Shannon Ridge wins big at San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition!

Shannon Ridge brings home the Gold, Lots of Gold, pretty shiny gold!

The San Francisco Chronicle wine competition is one of the more prestigious wine judging competitions in the United States.

The 2008 professional wine judging took place at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair during the week of January 7, 2008. Sixty professional wine judges representing trade, education, media, retail, and restaurants throughout the United States evaluated 4,235 wines entered by 1,500 wineries from across the country. http://www.winejudging.com/index.html

Shannon Ridge Gold Medal Winners:

Double gold for our 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lake County

Gold Medal for our 2006 Barbera, Lake County

Gold Medal for our 2006 Grenache, Lake County

Gold Medal for our 2006 Zinfandel, Lake County

Gold Medal for our 2006 Chardonnay, Lake County

Gold Medal for our 2006 Wrangler Red, Lake County

Bronze Medal for our 2006 Syrah

And our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, Lake County wins another Gold.

See the full results at: http://www.winejudging.com/medal_winners_2008/index.html

Shannon Ridge Showdown - October 18-19, 2008

Come join us October 18-19 as Shannon Ridge hosts the final race of the 8 race series of the USA Cycling National Ultra Endurance Series.

http://www.shannonridgeshowdown.com/

The following is from USA Cycling website:

2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Calendars announced

Colorado Springs, Colo. (December 18, 2007)—With more than $150,000 on the line to off-road cyclists next season, the 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Calendars were announced today by the national governing body.

After introducing the National Calendar concept in 2007, the 2008 edition once again recognizes three separate calendars in order to provide mountain bike athletes across the country with consistent national-level racing in their chosen discipline.

The 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross Country Calendar welcomes eight new events and features four UCI-sanctioned races and the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. The calendar begins in early spring with the 20th Annual Keyesville Classic in Lake Isabella, Calif., March 15-16 and concludes seven months later with the Piney Hills Fall Classic in Ruston, La., Oct. 25-26.

New events on the 24-race Cross Country Calendar include the Keyesville Classic as well as the Rabbit Valley Rampage in Fruita, Colo., the Massanutten Hoo-Ha in McGayhesville, Va., the East Coast National in Windham, N.Y., the Full Tilt in Telluride (Colo.), the Ladies Loppet in Callaway, Minn., the Tamarack (Idaho) National and the Fall Classic in Breckenridge, Colo.

Races that offer international ranking points as part of the UCI Calendar include the Fontana National in California and the Deer Valley National in Park City, Utah – both UCI Category-1 events. Category-2 UCI races in 2008 include the NOVA National in Fountain Hills, Ariz. and the Santa Ynez National in Southern California. Also recognized as a Category-1 event on the 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross Country Calendar is next year’s USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Mount Snow Resort in West Dover, Vt. next July. The national championships also provide athletes with the opportunity to accumulate international ranking points.

Ten races are featured on the 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Gravity Calendar – four of which are also on the UCI Calendar. Four of the ten races are also new to the National Calendar.

The National Gravity Calendar also opens with the Keyesville Classic in March before concluding with the Whiteface Third Annual 5k Downhill in Wilmington, N.Y. on Aug. 31. New events include the Keyesville Classic as well as the Sol Survivor in Sol Vista, Colo., the Third Annual Capital Cup at Wisp in McHenry, Md. and the Sol Squared, also in Sol Vista, Colo.

Three events – the Chile Challenge, the Blast the Mass and the Keystone Classic – are part of the UCI Calendar, while the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships also offer UCI points to competitors.

After featuring six events last season, the 2008 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Ultra-Endurance Calendar will include eight races. Added to the Calendar next season are two national championship events – the USA Cycling Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships in Breckenridge, Colo. on July 4 and the USA Cycling 24-Hour Mountain Bike National Championships in Wausau, Wis., Aug. 2-3. The last event on the Calendar – the Shannon Ridge Showdown in Clear Lake Oaks, Calif., Oct. 18-19 – is also new. Once again the Calendar begins with the Mas O Menos 100k in Terlingua, Texas, Feb. 14-16.

“The 42 events on next season’s National Calendars represent the best off-road races in the United States in terms of organization, prize lists and prestige,” explained Kelli Lusk, USA Cycling’s newly-appointed Mountain Bike Events and Program Director. “With races in 19 states and all regions of the country, we’ve managed to once again put together a sizeable series-long calendar that provides elite athletes with top-quality racing across all disciplines of competitive mountain biking.”

