pepper, in particular. And of course, we would be remiss if we didn't rave about the long finish on the White Hawk!

Both are ready to drink now (decanting for an hour or two will make them even better), but another year in bottle will help the flavors come together even more.

More to come on pairing ideas and on our recent visit to Mendocino, where we had the opportunity to meet with the proprietors of both Alder Springs Vineyard and Eaglepoint Ranch (home of our 2006 Petite Sirah).

If you have any questions, please let us know by clicking on the 'Contact Us' tab. Thanks for your support and for passing this on. And don't forget to keep on flashing those PURPLE TEETH!

NEW states that we can ship to - woo woo!

2009-03-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update that we received confirmation that Purple Teeth Cellars can now legally ship to the following states:

Arizona
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Ohio

And we should be receiving confirmation in the next couple of weeks that we can ship to Georgia as well! We are still waiting to hear what the latest is with the legal wrangling in Maryland with respect to wine shipping. Stay tuned for more on that front.

Our 2006 Purple Teeth Cellars Petite Sirah from Mendocino County is tasting really excellent. If you haven't bought some yet, it is worth a try - especially with some of the recipes that we have previously posted on the blog.

Please don't forget you can also find us on Facebook by typing in 'Purple Teeth Cellars' in the search bar or by clicking here. We have some videos and pictures posted there as well so please feel free to check it out when you have some time. And if you have feedback - good or bad, we like hearing that too.

Keep on flashing those PURPLE TEETH!

2007 Syrahs – Almost in the Bottle

2009-02-17T20:57:00.001-08:00

It has been almost a year since we publicly talked about our 2007 vintage Syrah offerings, although we did briefly update everyone in August with a mini-progress report. Both Syrahs are only weeks from being bottled so we tasted them both with a few new meals recently (links to recipes) to give you an idea of what to expect.

Alder Springs Syrah (Mendocino County)

This wine has stronger aromatics: we sense the black fruits particularly blackberry and black currant. As we taste this wine, there is confirmation of black fruit and prunes with some underlying oak support. Our conclusion is that the wine is more 'classic' than the White Hawk Syrah with subtle fruit, a great finish, and will pair with many dishes.

In the first pairing of Roast Chicken with Pancetta, the wine was a mellow companion that showed its fruit while it let the red pepper and garlic from the food really shine. With the Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Herbs, the black fruit came out to the forefront. There is some vanilla, cinnamon and possibly thyme but still no pepper. Our conclusion is that this Syrah is a versatile pairing for many meals although it probably paired slightly better with the lamb shanks. Jill really likes this one because it is more subtle, more nuanced, and less in your face.

White Hawk Syrah (Santa Barbara County)

This is still slightly deeper purple in color. We get some pepper, raspberry, blackberry, currant and allspice aromas. Although not as powerful on the nose as the Alder Springs Syrah, the diversity of aromas on this wine was striking. This is a jammy Syrah that tastes of black pepper, thyme, blackberry, cloves. Before we dove into any food, we concluded that there is a lot of flavor going on particularly when it comes to pepper and spice; we love the long finish.

In the first pairing of Roast Chicken with Pancetta, the peppers and jam are still there along with some blueberry and a wonderful smokiness really comes out. The finish just goes on and on. In the second pairing of Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Herbs, more of the herbs and spices in the wine are detectable and there are definitely blueberry notes. The smokiness is less noticeable than with the chicken. The chicken seems like the better pairing but either dish works well here. Marc really likes this one because it is more in your face.

Attention Maryland and Massachusetts Consumers - Help Requested Please!

2009-02-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

If you or you know anyone who lives in Maryland or Massachusetts, Purple Teeth Cellars can use your help. Both of these states are evaluating whether or not to ban wineries from shipping directly to consumers.

In Maryland, there will be a hearing on February 18th to consider this proposal. Maryland Senate Bill 338, if it becomes law, will expand consumer choice by allowing limited, regulated shipments of wine directly to Maryland consumers and overturning the current prohibition on these shipments. This would be a great thing for all wineries and would allow you the consumer to have the choice of buying the wines you want, not what the middlemen want you to drink. You can e-mail your MD House and Senate representative, and get verbiage by clicking on this link at Free the Grapes.

