The Tasting Panel magazine

June 2017

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12  /  the tasting panel  /  june 2017 INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT S onoma County Vintners cel- ebrated a successful third annual Sonoma County Barrel Auction on April 21, after 90 one-of-a-kind Sonoma County wine lots raised a record-setting $794,500. With more than 250 members of the wine trade and media in attendance for the live auction at Santa Rosa's Vintners Inn, and additional bids placed via proxy, this year's totals were up more than $100,000 from 2016. For the second consecutive year Kosta Browne had the top earning lot with "The Shire of Freestone," a 20-case Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir lot that set a new record at $60,000. The second highest-selling offering was the 20-case Silver Oak Cellars 2015 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon lot, which closed the auc- tion on a high-note at $50,000. The third top lot was Williams Selyem Winery's 20-case Pinot Noir, blended from three of its estate vineyards, which sold for $26,000. Ramey Wine Cellars' ten-case "Ramey's Heart of the Russian River Valley" Chardonnay was the top white wine at $12,500. Nature Knows Best F or the U.S. launch of the Strongbow Hard Apple Ciders' global Nature Remix campaign, which was created to bring nature back into cities, Strongbow has partnered with Swale, New York's first floating food forest. Swale was founded by visionary artist Mary Mattingly, who wanted to take advantage of Manhattan waterways and make fresh, edible perennial plants available to all New Yorkers. Thanks to Strongbow, the formerly barren barge will evolve and continue to flourish in 2017 with a blossoming apple orchard surrounded by garden beds filled with herbs, fruits and vegetables. On May 3, the Strongbow Apple Orchard aboard Swale celebrated its official debut in New York City at Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The event also kicked off Strongbow's national seed initiative, where 150,000 sustainable seed coast- ers—containing an estimated 1.5 million basil and sage herb seeds—will be offered to people across the country to encourage and inspire container gardening. O range County, CA–based restaurateur Russ Bendel is bringing a sister restaurant to his thriv- ing wine country concepts, Vine and Ironwood, to the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa dining scene. OLEA, named for a genus of trees that flourish in warm and tropical regions and scheduled to open by year's end, will be a European twist on the Napa/Sonoma– inspired cuisine and spirits at Vine, the restaurant Bendel assumed ownership of four years ago. OPENINGS PHOTO: WILL BUCQUOY PHOTO: WILL BUCQUOY advantage waterways available to all New Yorkers. New Yorkers. New barren barge will evolve and blossoming apple filled Orchard debut offered encourage OPENINGS Auctioneer John Curley. Tony Westfall (Good Company Wines) celebrates a winning bid. Breaking Records

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