HAPPY SPRING WINE LOVERS!

What a wonderful time of year here at the winery! The vines have already broken buds and are pushing small shoots with infant grape clusters. The flowers are endless, boasting brilliant color all over our backyard. We wish each and every one of you could visit and experience this for yourself. The next best thing, however, is indulging in the Spring Wine Club selections. Whether you chose your wines or let us do it for you, they are sure to impress!

We can’t thank you enough for supporting our passion to produce fine, handcrafted wines best enjoyed with friends. Stay tuned for winery events and a member wine special that is not to be missed. Details on all this will be available via email and the “news” section on our website. We wish you a fun and safe summer filled with many of life’s moments deserving of a toast with De La Montanya wines.

Cheers, - The team at De La Montanya.

HOMEMADE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

(feeds 6 - 8)

Pair with 2022 Zinfandel, Felta Creek

INGREDIENTS

1000 Grams 00 Caputo Flour
3 Grams Dry Yeast
650 Milliliters Water
25 Grams Salt
1 Tablespoon Honey

Recommended Brands/Equipment

Caputo 00 pizza flour and dry yeast
Any stand mixer with a spiral attachment
Baking steel/pizza stone

METHOD

In a large mixing bowl, mix water, salt, and honey until fully diluted.
In a separate bowl, combine flour and dry yeast
Turn on the standing mixer and pour in the wet ingredients
Start adding dry ingredients slowly. Take 2 - 3 minutes to fully add in
Continue mixing for 15 minutes or until you pass the bounce back test ( press a fingertip into the dough and if it bounces back slowly, then it’s ready; if it stays indented, keep kneading )
Move the dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit in room temperature for 2 hours.
Remove dough and divide up dough into smaller dough balls ( 8 ounces for personal pizza, 16 ounces for large New York style pizza )
Place dough balls into the fridge for 24 - 72 hours.
Remove from fridge and let sit at room temperature 2 hours before cooking
Stretch the dough, and top with your favorite toppings!

NEW ARRIVALS

We are very excited to introduce the newest iteration of our finest Cabernet Sauvignon, 2022 Sybil! For those of you unfamiliar, this is the only wine we produce using fruit not from our own estate vineyards. Sybil dates all the way back to 2005. We wanted to experiment with Napa Valley Cabernet, blending it with our Red Grav Vineyard Cabernet. The result was a perfect blend of personalities from Napa and Sonoma. In fact, that is the origin of the name. Given the wine’s multiple personalities, we decided on the name Sybil after the 1976 movie. 2022 Sybil Cabernet Sauvignon is expertly blended combining a dusty, structured Cabernet from the Rutheford region of Napa Valley with the softer more fruit forward Cabernet from our Tiza Colina Vineyard in Alexander Valley. The result is a special wine just waiting to be added to your collection or opened for your next special occasion.

WINE SHIPPING 101

This is the first of hopefully many informational posts to share with you. A little peek behind the curtain for transparency and a better understanding of how the small team here at De La Montanya operates. Today’s topic is shipping. Exciting? No. Important to understand? We think so.

Shipping has notoriously been one of the costliest challenges for our small winery. We don’t have enough volume to get competitive rates from the main carriers (UPS and FedEx); therefore, we utilise a 3rd-party shipping vendor. Crown Wine Shipping. They are a small family-run shipping and fulfilment business based right here in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California.

Over the years, Crown and De La Montanya Winery have been no strangers to the increased costs of shipping. Each year, UPS and FedEx increase their rates. 20% over the past decade, in fact. Today’s rates are as follows:

In addition, carriers charge a $22 fee for in-route address updates and package redirections.

All this being said…Wine shipping is expensive.

Many wineries have tried to mitigate this cost by increasing bottle prices, making tasting fees nonrefundable, or charging a credit card processing fee. We here at De La Montanya believe our wine is priced fairly, and we plan to keep it that way. We aren’t a fan of fees, and we think tastings should be waived when you purchase our wine. Our members are our lifeblood.

In addition, we reward our club members’ loyalty with discounted wine and a flat shipping rate of $38 per box of wine shipped. 1-12 bottles. This concept rewards larger purchases. Now let’s talk about when your wine leaves CA and is on its way to you. We attach your email to each order. This allows UPS and FedEx to send you tracking directly so you can follow your wine’s progress.

Wine shipments require an adult signature at delivery. You have 3 chances to sign and take delivery of your wine. If you miss these delivery attempts, UPS will send the wine right back to us. This incurs a return freight cost as well as the cost to reship. To avoid such a “pain in the you know what” here are a few best practices

Enrol in a program like UPS My Choice. You will be able to make any changes during your wine’s transit.
Ship your wine to a work/business address if you are able. There is always someone available to sign upon delivery.
Ship to a friend or family member who is retired or works from home.
Be very, very kind to your UPS driver. Not a guarantee, but it doesn’t hurt.

That is how passion gets delivered to your door! If you have any questions or comments, please share them with me. jarod@dlmwine.com We love what we do and produce wine meant to be shared with friends and loved ones. So, continue to work hard, gather with your loved ones, and celebrate life’s moments with a glass of wine.

Thank you for your support – Jarod Kline, General Manager