A Night with Charlie Garrison

We were so excited when Charlie Garrison of Garrison Brothers Distillery said he would be our next guest in The Bounty Hunter Distiller Series. Garrison Brothers is the first bourbon distillery to come out of Texas, and boy is it a good one! The night was filled with stories, laughter, and of course a lot of bourbon sippin’. 

Our guests started out by grabbing our Bounty Hunter Texas Tea, a special concoction we made with the 2015 Garrison Brothers bourbon,(see recipe below) a refreshing if not spicy way to start  mingling amongst ourselves. Our chefs prepared small bites including pimento cheese, pork sliders, and mini sausages. Barbecue with bourbon? Never can go wrong there! 

Once everyone had settled in and had their cocktail, it was time to get down to business. We started with the 2015 Garrison Brother Texas Bourbon. Like wine, bourbon has a specific way to smell and taste correctly. Charlie explained to smell a bourbon correctly, to get all the aromas that it has to offer, you must put your nose in the glass and breathe in very deeply through your mouth. This allows you to smell the bourbon rather than the alcohol. Now comes the tasting, you first want to warm up your palette by putting a little of the bourbon in your mouth and letting it sit there for a few seconds. After that, your palette will be relaxed and ready to taste.

As the bourbon was being sipped Charlie started talking about some of the basic fundamentals of Bourbon and the history as well. Here are some interesting facts that we learned:

The ABC’s of Bourbon

A: Bourbon is uniquely American

B: Must be aged in a brand new white American oak barrel

C: Must be a minimum of 51% corn

D: Must be distilled at no more than 160 proof/80% alcohol

E: Must be entered into barrel at no more than 125 proof

F: Must be bottled at no less than 80 proof

G: Must be genuine, nothing added to it but water

As the night went on another bottle of bourbon was passed around. This time it was the Garrison Brothers Bounty Hunter Barrel Selection, which our Spirits Buyer bought exclusively for us. This one was definitely the favorite among the guests, and many ended up buying bottles at the end of the evening.

Before the night ended, Charlie explained how he and his brother got into the bourbon business, and it all started with Charlie’s sister in law saying “With as much bourbon you guys drink, you should be making it.” Right then and there the Garrison Brothers Distillery started. A couple years later in early 2006 the Garrison’s got their distiller permit and officially became the first bourbon distillery built outside of Kentucky and Tennessee since prohibition. They also were the first legal whiskey distillery in Texas and the first organic grain distillery ever.

The night was a huge success and we thank Garrison Brothers for coming to good ol’ California and sharing their journey with us.

If you would like to purchase a bottle of Garrison Brothers click here.

Want to make your own Bounty Hunter Texas Tea? Here’s how:

Bounty Hunter Texas Tea

2 parts 2015 Garrison Brothers bourbon

1 part lime juice

Black pepper

Fresh chopped Texas Tarragon, steeped in the bourbon

Top off with ice and ginger beer

7th Annual HALL Cabernet Cookoff

This weekend Chef Nick and the Bounty Hunter team (from our Wine Bar and Smokin’ BBQ flagship restaurant in downtown Napa) participated in the 7^th Annual Hall Cabernet Cookoff at Hall Winery. What a beautiful Saturday in the valley to have a barbeque cook-off. The sun was shining, the vineyards were vibrant with color and the people were ready to eat!

Not only did the attendees get to sip on some delectable wines and tasty barbeque, but also got to support a handful of local charities. Each of the 13 chefs partnered with a local charity and competed to raise money and awareness for that cause, including:

•             Bounty Hunter Smokin’ Barbeque and Napa Humane Society
•          Brix and JDRF
•          Ca’ Momi and Do It For the Love
•          The Grill at Meadowood and Community Resources for Children
•          Harvest Table St. Helena and Boys & Girls’ Club of St. Helena
•          Intercontinental Mark Hopkins and Grace Cathedral
•          Kara’s Cupcakes and The Napa Valley Vine Trail 
•          One Market Restaurant and Collabria Care
•          Paula LeDuc and St. Helena Hospital
•          Sift Dessert Bar and Girls on the Run
•          Sacramento Experience and Food Literacy Center
•          Winery Chef’s and Cope Family Center
•          Feast Catering and Erika Van Giesen Foundation

