Vin Ambassador is thrilled to announce our recent partnership with the San Francisco Wine Center.  Also headquartered in SOMA, the SF Wine Center brings a whole new avenue of amazing opportunities for past, present, and future guests of Vin Ambassador.  With this new partnership, we are able to offer shipping and wine cellar programs that will make buying wine another check off of the list of things that you won’t need to worry about.  Especially for those who live in alcohol restricted states, several limitations can make it very difficult for wineries to ship your wines to you.  With our partnership with the SF Wine Center, you will be able to collaborate all of the wine purchased during your trip and have them shipped, legally I might add, to your home.  How is it that they can do what wineries can’t?  As a wine storage cellar facility, the SF Wine Center is able to collect your wines, register them into your personal wine cellar unit, and then have them shipped directly to you.  Because you would be registered as a wine storage cellar member, it is essentially you sending your wine to yourself.  It’s just that easy!

The SF Wine Center puts a twist on the typical business of storing wines.  Open to a wide range of wine lovers, the SF Wine Center welcomes everyone from new drinkers all the way to established collectors.  This Bryant street facility is in an up-and-coming neighborhood and features private, climate-controlled wine cellars and two beautiful tasting event spaces that host tasting events, food & wine pairings with top chefs, and private events.  The SF Wine Center also features educational wine classes with some of the top industry leaders and invites you to come by, taste, learn about, and truly experience wines the way that they were meant to be enjoyed.

In addition to the incredible shipping benefits of this partnership, Vin Ambassador will also soon be launching its new International Wine Club via the SF Wine Center!  Each wine will be hand selected from our team of wine experts and professionals in order to present wine club members with rare boutique wines from all around the world.  Many parts of the US do not receive a wide variety of imported wine, limiting the amount of exposure that most people can have with the entire world of wine.  With this wine club, you will be able to explore unique wines from Old World and New World regions, indigenous grape varietals, and some of the finest producers abroad.

So the next time you travel with us here at Vin Ambassador, take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to taste, cellar, and ship out your wines from the SF Wine Center.

For more information about the San Francisco Wine Center, visit www.sfwinecenter.com.

One of the most frequent questions people ask me (other than do I have purple feet) is if wine spends its entire pre-bottle life in oak barrels. The immediate answer is no. It does not. One of a winemaker’s best friends is a beautiful things called stainless-steel. While a few winemakers do fermentations in open-top wooden vessels and then transfer directly to oak barrels, the majority of all wines spend at least a few weeks in stainless steel tanks.

Stainless steel, unlike a new oak barrel, does not impart any flavor into a wine. Thus, for a delicate, fruit forward white wine such as a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, it is ideal.

Stainless steel also prevents oxygen exchange in wines, which is necessary for a white wine to retain both its freshness and color. Oak, on the other hand, imparts flavor and allows a small amount of oxygen into the wine contained within. This is desirable for a wine such as your typical California Cabernet Sauvignon, where the oak blends beautifully with the dark fruit flavors of cab, and helps to soften up those sometimes rough tannins.

On the eve of Sofia Coppola’s wedding, our team met at the historic Inglenook Estate to discuss the most exciting developments of the season.  We sat in the “cool” 81 Degree Fahrenheit 2011 summer sun sipping wine and water from café cups.  Something about being on the estate makes everything seem as though you’re on film… or maybe it was the wine.

Decades Spent Restoring a Great American Estate

Francis Ford Coppola got into the wine industry with the purchase of a large portion of the original Inglenook Estate in Rutherford.  The year was 1975 and the Estate was nearly unrecognizable.  The land had been sold off in various lots, even the historic Inglenook trademark had been sold to a third party and would continue to change hands for decades, until now.

This “name change” was the final stage in an ongoing effort to restore the estates heritage to that of decades before Coppola picked up the camera.

In addition to the historic namesake the restoration includes numerous vineyard plots; reunited with the original 1856 property [ Pre American Civil War Era ]

Prized Bordeaux winemaker appointed to Inglenook

To Francis Ford Coppola, return to tradition does not end with trademarks and land zoning, but in the wine itself.  Paying homage to traditional winemaking practices of the Napa Valley Coppola has directed Inglenook wines alcohol levels to be rolled back rolling back to a golden age.  A time when a Napa Cab tipped the scales at a lean 12-13 abv, as opposed to 15 being “a little bold”.  The desired result of lower alcohol yield wines of greater elegance.

Philippe Bascaules, Winemaker

Who better to bring about this impressive shift than Philippe Bascaules, entrusted with Chateau Margaux’ greatest wines for the last decade.  Bascaules will be taking the reigns at Inglenook with the 2011 vintage, accompanied by Consulting winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt.  Derenoncourt, also of Bordeaux, has been with Coppola since 2008 and will be providing invaluable knowledge of the unique microclimates the estate.

