Enjoy a sweet note from Kathy, our wonderful matriarch!

“Fall is one of my favorite times of year.  It means so many different things to me.  In our family we have many birthdays to celebrate during the season.  We also look forward to harvest that fall brings.  Our men work crazy hours and lack sleep but it’s year of work brought to rest.  I love the color changes, the different smells and  the cozy feeling fall brings.

November is always a good reminder of all the things I am thankful for.  I am thankful for this:  This November George is not in the hospital and is feeling much better.  That’s a big thank you.  We have had a good harvest and wonderful wines from this vintage are on the way.  Our wine club is growing like crazy and we are so thankful.  We have family and friends along with our amazing staff that is here helping us whenever needed.  You see…I could go on and on about being thankful because we are so blessed.

So as this holiday season approaches, take a minute or two and count your blessings!  May your holidays be filled with love, laughter, family and wine!!

Thank you, Kathy”

Continuing the thankful mood, we put up our very own “Harney Lane Thankful Tree” in the winery last week and it’s already covered!  Visitors have been filling out little cards with their own thankful wishes. What a great way to start the holiday season!

We’ve had a busy summer here at Harney Lane. We’d like to catch you up on all the good times we’ve been having at the winery! In May, we celebrated Lodi’s ZinFest weekend, where we welcomed hundreds of wine lovers to Harney Lane.  We hosted our Wine:30 Club Pick Up Party over Memorial Day Weekend, serving up delicious picnicking treats alongside our chilled 2011 Albarino and the very popular 2009 Petite Sirah. In early June, it was Ladies Night Out, where hundreds of ladies came out for an evening of tasting and shopping in our beautiful wine country gift shop. Early August was once again time for a great Wine:30 party- this time we treated folks to a Gourmet Popcorn Bar! Guests loved creating their own concoctions, including popcorn tossed with bacon, blue cheese, parsley and Fiori’s seasoning! With the popcorn, members were enjoyed our 2009 Lodi Zinfandel and the exclusive-to-members, Primitivo! The very next weekend, we hosted our annual Crush Pad Jam. This year, we featured Miss Lonely Hearts Band, which the crowd absolutely loved! Guests enjoyed wine-by-the-glass, wood fired pizzas by Guantonio’s and live music all night.
Please enjoy these photographic memories of our fantastic summer. Want to join the fun? Become a Wine:30’er today! You’re clearly missing out if you haven’t joined us yet!!
 

Join us for our upcoming activities this fall, including our Tasting Room’s 3rd anniversary September 14-16 as well as our 2nd annual STOMP out Cancer grape stomp on Sunday, September 23. In the meantime, LIKE us on Facebook for all the latest and greatest events, photos, specials and more!

There is always something going on in Lodi Wine Country these days! We are a part of some incredible events that take place throughout the region and we host a handful of our own events here at the winery. Why not throw a wine party every now and again? February has some great stuff in store…

First up on the calendar is Lodi Wine Country’s Wine & Chocolate Weekend- February 11-12. This is an incredibly busy weekend for us – we love seeing all the new faces in the tasting room. What could be better than the combination of wine and chocolate…right around Valentine’s Day? Not much according to the nearly 5,000 people that attend each year! We try to do something a little different with the chocolate that we serve to guests… this year we will feature a Chocolate Chili that pairs beautifully with our reds. Also, we will feature Zin infused brownies that are decadent! The guys will most likely be donning pink boas- reason enough to come check it out.

A couple weekends after Wine & Chocolate, we will catch our breath and host our Wine:30 Club Pick Up Party- February 25-26- for all of our wine club members! This release features our two Zins! Our 2009 Lodi Zinfandel and the coveted 2009 Lizzy James Old Vine Zin (Gold Medals keep coming for this one!). We’re all about a good time with friends, family and wine…and that’s what we’ll have plenty of! Our loyal members will get to sample the new wines paired with some awesome bbq sliders. Yum! Juicy meat marinated and slow roasted to perfection, slathered in a zinfandel bbq sauce. Mouth watering? Pair that with Harney Lane Zinfandel… The Campbell Creek Gang will be meandering around the winery property giving folks something to tap their toes to! Our firepit will be roaring and cross our fingers the rain won’t be pouring …just before and after would be fine!

If you’re not a member, what are you waiting for? We’ve got a lot of fun activities in store for the coming year, not to mention the excellent wine! See you soon.

