Recap of San Francisco Chronicle Wine Tasting

We just wrapping up our wine tasting event at Fort Mason in San Francisco last Sayurday. I announced in an email to our contest entrants from the tasting that Candy Baker (Medford, OR) and Heidi Whitehouse (Modesto, CA) were the winners of a golf lesson and a couple bottles of wine.

It was our first go and I found the crowd to be great. They were interested in the wines and very friendly. Interestingly many tasters under 32 years old. Us folks in the wine business love that generation because so many of them really enjoy their wine and bring a refreshing openess to what they'll try!

The event flies by. The doors open at 1:15 pm and the place is full very quickly. It was orderly (at least where I was) with just enough of a crowd to keep us on our toes. I'd say in three hours I poured for 300 people. Our Cabernet Sauvignon was most requested followed by our limited Chardonnay. At 4:45 the crowd was signaled to go and they did. By five o'clock the place was cleared out (pretty impressive).

Our next wine tasting is February 25th in San Francisco followed by the Family Wine Maker's tasting in Del Mar, CA March 14 and Pasadena (for trade only) March 16th.

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Tasting February 20

Here's a great opportunity to taste some of best American wines in one place. I believe it's $80 and that gets you a tasting glass and I'm sure enough tasty nibbles to get you through lunch. This will be my first appearance and I'll be pouring our award winning wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon, our limited Chardonnay and our Sauvignon Blanc.

Come on by and say hello!

19th Hole Wine Club event at Pebble Beach

Saturday, February 13th from 4:30-6:00 we'll be at Jack London's in Carmel to enjoy some wines with some of our friends and maybe a celebrity or two dropping in.

19th Hole Interviews PGA Tour Player Michael Allen

I spoke with PGA Tour Player Michael Allen a week ago about how he felt about the coming season and he was kind enough to share his thoughts.

He said he's in the best shape of his life, which is big words for a man about to turn 51. His biggest concern was changing his irons to the V grooves (vs. square grooves that have been allowed in recent years). V grooves don't grip and spin the ball like the square grooves. Think of deeply rutted off road tires against run-of-the-mill street tires.

I had a similar conversation with Rocco Mediate at the Callaway Invitational at Pebble Beach (another guy on the precipice of the big 50). He was thrilled about this upcoming season with a healthier back and a leveler playing field for wily old ball strikers like him. In previous years he's been giving up 10-60 yards to other players and even if they were in the rough they could spin and control their ball. This year, with the new grooves, their recovery shots from the rough will come our knuckling.

Michael Allen said the Hawaiian Open will tell volumes about the equipment change, in regards to scoring, because the ball sits deep in the Bermuda rough out there. It will be really hard to control distances unless your hitting from the short grass. Michael, by the way, is in 13th after two rounds.

I've got a prediction that this year Michael Allen wins on the PGA Tour and the Champion's Tour. That's his goal as well. If you do get a chance to follow him at a tournament, do it. He is a beautiful ball striker and I think the best all around driver on tour. If he can get hot with his putter, he may hoist quite a few cups in the next few years!

I think this tournament and many others will be rewarding good drivers of the golf ball. There will less emphasis on bombing the ball and hitting 50% of the fairways. It'll be very interesting to see what names excel with the new equipment regulations and if the scores change at all fom the previous years.

19th Hole Wines captures medals at San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

Our 19th Hole wines got a thumbs up from the judges at the San Francisco Wine Competition. We entered our Limited Tier 2008 Chardonnay at $25 (silver medal), our 2005 California Tier Cabernet Sauvignon at $14 (silver medal) and our 2007 California Tier Sauvignon Blanc at $10 (bronze medal).

I thought we might score a gold or two but hey as a new winery it's great to get a vote of confidence from the judges. I knew the wine was good but it's obviously biased being excited about your own wine. Kind of like a parent bragging about their own children. For folks who don't know us is certainly makes it easier to purchase our wine. Purchase wine here or feel free to call me (Kris Moe) directly at 707-529-6458.

FYI- I make about 250 cases of our Limited releases at Cahill Winery in Sebastopol, CA and we purchase our California Tier wines usually from Lodi, CA. We're expecting to do 8,000 cases this year in California, Texas, Ohio, Washington and Texas. But I also hope to add Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada. Places I like to play golf!

Some of you who don't know me probably don't realize I spent most of my life trying to make a living getting the little white ball into a hole. I had a few bright moments as a tour player (a good finish in the British Open in 85) but certainly have made a better career teaching golfers how to stop slicing, Kris Moe Golf Schools in Napa and Pebble Beach. That's the background on my label, 19th Hole. Now I'm enjoying putting both my loves together through this brand.

I'll be doing golf and wine events chasing the PGA Tour across the country again this year organizing "nine and wine" events at private clubs or whoever will have me. We'll start at the Bob Hope in the desert and hit 18 other tour stops through the year. Kind of like being a tour player again, just outside the ropes and not having to sweat over five foot putts to make a check.


We'll be pouring these wines at Fort Mason in San Francisco along with the other contestants February 20 at 2:00 pm. The ticket to attend is $60 and $80 at the door. I hope to see some of you there for a taste or two!

Wine and cheese tasting December 16th in San Francisco

FYI- I'm actually doing a couple golf lessons in my San Francisco indoor studio on 456 Montgomery St. today. At about four I'm welcoming you to come in and check out my wine and enjoy a couple cheeses. Call if you're coming, 707-529-6458.

Next week- I'm putting into bottle a couple barrels of my 2007 Dry Creek Valley Merlot next week. It's really pretty cool how wines can be so different from barrel to barrel. It just so happened that these two barrels stood out from the rest. It's a big Merlot ready for the bottle and to be enjoyed.

We're making the 19th Hole wines up in Sebastopol, California (Russian River AVA) about a half mile from Merry Edwards and a mile from Iron Horse. It's a low key winery that has a good feel to it. Here's the location. Give me a call sometime and I can meet you up there and you taste some of my wines.

This next week we're going to press down some Cabernet Sauvignon I picked in Knight's Valley (just north of renowned Chateau Montelena in Calistoga), and if grapes make better wine from being grown in beautiful places, this wine will be a 100.

This will be our first year with this fruit and I'm going to try this fruit for a few years to learn how to produce it. So this year we will experiment by doing various different things with it to see how it develops (ie new oak vs. partial oak).

Holiday Greetings to the 19th Hole Wine Club

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here's a Lexycast (an audio holiday greeting),

A fun gift for a golfer, the Clip-on Pro. They'll clip "tip-at-glance" booklet to their golf bag.
Right now any wine orders includes one of these at no additional cost. Check out our Christmas gift ideas.

Again Merry Christmas!