International Cabernet Day is coming, and we celebrate by having our tasting sheet focus on all Cabernets and Cabernet blends. For the next few weeks, I will be sharing stories and recipes about our estate Cabernet Sauvignon. I am choosing this week our 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon that has yet to make an appearance on our tasting sheet but has last year during our vertical tasting. This is a wine; we haven’t opened up in a long while. But, this past week, I did! Every so often, I go into the closet…
When I went to the market the other day, my sweet tooth is calling to get something, I probably should not have had. We all know what that’s like. Don’t ever go shopping when you’re hungry. Well it was already too late at that point, something made me turn my head because it looked so interesting, I had to get it. Back in January I started to see Ruby cacao bars. And now every time I see one, my eyes go towards it. If you haven’t tried it, it’s something that is…
After making jam, plum sauce and chutney this week I still have plenty more fruit left from my trip up north. I did make a second batch of chutney because it was so yummy. I ended up making calzones stuffed with ricotta, Chutney, shredded chicken and Cabernet cheddar. Also, when I went up north there’s this little dairy that makes fresh cheese and milk. And of course, I brought some cheese. How could I not….
I ment
ioned last week how I enjoy Robby’s Blend with plum dishes. Well, now I am craving a…
I’m gonna start off in the negative this week even though I try not to. I must share I had the world’s worst tasteless plums last week. They were so bad… How bad were they? Sounds like the start of a bad joke. Well, I bought five, I took a bite of the first one and struggled to take a second bite. I ended up not finishing it and I bit into the second one and it was just as bad as the first and really didn’t know what to do…
For this week’s Wine of the Week, I have chosen a wine that hasn’t made that many appearances yet. It still hasn’t officially been released. I thought it would be fun for another preview of this favorite, 2014 Quinn’s Zin. We sourced the grapes for this vintage locally, from Lake Los Angeles.
A few 
weeks ago, we were saddened by the news that Efren Chavez from High…
Father’s Day is coming this week and my dad loves crab cakes. I made that back in November for his birthday. So, instead of the same dish, I thought why not pasta with crab! I am making a crab carbonara pasta. The traditional way is with guanciale or pancetta. I am substituting it with crab.
This Sunday its going to be hot! Having a pasta dish with a cold glass of white wine sounds fabulous! I am going to pair this with 2011 Reyes Muscat. There are just a few cases left. I have had a lot of fun pairing…
Back in November 2015, I wrote about our 2013 Amber Chardonnay for the first time. I introduced the style of “orange” wine to you. In modern Georgia, along the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountain range, archaeology finds have confirmed that wine making existed as early as 6,000 B.C. The word wine is thought to have originated from the Georgian word “Ghvino”. Georgia is to be considered where wine originated in the world. Georgia borders the Black Sea, Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
There have been different methods of aging wine; steel containers, Oak barrels, qvevri and a few other…
My annual vertical tasting is just right around the corner and spots are filling up fast. This is a fun and educational event at Reyes Winery. Every wine has a story and I have many to tell about each wine.
Our 2013 estate Cabernet Sauvignon has an interesting tale to tell. When the time came last year to send wine for judging, this wine was not one on my list to be sent. I hesitated because we only made such a small amount, only 48…
I’m sure everybody has seen at the market how abundant and beautiful the cherries are this year. This week I decided to buy some cherries and make some jam. And of course, like always I always infuse wine into everything, Jams and jellies are no different. When I think of cherries there are a couple wines that come to mind, but the one that made me think the most this week because I haven’t used it in any recipe recently was 2014 Reyes Julia’s Blend. It is a…
Last week, I saw an article that caught my interest. Is wine gluten free? And yes, there can be gluten found in wine, but it is insignificant amount. There are two ways it could be found in wine. One way are fining agents. Those are to remove the impurities and sediment in wine before bottling. We use bentonite, which is mineral based, wheat free and vegan. B
entonite is used to absorb and remove what is not wanted in a glass of…
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, I would say are the two most famous red wines. They are the kings of red wine. This week, I am sharing with you a favorite, 2011 Renaissance by Reyes Les Deux Rois. This is our “Two Kings” red wine blend. The two grapes make up this amazing and award-winning Bordeaux-style red blend. For hundreds of years, these two grapes are widely known around the world.
Cabernet Sauvignon classically provides the blend’s structure, with heavier tannins and more acidity than Merlot….
