Results tagged “Wine” from RCNow

A new booze superstore opened today at the Foothill Crossing Shopping Center on 8201 Day Creek. Total Wine & More, just catty corner from Bev Mo, carries 8,000 varieties of wine, 1,000  kinds of beers and 2,000 kinds of liquor. 

Joe Filippi, president and majority owner of the city's most famous winery, has filed another lawsuit against his brother, Gino Filippi, for failing to take a drug test under board policy. The suit seeks to remove Gino from the Filippi Winery's board of directors.

A quick recap: Joe fired Gino from his vice president post in 2007 but Gino remained on the board and continues to own 45 percent of the company. Gino then sued Joe for firing him without cause. Joe counter sued, accusing Gino of taking money from the business and testing positive for cocaine years ago.

Now Joe wants Gino off the board entirely because Gino has failed to take a drug test. According to court documents, "(Gino) Filippi's failure to take corrective action with respect to any director or officer or management personnel who may test postivie for ingestion of illegal drugs may jeopardize the business of Filippi and the licenses held by Filippi for its business."

                                                                                    Courtesy photo by Simon White

Wine expert Gino Filippi is touring the wineries of Australia this week and shared with me this pic. I keep thinking if I stare at them long enough I could be teleported over there. Alas, I'm still in Ontario.

Gino is in the Yarra Valley near Melbourne, where the viticulture history goes back 150 years. He said the cool climes give forth beautiful Pinot Noir, Viognier, Shiraz and Semillion.

Happy tasting. Next time, bring a copy of the Daily Bulletin for the photo.

The Filippi Winery is having its annual May Market Day tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be free wine tasting and discounts on wine and gifts. Local writers behind the cookbook Stud Muffins will also sign copies of their book. The winery is on 12467 Baseline Road. See the calendar for future events.

Frame-Art, a gallery inside the Sunrize Center on Baseline and Carnelian, is hosting an open house Saturday featuring art by June Carey. Wine and snacks will be served from 2 to 7 p.m. Carey's work centers around the California coast and wine country. There will be a chance to win a gift print.

It's tax day today, do you know where your wine collection is?

To soften the tax blow, The Wine Tailor is offering their wines sans tax all week. The winery on Foothill and Vineyard is also offering a 10-minute massage on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.

These are just some of the unusual specials at the Wine Tailor. To stay in the loop about these events and others, join their text messaging service by texting "GOTWINE" to 313131.

Information: (909) 481-5050

Wine expert Michael Biane will give his monthly "Michael Speaks ... About Wine" dinner on Wednesday at the Pierre Biane Winery building from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Cost is $65 and includes a meal catered by Impressions Gourmet and wine tasting. The winery is located on 8th Street between Archibald and Hermosa.

Biane, whose family founded the Brookside Winery, will present a number of local wines and offer a historical perspective of area wineries. For reservations, call Jewel Promo Group at (909) 262-4747 or visit www.michaelbiane.com.

The city and the Chamber of Commerce held a Grape Harvest Festival last month with a pumpkin race on center stage. It was a fun and successful family event but it made me wonder -- will the grape festival ever be without grapes? This year, the chamber nixed the amateur winemaking contest to the chagrin of some home winemakers. And now that the chamber has let go of its leader, what will the event be like in the future?

Nobody knows for sure. But wouldn't it be nice if we held a throw-back festival? Back in the 1960s, more than 10,000 people would attend the three-day festival at the Regina Winery. Here is a Progress-Bulletin article I found from Sept. 1, 1966.

Grape-Stomping Champion To Be Named at Festival

ETIWANDA -- Sixteen contestants will vie for the Cucamonga "grape stomping" championship Sunday at 2 p.m.

The annual Cucamonga Wine and Grape Festival celebrating start of the wine grape harvest will be held under sponsorship of the Cucamonga Growers and Vintners Association at the Regina Winery in Etiwanda over Labor Day Weekend.

The winery will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday and will remain open for tours, tasting and entertainment until 6 p.m. each day of the festival. On Saturday, the association will sponsor a barrel race in which contestants will roll wine barrels to compete for cash prizes, with the winner receiving a $100 prize.

