Full descriptions of the bites and wine pairings are below if you are feeling an adventurous culinary bug coming on: 

Sauvignon Blanc
Fresh Super Sweet Green Pea Blinis Topped with Crème Fraiche and Roasted Peppers with Mint Essence

Chardonnay
Foie Gras Mousse on a Brioche Disc with Fresh Pear

Viognier
Fresh Pacific Prawn with Citrus Compote on an English Cucumber Medallion

Pinot Noir
Smoked Sonoma Duck Served on Sweet Potato Chips with Sundried Cherry Jam

Zinfandel
Moroccan Spiced Lamb, Apricot Pistachio Chutney on Pita Crisp

Cabernet
Marinated Beef Served Rare Topped with Capers, Shallots and Citrus on a Roasted Garlic Crostini

Midnight Reserve
Beef Carpaccio Served on Potato Rounds with an essence of Black Truffle with Fresh Chives

For a limited time, pre-order your jersey to get it at OUR COST and SHIPPING INCLUDED.  The more custom jerseys we order from the manufacturer Louis Garneau, the better the price is for everyone – so please spread the word!

Pre-order soon at our cost and shipping included

I’m hoping there are enough jersey pre-orders (both men’s and women’s) so the price is around $50 for our pre-order customers.  Jerseys should be available and shipped by early December.

Pre-order your cycling jersey at our online store.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and helping us choose between these great designs.  I can’t wait to see riders sporting their LT jerseys the next time I’m riding.

Cheers!

As a cyclist myself, and a family winery who is a host to the annual Sacramento Cyclocross race, it only makes sense to outfit our most loyal fans with some LT cycling gear.

We need your help in deciding which design to choose.  Please vote and share with your friends!

The winning design will be available for pre-orders at OUR COST.  So, if you vote and pre-order, you save big – the more we order, the better the price for everyone.

Check out the designs below and vote!

[poll id="5"]

Design #1

Design #2

Design #3

All design sketches by the talented team at Nagy Designs.

Industry folks will assure you “it’s a good problem to have” and don’t get me wrong – I would much rather have high demand than oversupply in most scenarios.  But when you have to tell your most loyal customer that you can’t ship them their favorite wine for a daughter’s wedding, son’s gradaution party or fill-in-the-blank special occasion, it stings a bit.

Wine isn’t like soda – we get one year, one vintage.  Another batch can’t just be whipped up.

Layering harvest on top of winemaking on top of projected sales is a scary game of throwing darts in the dark.  Our viticulture, winemaking and sales teams are tasked with thinking years ahead, with no clue which hot stokes in the fire might be picked up.  As those new opportunities for growth come through, it’s anxious celebration – excitement for the added reach of our wine, apprehension in meeting the challenge to keep everyone supplied and happy.

Thus, the good and bad of being sold out.

Please join the family in wishing them both a happy birthday! Leave a comment and we’ll pass it along to them since they’re not big blog, Facebook or Twitter guys.

Cheers!

Randy and Brad - The Birthday Boys

They toured the fields, checked out orders being roasted for shipment and finished up with a coffee tasting – I can’t imagine how wired they were on that ride home.

Brad, Susan, Phil and family friend Christian all said that the tour was well worth the rolling boat trip from Maui.  For the record, you can also fly.

Here are some pics of their tour:

Lodi’s Clayton Worfolk of Heist Projects captured this entire video in one continuous shot, which is awfully demanding of his “cast” (family and friends) don’t you think?  Apparently it only took two takes and looks like everyone had a blast.

Can you spot the bottle of (now sold out) 2008 LangeTwins Single Barrel Malbec? (see 1:43)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItB3zCrmngU

Thanks to Clay and the Worfolk family for supporting LangeTwins…free product placement!

Toby and Lauren – friends, Wine Club Members, and awesome LangeTwins Ambassadors – sent along this picture of one of our reusable LangeTwins bags in front of Buckingham Palace!

The bag traveled all over London, England and also Oberammergau, Germany with Toby and Lauren.

We have the best fans.

It’s the winegrape edition of American Beauty’s “You want to see the most beautiful thing I’ve ever filmed?” flying plastic bag.  See if you can fully understand the true beauty behind this very artistic short ‘film’.