As for Massachusetts, the state Attorney General (Martha Coakley) wants to spend taxpayer money to maintain discriminatory ban on wine direct shipping. Same premise as Maryland as the government wants to inhibit choice for you, the wine consumer. On December 18, Judge Zobel enjoined the state from enforcing Sections 2, 18 and 19(F) of the Massachusetts General Law Chapter 138. Now, Attorney General Coakley intends to appeal the final decision to the 1st Circuit Court. Again you can e-mail the Ms. Coakley by clicking on this link at Free the Grapes.

Purple Teeth Cellars is all about the consumer choosing what they want to consume. Yes, the words 'consumer' and 'consume' have been deliberately included in the same sentence. To us, it is one thing if you choose not to drink our wine vs. not being able to have the option at all.

If you have any questions, please let us know by clicking on the 'Contact Us' tab. Thanks for your support and for passing this on. And don't forget to keep on flashing those PURPLE TEETH.

'07 Syrahs, Mexican Professional Wrestling - Goes Together, Right?

2009-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was very excited for Friday because I knew it meant that we were going to be tasting the latest barrel samples from our ’07 Syrahs from Alder Springs (Mendocino County) and from White Hawk (Santa Barbara County). I even knew what I was going cook to test out some food pairing ideas to share with the Purple Teeth Cellars community.

First I had some business to attend to in my other job on Friday morning, and it involved getting approval to move forward on something a few of us had been working together on for awhile. The meeting goes pretty well and the team gets some marching orders, so we can continue heading in the right direction. All is good leading into the weekend and my lab experiments in the kitchen.

At the end of the meeting, one of my colleagues gives my boss and I each a small bag with some tissue paper on top (think ‘gift’). I’m a bit puzzled, but ok. I open the bag and much to my surprise, I find a mask in it. A mask from one of the most famous Mexican professional wrestlers - at least that is what I was told. Now understand that I really didn’t know there was a Mexican wrestling league. My expression must have been priceless to those in the room who witnessed this.

But out of respect to the person who thought of this gift and gave it to me, I needed to come up with something that would show the mask in use. After some deliberation, I had an idea. I knew over the weekend I would be making a Roast Chicken with Pancetta as well as Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Herbs (scroll down on link) to go with our ’07 Purple Teeth Cellars barrel samples. I knew I needed to brown the meat in each of the recipes before slow roasting/braising and that task can be messy with olive oil splattering etc. Hmmmm…

So instead of using the splatter screen that I would normally have on hand for this kind of task. I wore the mask, although my nose was still exposed (see picture). I figured that maybe I would be able to intimidate the meat into being perfect for our wine tasting. I have to say that both dishes came out really well. Stay tuned for more on the tasting notes and how the wines paired with the braised lamb shanks and roasted chicken dishes.

And don't forget to keep on flashing those PURPLE TEETH!

P.S. -- No word on when my boss, also a mask recipient, will be seen donning his new wardrobe addition.

Knowing nothing and now knowing "something" about wine

2009-01-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

Now that we are in the wine industry by virtue of Purple Teeth Cellars, we tend to get lots of questions about wine in general. We take these questions seriously because neither one of us grew up drinking wine, and to be considered an "expert" of some kind is pretty cool. But we’ll stress that wine is a very humbling topic. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. If you’ve asked us a question, chances are you have already heard us say that.

Just to give you some perspective of how I got started drinking wine, it didn’t start out so well. The only wine that ever seemed to be served growing up was during the Jewish holidays and it was the really bad Kosher wine (like Kedem). It just tasted like really awful Ocean Spray grape juice. If you ever tasted Kedem, you know exactly what I am talking about. Prior to 1996, my alcoholic beverages of choice were beer, wine coolers, hard stuff and the always cost-effective cider (thank you, London).

It was on a trip to Napa with Grandma Mollie and Cousin Claire that changed the game for me in April, 1996. The picture on the right is actually me having the eureka moment of “getting red wine” at the Hess Collection, and yes, it was Merlot for all of you Sideways snobs. As luck would have it, I was sent to live in Europe for awhile a few months later and started to really get a sense of it all – wine, cheese, food, etc.

Once I was back to living in the States, I took regular trips to Napa and Sonoma to learn more. You can read all you want about wine, but everyone’s palette is different so tasting and smelling it is the way you learn. So I continued to learn more about what I thought I liked and didn’t like. I also started using the same store for buying wines, so it helped when I would walk in and ask for a recommendation from my local "wine guy".