The program for Sunday will feature the grape stomping contest. Entrants, restricted to women over 18 years old, will compete for $600 in prizes for crushing the most juice. Special contestants will be two queen candidates from the Los Angeles County Fair. All other contestants will be chosen from the audience Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, the feature of the afternoon's entertainment will be a "champagne derby." In this event contestants will be required to carry two filled champagne glasses and a bottle on a tray over a 220-foot course. First contestant to cross the finish line without spilling any of the champagne will walk off with a $100 prize.

Strolling troubadours will entertain all three days during the festival. The Swinging Stars square dancers will entertain Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m.

Admission is free and the public is invited to help celebrate beginning of the harvest of nearly 20,000 acres of wine grapes in the Cucamonga district.

Regina Winery is on Base Line Road west of Etiwanda Avenue in Etiwanda.

Doesn't that sound fun? What gal over 18 years old would not enter a grape stomping contest for a chance to win $600 in prizes?

I asked the 2007 winner, my colleague Canan Tasci, what she won.

"Bragging rights! Hello?!"

Dessert wines tend to have a bad rep. If you're lucky, they'll taste like cheap Merlot doused with sugar. Many however, will taste like children's cough syrup.

But when they're good, they're really good and at the risk of sounding totally biased, I would say the triple cream sherry at Rancho de Philo falls in the good category.

The boutique winery on 10050 Wilson Ave. is having its annual sale now until supplies are out. They are opened every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. selling this year's vintage at $24.95. (Wine maker Janine Biane Tibbetts hasn't raised prices since 2005.)

Tibbetts' sherry wins accolades every year but 2007's vintage was special. It beat out 2,500 other varieties and got her the best wine of show award at the Pacific Rim International Wine Competition. Not bad for a sweet and often misunderstood wine.

Information: (909) 987-4208

A library fundraiser featuring opera singer Rod Gilfry will be held at the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 24. Wine expert Gino Filippi will pair wines with appetizers created by chef Ricardo Santana of Impressions Gourmet Catering. Tickets are $50 and need to be purchased in advance.

Interested? Shoot Michelle Perera or Gino Filippi an e-mail.

Oct. 15:  Tickets can be purchased at the Cultural Center box office, which is opened noon to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. They can also be purchased by calling (909) 477-2775 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or online via credit card.

I paid a visit to the Cucamonga Valley Water District recently to see how the Frontier Project is shaping up and smelled wine.

The Frontier Project is an ambitious green building and one of the materials that will be used are wood planks from Filippi wine barrels. Talk about incorporating the city's viticultural past into the project.

The dark brown trellis seen in this artist rendering is how the redwood will be used. The wood will shade the building and provide a natural cooling system.

The Filippis city had $500,000 worth of this wood from wine barrels no longer in use and donated them to the Frontier Project. When it opens next fall, stick your nose in it, it smells like Zinfandel.

Vice President of the Frontier Project Foundation Jo Lynne Russo-Pereyra said about two inches worth of wine residue crystallized on the wood. I expected her to follow this with an offer for a tasting but I got a bottle of CVWD water instead. Refreshing, but no Zinfandel.

A preview of Tuesday's article on the sustainability showcase building follows.

[The wood was actually donated by the city. According to Gino Filippi, the city is the owner of the casks which the wood was sourced.]
 

When Rancho resident George Walker told me he made his own wine as a hobby, I underestimated him. I thought maybe a few bottles, fermented in a shed in his backyard was all. It turns out, he runs a co-op and so far this month, Walker Family Vintner pressed nearly 6,000 pounds of grapes in his backyard.

 

Check out this photo of fellow winos Mario Sanchez and Tom Imbruglia picking up the "cake" formed by the seeds and skins after a thorough press. Can we put some icing on that cake? 

Grapes usually take three harvests after planting to be wine ready but with some homework and a little extra credit, the Alicante variety planted at the Chaffey College vineyard was ready after just two harvests.

 

The agricultural demonstration vineyard on the northwest corner of the campus is a partnership between the school and Filippi Winery. Chaffey spokeswoman Peggy Cartwright snapped this photo of a winery employee harvesting the Alicante grapes this week. Come Thanksgiving time, the winery will bottle about 200 cases of this blush wine. With the alcohol content at around 10 percent, it'll taste "kinda like white Zinfandel," said Joe Filippi. He told me the grapes were blessed by perfect weather this year and next year, he expects the amount of grapes will double.