Happy Thanksgiving!!
With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, we can finally say the “2010 Harvest is in the bag!” It has been a crazy year and it feels great to finally have all of our grapes in and out of harms way. Overall, everything looks great and I will definitely keep you all up to date on the progress of this year’s fruit.
Now that harvest is over, everyone is a little more relaxed out at the winery and the crew is slowly getting back into working normal shifts. We even had time for a little Thanksgiving of our own. Every year at Castoro Niels and Bimmer treat the staff to a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal and this year was no exception. As usual, Niels fired up the Webbers and BBQ’D two delicious turkeys. Various staff members also made contributions of their own, making it a real Castoro family meal. There was turkey, pumpkin pie, green beans, corn, salad, and of course Niels’ famous gravy (recipe below)!! Due to wet and cold weather we opted to eat inside the cellar this year among the barrels, tanks, and pallets of wine.
Bringing the crew together for meals like Thanksgiving is something we really enjoy at Castoro and our crew really enjoys taking part in it as well. Everyone brings something a little different to the table and it is always fun to see what we end up with. No matter what it is, it always seems to be delicious. With that said, we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you are all able to enjoy some quality time with friends and family and maybe even with a bottle or two of Dam Fine Wine.
Happy Thanksgiving from the Castoro Crew,
Cheers,
Luke
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ZINFANDEL GRAVY
Create a stock using the neck and giblets from the Turkey.
Stock ingredients: Turkey parts, couple of carrots, some celery, onions, herbs, salt to taste. Simmer down & reduce.
Add degreased drippings from the BBQ’d or baked turkey along with Castoro Cellars Late Harvest Zinfandel to taste and cook down. When the texture and flavor feels right remove a bit of gravy and blend in a tad of corn starch and mix until lump free. Slowly add this back to the gravy until your desired thickness is reached. A touch of Zinfandel Jelly can be substituted for Late Harvest Zinfandel.