Once again, athletes will accumulate points over the course of the season as they pursue overall titles in six categories. The Cross Country Calendar will again feature traditional Olympic-style cross country races. Gravity Calendar events include downhill, 4-cross, super-D and dual slalom events. Ultra-Endurance calendar races will feature marathons, 100-kilometer, and 12- and 24-hour competitions.

In 2007, USA Cycling crowned Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho/Luna) and Canadian Geoff Kabush overall champions of the National Cross Country Calendar. Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS) and Australian Jared Graves took home National Gravity Calendar titles. Nat Ross (Golden, Colo./Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Rebecca Rusch (Ketchum, Idaho/Red Bull-Specialized) claimed overall victories in the National Ultra-Endurance Calendar.

For compete 2008 calendars, click on the corresponding links below:

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross Country Calendar

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Gravity Calendar

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Ultra-Endurance Calendar

About USA CyclingRecognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale, USA Cycling promotes American cycling through its 60,000 members and 2,500 annual events. USA Cycling associations include the BMX Association (BMX), National Off-Road Bicycle Association (mountain bike), U.S. Cycling Federation (road/track), the National Collegiate Cycling Association and the U.S. Professional Racing Organization (professional men’s road). For more information, visit www.usacycling.org or contact USA Cycling Director of Communications, Andy Lee at 719-866-4867.

Shannon Ridge attends Lake County Wine Auction

October 20, 2008
Kelseyville, California

Lake County Wine Alliance annual wine auction at Buckingham Golf & Country Club 2855 Eastlake DriveKelseyville, CA 95451

Shannon Ridge group before heading to the Lake County Wine Auction. From Left, Chris Baker, Karen Minor, Mike and Adawn Wood, Clay and Margarita Shhannon, Mary Anne and John Girty and Taylor Sullivan.

KELSEYVILLE – Bidding began slowly at Saturday night’s annual Lake County Wine Auction where silent and live auction lots totaling 100 in number were expected to rake in $125,000 for Lake County charities.
Live auction bidding, conducted by Archie McLaren, picked up speed and humor when Dr. Paula Dhanda of Kelseyville interrupted the bidding for lot 6, a private tasting, tour and lunch at Ceago Vinegarden, with a personal testimonial.
Bidding had slowed to near $3,000 for the 12-person lunch, when Dhanda took the microphone to tell the more than 400 ticket-holders how much she had enjoyed her $6,000 purchase from a prior year’s event. And the crowd roared when she added that she was Ceago owner Jim Fetzer’s gynecologist.
Clay Shannon, of Shannon Ridge Vineyards and Winery, whose ranch neighbors Fetzer’s Ceago, ended up winning the lot – twice - at $3,600 each, if Jim would agree to remove a tree for him. Clay Shannon and Jim Fetzer of Ceago discuss the finer points of Clay's bid on a private function for 12 guests at Fetzer's Ceago property.

Lake County Wine Auction Chair Marie Beery said about 70 percent of the attendees were from Lake County, adding that some of that number are second-home owners in the area.
The event is hosted by the Lake County Wine Alliance at the Buckingham Golf and Country Club and is held in a large tent on the golf course.
Master of Ceremonies Narsai David, food and wine editor at KCBS in San Francisco, welcomed the crowd, noting that Lake County is experiencing a “renaissance” in winegrowing, with 8,000 acres currently in grape vine production.
Alliance President Margaret Walker reminisced about planning the first wine auction 10 years ago. She said the event was hosted by just five wineries and 10 restaurants. The five wineries were Ployez, Wildhurst, Steele, Kendall-Jackson and Guenoc Wineries.
On Saturday some 21 Lake County wineries were on hand to pour their wines.

Pick RIGHT! Pick RIPE! Shannon Ridge Vineyards and Winery harvest going full bore.

150 workers picking by hand, day and night to pick grapes at optimum ripeness. That's what we do at Shannon Ridge for our wines when Clay calls the pick.

What does all this mean?

As sugars develop in the grapes there is a time to get started picking and there is the time that some buyers of grapes want you to pick. Most buyers are concerned with time so they opt for a "Quick pick" by utilizing mechanical harvesters to get the grapes into their wineries as soon as possible. This method is good and less costly than hand picking. On the downside, you don't have trained eyes looking for the clusters that are at prime ripeness and therefore some "Green" grapes will almost always be present in mechanically harvested grapes.

