Last minute gifts in the Tasting Room

Post by Jessika Hane, HR Director and Holiday Elf

For those of you in the Bloomington area this holiday season, I want to encourage you to stop by our Tasting Room for some last minute shopping. We are open tonight (Thursday) until 8pm and tomorrow (Christmas Eve) from 10am-4pm. We have some GREAT gift ideas that I just had to share.

First of all, you should know that our staff are super excited to help you create special one-of-a kind gift baskets and boxes.

We really do love helping customers find just the right gift every day!

Holly and Ellen (and all of our staff) create beautiful baskets!

We also offer a wide variety of pre-made gift boxes and baskets. That’s right, you can walk right in and grab a stack of these lovely wine gift packs. Last minute shopping=solved!

Ready to go- we offer 14 different pre-made gift packs in combinations to suit every palate.

In addition to wine, we have gifts for everything on your list. Locally made pottery and art pieces, gourmet foods and unique holiday themed-wine accessories!

Beautiful Bella Bella wall tiles made by Bloomington artist, Lara Moore.

So cute!! Snowmen and Christmas Tree wine bottle stoppers. Stocking stuffers anyone?

Who doesn't like Robert Rothschild Farms? There's Raspberry Honey Mustard Dip, Onion Blossom Horseradish Dip, Anna Mae's Smoky Mustard and Chocolate Fudge Pretzel Dip...to name a few.

And the ULTIMATE gift for the dry red wine lover in your life? A 3 liter bottle of 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Equal to four bottles of wine, this large format bottle is perfect for aging dry reds like Cabernet. Each bottle is $225 and comes ready to gift. This would be a great present for someone celebrating a milestone in 2011.

Each bottle comes with its own wooden gift box.

And finally, a gift for yourself perhaps? Why not treat yourself to a bottle of one of our dessert wines? Right now we are offering a great special on our Creekbend Vidal Blanc Ice Wine and Late Harvest Vignoles. Buy them both and save 40%. What a Sweet Treat!

Delicious Creekbend Late Harvest wine. Goes great with holiday desserts.

One final note: Our merchandise sells fast! So, we might be out of something that I have mentioned in this blog post when you stop by. So hurry up and get here! We also sell gift certificates!

Great Wines, Great Memories

Post by John Metzcar, Assistant Winemaker

I was excited to see the wines that we picked this year for our library release.  They include some of my favorites from my first year here at Oliver – the 2005 Merlot and the 2005 Zinfandel.  I learned a lot that year.   I did everything from crushing the 2005 Zinfandel grapes, to  putting the 2005 Merlot into barrels, tasting it as it matured, to eventually having the privilege of taking take that same wine out of barrels to decide on our final blend.

Recalling my first year at Oliver Winery while I tasted these wines has been great.  It was great to make, taste, and get to know the wines back then, and even more wonderful to have the opportunity to get reacquainted with them now.  I hope all of our dry red fans take the time to enjoy one of our cellared wines over the holidays (I know I will).  These wines are perfect for your holiday dinner.  We are open today and tomorrow until 8pm and on Christmas Eve until 4pm – so stop in and pick up a bottle!

*Are you planning on including Oliver Wines in YOUR holiday celebrations this year. Send us your photos and stories and we might share them in a future blog post! You can email them to jhane@oliverwinery.com.

Vertical Wine Tasting, a “must do” for dry red fans!

Post by Jessika Hane, Human Resources Director

This holiday season we released a whole bunch of special wines from the depths of the Oliver Winery Wine Library. It is really exciting! In my 12 years at the winery, we have never released so many libraried wines. Hint: now is the time to stock up!

This weekend (Dec 17-19), the Tasting Room is holding a special Vertical Tasting of three Merlots from 2003, 2004 and 2005.

If you have never done a vertical tasting before, you should! For only $5, you can experience three one-ounce tastes of the ’03, ’04 and ’05 Merlots. A vertical tasting is a tasting of wines, all of the same variety from different vintages. This is a really effective way to explore how the wines age over the years and how our winemaking style has developed. Plus it is downright fun! When you order a vertical tasting flight, the staff will give you a handy tasting sheet complete with winemaking tech notes. They will pour all three wines for you and you can sip away- comparing and contrasting these three tasty wines.

I have tasted and purchased all of these wines before;  my husband and I have quite a few squirreled away in our own “wine cellar” but I have never had the opportunity to taste them side by side, all at the same time! Re-tasting these wines on a chilly, sunshine-filled day sounds like a great plan to me!

For only $5, this fun wine-tasting experience can be yours!

Be sure to include a trip to Oliver Winery in your weekend plans. This offer is for a limited time and the library wines won’t be around long. We have extended holiday hours starting on Friday and we hope to see you soon!

A Welcome Back Parade…on your palate!

Post by Pam Bonin, Marketing Manager

That’s what Drew, Team Manager and Resident Funny Man said after he tasted a flight of vintage dry red wines from our library.  I love this time of year when we dig back in our wine library to see which vintage wines we would like to re-release in the tasting room for the holidays.  It is a chance for us to reacquaint ourselves with some old favorites and see how they are aging.  We’ve really dialed in our red wine making program over the last five-six years and our winemaker, Dennis Dunham, is quite proud of the results.  As we experienced yesterday at 11:30am, tasting our collection of dry red wines dating back to 2003, these wines are definitely age worthy.  Look for some of your old favorites to hit the tasting room this weekend.  You are in for quite a surprise!  I’ll give you one hint….RESERVE a place in your cellar for these two Shirazi (that’s plural for Shiraz).

Winemakers Dennis Dunham and John Metzcar are in agreement – we are making some mighty fine wine!

Team Manager, Drew, and Team Leader, Ellen, like what they taste.