My Podcast Weblog

Good people doing great things with wine, Charity Case Wine on the WineGuyMike™Radio Show©

Check out the radio show on The Trail 103.3FM and Fresh 104.5FM.  The live stream feed is online at www.trail1033.com where you can click on “Listen Live”.  The WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© airs on both radio stations Sunday mornings at 10:00AM MDT.
Each week WineGuyMike™ will be giving away gift certificates from our sponsors.  If your question is selected as WineGuyMike’s™ topic of discussion you will win one of the $20.00 - $25.00 gift certificates.  Good luck and send your questions to WineGuyMike™ on his Facebook fan page.
Social Media links;
Today’s Podcast; http://snapshotwine.podbean.com/
YouTube; My YouTube channel of course is WineGuyMike™ or the actual URL link: http://www.youtube.com/user/WineGuyMike?feature=mhum
Facebook; WineGuyMike please “like”
Twitter; @WineGuyMike please follow me
Sponsors         
Ciao Mambo, “Eat Like You Mean It”, located in Missoula on The Hip Strip.  Find them online at www.CiaoMambo.com
W.J. Deutsch & Sons since 1981 has been marketing quality wines produced by prestigious families from major wine regions of the world. 
Georges Distributing in Helena, Montana.
Each week on the WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© I have the pleasure of hosting guests who are always special in their own unique way.  Whether these individuals are great winemakers or farmers who grow the finest grapes, these individuals are almost always game changers in some way, shape, or form no matter what they do in the world.  This week’s show was no different and in fact I found this story to be extraordinary.   The organization that I’m sharing with you this week is very special; this is a story about good people doing great things with wine.  In this “wine case” I’m talking about Charity Case Wine.  www.CharityCaseFoundation.org
Pat Woodbridge was my special guest this week.  Pat is the mother of Jayson Woodbridge, our friend who is Proprietor/Winemaker of Layer Cake Wines and famous for his cult wines Cherry Pie and Hundred Acre.  Pat was charged with the mission of assembling all the paperwork and legal documents in order to form this foundation – a process which took the better part of a year.  Pat was kind enough to take time out to be a guest on the WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© and share the Charity Case Wine story with you and I.
Charity Case Foundation was formed in 2008, during a difficult rainy vintage in Napa wine country.  When fruit is picked after rain, there is more moisture in the soil, which results in the plants absorbing the water into the grapes.  In order to correct the dilution, winemakers will remove juice from the fermenters to concentrate the remaining solids before fermentation begins.  This is called Saignee (French for ‘to bleed’).  In 2008, there was a lot of it around.
Jayson Woodbridge and Helen Mawson of Hundred Acre, Layer Cake, and Cherry Pie wines contacted other vintners in the Napa Valley area to see if they would donate the juice in order to create a wine which could be sold for the long term support of Napa Valley Charities.  The response was overwhelming with dozens of vintners contributing almost more than could be handled.  The Charity Case wine label was designed and the non-profit wine with all volunteer help from Napa Valley was launched.  In 2008 and 2009, a Napa Valley Rose blend was created from several varieties of red grapes from in and around Saint Helena.  In 2009 the group found exceptional Sauvignon Blanc grapes in St. Helena that needed a home.  In 2010, a group in Napa Valley donated 10 tons of Chardonnay and this Charity Case Wine will be released very soon.
Once Pat had everything in place, she joined forces with Helen Mawson, Jayson’s partner and fellow winemaker, Sheila Dougherty, a veteran of charity work and manager of the Wolfe Center, a treatment center for teens with addiction problems.  The fourth member of the troop is Peggy Garcia, executive assistant for Jayson, who heartily threw herself into the fold.  The four of them have worked tirelessly for Charity Case Foundation.  All services are volunteered, and all net proceeds go to the charities.  WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© friend Laura Kirkham and her Laura Kirkham Agency joined the group in October of 2010, offering pro bono public relations assistance to tell the Charity Case story.
The Charity Case Foundation is devoted to raising funds through the sale of small-production, specially crafted wines to support local non-profit organizations, providing services to children in need and their families.  The Foundation’s motivating philosophy is to get all monies raised to those in need, without dollars spent on marketing, bureaucracy or other hidden expenses, which take away from getting the donations - in their entirety - to those who actually need them. 
The wines, labels, bottles, corks storage, shipping and marketing efforts for The Charity Case Foundation are done entirely by volunteers.  Charity Case has no salaried employees, meaning that all of the proceeds go directly to the charities.  Who are this year’s recipients of proceeds in their entirety raised by The Charity Case Foundation?