As if directed by Francis Ford Coppola himself, the 2011 vintage has been a significantly cool vintage, a brilliant opportunity to maximize hang time while not over ripening the fruit.  Ideal for complex, elegant, low alcohol wines.

[ fresh, balances wines with restrained tannins and less oak]

End Scene

It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon discussing the spectacular implications of these events for a small [big] industry like Napa Valley.

To Sofia, we congratulate you on what was surely a spectacular wedding en Italia, we appreciate your casual and convenient contribution to wine culture!

For Wine Immersion Travel featuring the now restored Inglenook Estate, email or call 001 415 385 6556 to speak with us.

The majority of grapevines planted across the globe’s most famous wine growing areas are done so upon rootstocks.  A rootstock is a root system of one species of grapevine that, through a process known as grafting, is attached to a cutting of another grape species. The grapevine cutting then utilizes the root system to continue its growth.

The main historical reason for the use of rootstocks in winegrowing was what was known as the Great French Wine Blight of the 19^th century. A tiny insect known as phylloxera, a relative of the aphid, was introduced to Europe from North America. This insect feeds on the root systems of grapevines, and grape varieties native to North America are resistant to it. Vitis Vinifera, the great grape family of the middle east and Europe, however, is not. Historians estimate that anywhere from sixty to ninety percent of the vineyards of Europe were destroyed by this pest. A savior did arrive, however, when scientists in Texas successfully developed a technique to graft the resistant American rootstock to the French wine varietals. This technique of grafting is still the main deterrent used today to combat not only phylloxera but a host of other vineyard pests and problems. So the next time you are enjoying an Oakville cab, give a silent thanks to the Lone Star state.

When you taste the wine, does it remind you of a hemi-engine or does it remind you of the curves of a 1969 Jaguar xke? Does the finish hit like a 300 pound linebacker or deliver smoothy like a pass from Joe Montana? Is it a compilation of harsh words over a distorted riff or a “Samba that sways so cool and swings so gently that when she paces each one that paces goes… ahhhhh”?

This is the magic about wine, it can be described in so many ways, each more poignant than the next.  Forget about being “wrong” – drink the wine, think about it, feel something.  Enjoy.

Alternatively, producers can use neutral oak, meaning used barrels, which negates this cost. The barrels still allow oxygen exchange, which can be desirable for certain styles, without imparting an oaky character. Others have turned to using oak alternatives, which are oak chips or oak staves that are placed into a vat of wine. This will impart some oak flavor without the high cost of a barrel, though some experts argue that the overall effect results in a wine of lesser quality. I suggest you taste some of each, and decide for yourself.

However, as wine ferments in a tank, the skins will float and rise to the top as the juice settles to the bottom, creating a separation between the two. To keep a healthy, constant contact between the two, winemakers must manually mix them in the tank, often several times a day. In a smaller fermentation vessel, this means using your hands, feet, or other instrument to physically push the grape skins back down into the juice. In a larger tank, this is not possible, so a common technique is to pump the juice from the bottom of the tank back over the top and onto the grape skins. This can involve a lot of hose wrestling and ladder climbing, making either technique one of the more labor intensive jobs of the winemaking process.

Forget working out: get a job at a winery!

Vin Ambassador; Immersion Wine Travel and Tours

When you share a glass of wine you’re hard-wiring memories and emotional associations to every nuance in your glass.  Make them count. Often.

The best bottle of wine is the one that brings you the most pleasure. The next step is to understand why… Understanding Wine Immersion Tours separate truth from myth, offering a new level of confidence when engaging in the world of wine.

World-class epicurean experiences are found in all the great wine regions.  Food and Wine Immersion Tours focus on the decadent and inseparable nature of regional wine and the local cuisine.

Wine will take you to the most beautiful places on earth… well, wine and golf according to many of our clients.  Sites and Wine Immersion Tours accentuate on the most stunning aspect of wine country; charming towns, local art, backroads and iconic architecture.

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Our team and supporters want to know about your day.

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Vin Ambassador seeks Social Media Pro for Summer Internship.  Major projects include digital strategy monitoring and execution.  Additional projects as needed.  Approx. 20hrs per week + excursions to wine country.

Ideal candidate has a speaker box personality, is passionate about wine and inspired by quantifiable achievements.

Email resume along with your expectations of an internship to tiphanie@vinambassador.com

Hospitality + Wine Background Preferred. All applicants will be contacted.

All are welcome.

Good luck!