wine country

Hey there! If you’re a close personal friend or follow me on Instagram, I’m sure you already know that we’ve had some BIG life changes over the course of the past few months that have kept me away from my little home on the web. We bought a house and moved to Napa! I still can’t believe we’re finally in Northern California (a move that we’ve been talking about making for the past 5 or so years) and how much our lives have changed in 2016!

I’ll spare you the full ONEHOPE history, but Jake started the company in 2007 with a team that had followed him from Gallo. They were all based in Southern California at the time, so while the wine was being produced in Napa and Sonoma, our headquarters have always been in Orange County. At the beginning of 2015, as we started developing an estate/winery project for ONEHOPE in Napa, it became pretty clear pretty fast that we needed to have a bigger presence up here and that we really needed a few people closely managing a project of this scale. Jake’s dad has been a construction manager at Stanford for many years and was the perfect candidate for managing the build, but to not have full-time teammates in wine country as a wine brand of our size was starting to seem silly. Since I’m doing the interior design on the project, making materials selections and designing the home from Southern California was becoming difficult. On a personal level, we’ve both spent the last 7-10 years away from family and wanted to be closer to Jake’s parents and sisters. My best friend Carla, who is basically family, also lives in the Bay Area – finally being close to someone from home made me SO excited to move north! We decided we’d save as much as possible for the remainder of the year and try to buy at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

When the cutest house came on the market in November, I instantly had a gut feeling about it and knew I had to fly up to check it out. Jake was in China at the time on business so his parents picked me up from the airport and we drove to Napa where I fell head over heels for this house. I KNEW it was the one that we were going to celebrate holidays in together and build a family over the years. We scrambled to get pre-approved, made an offer and then waited. Jake had written the most wonderful, heartfelt letter to the sellers, our offer was strong and we were positive we had gotten the house…

And then we didn’t. I was absolutely crushed.

Everyone kept saying “it was for a reason” and “the right house will come along” which I truly believed in my heart, but I was too devastated to even continue looking for the right one. I kept waiting for their deal to fall through so we could scoop up our house and get on with our lives – still envisioning us in that cute little house that never was.

For Christmas, Jake and I traveled home to Michigan to visit my family. Every year, Jake and my dad get into their token political “discussion” that is inevitably heated and teeters on being a full blown argument. Trying to drown out their seemingly endless banter, I hopped on Zillow and a new listing popped up. It was so cute, smaller than the house we’d loved, but also with a smaller price tag and still in our favorite neighborhood. We decided to put in an offer sight-unseen and to our surprise, our offer was accepted! We traveled to Napa just after the new year to see it in person and confirm we actually liked it before moving forward and it was perfect! It was built in the 1930’s, had a lot of charm and a big back yard – we were sold! We closed at the end of January, packed up our tiny home in Hermosa Beach and moved at the very end of February.

{ signing our lives away! }

At this point, we’re almost completely settled in with the exception of some wall art and window treatment updates that need to happen. There are of course a million long-term changes we want to make to this place that we need to save for, but we’re comfortable for now. And most importantly, even with the changes I’d like to make, I still get butterflies when I pull up to our cozy little house.

So what does that mean for the blog? I’ve had this little site for over 5 years now, but my consistency has definitely lacked – especially when life gets crazy. But through all the years, posting here still feels like home to me and now that we’re settled into our real home, my goal is to use this as a place to document this great big Estate8 project and our new house, as well as some recipes, styling projects and events I’ve been working on for ONEHOPE. And, let’s face it – when you’re living, working and building a company together with your partner, sometimes a girl needs a little “me” time. I guess that’s how I’ll look at this little site from here on out 🙂 Cheers!