The Wolfe Center is a community based Drug And Alcohol Program for teens and families in Napa County.  http://www.wolfecenter.org/programs.html
Cope Family Center is the first stop for families in crisis.  http://copefamilycenter.org/
Aldea Children and Family Services supports and empowers young people with serious social, mental, and behavioral difficulties to grow to be independent, productive adults.  http://www.aldeainc.com/
Foster Kids Fund (FKF) is an all-volunteer non-profit community organization, dedicated to enriching the lives Napa County children in foster care.  http://www.fosterkidsfund.org/about.html
The Charity Case Foundation is determined to provide raised donations to those in need in the way they should be given:  in their entirety.  www.charitycasewine.org
Before I get into the wines for today’s show I would like to give a shout out to all the Father’s out there and say Happy Father’s day to you.  I want to also share a personal thought with you today.  I strive to follow the example of the great folks at Charity Case Foundation and think about serving others, please join me in this mission.
Today’s Charity Case Wines
Charity Case Rosé 2008
Charity Case Rosé is a complex, elegant wine.  This wine has aromas of dried strawberry, rhubarb, and kaffir lime peel that fill the nose.  The palate will first taste flavors of cranberry, strawberry and red raspberries fill your mouth, then a long lingering finish of orange blossom and hints of delicate white pepper leave you wanting and needing more of this delicious wine.
Charity Case Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Charity Case barrel fermented 2009 Sauvignon Blanc is a luscious wine that has balance structure.  On the nose of this wine is a blend of ripe gooseberry, apricot and lemon zest.  The palate is viscous and full-bodied with hints of pineapple, melon and coconut, with a long, creamy finish.  This may be the Pina Colada of wine, yum!
I want to thank the Charity Case Foundation for all that they do.  Please join me and raise your glass in a toast to Pat Woodbridge and all the other good people involved in the Charity Case Wine and Foundation, Salute.
The Charity Case Wines receive The WineGuyMike™ Seal of Approval©

On the Road Again to Walla Walla in the Columbia Valley of Washington State, the Reininger Winery

Check out the radio show on The Trail 103.3FM and Fresh 104.5FM.  The live stream feed is online at www.trail1033.com where you can click on “Listen Live”.  The WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© airs on both radio stations Sunday mornings at 10:00AM MST.
Each week WineGuyMike™ will be giving away gift certificates from our sponsors.  If your question is selected as WineGuyMike’s™ topic of discussion you will win one of the $20.00 - $25.00 gift certificates.  Good luck and send your questions to WineGuyMike™ on his Facebook fan page.
Social Media links;
Today’s Podcast; http://wineguymike.podbean.com/
YouTube; My YouTube channel of course is WineGuyMike™ or the actual URL link: http://www.youtube.com/user/WineGuyMike?feature=mhum
Facebook; WineGuyMike please “like”
Twitter; @WineGuyMike please follow me
Sponsors                                                                                                                     
Ciao Mambo, “Eat Like You Mean It”, located in Missoula on The Hip Strip.  Find them online at www.CiaoMambo.com
W.J. Deutsch & Sons since 1981 has been marketing quality wines produced by prestigious families from major wine regions of the world. 
Georges Distributing in Helena, Montana
This week on the WineGuyMike™ Radio Show© I’m talking with Justin Vajgert who is National Brand Sales Manager for the Reininger and Helix wine labels.  Today I’m going to share with you the land, the wine, and the man who makes these wines.  First I want to give you a little background on my guest who joins me this week on WineGuyMike™ Radio Show©.  Justin’s background is a similar journey of most guests I have the pleasure of talking with on the show. Justin grew up just outside of Chicago and relocated to the Walla Walla area in 2005 to attend the Institute for Viticulture and Enology.  He worked harvest in 2005 for the Waterbrook Winery and then joined forces with the Reininger Winery in November of 2005.  Justin worked at Reininger all through school doing everything from cellar work, to pouring wine in the tasting room, to painting bathrooms.  During Justin’s tenure his roles have evolved and he moved into a sales role beginning with local sales and then after school moved into his current national sales position.  He’s been doing that ever since.  Distribution for Reininger/Helix  has grown to 17 states.  Justin eventually wants to make wine though, it’s his passion.
 The backbone of the winery side of this business is not the glam we consumers experience when we do a road trip to visit the wine country.  We walk into the beautiful tasting room and are greeted by nice smiling people eager to tell you about the wine that they are pouring today.  Our wonderful experience though is just a result of very hard and painstaking work, let’s not forget at the heart of growing grapes is the farming business.  Our good fortune to enjoy great wine is quite literally the fruit of a team of hardworking people’s labor.  Today I’m very pleased to be bringing you the story of the Reininger Winery in Walla Walla, Washington.
The Reininger Winery, located in the heart of the Walla Walla Valley, Chuck Reininger who is Head Winemaker, specializes in crafting elegant and finely structured red wines from hand-harvested, ultra premium grapes.  Enough said I want to taste this wine right now.  First let’s take a look at the Walla Walla A.V.A located in the Columbia Valley of Washington State.  The Columbia Valley is just a short trip from Western Montana. 