This year, there were five celebrity judges, including Duff Goldman from The Food Network. Every chef did a fantastic job cooking up food for the event’s roughly 800 guests. Although we didn’t document everyone’s dishes we snagged a couple of pictures of our own dish in between the hustle and bustle of guests. Chef Nick and the Bounty Hunter team prepared a dish that was out of this world, Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Pickled Collard Greens and Stone Ground Grits topped with a Crystal Aioli.

We could hardly keep up with the demand, as soon as we put plates down, they were gone within seconds!

The praise that Bounty Hunter received was fantastic and multiple guests couldn’t resist and had to come back for seconds! We are very proud to say that Chef Nick and The Bounty Hunter team won awards and a glorious amount of money for our chosen charity, the Napa Humane Society. 

•          Best Food and Wine pairing: Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Hall Sauvignon Blanc
•         The People’s Choice Award + $8,500 for Napa Humane Society 

Congratulations to Chef Nick and the Bounty Hunter team, and Congratulations to the Napa Humane Society!

Premiere Napa Valley 2013

Another February, another Napa Valley Premiere auction… it has become arguably the most anticipated week of the entire year in the Napa wine trade for locals and visitors alike. What was once a (relatively) low-key day of a barrel tasting and live auction has morphed into a full-blown four days and nights of mayhem with nearly every winery in the Valley participating in some way. After the auction wraps-up on Saturday and the final round of celebrations begin, one can easily debate whether it’s hitting the finish line or hitting a wall. Not that we’re looking for much sympathy, of course. It’s just a long damn party. 

The best way to really get a handle on the auction lots being offered is to attend the tastings on the days leading up to the event. Keep in mind that everything – even the white wines – are barrel samples. If you've never tasted multiple barrel samples in succession, especially young Cabernet, let’s just say that the taste buds start to fade quickly in the race. So by staggering it across several sessions throughout the day, with meals (and the occasional cleansing Pilsner) in between, we’re able to get a much more precise read on what’s happening in the glass. Whether it’s a smaller, winemaker-specific gig for guys like Bob Foley or Philippe Melka, or the full-blown cave experiences of Spring Mountain, Oakville or the Stags Leap District, small sips are a lot more manageable than trying to hit the 200+ tables pouring the morning of Premiere.

There was a bit of nervous anticipation this year as many of the lots were from the 2011 vintage. You may have heard that this was not a year for amateurs in the vineyard or cellar. Mother Nature was hot and bothered and she took it out on all of us. That said, we were very pleasantly surprised at the life and vibrancy that most of the wines displayed, offering a sort of freshness and pop that’s often lacking in warmer vintages. I tried a Cabernet that was 12.8% alcohol with plenty of expressive fruit, length and fantastic weight. That sort of combination hasn't been seen around these parts in a long, long time. Maybe we should have a “challenging” vintage a little more often…

When the final hammer dropped, we picked up five lots that made us feel very good about the weekend’s effort from Beringer, Heitz, Signorello, Spoto and a joint effort between Robert Foley and Switchback Ridge. They’ll be trickling into our warehouse starting next year, but we have no doubt that our fans of the rarest wines Napa Valley has to offer will be duly impressed. Until then, here is a list of our current PNV releases.  To purchases, visit our website or call your Wine Scout at 1.800.943.9463. 