When I moved to Seattle in the beginning of 2003, I had no idea about wines in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon and British Columbia). Thanks to some trips to Woodinville (just outside of Seattle), Eastern Washington (Walla Walla, Tri-Cities) and Willamette Valley (Yamhill, Carlton), we know a decent amount about some of the local producers which comes in handy with many of the area restaurants.

Why is all of this relevant to you – is that what you are thinking? The thing is that unless you grew up on a vineyard and have it in your blood from generations of winemaking, we all started from the same place in terms of learning about wine. Knowing nothing. Whether you want to know enough about wine to make your own or you just want to be able to deal with a wine list at a high-end restaurant or you don’t drink wine but want to buy a bottle for a friend, we’re happy to answer questions.

Since we work in the wine industry, we’re ambassadors to the industry, so while we would love for you to buy Purple Teeth Cellars wine, we would rather you develop a lifelong affinity for wine. And if you end up buying our wine, awesome! If not, that’s ok too. Plenty of good wine labels out in the marketplace so there is something for everyone.

We’ll probably post some more entries on this topic based on questions we receive. While we’re not “wine experts” like Robert Parker, Jr., etc., we do know that some people can take the enjoyment out of having wine by being jerks (AKA “wine snobs”). But we can give you our perspective on how we have built our knowledge on wine and hopefully it can help you. After all, wine is meant to be enjoyed with family and friends – that’s why we created Purple Teeth Cellars! A bunch of my friends seem to belong to a group on Facebook – OMG I so need a glass of wine or I'm gonna sell my kids – which I think is pretty funny.

So next time you have a question, ask away! We offer no guarantees, but we can relate to not necessarily knowing what to pick out when we want to bring a bottle to a friend’s house or to Thanksgiving dinner at an aunt’s house. And no matter what wine you are drinking, don't forget to flash those PURPLE TEETH when you're through.

Scams, shipping and oh yeah, Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

I was planning on giving an update on where we are with shipping in the US, but this morning we discovered that someone was trying to execute a scam on Purple Teeth Cellars. Yes, even our little business seems to be worthy of attention by Nigerian scam artists.

I'd lay it out for you, but Marc actually found a blogger who not only had the same thing happen to them, but had the tenacity to follow-through on trying to nail these folks. It takes awhile to get through the story, but her research has been able to educate others so they do not fall victim to these people. So we want to give a shout-out to Mary over at Dover Creek Winery in Paso Robles, CA.

On to shipping. For those of you who don't know, shipping wine within (yes, I said 'within') the US is very complicated, onerous, and a few other words that are not appropriate for a family-friendly blog.

We just found out that we are not going to be able to ship to Indiana anymore, effective immediately, because they require the customer to have visited the winery in the past year in order to receive shipments. We know of no good reason why a law like this needs to be in place, but we are forced to abide by it. If you are from Indiana and are interested in ordering wine from Purple Teeth Cellars, please write your local legislator and find out why this law needs to be in place.

Now by March 1st, we should be able to start sending wine to Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio. The fact that it is not set-up for us to just be able to "ship wine" is frustrating not just for us at Purple Teeth Cellars, but for other small wineries, retailers and consumers all over the country. The people who profit from these laws are wholesale middlemen who want to inhibit consumer choice.

Free the Grapes is a great organization that keeps abreast of the latest shipping laws and is working to ensure that wineries like Purple Teeth Cellars are in a position to ship anywhere in the US.

If you support being able to have the choice to purchase wine from where ever you would like (whether it is Purple Teeth Cellars or some other winery), please write your state legislator and let them know your feelings on this issue.

As always, we are thankful for your support and wish you nothing but health, happiness and good fortunes for 2009. Happy New Year!

New video posted - Petite Sirah vs. Syrah

2008-12-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

Purple Teeth Cellars is happy to report that we have posted another video on our website and on Facebook that talks about the difference between Syrah and Petite Sirah. And yep, they are both spelled correctly.

We encourage you to please check the video out and give us feedback on if you thought the content was helpful as well as any other questions you would like answered.

Purple Teeth Cellars also reached a big milestone recently - our 1st repeat customer. And today, we had ANOTHER repeat customer. We realize that this may seem trivial to many of you, but to a small business - THIS IS HUGE!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we were really happy to hear from people who uncorked their Purple Teeth Cellars '06 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah!

And if you opened your bottle and have some pics of you with your purple teeth, send them on to us! You can also check out some recipes that we posted on the Purple Teeth Cellars 'Food & Fun' page.

