Off the Cliffe

  Sketch SageCliffe!

“Travel to Sketch” Architectural Tour
Friday, June 12 – Sunday, June 14, 2009

Cave B hosts a custom architectural sketch and walking tour with Melanie Corey-Ferrini, AIA. Melanie Corey-Ferrini is an Architect and Designer who’s unique sketch method is one that can be used by any skill level.   Her method of teaching supports the experience of observing your surroundings, while relaxing and sketching at your own level and pace.
Both a full 3-day weekend itinerary and a Saturday morning session will be offered….choose the full weekend experience, or simply the one session, based upon your available time and resources–if you’ve been to SageCliffe before and wished to keep a piece of its beauty, this is a wonderful way to do it…through your very own drawings.  Take a look at our website for all the details:  http://www.sagecliffe.com/Experiences.htm

  Spring is finally here!

My fellow canines I am very happy to report that my humans have pruned the vineyards here at home. It’s like a doggy paradise! There are sticks everywhere and I love making them my chew toys, and tossing them around. My doggy senses have definitely been tingling the last few days and they say spring is right around the corner, which means warm weather and green grass. And finally we can all enjoy the rose gardens around the Inn.

It’s starting to get sunnier and brighter here day-by-day and that means more hiking for our guests and more hiking trips for me to go on. This is good news for me, since that means after a long hard day of showing off our property I can go swimming in our pond!

Finally the birds are making their way back from the warm south and I have been chasing them like crazy; one of these days I’ll get one. Make sure to look out for me on your next stay, I’ll be the much-loved dog running around our property showing or guests where to go, and showing my fellow pups all the property hot spots.

Happy Trails,

 Cuvee, The SageCliffe Dog

I hope to see all of you on your next stay!

Well, the 2008 white wines are bottled and anxiously awaiting their unveiling later on this month. With this latest 2008 vintage we have both a newcomer, and some production increases of some of our most popular wines.   First we will be introducing our very first Cave B Viognier. With bright crisp acidity, this wine offers tons of varietal Viognier character…spring fruit and floral bouquet. Due to being so incredibly well received, we’ve increased production of our Saignee (Rose of Cabernet Sauvignon), Riesling, and of course our SageCliffe 100 White Wine (un-oaked Chardonnay). Our Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer round out the line up of wines, with roughly the same production numbers as last year.  They are now bottled and ready for release at our upcoming White Wine release event here at the winery on March 28^th.  See you there! 

Buon Prevecho,

Alfredo “Freddy” Arredondo, Winemaker

Yeah! It’s an Ice Wine!!!!! Yes everyone, Mother Nature graced us with some COLD! COLD! COLD! days in the middle of December. On December 16^th 2008, with temperatures in the single digits, we had those much-needed cold temperatures required to freeze an intensely sugar-filled grape on the vine. With a temperature of 6˚ F at the onset of the Ice Wine harvest, the chilly thermal reading refused to break into the double digits. So with hats, gloves, facemasks and heavy coats donned and all body parts carefully covered except for their eyes, our hard working harvest crew braved the freezing temperatures to bring in the harvest for our 2008 Cave B Ice Wine. The fruit was beautiful, and eating these frozen grapes was much like having a tiny spoonful of a delightful Semillon Sorbet. A final sugar reading in the juice of 39.5 degrees Brix assures that this Ice Wine can achieve a perfect balance of alcohol to residual sugar.    

Thank you, weather…hello, Ice Wine.  

Facebook is for all faces…even the furry kind.  I’m proud to say that I now have my own Facebook page.  Do you?  You can find me by searching for cuvee@sagecliffe.com.  I miss many of you after you leave the Inn, so this way we can stay friends!  Add me as a friend and I’ll do the same…it’s tricky working with paws, but I manage.  See you on Facebook!

It’s December 12:  The first day of winter is just around the corner, and we at SageCliffe are gearing up for the holiday season.  Winter menus are in the works and Tendrils is excited to dive into the local bounty. 

On the top of my list are citrus fruits: blood oranges, kumquats and Meyer lemons.  What else?  Black cod, brussel sprouts, winter squashes, celery root,  and veal shanks. 

Look for these among others on our Tendrils menus  when you come visit Cave B Inn at SageCliffe in the beautiful winter season!

~Shauna Scriver
Executive Chef, Tendrils

In November we released our 2007 Cave B vintages of Barbera, Sangiovese and our first ever Tempranillo. I must say that the Tempranillo has become a Tasting room “Rock Star,” making up about 25% of our daily sales since its release. With beautiful full fruit flavours and earthy nuances, this young red wine is ready to drink and wants to join you at the dinner table to accompany some of your dinnertime favorites. It’s nap time! (For the wines). With all of the red wines in barrel now slumbering away and working through the malo-lactic fermentation, things have slowed down since the all-too hectic but exciting days of the 2008 crush.   All of our Cave B and SageCliffe white wines are dry.  Both barrel fermentations and tank fermentations have worked through with cool, steady, long fermentations. These long cool fermentations have made for some truly beautifully crisp and fruity white wines.

Until Next Time,

Bueno Provecho,

Freddy Arredondo, Winemaker

  Last Friday night, November 14, Live! at The Cellar was truly alive and jumping.  Singer-songwriter Kristen Ward, accompanied on guitar by musician Gary Westlake, played and sang their rock-country-soul hearts out to a crowd of true music appreciators and animated minglers alike.

Lucky seven in the lineup of  Live! at The Cellar performers, Kristen Ward’s deep, sonorous voice and thought-provoking lyrics entranced those seated on the floor, chairs and benches near the duo at the front of the room.  The cadence and lyricism of Kristen’s music pulled in the audience who had come to hear a truly up and coming artist sing with her heart on her sleeve.  Gary Westlake, assistant to the manager of Pearl Jam for the last 25 years, brought his own amazing guitar work and rock and roll sensibility to the performance, strongly complementing Kristen’s youth and femininity with his own rock-veteran solidity. 

Kristen’s prime cheerleader, Gary was the individual who introduced Kristen to her now-mentor, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.  After hearing Kristen’s music playing in Gary’s London hotel room one night, Mike asked the proverbial “Who is that?”  A short few weeks later, Mike had laid down a track on Kristen’s second CD, and their mentor relationship was off and running.

For SageCliffe, the opportunity to host Kristen Ward and Gary Westlake at The Cellar completed a wonderful kind of circle, as Gary had stayed at Cave B Inn several times in the past with Pearl Jam, when the band played at the neighboring Gorge Amphitheater. 

This time in a different role, as guitar-player, Gary had returned once again to Cave B.  The Cellar is our new, emerging venue, and Kristen Ward and Gary Westlake are on their own emerging musical path….it seemed fitting that the two came together last Friday; perhaps the full-circle nature of the event is what brought out the full-house crowd that listened, talked, ate, drank, made new friends and went home humming Kristen’s songs-from-the-soul. 

Live! at The Cellar has hit its stride; we look forward to many more full-circle moments, and full-house crowds.  See you in February!

Were you at The Cellar for Kristen and Gary’s performance?  Tell us what you thought by leaving a comment!

To see more Kristen Ward/Gary Westlake performances, visit Kristen’s site: http://www.kristenward.com.