If our vineyard guys are getting artsy on Day 2 of Harvest 2010, who knows what kind of videos we’ll get mid-October!

Aaron’s Academy Award-winning clip:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkdcWI7dW4I

Thanks to John Brodie for spreading the word!

And something tells me there was more rum consumed than wine…

It features his parents’ maple syrup, Adirondack Gold Maple Syrup, and either our Midnight Reserve or Zinfandel. He says both wines work really well!

Thanks Marc!

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup Midnight Reserve or Zin (you can decide what to do with the rest… )
• 2 tbls orange juice
• 1/2 cup Adirondack Gold Maple Syrup
• 1 tbls cornstarch
• 1 tbls cold water

Mix it Up

1. Mix the strawberries, wine, orange juice, and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Simmer for 15 minutes or until strawberries are thawed and mixture is bubbly.
3. Mix cornstarch and water and add to pan.
4. Boil 2-3 minutes and then cool mixture for 10 minutes.
5. Pour over vanilla ice cream and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

More of a white wine fan? Check out our recipe for Viognier Granitas!

Contact Cheryl Kenyon for syrup: adkgoldmaple@aol.com

We received over 900 votes during this week-long search for our next T-shirt and Design #1 took 40% of the pie.  Design #2 and #3 put up very respectable fights…

Now that you’ve chosen your favorite, support the winning design by sporting the tee!

Here are the two ways to get your shirt:

1. Order two bottles of wine or more from our online store to receive a T-shirt (along with shipping) included! Use coupon code TSHIRT.
2. Order your T-shirt for $5.00 shipping included!
   

The T-shirts will take a few weeks to print, so we’ll keep you posted on your order status!  Thanks to everyone who participated in our T-shirt design contest.

The winning design will receive a gift card for dinner on us and the T-shirt will be sold at our online store for a super cheap price of $5.00 – shipping included!

Vote for your favorite T-shirt design below! Voting ends Monday, February 8th at 12:00pm PST.

Thanks for the great designs!  (Click thumbnails for larger images)

[poll id="4"]

Share this poll with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and more by using the icons below!

Sometimes I just assume that everyone is on Facebook and Twitter because I am – probably not the safest bet! In addition to RSS, Facebook and Twitter are great tools to stay connected with us, but they’re not for everyone.

A few times per month I’ll send emails to our mailing list with special offers and news (T-shirt contest for dinner on us, $15 off Single Barrel re-orders) but I try to keep them to a minimum so your inbox isn’t inundated with LangeTwins.

So, if you’re not into the whole social media thing but want to stay up to date with new posts on our blog, subscribe to our blog via email:

Just click the  icon and enter your email address.  You’ll receive each blog post in your inbox that you can read at your convenience.

We want to see what kind of graphic design talent exists amongst our fans for some new LangeTwins tees!

As compensation for an awesome design, the winning artist will receive a gift card for dinner on us!

How it Works

1. Design your best T-shirt artwork and submit it by January 26th, 2010.
2. We’ll post the best designs on our blog for an online community vote.
3. The winning design will sell for $5.00, shipping included ( deal! ) at our online store.
4. Wine Club Members still get their 20% off discount, of course. 

Design Guidelines

1. Highlight what we stand for: sustainability, family, and wine!
2. Include our logo in your design somewhere.  Here it is in eps color and jpg, black & white and color.
3. Design to print on a white T-shirt, either in one or two colors.
4. Design on the front, back, or both – you decide!
5. Submit your design in jpg, gif, or png by emailing it to me at joe@langetwins.com.

Questions? Reach me via email, Twitter, or our Facebook page!

Choose between black or white – only $10.00 or $8.00 for Wine Club Members!

And, until this Friday (Jan. 15th) shipping is included on all apparel and merchandise orders!  No promo code necessary.

One size fits most, 100% acrylic.  Pick one up at our online store today!