Purple Teeth Cellars wishes all of you a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!

Another pairing recommendation for the Purple Teeth Cellars 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah

2008-11-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

Pan-Seared Duck with Plum Sauce and Creamy Mascarpone Polenta

The richness and juiciness of the duck, combined with the creaminess of the polenta, call for a wine with lots of intensity and character. As luck would have it, Purple Teeth Cellars has a wine that fits the bill since it has plenty of dark fruits and spices both in terms of aroma and on the palette. Try it out in your kitchen, pop open your bottle of 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah, and let us know what you think! And don't forget to flash those PURPLE TEETH!

Serves 4

Duck

4 boneless duck breasts
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 sweet onion, sliced quarter-length
Bunch of fresh Thai basil leaves, for garnish

Plum Sauce

1 cup dry red wine
1 cup of chicken stock
2 fresh thyme sprigs
¼ cup of fresh Thai basil leaves
1 ½ teaspoons butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
½ cup plum preserves

Creamy Mascarpone Polenta

Non-stick canola spray
5 cups milk
1 cup of polenta (medium-grain yellow cornmeal – not instant)
8 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese (4 oz.)
½ cup of fresh Thai basil leaves, chopped
8 tablespoons of herbed cheese curds (4 oz.)
½ cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated
¼ cup of pine nuts, lightly toasted

Preparation

For duck breast:

Thaw the duck breast, if frozen (either place in refrigerator a full day before you want to cook the duck or use the defrost setting on your microwave).
Slice onion into quarter-length and chop garlic into thin slices.
Put the duck breast skin-side down in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until the skin starts to crackle and give off its fat; then turn heat to medium low and continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes, turning the breast once or twice. There may be some splattering outside of the plan so be careful.
When the skin side of the duck breast is brown and crispy and the meat heated through, remove it to a plate and set aside until it's cool enough to handle. Don't worry if it's still rare at the center, it will cook a little more later on.
Pour off most of the rendered duck fat into a container (see NOTE below), leaving about 1 tablespoon in the skillet. Use it to brown the onions and garlic over medium heat, stirring frequently, until it's caramelized and dark golden-brown.

NOTE: Duck fat is great to store and use for sautéing vegetables. Just keep in a container in your refrigerator and use a little bit the next time you want to sauté something another day. You get a big bang for the buck in terms of how much you need and the flavor it adds to a dish. OK, this is not the low-calorie option, but it is a delicious one!

For sauce:

Bring wine, chicken stock, thyme sprigs, and Thai basil leaves to boil in heavy large saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes.
Mix butter and flour in small bowl to blend. Whisk butter-flour mixture into broth. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
Stir in plum preserves; simmer 1 minute. Remove thyme sprigs and Thai basil leaves.

NOTE: Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Re-warm prior to serving.

For polenta:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees, unless you are making this dish in advance.
In a 2-quart saucepan, slowly bring the milk to a boil, stirring every few minutes with a wooden spoon to prevent the milk from getting scorched.
In order to have the polenta smooth (as opposed to lumpy), so slowly pour the polenta into the milk with a sprinkling motion and use a whisk constantly to ensure that the polenta is all absorbed.
Turn the heat to very low on your stove. Grab the wooden spoon and continue to stir the polenta every 10 minutes for a ½ hour. Basically you want a consistency of creamy mashed potatoes. Stir in mascarpone, chopped up Thai basil and cheese curds. Again, stir until you have that desired consistency.
Spray 8x11 heat-resistant cooking dish with canola oil. Transfer polenta to cooking dish, spreading it evenly across.
Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano over the polenta.
Place the dish into the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.

NOTE: Polenta can be made 1 day ahead. After step 5, place dish in refrigerator and cover. When ready to serve, pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and resume with step 6.

Bringing it all together:

To serve with pan-seared duck and plum sauce, place serving of polenta on each dish. Then place duck breast over polenta and garnish with fresh Thai basil leaves. Drizzle with plum sauce and serve with 2006 Purple Teeth Cellars Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah!

PTC makes its debut at the JDRF dinner

2008-11-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

We've mentioned in the past that a portion of the profits from Purple Teeth Cellars goes to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). This is an organization that is near and dear to us because we have a number of family and friends who are directly impacted by Type 1 diabetes, so we go out of our way to do whatever we can to support their efforts.