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 2010 'XL' Cabernet Sauvignon Premiere Napa Valley

2010 Cliff Lede 'Dream Hill' Cabernet Premiere Napa Valley

2009 Rombauer 'Stice Lane Reserve' Cabernet Sauvignon Premiere Napa Valley

2009 Terlato Tete de Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley PNV

2009 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley PNV

2010 Martin Est. 'Puerta Dorada' Cab PNV

2008 Coho SummitVine Ranch Upper Block Cabernet Sauvignon Diamond Mountain

2010 Far Niente 'Martin Stelling' Cabernet Sauvignon Premiere Napa Valley

--Rhett Gadke

Wine Director

Opening Weekend with the San Francisco Giants

Can you believe the season our beloved Orange and Black had last year?! Well, spring has sprung, and it's just about time to start cheering on your 2012 World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants. As you know, tickets for opening weekend are the hardest to obtain each year. So we made a few calls, pulled a few strings and secured a limited number of lower box tickets for the game on Saturday, April 6th, 2013, when the Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals. Here is your chance to personally welcome back the Giants to AT&T Park as the World Series Champions!

Our event will include more of everything; we'll have our own VIP entrance at Triples Alley, where Caymus Vineyards will again join us, along with food, great wine and quality cocktails before the game. We'll also be on the field during the pregame ceremony. Triples Alley is located between right and center field below the bleachers, where the fences are pushed in, and we actually watch the pregame ceremony where Buster Posey will receive his 2012 NL MVP Award from the field. Your feet will be in the outfield dirt! After the pregame ceremony, we'll be escorted along the field to our seats in Lower Box 103. Make sure to bring your glove – it's foul ball territory.

Along with this incredible Giants game experience, you'll receive a limited-edition commemorative etched bottle of 2010 Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon ($125 value) delivered with your game tickets, as well as the Limited Edition Buster Posey 2012 NL MVP Bobblehead. Give us a call today and secure your San Francisco Giants opening weekend tickets at 800-943-9463. You’ll be glad you did!

A September to Remember

There are some days when the score of the game does not matter… well, not nearly as much as it does on other days. The goal is always to get “The Win.” And yes, it was disappointing that we couldn’t offer our clients the TOTAL package, but everything outside of the score was top-notch.
One-hundred Bounty Hunter (and baseball) fans packed the Audi Legends Club at AT&T Park last Saturday for an exciting showdown between our San Francisco Giants and the LA Dodgers. It was a great game – we just didn’t come out on top. But as I write this post we are currently 7.5 games ahead of the Dodgers, so like I said, it’s OK we didn’t win this one…

This was our fourth trip to the Legends Club and it was fun to see a lot of familiar faces. We are starting to have quite the following to these games. For this latest game we partnered with Alpha Omega Winery. The Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and II Proprietary Red were available for clients to enjoy along with colorful anecdotes from Winemaker Jean Hoefliger, and Director of Operations & National Sales, Chelsea Bellows. As if that was not enough, Gina Castillo from Don Julio made some delicious peach margaritas and poured samples of their “70” Claro and “1942” Añejo. And for the showstopper… enter Mike Krukow.
Mike Krukow is the former Giants starting pitcher and is currently the Giants television color commentator and beloved by the fans. There were some real once-in-a-lifetime moments created as Kruk (as he’s known by), posed for pictures, fielded questions and signed autographs.

Once the 2013 MLB schedule is released, we’ll be pleased to announce the games that we will be attending... of course we hope you can join us!
If you’re looking for something fun to do in Napa this winter, make your travel plans for the second week in November in time for Flavor! Napa Valley, a 5 day celebration of wine, food and fun. We will be serving ribs at First Taste Napa on 11/14, pouring our wines at the Appellation Trail event 11/16, and we are sponsoring the Dinner with Napa Valley Winemakers on 11/17. Hope to see you there!
Cheers,
Summer Olson Stubblefield
PR & Event Manager

HALL Cabernet Cook-off

Last Saturday was the 3rd Annual HALL Cabernet Cook-off. We have participated in the event each year, wining 1st place in 2010 with our St. Louis Cut Ribs and coming in 2nd place in 2011 with our Pulled Pork Sliders. Last year countless people asked, “where are the ribs?” “Bring back the ribs!” When the people speak, we listen.
A combination of 15 restaurants and catering companies came together to prepare a unique bite that was paired with the 2009 HALL Cabernet Sauvignon for this event. The chef teams donate their time and offerings in the hope of winning the cook-off, which then benefits a Napa Valley charity of their choice. We work with Napa Humane throughout the year, and we enjoy doing this event to continue our support of their work.