Most of us have our Christmas Traditions, don’t we?  In our family, many of our traditions are centered around our Christmas trees.  As long as I can remember, we have traveled as a family….sometimes a few of us and sometimes many….to cut our own Christmas tree. Since I was a small girl and my parents remodeled their home, they have been putting up an 17 to 18 foot tree every year which is not easy to find on a tree lot!  Another tradition in our family…. exchanging ornaments.  Usually its something that reminds us of the person or the year gone by.  When I got married to Kyle and moved out of the house my mother boxed up all the ornaments I had collected over the years.  I had so many, in fact, that it filled our first Christmas tree.  In response, I , of course, started buying ornaments for Kyle and now for our kids (after all…it was OUR tree) so soon one tree was not enough.  Now our home is graced every year with 2 trees.  Maybe one would be enough if I had room for an 18 foot tree.

Kyle typically thinks all this is a little bit of craziness (Although I don’t remember saying it was reasonable).  This year, however, he surprised me and came home with the ornament pictured above for me!!  He said he picked it because Santa was sitting back relaxing on the moon and that’s what he wished me……a little relaxation!  And that is the biggest thing I wish for all of you this Christmas and into 2012!!  We hope you are all able to stop and relax a little bit! Enjoy your time with family and friends!  Share a few wine:thirties!  Just pause and enjoy!!  That’s really the best tradition to have anyway, isn’t it???  Special times and great memories!!! 

We at Harney Lane wish you all a very Merry Christmas AND we wish you health, happiness and time to relax and enjoy in 2012!!!!   CHEERS!!!!             

       ~Jorja, Kyle, George, Kathy, Kirsten(Lizzy), Ian (James), Ranger & Max too!!

p.s.  The fire will most likely be roaring this winter when we’re open if you need to pause and enjoy a wine:thirty with family and friends!!

It was a beautiful fall weekend here at Harney Lane Winery for our Wine:30 Club Holiday Release Pick Up Party. The spirits of Wine:30 Club members were high and smiles were everywhere as our new wines made their debut! Our 2009 Tempranillo, 2010 Chardonnay and our first ever Port Style Wine- Lizzy James Old Vine Zinfandel Port Style Wine that is! They were all hits. Brindy, our wine club manager, created a fantastic Mac & Cheese recipe that paired with both wines. The Mac & Cheese, recipe below, combines three cheeses- cheddar, gouda and gorgonzola!  You’ve got to try it!  We also had a silk chocolate truffle that was amazing with the Port.  What could be better- cheese, chocolate and delicious wine!?

Christmas arrived in the tasting room- we decked the halls and tossed the tinsel all in preparation for our friends this past weekend. Guests tasted, shopped and listened to live music. Can’t beat that!  Others picnicked or gathered around the firepit enjoying the changing of the seasons! All in all it was a great release weekend and we look forward to sharing our newest vintage with everyone in the coming months.

Come out and try the new wines – Thursday through Monday, 12noon until 5pm. We’d love to see you.  Cheers!

 Yankee Doodle Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 package large Elbow Macaroni
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp flour
3 cups hot (not boiling) milk
1 Bay leaf
1/2 tsp Paprika
Salt and fresh ground Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Dry Mustard
14 oz Sharp cheddar- shredded
6 oz Gouda cheese- we recommend “Old Amsterdam” Gouda
5 oz Gorgonzola- crumbled, we recommend “Oregonzola”
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino

Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salt water until not quite tender, just shy of al dente. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt half of the butter in a heavy non-stick saucepan and sprinkle with flour. Cook for a minute or two, then stir with a wooden spoon. Remove heat and add milk all at once, along with the bay leaf. Cook over medium high heat, stirring until the sauce thickens, about 5-7 minutes. If there are any lumps, remove the bay leaf and whisk mixture with a wire whisk. Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, paprika and dry mustard.

Reserve 3oz of cheddar, 3oz of gouda and 3oz of parmesan. Remove bay leaf if you haven’t already and stir in remaining cheddar, gouda and gorgonzola and set aside. In a small fry pan, heat remaining butter and combine with breadcrumbs.

In the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart baking dish with 3-4 inch sides, sprinkle 2 Tbsp of the reserved cheese. Add the onion and garlic to the cheese sauce. Layer a third of the macaroni in the baking dish and top with a third of the cheese sauce. Repeat this step two more times, ending with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheeses then with parmesan and finally with the breadcrumb mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is crispy or browned in spots.