This past weekend, we hosted a dinner that showcased the Purple Teeth Cellars 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah (on sale now under the 'Wines' tab), along with some other wines procured for the occasion. It was really exciting for us to serve our wine to a bunch of people to see what they thought of the wine. Happy to report that there were lots of purple teeth on display.

We posted some pictures from the event on our Facebook page and should be posting them up to the main Purple Teeth Cellars site shortly under the 'Food & Fun' tab.

Please continue to give us feedback by either commenting on the blog or by contacting us on the website. We have received some great feedback so far and are looking forward to implementing your ideas in the future!

If you have received your wine and have questions about when to open it up, or what to serve it with, please contact us! We're happy to help and can share with you what we have learned from your fellow Purple Teeth fans!

Pairing Recommendation for our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah

2008-11-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the kitchen of Purple Teeth Cellars!

We are happy to report that we have created our 1st recipe that specifically pairs with the Purple Teeth Cellars 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah! This happens to be a red meat option, but we are working to come up with options for other courses, including a couple of vegan-friendly options.

You are probably asking why we like this pairing, right? The simple answer is that it tastes awesome. The longer answer has to do with the Petite Sirah being a big and bold wine. It needs something hearty to go with it, which begs for a main ingredient that has some real richness - in this case, some fat on the meat. This will not win any healthy food awards, but we think you will be happy anyway.

All of this leads to short ribs being our red meat choice to service with our Petite Sirah. We hope that you enjoy this pairing as much as we did when we served this earlier this week!

And of course if you have questions or feedback on this recipe or anything else, please use the 'Contact Us' link on the Purple Teeth Cellars homepage or find us on Facebook.

Braised Short Ribs with Cocoa Powder, Assorted Spices and Scallions

Yield: 4 servings
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours 15 minutes

4 pounds well-marbled beef short ribs, cut 2 inches thick and preferably with the bone
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 ½ teaspoons ketchup
3 ½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
2 ½ tablespoons dark-brown sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 sweet onion, sliced quarter-length
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
½ teaspoon mint leaves, lightly chopped (chocolate mint leaves, if possible)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the short ribs in an ovenproof casserole just big enough to fit them snugly.

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable stock, soy sauce, orange zest, orange juice, ketchup, five-spice powder, brown sugar, cocoa powder, onion, scallions, mint leaves and thyme. Pour the mixture over the short ribs.

• Cover the baking container (make sure it’s a tight fitting lid or else, use foil) and transfer to the oven. Bake for 2 ½ to 3 hours (depending on the size of the ribs). The meat should be falling off the bone and give little resistance when pressed with a fork. It’s recommended that you check the pot at 2 hours to see how the braising is going as every oven is different. Uncover and return to the oven to allow the juices to thicken, about 15 minutes more.

• Transfer the ribs to a plate and carefully pour the braising liquid into a large glass measuring cup. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes so the fat will rise to the top. Using a small ladle or cup, skim off the fat.

• Serve the ribs with a few spoonfuls of sauce drizzled over the top. Note that this dish in its entirety can be made the day before, which will allow all of the fat to rise to the top and make it real easy to scoop out. If making ahead of time, pour the defatted sauce back over the ribs and cover the dish with foil. Reheat for 20 minutes before serving.

2006 Petite Sirah – The First Bottle Opened

2008-10-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

We opened the very first bottle of the Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah this evening and must report that it seems ready for release. We are fine tuning one additional recipe that will be available on this site to pair with the wine. For this evening we cooked up a London broil flavored with Chinese five-spice, unsweetened cocoa powder, onions, garlic, thyme, homemade chicken stock, and red wine. This pairing is definitely working and we look forward to trying it with other foods.

If you have ordered wine recently, it will be released shortly. If not, what are you waiting for?

Vote for Purple Teeth on November 4th and We Are Taking Pre-Orders

2008-09-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let you know that Purple Teeth Cellars is now taking pre-orders for its 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah. Our most recent tasting notes are here, and we expect to be posting some excellent food pairings in the not-so-distant future. As a reminder, a portion of our profits are being donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

If you're interested in purchasing some wine, you can do so right here. And if you know some folks who would be interested in some awesome Petite Sirah from Purple Teeth Cellars, just send them our way!

We are also looking for feedback for content that you would like to see on the Purple Teeth Cellars website and on our Facebook page. Feel free to comment on this post or contact us.