We fired up our smoker, and before the event officially began, the only smell one could detect was the mouth-watering scent of our ribs. Not to mention any names, but the contestant who was set up directly to our left requested they be moved…might they not have wanted to be in our shadow, oh I mean our smoke? There was never a dull moment, patron after patron, rib after rib, us sharing our story, them licking their lips wanting more. A few even praised the ribs as the best they’d ever eaten!
Some of you have had the pleasure of sampling our ribs at our Smokin’ BBQ headquarters here in Napa. If not, let me tell you…they are amazing! And the magic component that sets them apart from other ribs are the three house-made Q sauces you can use to jazz them up. Cut back to this past weekend, Chef Will spent an entire day reducing the HALL Cabernet Sauvignon and made the best BBQ sauce I’ve ever tasted!

All in all, it was a recipe for success…the Bounty Hunter’s stellar event team, perfectly smoked baby back ribs and a one of a kind Q sauce…and the People’s Choice 1st Place goes to Bounty Hunter!
Congrats to all who worked at this event and thanks for your votes!


--Summer Olson Stubblefield
Event & PR Manager

Opening Night at AT&T Park

This past Saturday, April 14th, the Bounty Hunter team got together and rented out the Audi Legends Suite at AT&T Park. With about 50 of our closest friends, we enjoyed a variety of Caymus Vineyards and Wagner Family wines and all of our favorite stadium fare. And the Gigantes did not disappoint!
The ballgame was tied 3-to-3 as we headed into the bottom of the ninth. The stadium was alive, not a fan was in their seat. Emmanuel Burriss led off the inning with a single to right-field off the first pitch that came his way. Ryan Theriot delivered with another single to right-field. Angel Pagan got a free pass and was walked to load the bases. Melky Cabrera worked the Pirates reliever to a full count before putting the ball on the ground which was mishandled by the Pirates shortstop and allowed Burriss to cross the plate for a walk-off win!

After a win like that, there’s never a rush to leave the ballpark and we were all treated to a spectacular fireworks show, complete with rocket-like fireworks shot off from the scoreboard and the boards in left-field. It was a great way to kick-start the 2012 season.
If you missed this game and want to come up to the Legends Suite with us, reach out to your Wine Scout. We’ve secured the Suite again for the September 8th game against the LA Dodgers. We have Alpha Omega on board as our winery partner. There’s nothing like a day at the park with a full glass of Napa Valley Cabernet screaming BEAT LA from the deck of the Legends. Hope to see you there!
If you’d like to catch up with Bounty Hunter and eat some of our Smokin’ St. Louis cut ribs, we’ll be at the Hall Cab Cookoff on April 28th and Auction Napa Valley’s Barrel Tasting on June 1st.
Cheers,
--Summer Olson Stubblefield
Event & PR Manager

Premiere Napa Valley 2012

Updated 2/19/13:
The Premiere Napa Valley Auction is the toughest ticket of the year. You can’t buy your way in… it’s industry only. The wineries are there to shine with their best wares, and the folks with paddles in their hands don’t like to go home empty-handed. It makes for some spirited bidding and a roomful of very serious wines.
We are excited to see what our ticket in gets us this year. Stay tuned to find out what lots we win! But in the meantime, here are a few gems for PNV 2012:
2010 Martin Est. 'Puerta Dorada' Cab Premiere Napa Valley
2009 Terlato Tete de Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley PNV
2010 Far Niente 'Martin Stelling' Cabernet Sauvignon Premiere Napa Valley

“Paddle Number One”. It has a nice ring to it. We knocked off a few longtime rival bidders and took home the honor as this year’s champion at the Napa Vintner’s annual Premiere Napa Valley “bake sale.” Our one-of-a-kind scores include an amazing blend from Silver Oak, a single-vineyard bottling from Far Niente and a To Kalon release from PlumpJack among a lineup of a dozen All-Stars. We were pretty pleased with how it all worked out.