1. Designing a Wine Label – The Winner is…
   After over 200 votes on our blog and Facebook page, the winning wine label design for our Proprietary Tier is announced!
2. Best LangeTwins Photos – Now for your Desktop Wallpaper
   By far our most popular post yet, Aaron gets all the credit for these amazing shots.
3. Movie Slideshow: Our 3rd Annual Wine Club Dinner
   Our Wine Club Members packed the cellar for a night filled with Single Barrel wines.
4. More Solar Panels Installed at the Winery
   Double-sided photovoltaic solar panels were installed above the crush pad – even more green energy!
5. Sacramento Cyclocross Race #4 Recap: Video
   Five minute video of race day – cyclocross racing around our winery, wine tasting, coffee tasting, and holiday shopping.
6. Big Win: A Gold Medal for our 2007 Zinfandel
   This gold medal win for our small-lot ’07 Zin made it our quickest selling wine.
7. Springtime in the Vineyards – Do you No-Till?
   Why we use cover crops in our vineyards and how they affect our frost risk.
8. Slideshow of Perfect Pairings: LangeTwins & Nordstrom
   The Perfect Pairing: LangeTwins wine tasting and Nordstrom shopping.
9. Slideshow: Wine Club Easter Egg Hunt 2009
   A great day at the winery with Easter Egg Hunting for the kids and wine tasting for the bigger kids!
10. Lodi’s Green Building Workshop in the Media Spotlight
    We hosted the Green Building Workshop to highlight Earth Day and continue our commitment to sustainability.

Could it really recognize faces based on some crazy Google technology?  Could it differentiate between Brad and Randy, being identical twins?

I was impressed.

Check out the screenshot below – it knows Brad, but waits for me to confirm when it gets to Randy’s picture.  So, Google gets it right, even when people to this day still confuse them in person.  That’s pretty good, don’t you think?

It even picked up on the cardboard cutouts of the Twins! (2nd and 4th pic of Brad)

Thanks for all your support of our family winery and vineyards.

Cheers!

The LangeTwins Family

Michael and Rene Fong sent this pic of our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon with one of the pyramids in the background:

We feel honored to have had our wine along with them on their awesome journey to Egypt.  Thanks so much for sending this pic!

Next time, I’ll try to convince them to take me…

Our Wine Club Members each received one as part of their Summer Wine Club Selection in June – they get all the perks!

Bring your LangeTwins green wine bag with you when you shop at the winery and we’ll give you $1.00 off your order.

Remember: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Now, I’ve tried to grow orchids before, but they last about as long as it takes to get them home from the nursery.  It’s not even funny.  I’ll be looking to our winemakers for pointers not only on winemaking during Crush 2009 but also Orchid Growing 101!

Stay tuned for pics and videos of crush!

So I made a quick phone call and reconnected with Kay Gordon Heller – we were in Washtenaw County 4-H program together.  My attic has now been cleared of all unused suitcases enroute to Michigan.

The town of Chelsea supported me as youngster and even now as our wines are in market back home.  So it’s an easy decision to help support them.

If you have an extra suitcase or two in the attic – drop it off to me at the winery.  I’ll get it back to Chelsea.

Photo: mailias

It’s our directorial debut, so to speak, so we promise to improve our techniques for future videos.

Using photographer Marc Piscotty’s camera clamp, we rigged my little Flip Ultra HD camera onto my handlebars during the Winemaker Trails ride on Sunday.  I think a seatpost cam would have been more steady, or perhaps a helmet cam.  I’ll try that next time.  For now, you’ll get to ‘experience’ every bump I hit on the trail!

At 4:30 in the video, Marc and I try our hand at some tabletops on the Crested Butte Mountain terrain park -- very fun, and no diggers!

To watch in HD, press the HD button on the video player bar.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcRpty4XgRs

This Viognier Granitas recipe is almost decadent:

1. Make a simple syrup: 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1 1/2 cups of water; boil to dissolve.
2. Add one bottle of LangeTwins Viognier.
3. Pour into a metal cookie sheet – carefully place flat in the freezer.  Every hour use your fork and ‘rake’.  It takes about two – three hours to get a good fluffy granita.
4. Spoon into small cups – add some bits of fresh fruit on the side.

Perfect for sitting on your porch and listening to the crickets.

The way I like these granitas, I don’t think David made enough of this wine?

Grab a bottle for your own Viognier Granitas from our online store – only $16.00.

If you aren’t part of the Wine Club yet, join now and be part of the fun.

Click here to view the movie slideshow.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttWKSphzEzA

Cheers!