And don't forget on November 4th to VOTE FOR PURPLE TEETH!

Expanding Our Presence on Facebook – Woo Woo!

2008-09-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Purple Teeth Cellars is pleased to announce that we have created a page on Facebook that will allow you to:

· Hear the latest updates from Purple Teeth Cellars, including release news and suggested food pairings
· Post pictures and stories from your favorite ‘Purple Teeth’ moments
· Get questions answered from Purple Teeth Cellars

If you are not on Facebook, you can find the page here. You can also do a search on Purple Teeth Cellars in the Search window on Facebook to find us. We would LOVE to see you on there!

And don’t worry if you are not on Facebook. You’ll get the same updates and will soon have the opportunity to pose questions as well as post pictures and stories from your ‘Purple Teeth’ moments. We got you covered too!

In a few days, we’ll have more news to post on how you can order our 2006 Petite Sirah. We continue to be grateful for your support.

As always, please feel free to contact us if you have questions or feedback.

- Marc and Jill

2006 Petite Sirah - Ready for Prime Time!

2008-08-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

Marc already covered the 2007 vintages in his post, so it’s my turn to talk about the 2006 Petite Sirah. Before we went to bottle the wine, we were really pumped about the release based on our earlier tastings. After tasting the Petite Sirah again, all I can say is “wow”!

Our Petite Sirah continues to showcase itself with a real deep “inky” color, which is very typical of this varietal. And if you are looking for that opportunity to flaunt purple teeth, this wine will undeniably get things moving in the right direction for you.

In terms of the aromas that we picked up, there was some smokiness in the wine. We sensed some black fruit, possibly prunes and some plums. As for what we tasted, we definitely picked up more of the black fruit and some blueberry. We also sensed some black licorice and a bit of smokiness.

The tannins have mellowed since we tasted at the end of May. The acidity on this wine will make it fantastic for food pairing. And the finish lingers on in your mouth for awhile, so you’ll really get a chance to enjoy all of the flavors in the wine.

As for initial thoughts on food and wine pairing, we know this wine was made to be consumed with food. Right now, we’re thinking about braised meats such as lamb, duck or veal. We need to do some experimenting with the right spices/herbs to go along with those meats. Our initial thoughts are around garlic, soy sauce or tamari so stay tuned.

For those of you who don’t eat meat or are not fans of gamey meats, we’ll come up with some vegetarian pairing ideas too!

So you’re probably wondering, “OK, guys. When can I get my hands on some of this awesome wine?” Totally fair question and glad you asked. Due to the fact that it is the summer and wine is temperature sensitive, we will start taking orders for the Purple Teeth Cellars 2006 Petite Sirah in the middle of September and will start shipping the wine in mid-October, assuming weather conditions are conducive to it. This will minimize the chances of the wine being negatively impacted by extreme weather conditions.

And finally, we encourage you to sign up for the mailing list here if you have not done so already. You can do so right here. Being on the mailing list will allow you to keep up on the latest and greatest regarding our upcoming release schedule and other news. Thanks again for support and if you have any questions, please reach out to us here.

P.S. – If you are on Facebook, reach out to us via our friend, P.T. Cellars!

2007 Syrah Progress

2008-08-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

Both of the 2007 Syrahs are progressing nicely in the barrels. They are about halfway through the barrel aging process and the White Hawk is surprisingly elegant already. The surprise is mostly because we think the Alder Springs will be more classical, elegant, and European in style by the time we bottle. Kian laughs and thinks the second half of the aging process will turn this around.

The Alder Springs has a great dark purple color with flavors of cherries, chocolate, mocha, cranberries and dried fruit. It's not overly fruity and there is still just barely a hint of any pepper or spice involved. It is denser and tighter than the White Hawk right now. It'll probably go well with herbs de Provence or Italian herbs but probably not with Marc's favorite crushed red pepper flakes.

The White Hawk is darker in color and is very spicy with black and white pepper. But it is also very elegant right now. It will probably do fine with a less spicy dish like a pasta marinara so the wine with its built in flavors can steal the show. Both wines have great acidity tingling the tongue that will show well when paired with meals.

Releasing on time!

2008-05-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

We just returned from San Francisco, where we were able to sample our 2006 and 2007 vintages. As we mentioned back in the beginning of March, we were targeting the release of our 2006 Petite Sirah for early fall of this year.