Premiere Napa Valley used to be a one-day affair with the barrel tasting and live auction essentially defining the event.


Now in its 16th iteration, Premiere has morphed into nearly a full week of lunches, parties, tastings and general celebrations. A few of our favorite highlights:

Ray Signorello Jr. set the tone for a lunch last week by greeting his guests with a flute of ’90 Cristal. His über-talented winery chef then proceeded to nail four courses in pairing both Signorello wines and a few select cellar gems (seared duck breast and ’90 Leroy Vosne-Romanée “Les Beaux Monts,” anyone?). Perhaps most impressive was how the Signorello “Hope’s Cuvée” Chardonnay fared. The 1998 was the room’s favorite and three vintages in total topped a ’99 Boillot Montrachet that had been slipped in as a ringer.

Cliff Lede’s “Open That Bottle Night” remains an annual favorite. When a gathering of a couple hundred wine pros tries to outdo one another with bottles from their own stashes, things get serious. Cliff himself showed the room how it’s done with a 5L of 1990 Château d’Yquem. There were simply too many amazing wines to list.
The team at the stunning O’Shaughnessy estate up on Howell Mountain hired a paella expert and raided their personal cellar for dozens of older Spanish wines from the Ribera, Priorat, Rioja and Jerez. Everything from obscure white blends to Unico with a little age on it. No wonder we were so excited about the invitation.

Vintner and bon vivant Jean-Charles Boisset raised the bar for how an auction after-party should be done. In transforming his newly-acquired Raymond Vineyards into equal parts Parisian nightclub, red-velvet bordello and a rave with a Mardi Gras theme, no one left that soirée with anything other than smiles and hazy memories. It was the perfect wrap-up to a long week of flesh pressing… as it were.

Another year of Premiere is in the books and we have the battle scars to prove it. Kudos to the Napa Vintners – and really the whole Valley – for once again bringing their A-game to the week. It has truly become a world-class party.

--Rhett Gadke
Wine Director

Laguna Beach Road Show

After a few year hiatus, our latest Road Show was an unqualified success. We packed our favorite wines from the Fall & Holiday catalog, grabbed our good-time loving Wine Scouts and took off to the beach. Setting up shop at a beautiful spot along the Pacific Ocean, The Montage Laguna Beach in Orange County, we invited a few partners to share in the fun, so a special thanks to Equity Estates, Tara Pearls & Daniel Marshall Cigars for coming out and helping make the evening such a smashing success. And our biggest thanks to our loyal customers who came out to support the new catalog, raise a glass with their Wine Scout and enjoy a beautiful evening at a posh resort. We also used this special landscape to launch our Four Roses "Bounty Hunter Private Selection" 10yr Single Barrel Bourbon… paired with cigars, of course. Glasses were clinking with ice cubes and Kentucky’s finest, and it received rave reviews.

We’re sorry if you didn’t make it this time, and wish you had been there. Pictures speak a thousand words, so please enjoy the slide show and we hope to see you at our next Road Show.

~Summer Olson
PR & Event Manager

Hey Napa, How About Some Ribs?

The streets were filled with beer loving, BBQ eating, blues happy people in downtown Napa on Saturday.  It was the 3rd annual Blues, Brews & BBQ festival.  Main Street was closed off to all traffic as locals and visitors alike danced to 7 local Bay Area blues bands.  Rumor has it there were 20 micro brewed beers in the Beer Garden. There were many vendors serving different styles of barbecue, but I was in Bounty Hunter rib heaven all day, so I didn’t see much else except the blue haze from the multiple grills cooking hundreds of pounds of food.