I wanted to remind you of the different ways to keep up with us online – it is the place for all our big announcements: wine deals, winery updates, exclusive wine releases, event slideshows, amazing vineyard photography, you name it!

Come join us online and connect with all our loyal friends.

Heard of RSS?  It’s a great way to keep up with lots of blogs (like ours) without visiting each site one at a time.  New content is sent your way automatically – it’s a breeze.  Try Google Reader for the easiest setup or choose your favorite here.

Admit it, you’re hooked.  Become a fan of LangeTwins on Facebook.  (We know you’ve checked your Facebook profile at least twice since reading this post.)

Rabid Tweeter?  Follow us on Twitter! Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which allows you to share your updates with friends who ‘follow’ you.

Speaking of addiction, if you’re a habitual speed-channel-surfer, check us out on StumbleUpon.  It’s channel surfing for the web and it’s rad.  If you like one of our pages, give it a big THUMBS UP for us!

And if all this sounds way too confusing, subscribe to our blog post updates via email.  New content is delivered to your email inbox, nice and simple.

And for a second year in a row, we came out on top!

We’re honored to have such great fans who took the time to vote for us and spread the word about the contest.  Thanks so much for your support!

Here are the standings as of noon on Wednesday:

To secure our first place finish, please keep forwarding on the link to your friends.

We have lots of momentum right now – thanks so much for spreading the word!  Send the voting link to a friend.

I still have my eyes on 1st place.  We’ll need more than 10% of the votes to make it to the top.  Vote now!

]]> http://www.langetwins.com/blog/just-for-fun/2009/03/18/a-list-update-currently-4th-place-with-lots-of-momentum/feed/ 0 http://www.langetwins.com/blog/just-for-fun/2009/03/16/vote-now-kcras-a-list-competition/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vote-now-kcras-a-list-competition http://www.langetwins.com/blog/just-for-fun/2009/03/16/vote-now-kcras-a-list-competition/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:02:55 +0000 Joe Lange http://www.langetwins.com/blog/?p=1348 Read More →]]> KCRA’s A-List Competition is going again – we were honored to have won in 2008, so we want to try for another big win in 2009!  We really appreciate all your support in voting us your Favorite Winery in the Sacramento Area.

Here’s how to vote:

1. Go to the our page on KCRA’s A-List website
2. Click on “Vote”
3. Enter your information and click “Sign up and Vote”
4. Go to your email account (you can vote from more than one account, hint hint!)
5. Click on the confirmation link in your email, which will take you back to the A-List website
6. Leave a review and click “Post”

Simple, right?  Help us spread the word and get your friends to vote too! 

Email this Link to a Friend

Looking through our photos on our Facebook page is kind of like playing a Where’s Waldo? game with our Sauvignon Blanc!

He’s playing chess, hanging out with friends, catching some rays – we want to be invited next time!

For those in need of a LangeTwins “stimulus package” join our Wine Club!

Arly’s daughter, Jeannie Sullivan, and her husband Todd recently visited us for Lodi’s Wine and Chocolate Weekend.

Now, Arly – when are we going to get you out to the winery?

Heard of RSS?  It’s a great way to keep up with lots of blogs (like ours) without visiting each site one at a time.  New content is sent your way automatically – it’s a breeze.  Try Google Reader for the easiest setup or choose your favorite here.

Admit it, you’re hooked.  Friend us on Facebook.  (We know you’ve checked your Facebook profile at least twice since reading this post.)

Rabid Tweeter?  Follow us on Twitter! Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which allows you to share your updates with friends who ‘follow’ you.

Speaking of addiction, if you’re a habitual speed-channel-surfer, check us out on StumbleUpon.  It’s channel surfing for the web and it’s rad.  If you like one of our pages, give it a big THUMBS UP for us!

And if all this sounds way too confusing, subscribe to our blog post updates via email.  New content is delivered to your email inbox, nice and simple.

Here are the favorites in three different screen resolutions to fit your desktop.  Right-click the link and choose “Save Link As…”

Barn Owl in Flight

800×600 1024×768 1680×1050

Night Harvest Light Painting

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Starry Night in the Vineyard

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Aaron documented the effort it took to get some of these shots in a post last harvest.

Have a favortite LangeTwins pic that you don’t see here?  Leave your requests in the comments below and I’ll post it!