After tasting it last week, we are happy to report that we will be releasing on time in late September/early October. The Petite Sirah has lots of blueberry notes and some toastiness on the nose. It opened up really well over the course of the meeting we had with our winemaker, Kian Tavakoli (see below).

We also had the opportunity to taste the 2007 Syrahs, which will be released in 2009. The Alder Springs Syrah is starting to show hints of spiciness since we lasted sampled it. The White Hawk Syrah has some jammy tendencies, which is typical for the climate of Santa Barbara County.

The wines are starting to show really nicely, which has us very excited for the next time we get to sample them. We also were able to bring the samples for both 2006 and 2007 to a family BBQ, which was a lot of fun for everyone. Our family is not one to pull punches on feedback, so for them to give us positive reviews on the wines was great!

2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah in March 2008

2008-03-09T20:58:00.001-07:00

We recently tasted from the barrel of our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah which comes from Mendocino County. At this point, it has been in the barrel about 15 months and has close to ½ year to go. It is progressing nicely and will be our first product available for sale in very limited production.

As noted in our other recent tasting, we want our wines to pair well with food, but also stand alone if needed. Based on what we tasted this weekend, we are really excited to say that the initial release from Purple Teeth Cellars will impressively pair with the right foods for a long time. The following thoughts are a summary of our notes from tasting over two evenings with and without foods. This is a dark purple wine and should stain teeth effectively.

There are aromas of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black pepper, oak, vanilla, and some earthiness. The wine smells youthful and powerful at this time.

It is full-bodied and, because it is still very young, it is tart with hard tannins that still need time to mellow in the barrel and eventually the bottle. Jill says it is bone dry while I caught a hint of sweetness that I didn't expect but found pleasing given my sweet, and often stained purple, tooth. We both found this wine to be powerful in flavors with a very long finish.

The flavors we find drinking it alone include black pepper, blackberry, blueberry, vanilla, black currants, and perhaps some thyme.

With our Ultimate Lasagna recipe (which we intend to provide on this site sometime soon), we had our differences. I love hot and spicy food a little more and I found it to bring out the spiciness and black pepper while Jill felt that it killed the earthy and fruity characteristics of the wine. Our lasagna is hot and spicy, and can reduce some flavors. That being said, the heat on the palate can be controlled by the amount of red pepper flakes added.

The following day, Jill made some braised short ribs that paired extremely well with this Petite Sirah. The short ribs had soy sauce, stock, orange rind zest, Chinese five-spice powder, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa and some other herbs/spices. The wine also had a day to open up a little so that should be factored into this tasting to a certain extent. It had a pronounced smokiness, the fruit came forward much more, and it was jammy with a long finish. It just seemed like a pairing made for this wine. We also had some sweet potato french fries which reduced the jammy nature of the wine but enhanced the black fruits and flavors of cloves. The ketchup did not clash with the wine, and after all how can you have fries without having some ketchup?

Like a big cab, this wine pulls some punches. We are very excited and very proud to produce and to offer this Petite Sirah as our inaugural vintage of Purple Teeth Cellars.

Our 2007 Syrahs

2008-03-07T13:50:00.001-08:00

We recently tasted from the barrels of both Syrahs from the 2007 vintage. The Alder Springs Syrah has been in the barrel about 4 months while the White Hawk Syrah has been in the barrel about 3 ½ months. Both have a solid year to go before being bottled so they are young, tannic, and tight.

We want our wine to pair with food, yet remain drinkable alone if called upon. We tasted both alone at first and then with several dishes over a few days. We are impressed with where they are today and we determined that they got better (more aromatic, more flavorful) over the days as they opened up. In other words, decanting on day 1 would have been ideal, although the wines might not have lasted for four days that way.

It's tough work doing the tasting and identifying flavors, but we feel really strongly about experiencing firsthand the evolution of any Purple Teeth Cellars wine. The Food & Wine pairing class that we took in 2007 was a huge help in assisting us in breaking down how you approach all of this. We each tasted on our own and wrote down individual notes before comparing what we thought of each wine. There were slight variations between our notes, but in general they were extremely similar.

White Hawk (Santa Barbara County)

This one has slightly deeper colors although they are both in that deep purple range which bodes well for staining of teeth. We got hints of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, black pepper, nutmeg or vanilla, and broccoli on the nose. It is full bodied with high tannins that are still hard which is to be expected at this stage in the barrel.