We had a booth set up next to the main stage - thank you Downtown Association for the awesome placement.  We rolled our smoker right to the edge of the booth and served piping hot, perfectly spiced ribs from about 1pm until 4:45pm, when we sold out for the first time in the 3 year history of the event. Thanks to all of you who stopped by and had (at least) a half rack.

The highlight of the day was the Rib Eatin’ Contest, which we set up a little differently this year. Instead of local winemakers competing for the glory, we held two raffles allowing locals to compete for the coveted Golden Smoker award.  We selected 6 contestants from our raffle in the Wine Bar and 6 contestants from a raffle on The Vine, KVYN, one of our local radio stations.  Last year’s winner Matthew Peck also competed in the contest.  He gave it his best shot, but there’s a new champion who can bask in Rib Eatin’ Glory….Darren Turbeville, owner of Toy-B-Ville specialty toy store, who smoked the competition at 27 ribs!!!  Throughout the contest, he had a few hardy challengers, but towards the end of the 10 minutes he pulled ahead.

Thank you to all the contestants for coming downtown and making it a fantastic event.  And a big congratulations to Darren!  We look forward to watching you defend your title next year.

Next up for the BH crowd is to take this show on the road!  We’re packing our corkscrews and heading to Laguna Beach next month for an evening filled with exceptional wines and hors d’oeuvres with a good-time guarantee.  If you’re down that way, look us up!

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

An Evening with Rolls Royce…

This year we vowed to spend more time on the road, getting to know our loyal patrons and also meet some new folks who might appreciate special access to “great stuff.” Last week The Bounty Hunter, Mark Pope, and I were invited to an exclusive driving experience in the new Rolls Royce Phantom and Ghost at the Bridges Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California. In typical Bounty Hunter fashion, we brought along with us a dozen or so rare and limited wines to showcase for our friends. A little 2009 Marius Delarche Corton-Charlemagne, 2007 Gaja Ca’Marcanda Magari, 2007 Blind Justice, and a special sneak preview of the 2008 Joseph Phelps Insignia – just to name a few. As you can imagine, the cars weren’t the only thing turning heads that evening.

The event was a blast. We got the chance to catch up with some longtime customers that live in the area, as well as meet a lot of new faces who loved what we had to offer. Oh, and we also got to take a spin in a Ghost – wow! From the brilliance of fine automobile craftsmanship to the majestic setting of the Bridges Club, the event was nothing short of spectacular and a pleasure to attend.

We’re planning to participate in similar events later this year, so when we make it to your neck of the woods, rest assured there will be an invitation in your inbox.

Cheers!

--Stefan Matulich, Sales Director

Battle of the Bay

On Sunday, May 22nd, Bounty Hunter rented the Legends Club Box at AT&T Park. We watched and cheered with excitement as our World Series Champions (that never gets old) defeated the Athletics, sweeping them back across the water in the “Battle of the Bay” series. Burriss came through with a walk-off RBI single that drove in lightning-quick Ford for the win in the bottom of the 11th! It’s only May, but the Giants are thrilling the fans at home already. This was their 9th straight win at AT&T Park and 7th win with a walk-off hit. It seems they have finally found their groove and are working hard to own that first place slot.

It was such a treat to spend some quality face to face time with our devoted customers. We were pouring delicious wines, there were classic conversations going on all around us, and the Giants put on a great show. I know that there are some of you out there who really wanted to attend this game, but the date just didn’t work. Please don’t fret, you may have another opportunity later in the summer to spend the day at the park with your favorite Bounty Hunter Wine Scouts. Check back with us soon.

Next time you hear from me, I’ll be giving you a behind the scenes look at the famous Auction Napa Valley 2011 taking place June 2-4 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Until then, Cheers!

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

2011 Hall Cabernet Cook-off

And Second Place in the professional category of the Peoples’ Choice award goes to….Bounty Hunter Wine Bar & Smokin’ BBQ!