Example: Buyer "A" wants 20 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon at 24 degrees brix (Brix: A measurement of sugar content in grapes, indicating their degree of ripeness. Vineyard managers and winemakers look for a certain level of Brix before harvesting. The textbook conversion rate for brix to alcohol is .56. For example, if grapes were picked at 24 degrees brix the finished alcohol would be 13.4%.). While this sounds good, it is what the contract buyer wants and eventually they can manipulate the wines in the lab to create a style they are looking for. What a great grower making his own wines (eg: Clay Shannon) will do is call the pick at the optimum sugar level in order to showcase what his vineyards are capable of producing. THIS IS WHAT CLAY DOES. And does it very well. This in itself sets Shannon Ridge apart from many competitors. That's why the wines are so good and will continue to be so.

Harvest is in full swing at Shannon Ridge for our Red Grapes. Crews are working non-stop to insure all grapes are picked at optimum sugar levels. Clay is in the vineyards calling the vineyards blocks to be picked. All Red Grapes at Shannon Ridge are "Hand Harvested" for insuring the best quality grapes to produce our wines.

In the words of John Girty, VP of Sales and Marketing "Clay is "The Man""...I tend to agree.

Mr. "The Man", please keep up the great work and we will tirelessly continue to make sure every human being on the planet hears about Shannon Ridge.

Chris
Keeping the "Buzz" alive

Shannon Ridge "Hottest New Brand" introduced in Raleigh, NC.

Raleigh, NC. Brier Creek Country Club

Over 1000 customers of Empire Distributors of NC, INC. attended the annual trade show and tasting of the best wines Empire has to offer. The show was held at the Brier Creek Country Club and featured over 50 beer and wine suppliers pouring their best for the Raleigh area restaurateurs, wine shops and retail grocery chain customers. All the "Buzz" was around the "Hottest new brand" in town, SHANNON RIDGE.
At times, the crowds were 4 people deep as they waited patiently to hear the story of this special place called High Valley in Lake County and to learn more about the Shannon family and how their roots got started in the wine business. All wines were tasting especially well and the common consensus was that the Barbera 2006 was the stand out wine on the table and probably one of the best wines at the show.

A special thanks to the following supporters for bringing in Shannon Ridge wines to their shops and restaurants:

Bob Simon, an overall great guy and Owner of The Beef Barn in Greenville, NC (Great food and tremendous wine selections) Bob has been instrumental in creating the Greenville Wine Festival which will hold it's 3rd Annual event on March 1, 2008. Be sure to mark your calendar to attend.

Bob and Susan Crenshaw, tremendous people who truly give back to their community each year with their involvement in an annual fundraiser. They have raised over $114,000 over the last 12 years and all the money has gone to local charities. Visit Bob and Susan at Health Habit, Natural Foods - Fine Wines in Goldsboro, NC.

Ed and Sue Weems, owners of the Hottest new Boutique Grocery store in the Raleigh, NC market, Capital City Grocery. Take a nice stroll and enjoy a glass of Shannon Ridge Sauvignon Blanc while shopping for your favorite grocery, beer, wine, sushi etc.

Thanks to all the other customers for stopping by and trying our wines. We will continue to be successful because of the great folks like you and we can't succeed without your support.

Special thanks to all the folks at Empire for believing in us and spreading the word......

Shannon Ridge Vineyards harvest of red grapes in full swing.

Clearlake Oaks, lake County, California.

Here are some photos shared by Rick Gunier of the harvest taking place at Shannon Ridge.

We are in full swing on picking our red grapes. Most by hand, but some of the larger contracts were for Machine picked Cabernet Sauvignon and we are harvesting several truck loads a day. This is our 2007 coming off the vine on its way to the winery for fermentation.

Here is photo of our NEW director of Wine Production for Shannon Ridge Vineyards and Winery. Mike Wood.

Welcome aboard Mike!

For the past 22 year he has worked for Lake County's Guenoc Estate Winery (Langtry Estate and Vineyards), the last 7 years as the winemaker for the California brand. Mike also handled the winemaker position for the last 6 years for both Mount St. Helena Vineyard and Winery of Middletown and his own label Shed Horn Cellars. Married to his high school sweetheart Adawn, they reside with their 2 daughters in Cobb Mountain, Ca.

Southern Wine & Spirits of South Carolina launches Shannon Ridge wines.

Friday October 5, 2007

Southern Wine & Spirits of South Carolina gathered their entire sales staff for a series of supplier presentations leading into the holidays. We are very honored to be selected to come in and launch Shannon Ridge wines in the state. A Big "Thank You" to Tom Collins, Steve Baker, Blake Johnson and all the management and sales staff from Southern for the effort being put forth on behalf of Shannon Ridge.