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ZMV
website has a striking new look
Visit www.zuccawines.com
 We’ve
redesigned our web site to make it more interesting
and interactive, as well as a place to buy wine
and gifts on-line. There are pictures
of our family going back to the early 1900’s
along with recipe contests to win 2 free bottles
of wine. You will also find special on-line wine
sales. Come and visit the site at www.zuccawines.com.
We have had lots of fun designing it. Please also
give a round of applause to Holly and Keith Berkley
at www.berkweb.com for all their hard work in
converting our and their ideas and photos into
a reality.
For
technical information about our wine, go to our
wine and click on the picture.
Interested
in events? We have an events section that will
inform you of upcoming
events at the winery and around the area.
There will be maps and links to other sites for
your use and enjoyment .
 We’ll
clue you in on lodging in the area , good dining
spots and outdoor activities and adventures in
the nearby Sierras (our
neighborhood). We are 15 minutes from Big
Trees State Park and 45 minutes from skiing, kayaking,
biking and hiking. We’ll keep you informed.
Wine
Club Membership as a Holiday Gift
Think about giving your favorite person a membership
in our wine club for
the holidays. The person will receive 8 bottles
of wine (2 each quarter) to include wine information
and pairing recipes. The cost is $125 plus tax.
The first bottles will include a card from you
wishing the person happy holidays. They will remember
your thoughtfulness every three months when they
receive the wine. All you need to do is go to
the website and select wine club membership. You
can even pay on line with no hassle. We also have
gift boxes of wine, gift baskets, wine rack and
more. We could also send and wrap a case of wine
for a gift. The shipping is free in CA.
From
the Winemakers
 What
a crush! It lasted for 3 months. However, this
year’s vintage should be superb. With all
that extra time on the vine to gather more flavors,
the Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Zinfandel are
bold and fruity with intense color. We can hardly
wait for the 18 months it will take for the wines
to age properly, smooth out and develop subtle
oak flavors.
Our
2002 vintage Syrah port should be every bit as
good as the 2001 vintage with even more flavors
due to the long time on the grape skins during
fermentation. The cold weather slowed the fermentation
down to allow better extraction of flavors.
We’re
deciding if we should do another Tesoro; our Beaujolais
blend of Zinfandel and Syrah. What do you think?
If so, we will release it in 2003 along with our
Sauvignon Blanc. Our SB has many citrus flavors
this year. We think you will like it.
To
help us during crush, we purchased a Toyota forklift
and a bin dumper. Both pieces of equipment made
the crush much easier. However, we are still making
the wines in small lots, hand sorting the grapes,
punching down the skin cap by hand to mix the
juice and the grape skins in order extract the
maximum colors and flavors. Thus we produce old
world style wines with
a modern touch. Also, we are converting to all
French oak barrels for aging the wines. We like
the subtle flavors that the French oak adds to
the flavors. The only bad news is that we have
to wait until 2004 to release them
Tasting
Room News
We
are now open DAILY from 12-5 PM. Thus, our
wines will be available for tasting on any
afternoon. Bring your friends!
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 We
have doubled our sales from the tasting room thanks
to all of you spreading the word about our wines
and unique location. We may be hard to find but
we are seldom forgotten.
Our
aim is to make out tasting room an enjoyable visit
where you can have fun, enjoy our wines and laugh
at our unusual decorations. We have Veronica back
(our buxom bunny) for the fall. The Grinch will
be going up again after
Take
Mine with Wine” polar bear will return to
take us through the ski season. Who knows what
we will think of next.
Meet
the New Tasting Room Wine Experts
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Because
we have been open daily since July, we asked
2 wine experts to help us in the tasting
room from Monday thru Thursday. Hannelor
Mitchell is in the tasting room on Monday
and Tuesday. She has extensive experience
in wines and wine tasting. Hannelor comes
from Germany and is world traveled. She
can talk to you about types of wines and
food pairings from all over the world.
Tim
Davis was the wine expert and buyer for
Safeway. He works on Wednesday and Thursday.
He is really knowledgeable and he loves
to chat with people about wine.
Carol (owner and winemaker) is still there
Friday and Saturday and Gary (owner and
winemaker) on Sunday to talk to you and
answer any winemaking questions you may
have. You will be pleased at the knowledge
and experience we all have to make your
experience the best.