Last Saturday we hitched up our new mobile smoker, put on our best Bounty Hunter duds, and headed up valley to Hall Winery and competed in the 2nd annual Hall Cabernet Cook-off. The sun was bright and the winds were gusty. It was our smoker’s inaugural event and we were excited to show her off. Coming off a 1st place win last year, we were ready! Since we wowed them with our delicious ribs last year, we thought we’d switch it up this year and deliver Cabernet stave smoked pulled pork sliders topped with our one of a kind cole slaw. Well that worked for us…sort of. While everyone loved us and were happy to have some pulled pork, the ribs were missed. I was surprised by just how many people asked, “Where are the ribs?” or “We came just for the ribs!” I guess when you have a hit, you just go with it. Don’t worry, our loyal devotees, the ribs will be back and better than ever next year!

In spite of our sliders coming in second, I’m extremely proud of our team. There was stiff competition and taking the Silver home is a great way to end the day. A little horn tooting…we defeated Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, Mustards Grill, Go Fish, The Kitchen at AVIA, Sunshine Foods Market, Cochon Volant, Champinones Catering and Kara’s Cupcakes. I suppose you are wondering who won first place? It was Paula LaDuc’s Fine Catering. They must have been watching Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations,” as they served his favorite, pork belly, and won over the crowd. I guess I should stop just DVRing him and actually watch an episode or two. It seems he speaks for the masses. He’s pork all the way and in this competition pork saw both the Gold and the Silver!

All in all, it was great fun and we thank Hall Winery for hosting such a lovely event.

We’re headed to AT&T Park at the end of the month to catch a Giants game and drink some of our favorite wines in a luxury box with you, our number one fans…hope to see you there, or maybe at another time, having a glass at the Wine Bar.

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager

2011 SF Vintners Market

This past weekend, wine lovers took over the vast Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco to attend the Bounty Hunter sponsored SF Vintner’s Market. Over 200 wineries came together to show off their latest collections. The banners were raised, the glasses engraved…and the customers came!

As Bounty Hunter now produces 14 different brands of our own wine, it was tough to decide what to showcase. We didn’t want to bring too many, but we didn’t want to leave anyone’s favorites left behind – ultimately deciding on 10 of our “children.” While a daunting line up for anyone’s palate, for those lucky folks who tasted their way through all of them – a bright Sauvignon Blanc to a righteous Zin blend – it was a beautiful thing. We had 3 “booths” set up throughout the room – there was no way around it, our wines would be tasted by the masses and hopefully, adored. Our main booth was front and center, so guests arrived with a clean glass and fresh palate. It was a great way to start our weekend.

Once the guests had experienced the fun our first table had to offer, they roamed free and had the chance to taste, learn and enjoy from quite a few other well-respected vintners. As they moved towards the back of the building, they came upon the “Reserve Room.” To access this magical area, one had had to ante up a bit more. Many did, and all found it was worth it. And I don’t just say that because we had our delicious Waypoint Pinots available, or because we had the entire back wall lined with more spirits than you often see on the top shelf of your favorite watering hole, but because this was where all the big dogs came to play – from small production wines blowing your mind to high-octane spirit houses – all represented by friendly and knowledgable staff.

Over the course of this 2-day event, I was able to meet great people and really put a face to our loyal customers. The toast of the weekend was seeing the pure excitement of the visitors when they saw the “Spirits Wall” in the Reserve Room containing Johnny Walker Blue bottles receiving custom etching designs, 209 Gin serving up refreshing Basil Gimlets, Tequila Ocho tasting through 3 different types of Tequila and Diageo sampling some of their finest Classic Malt Whiskies. It was a playground for the senses!

If any of you were there, I’d love to hear what you thought of the event.  If you missed this one and would like to know about our other events, just drop me an email, and I will keep you in the loop.

Until our next great event!

--Summer Olson, Event & PR Manager