{ the most beautiful welcome home basket from new neighbors }

{ exploring the new neighborhood – favorite spot for brunch! }

{ love the morning light in our kitchen nook }

{ working from home – something new for me and something I’ll be chatting about one the blog }

{ visiting ONEHOPE’s vineyard in Rutherford on the first sunny day in spring }

When I first started working for a wine company, I knew absolutely nothing about wine beyond the fact that I liked to drink it. I had no formal education in wine and the extent of my experience with it was picking up the cheapest or prettiest + cheapest combination bottle in my local market. Like a lot of early wine drinkers, I couldn’t differentiate between varietals, wasn’t quite sure which wines pair with what foods and couldn’t appreciate any of the complexities that I now seek in my fermented grapes. While most of the people that work in our company don’t fall in the “wine snob” category, we still experience know-it-alls (or think they know-it-all) wine snobs at events and in meetings with buyers which makes the industry intimidating and honestly, annoying at times. My personal opinion is that wine is a subjective experience that is supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to be an experience. Certain wines will enhance certain flavors in certain foods, but learning it through experience rather than studying wine notes from a book is really what this industry should be all about. No two palates are the same and everyone is going to taste wine differently which is exactly what makes it so fun and personal.

This division of our company puts on wine tastings in the customer’s preferred setting of choice and while some of our reps have a ton of wine experience, many of them don’t and are eager to learn what to serve at their tastings and what favors are going to pair the best with each wine. Last month our focus was Chardonnay so I had some serious fun putting together a cheese plate and easy apps that would be delicious with Chard. I thought I’d pass it along just in case anyone is interested in learning more about what to pair with Chardonnay. Check it out below 🙂

CREATING THE PERFECT CHARDONNAY CHEESE PLATE

When you think of a wine party, the most obvious food pairing is cheese. However, with Chardonnay, cheese isn’t always the easiest to pair with a varietal that has such incredible stylistic range. While some chardonnays are extremely fruity and citrusy, others are oaky and buttery which can compete with the creamy cheeses you might initially think to pair with a white wine. I explored a few different cheeses to find the best combination with our Chardonnay that offers a perfectly balanced profile of fruit and oak. As told by our Sommelier:

With most Chardonnays, you get some green apple, a little citrus, and depending on the producer either no or tons of oak and malolactic fermentation to give it that buttered popcorn style. Our Chardonnay undergoes an extremely cold, slow fermentation that extracts tons of tropical fruit character out of this wine. Scents of pineapple, banana, white peach and pear jump out of the glass at me when I pour it. It spends about six months in American oak, but only 20% new oak. The rest of the barrels are all 2-3 years old so it is more for a textural component rather than making the wine overly oaky. You get some notes of vanilla and toasted coconut, but it is definitely in balance with the fruit character of the wine.

CHEESE: I sought to find the best cheese to pair with our style Chardonnay and found a few favorites: Mt. Tam, a brie-style triple cream crafted by Cowgirl Creamery in California. Another favorite was Cabot’s Clothbound Cheddar which is nutty in flavor and has a similar consistency to parmesan while being much more mild to taste – perfect for our style Chardonnay. The two can be purchased in a set from Cowgirl Creamery that also includes and absolutely unbelievable Echo Mountain Blue Cheese (still delicious with our Chardonnay when drizzled in a little honey and perfect for the reds at your wine tasting tasting), or can be ordered individually as well. If you’re looking for less expensive options, both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s offer a wide variety of double-triple cream, brie and mild-medium cheddar cheeses that will be perfect for pairing with Chardonnay.

OTHER BITES TO INCLUDE: In my opinion, creating the perfect cheese plate is all about striking a balance between cheeses and other small bites that enhance the flavors of your wine. Some crackers and perhaps a loaf of fresh French Bread are key. The fig spread and honey found in both our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages are essential for getting that sweeter balance and will make cheeses like a tangy blue cheese more approachable for those who might not love an extra sharp cheese on its own. Figs are also particularly delicious with our Chardonnay and can be served with any cheese imaginable all the way from a creamy brie to an aged, extra sharp cheddar or parmesan. An artichoke spread (also found in both our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages) offers a savory yet citrusy touch while olive oil is a natural pairing and will give your guests something light to dip their bread in when they’ve indulged in enough cheese

PS: From a gorgeous marble cheese board to honey, olive oil, salami, cheese knives, and more, our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages offer a one stop shop for all of the goodies you will need to create the perfect wine and cheese party. Cheers!

A Personal Update

Chardonnay + Cheese

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