fall weather

I can’t believe it’s already been almost a year since our first harvest party at the vineyard, but October will mark twelve months since we hosted our inaugural fall celebration. Since we’re getting ready to host our second harvest party in just over a month, I’ve been looking back and reflecting a bit on what we did right, places to improve, and brainstorming new ideas with the team to make an even bigger impact this year. I can’t wait to spill the beans with you soon! First, a little context on 2018.

The weekend before our harvest party, my mom had a major surgery (hysterectomy, appendectomy, and multiple lymph node biopsy) to remove a massive ovarian cyst that had grown rapidly and turned into cancer over the course of the previous month. When she went into surgery, we weren’t sure what we were dealing with, but her incredible surgeon confirmed that it was cancer as my dad and I completely crumbled in the hospital waiting room. He was optimistic that they’d gotten it all and that she might not need further treatment based on what he was able to tell so we clung on to those words for the next few days. Thankfully, later that week, we received the news that she was stage 1A (!!!!) and no further treatment was necessary, but recovering from such a major surgery was going to be difficult. We were absolutely ecstatic at the news, but knew we needed to focus on her getting better. Her post-operative delirium was terrifying to say the least and she needed 24-7 monitoring by my dad and I following the surgery. We took turns sleeping, him usually at night, while I took the night shift to make sure she didn’t try to walk around by herself or put strain on her healing incision getting in and out of bed.

The week leading up to our harvest party was more physically and mentally trying than ever before in my life. My mom has always been my rock, but has been an even bigger sense of help and stability in the years since acquiring the vineyard. Being a caretaker for her that week filled me with gratitude for how lucky we’ve been as a family in terms of health, but was also crushing knowing that so many families don’t get that same prognosis. Every single day and moment is a gift. What kept me going that week was knowing that every chance we have to connect people with our mission to help make the world a better place, by funding clinical trials for other women fighting diseases, funding meals for children fighting hunger, funding fire re-build efforts and more, should not be taken for granted. This is what we were going to be doing at our harvest party – highlighting worthy causes that needed our help.

Our first Harvest Party was absolutely stunning, totally moving, and went off without a hitch! I’m SO excited for round two this year and I’m thankful that my mom is here with us, healthy, and will be bringing her talent to the table once again 🙂 We have so much to celebrate in 2019!

I’ll be sharing more details soon, but in the meantime, take a look at last year’s event! Since it was our first harvest party, we kept things simple with heavy apps and fairly simple and economical decor (lots of greens and fall foliage, simple bud vases with seasonal florals, bowls of seasonal fruit to be snacked on or repurposed after the event – one of my favorite event decor hacks). Let me know what you think! Cheers!

{we kept details simple with bud vases and bowls of seasonal fruit}

{guests were greeted with a delicious apple cider mimosa}

{one of my favorite bars I’ve ever styled! those colors! bar & back-bar by found rentals}

{our beautiful and incredibly talented winemaker, Mari Coyle}

{our architect, David Rulon, with his daughter, Gabby}

{Rob Mondavi Jr., Mari Coyle, and my husband, Jake}

{Jake and I with two of our largest partners and close friends, Erik & Deborah Anderson}

{Our friends and longtime supporters, Deb & Brian}

{Incredible presentation by our friend and immensely talented photographer, Laura Schneider}

{tour of the winery (under construction)}

Happy First Day of Fall, guys! Aren’t you so excited?! Jake and I flew back from New York on Monday after a whirlwind trip to celebrate the marriage of two of our close friends and I was REALLY hoping for some fall weather while there, but we were SOL. The temps were in the mid 80’s for almost the entire time, with the exception of ONE afternoon when we could feel the familiar crisp autumn air that I miss so much now that I call LA home. Thankfully, it has cooled off at least a little and I don’t feel so weird burning a Pumpkin Candle now that it isn’t 100 degrees in our house 😉

Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to experiment with figs in the fall (I’ve never cooked with them before now!), but they’re so hard to find and something else always seems to take priority. By the time I make the effort, they always seem to be out of season and impossible to track down. I’ve been dying to get my hands on some this year to mix into cocktails and to add a little something sweet to the fall entertaining cheese boards we’ve been crafting for work. Finding them proved to be difficult since figs aren’t generally carried at most big-chain grocery stores, but when I finally spotted them at a downtown LA farmer’s market, I grabbed all I could and headed straight for the kitchen. After a bit of research on fig cocktails, I stumbled across this one that sounded too good to pass up. I made a few proportional adjustments to accommodate our bubbly and it turned out SO deliciously perfect. I whip up a ton of cocktails for work and our team is pretty vocal at this point with what they like and don’t like so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that this was one of the favorites we’ve ever made. Check it out below!

Timing: 1 hour total
Yield: 4 cocktails

I N G R E D I E N T S

Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 cup honey
1 cup water
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Cocktail

1/2 cup fig puree (2 cups fresh figs, 4 tbs. water blended in a food processor)
4 oz. chilled vodka
Juice from 2 lemons (peel for garnish)
4 oz. Rosemary Simple Syrup
ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut
Ice

D I R E C T I O N S

Combine honey, water, and fresh rosemary into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture has reduced by half. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool completely. We transferred to a jar and placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While simple syrup is chilling, remove stems from figs and place all but two figs in a food processor. Pulse to puree until consistency resembles that of apple sauce. Set aside.
Using a citrus peeler, peel your lemons (4 ribbons – one for each cocktail). Juice both lemons and set juice aside.
Once your simple syrup has chilled completely, combine syrup, fig puree, chilled vodka, lemon juice, and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.
Fill two glasses with ice and pour cocktail mixture into each glass. Top with ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut and garnish with lemon peel, fresh rosemary, and one half fig each. Cheers!

2018 Harvest Party

Fig + Rosemary Sparkling Cocktail

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