Jordan Winery Glampire Ball; Cool Halloween (And other Holiday) Cocktails

October 29th, 2010 |

Jordan Gets It’s Vampire Groove On

Jordan Winery is always a class act when it comes to wine & food, social media, consumer interaction. If they put their name behind it, you can expect a quality experience. I am also a fan of their Cabernet, supple, feminine, not dominated by oak or extraction, a delight to pair with food.

I was delighted to get an invitation to their annual Glampire event. Where as many wineries wait to celebrate during the traditional holiday season, Jordan embraces Halloween, and has developed a reputation for this event; held as a thank your to wholesalers, sommeliers and media. People travel from the East coast just to attend. Celebrity Wine Review did a nice background video on the event, you can view here.

If you don’t follow their blog, The Journey, I highly recommend you do. Communications Director Lisa Mattson puts out some of the most compelling, industry leading video content in the industry. As a sneak preview to Glampire, they did s special video tribute to True Blood, which you can view here.

Costume Nervousness

I have to confess, when it comes to Halloween, my costume creativeness is lacking, and most years I don’t dress up, or if I do, I make a poor stab at it. I decided this year, true to most ways I do things, I would go big or go home. So I headed down to Hot Couture Vintage Fashion in Santa Rosa, and spent a few hours building a costume, piece by piece. Based on feedback that night, amongst some pretty awesome costumes, I seem to have done ok, but I will let you be the judge of that! Turns out pirates were a popular theme that night, so I had lots of mateys.

All I Can Say is….WOW

Not the most descriptive adjective, but the transformation, creativity, and attention to detail was incredible. With out a doubt, the best Halloween bash I have ever attended, and it ranks in the Top Ten of any Wine Industry Event I attended.

The winery was completely transformed.

True to the expectations set, everything was spectacular. Culinary nibbles, creative cocktails (and of course Jordan wines), dressed to the T servers. (Models? where did these lovely ladies all come from – it looked like a model agency was enlisted for service!) A few pictures are below. For those of you on Facebook, you can view the entire album, here on Jordan’s Fan Page.

DO Try This At Home

Jordan Estate Sommelier and Mixologist Pete Yen invested a great deal of time coming with some very cool cocktails. (Can I volunteer to be on next year’s Tasting Panel?)

Jordan was kind enough to share the recipes for two of my faves, so I thought I’d share the wealth. While served for Halloween, these will serve you well all throughout the upcoming Holiday Season. I’ll be happy to make myself available to taste your concoctions before your party, as a community service.

Glamtini

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup raspberries, pureed and strained of seeds
1 ounce corn syrup
¼ teaspoon red icing color
1 ounce Vodka
2 ounces Chambord
4 ounces brut rosé sparkling wine or Champagne (They used J. My house fave is Gloria Ferrer.
4 each Griottines (Morello cherries in Kirsch liqueur)
1 sprig lemon verbena
2 each star anise

Preparation: Chill two martini glasses. Combine raspberry puree, corn syrup and food coloring to create “blood”. Place one star anise in bottom of each glass. Spoon two tablespoons of the “blood” over the star anise. In a shaker with ice, combine Vodka and Chambord. Shake, then strain over “blood”. Finish with Rosé Champagne and garnish with Griottines and lemon verbena. Serves 2.

Fangtastic Martini

Ingredients:
2 ounce Absolut Citron Vodka
3 ounces Hpnotiq
4 ounces sweet and sour (or Margarita) mix
2 fresh orange half wheels
2 lemon twists

Preparation: Chill two martini glasses. In a shaker with ice, squeeze orange half wheel over ice and drop rind into shaker. (Muddling orange optional.) Fill shaker with Absolut Citron, Hpnotiq, and sweet and sour mix. Shake and then strain into glasses. Discard ice and orange rind. Garnish with lemon twists. Serves 2.

I enjoyed a few of these, and did later threaten to climb the barrels like the rigging of a ship, but desisted, thus will remain hopeful I get invited back again for 2011!

Avast Ye Landlubbers…..er….Cheers!