On its own, there are flavors of black pepper, blackberries, cranberries, tomato, and nutmeg. Over a few days, this wine really opened up and was the more drinkable without food. We are really excited about this one.

We tasted with our Ultimate Lasagna, which is a tomato based, spicy lasagna that has ground turkey and lamb in it [the meat changes often when we make it]. The wine showed more fruit on the palate and the spices/peppers in the wine were not overpowered by the red pepper flakes in the lasagna. In fact, it tasted even better with the food.

We also tasted with baked chicken rubbed with Dukkah (mix of seeds & spices that is from Middle East) that we obtained in Hawaii so it has macadamia nuts added to the blend. The finish was shorter, the tannins were reduced, and the wine barely showed through. The side of green beans with basil & garlic were a nice addition.

Finally, we tasted with grilled teriyaki chicken and a side of broccoli with basil & garlic. Wow! The wine opened up after a few days and just really paired up with this dish. We cannot wait for it to age.

Alder Springs (Mendocino County)

This one is earthier on the nose with hints of blackberry, wood, black olives, smoke, & perhaps some cinnamon or cloves. On its own, there are flavors of white pepper, allspice, black fruits, and is vegetal/green. This wine is more tannic and tight right now.

With the lasagna, it tastes similar to how it tastes without the food. The little pepper that can be detected goes away, there is a little more fruit to taste, and it is still earthy but fairly tannic.

With the baked chicken, we found the wine is on the astringent side and is tart, but the fruit comes through better and the earthiness dissipates. The side of green beans with basil & garlic matched well with the aromas of the wine.

This wine seems more age-worthy right now, but the year is early and the wines have much time left in the barrel. We will see how things look in a few months.

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Please stay tuned for our tasting notes for the 2006 Petite Sirah from the Purple Teeth Cellars! Check back in another week.

Joining in the fun known as Purple Teeth Cellars

2008-03-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

Just because we have not been blogging all that much recently doesn't mean we haven't been busy hard at work getting Purple Teeth Cellars off of the ground. There is what I call the "not so fun" stuff, such as getting ourselves situated from both a legal and financial perspective, and we wanted all of that taken care of before we kicked off any other activities of significance.

Getting all of that "schtuff" worked out now allows us to focus on what is really important - making awesome wine and satisfying our customers. And we place equal emphasis on both. You could have a great product with unsatisfactory customer service, or you could give your customers an excellent service experience but you need an awesome product to back it up.

As we put our business plan together, we put a tremendous amount of thought into the qualities that we wanted our business to exude. I'll let you in on what some of those characteristics are:

Conduct ourselves with integrity as well as demonstrate honesty and unquestionable ethics in all of our dealings.
Give our customers a top of the line experience in terms of learning about wine, purchasing our wine, and resolving inquiries as they arise.
Produce a premium product that consists of grape sources from top wine producers and utilizes a consistent process from start to finish.

I know these seem like 'yeah, duh' types of things but as consumers, Marc and I are regularly stunned at how many instances we encounter when businesses that project a 'premium image' do not actually execute on how to make their customers come back for more.

We will be posting more soon on some of the other things we have been working on, but hopefully this will give you all some insight on what we have been doing behind the scenes as we ramp up for our inaugural release (Early Fall, 2008).

Thanks in advance for your support!!

How We Decided Upon 'Purple Teeth Cellars'

2008-01-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Back in October 2007, we decided to work with Crushpad to create some wine. Since we love fine red wine, it seemed like a great idea. This idea quickly blossomed into the thought that maybe we should make enough to sell for others to enjoy. Thus the conundrum: what do we call this thing?

Well, after several not-so-great ideas, I tried several things with the word Purple in the name. What stood out immediately to both of us was 'Purple Teeth Cellars' because one of us is known to get stained teeth rather quickly. The inkier the wine, the faster the teeth stain. It's nothing to be ashamed of - it just signifies fun times in our lives.

Once we began divulging the name, we got laughs (some as 'lol's) or immediate recognition of the phenomenon, and often both. Almost everyone related immediately that their teeth (or the teeth of a significant other or good friend) also turn purple when drinking wine. We knew we had a hit name. Many people have fun times in their lives involving red wine.

We hope you will join us in this journey.

Purple Teeth Cellars Officially Exists

2008-01-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today we formed our new business: Purple Teeth Cellars LLC. We are so excited about this new venture and have much work to do before we bottle our first vintage. More details to come as things start coming together.