Glacial Lake Missoula was a prehistoric pro-glacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age.  When things warmed up a bit Lake Missoula flooded and took all of its wonderful alluvial soil matter with it to Washington, and in particular to the Walla Walla A.V.A.  The Walla Walla area soils are composed of layers of soil blessed with the alluvial soil material and layers of volcanic ash, from eruptions throughout history, and rock that have created amazing soil to grow grapes in.  The days are warm to hot and the night air is cool, perfect for growing world class grapes that make fabulous wines.  This is what is known as terrior, terrior, terrior at its finest.
The Walla Walla A.V.A. was established in 1984 but a group on Italian immigrants began farming this land in the 1850’s.  There are presently about 130-140 wineries in this valley, not all are open to the public.  This area has become a hotbed of great wineries, which begets great restaurants, and now many very nice bed and breakfast accommodations.  Wine does amazing things for great grape growing areas, this story reminds me of the movie “Field of Dreams”, “Build it and They Will Come”.  Guess what the wineries have built and the wines lovers, they have come.  If you haven’t tasted any wines from the Walla Walla area you must and you will quickly understand why this area is so special.
Prior to making high-quality wines in the Walla Walla Valley, Chuck Reininger could be found high atop mountains as a senior climbing guide for a Tacoma based company.  Before moving to Walla Walla, Chuck helped long-time friends with crush at Waterbrook winery.  He began experimenting with home winemaking in 1993 and officially caught the “wine bug.”  His weekend hobby quickly turned into a dream to produce super-premium wines of his own: “I became obsessed with starting my own winery,” he admits.  In 1997, Chuck and Tracy Reininger launched their dream – owning a premiere winery in the Walla Walla Valley.
From 1997 through 2004, Reininger Winery was located in a small but functional facility located at the historic Walla Walla Regional Airport.  The “shack-teau,” as Chuck and his wife Tracy fondly nicknamed it, was originally designated as a WWII Army Air Corp runway “crash house” and “base theater” where old time crooners and classic films entertained troops.
In 2003, Reininger Winery purchased seven acres of land, located six miles west of Walla Walla, adjacent to Highway 12, and began renovating two pre-existing potato sheds into a remodeled 15,000 square foot winery, complete with production facility, administrative offices, and a spacious new tasting room.  The result is a modern production facility incorporating rustic design elements that a special place to enjoy events and entertainment.
Chuck Reininger is not only a great winemaker and he is also a very smart business man.  In December 2004, Reininger Winery announced the debut of a new label - “Helix.”  Helix sources fruit from the larger Columbia Valley, allowing for increased production and expanded distribution, while Reininger wines maintain limited production, focusing on fruit from the Walla Walla Valley.  Ultimately, the family believes that “Helix allows them to expand their reach to a new group of wine enthusiasts.”
The wines that I tasted virtually with Justin were the 2006 Reininger Merlot from the Walla Walla Valley, the Helix 2007 Pomotia, and the 2007 Helix Syrah.  The Helix wines have a distinctive new label, featuring an image of a snail.  Helix, the genus name for the Burgundian snail, is the creme de la creme of “escargot.” 
All three of these wines have scored highly with top wine magazines and there team that review them.  Here’s what’s important though these wines are extremely well made and are great to drink.  The Helix wines are very approachable and affordable for every day and weekend wine gatherings for you and your friends.  These wines are simple and wonderful, you don’t have to over think these wines you just drink them and thoroughly enjoy them as I have.  Backyard barbeque with friends, that’s what I’m talking about.  These wines are a beautiful expression of fruit from the Columbia Valley, Chuck has done an outstanding job with this label across the board or in the case the flight.
The Helix 2007 Pomotia is a blend of 38% Syrah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, and 13% Cabernet Franc; Voluptuous dark ripe fruit of cherries and plums bathing in a tub of chocolate with French vanilla coffee beans and a eucalyptus leaf floating on top.  
The 2007 Helix Syrah is 100% Syrah; this fresh, juicy red is a carnival for your senses with a veritable menagerie of delicious flavors!  On the nose you will experience more berries than a midsummer farmers market, a hint of freshly spun cotton candy, orange peel and lavender. Enjoy perfectly ripe flavors of blackberry and white pepper accompanied by a thick round mouthfeel and a loooong dark chocolate finish.
Now let’s get serious with the 2006 Reininger Merlot from the Walla Walla Valley.  I’m going to be a bit crass here for a moment because I cannot help myself, Chuck this is freaking great juice dude.  Wow this wine is focused; dust, earth, smooth, fruit, smoke, spice, white pepper, structure, perfect balance, beautiful tannin, length, finish, and great acid that make me want to grill up a steak on the barbie right now to enjoy this wine masterpiece with.  Chuck do you think I like the 2006 Reininger Merlot?  When I emptied the bottle I picked it up when no one was looking and tried to get a few extra drops on to my lusting palate. 
All kidding aside this is a wonderful winery with an incredible winemaker with a great tasting room to visit.  You don’t want to miss this winery and you certainly don’t want to miss out on anything Chuck Reininger puts into a bottle. 
These wines in this flight receive The WineGuyMike™ Seal of Approval©