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Hannelor
Mitchell
Tim
Davis
Carol & Gary Zucca |
Additional
10% discount to our customers
On-line Orders
 As
our gift to you for the holidays, we are giving
an additional 10% discount for on-line orders
of your favorites; Merlot 1998, Zinfandel 1999,
Sangiovese Rosato 2000, and Syrah 2000. This discount
will be in addition to the standard 1/2 case discount
of 10% or the case discount of 20% Thus, the 1/2
case purchase will be discounted 20% and the case
purchase will be discounted 30%. We will continue
this offer through the end of December. The discount
should be a great way for you to save on your
holiday gifts. We ship free in CA and will gift
wrap your purchase free of charge. Just e-mail
us at carol@zuccawines.com
after you make your on-line order and tell us
to wrap the gift for you.
Tasting
Room Purchases
Another
way to save money is to bring in your ZMV Christmas
Card for an additional 10% discount on any tasting
room purchase between now and the end of December.
As with the on-line orders, this discount will
be added to the regular 1/2 case and case discounts.
This
Christmas Card discount is for returning customers
as a thank you for your support.
Enjoy
your Christmas and New Year celebrations with
ZMV wine at these special prices.
Food
and Wine Pairing Contest
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free bottles of ZMV wine given to the winner
of the monthly recipe contest
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Do
you have a favorite recipe to go with any of our
ZMV wines? E-mail it to recipes@zuccawines.com
to enter the recipe contest. We will award 2 bottles
of ZMV wine monthly to the winning recipe and
put it on our web page for all to enjoy. Be certain
to include your name, address, telephone number
and e-mail address so that we can send you the
wine and contact you if necessary.
We
would like to recognize you on the website as
being one of our winners so be aware that by submitting
a recipe, you have given ZMV the right to publish
it on the web.
We
really think it will be fun to share recipes from
you all. Keith (one of our web designers) suggested
that we divide the recipes into categories based
on the time it takes to make the recipe. Thus
we will have the recipe section divided into wine
varieties and the wine varieties divided into
times of preparation. Sound good?
The
Taste of Wines
 FYI:
There are three basic tastes we get from
wine; sour, sweet and bitter. In a good wine,
the tastes are in balance and compliment each
other. The sour taste is due to natural fruit
acids. This sourness sets wine apart from other
fruit beverages. When served with meals, as wines
are meant to be, the acid moderates the greasy
components of the meal and increases the flavors
of them both.
The sweet taste comes from the sugar produced
in the grape. When red wines are produced, they
are usually fermented to dryness. That does not
mean that there is no sugar, but that the amount
of sugar is below the threshold value of our taste
buds. With a little sugar in the wine, it decreases
the apparent acidity; a possible reason why many
people like sweet wines.
Bitterness comes from the tannins extracted from
the grape skins, seeds and stems. Tannins give
wine its aftertaste and act as a preservative.
Tannins are also found in black tea.
If you want to distinguish the 3 tastes in wine,
try mixing lemon juice and sugar in various proportions
with strong tea. Check for the flavors on your
tongue.
Let
the vineyard come out in the wine
 There
has been a lot of controversy regarding the treatment
of the grape after it leaves the vineyard and
becomes wine. The winemaker wants to make a wine
pleasing his/herself and the public but at what
point is the winemaker over-managing the transition
from grape to wine?
A
recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle
(November 6, 2002) discusses the high alcohol
found in wine. Winemakers want the grape to stay
on the vine longer to increase the flavors but
with the increase of flavors; the sugars increase.
The high sugars then ferment to a high alcohol
level in wine. To compensate for the higher alcohol
content, the wine is sent out to be altered by
reverse osmosis or other procedures to remove
the alcohol. Will reverse osmosis be standard
procedures in the future? Or will the industry
work at
the
vineyard level to control the flavors, sugars and
thus the alcohol in the wines?
We,
at ZMV, have decided to work closely with the
grape grower to produce
the best grape possible and allow the vineyard
to show in the wine. Some winemakers and growers
believe that the best way to keep the alcohol
levels down is to develop the flavors early in
the season by controlling the vigor of the vine.
We
prefer our wines to represent the vineyards and
vary with climate, elevation and grower practices.
We are not against modern technology, but the
danger of controlling the wine flavors in the
winery is that all the wines taste the same. We
prefer the flavor of different vineyards in our
wines. What do you think?
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