Its that time again for our members to have their quarterly choices and a lunch. Our wine club consists of four shipments are year. They are march, June, September and December. There 
is no fee to become a member, only a commitment that you will remain a member for at least four shipments. Every shipment you have an option of either having it shipped to you or picking it up at the winery. For instance, next weekend is our member pick up…
by Beth Heiserman
This past weekend, I was watching a movie about a couple falling in love at a vineyard. It was driving me crazy watching it because it had so many false facts about vineyard care. While I was watching this love story, I remembered that this was a sequel to another one that I remembered that had so many wrong facts that I looked up on their Facebook page and saw already thousands of people, commented what I…
By Beth P. Heiserman
I am probably writing for the last time about the award-winning 2009 Syrah, since we only have a few cases left. This has been one of my favorites since I started to work at Reyes Winery. I thought I would focus this week on a Syrah again, since it is International Syrah Day on February 16th. Last year for our annual Winemaker Valentine’s Dinner, I prepared a leg of lamb and served it with the 2009 Syrah. Currently, I…
February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day in various parts of the world. We have combined International Syrah Day and Valentines Day by having a winemaker dinner on the 15th & 16th of February. Come Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Reyes Winery.
What could be a more romantic way to celebrate your Valentine’s day than by bringing your loved one to Reyes Winery for a specially prepared wine pairing dinner? Every year, we have had a pink,…
by Beth Heiserman
This past weekend someone asked me about why do wineries blend wine. Last July, I wrote an article about wine blends and I mentioned about combining two or more wines makes each one better than they would be on their own. Sometimes wine varietals need other wines to help them have the complexity that a wine needs. Sometimes a wine can be flat and if you blend an acidic wine, it will create a blend that is balanced. By blending you…
by Beth Heiserman
Usually when I decide upon a topic to write about, I usually choose a wine first. This week I chose the food before I decided upon what wine I would pair a dish with.
I was watching a cooking show the other day and they were making open faced roast beef sandwiches. It reminded me when I was growing up, how much I enjoyed when my mom used to make these for me. My mom used to make…
by Beth Heiserman
It has delightful aromas of citrus, lemon zest and a hint of grapefruit. Aged in French oak for 20 months, creating a multi layered and complex wine. It is rich on the palate and filled with notes of tangerines and quince. Enjoy chilled with grilled spicy salmon topped with a grapefruit salsa or a citrus salad. The other day, I bought kumquats and was remembering when I did my kumquat and habanero jam. That…
Someone asked me last week on a tour, its December, what are doing? There is always something happening at the vineyard all year long. Right now, we are preparing to bottle our 2016 & 2017 vintages. Every year we have an event at the vineyard for guests to see the bottling process. It will be January 5th from 12pm-4pm. Its $49 per person and it includes lunch, a glass of wine, a tour of the bottling line and you get to take home…
Just the other day somebody made that comment “ABC”. I haven’t heard that expression in quite a while. If you haven’t heard of before it stands for “anything but Chardonnay”. Traditionally I am one of those people who don’t really enjoy Chardonnay, but I absolutely adore our 2015 Amber Chardonnay. This is a white wine made for red wine drinkers. I am a red wine drinker. I enjoy red by far more than whites even though I do love having a glass…
November 7th is International Merlot Day!
For everyone that knows me, I love talking about Merlot. Every wine has a holiday and of course Merlot gets a whole month and a day. You start to enjoy Merlot for the whole month of October and on November 7 we finish it with a bang. #MerlotMe It’s one of those wines that needs a little bit of a push, but when you try it, you will love it. This Past weekend, I was pouring our 2015 Merlot at the Sunset in the Vineyard…
For anyone who knows me, you know I love M&M’s and thought was my grandma’s fault. Every time, I go shopping at Target, I HAVE to peek at the seasonal flavors. I love to pair the flavors with notes from the wines. For instance, our 2009 Merlot paired well with the mint, the 2010 Merlot with the pumpkin pie and the 2011 Merlot with the coffee nut.
Reyes 2010 Merlot…
This week, I had a customer ask is there a difference between a cooking a wine and wine that is called for in a recipe. The answer is yes and no. It depends upon the wine that is part of the recipe. But for the most part, the main difference is the quality of wine. Drinking wine is a much better quality. Cooking with a drinking wine will give you a better dish because…
This coming Saturday, October 13th, Reyes Winery is hosting a Merlot Vertical. You will get to pair our award-winning Merlot with a tasty treat along with education about Merlot and our wines. I will be pouring from the 2009 vintage through the 2012, plus the newly released 2013, the unreleased 2015 and finishing with the 2015 Rose of Merlot.
The 2009 vintage has sold out of the tasting room, but I saved 2 cases for this special day. It has won a gold medal at the 2011 Long Beach Grand Cru Wine…
Every weekend in the tasting room, we have guests from all over and I am asked an array of questions. This past weekend someone asked me what makes red wine…red? They asked if all wine starts out white and we add food coloring. No, we don’t add anything. The coloring comes from the skin of the grape, well that is a red grape; like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Grenache. Each variety of grapes has a different shade of red. Cabernet Sauvignon is ruby, Merlot has…
This past weekend, we hosted our quarterly member ship pick up party. Many of our guests have requested some of my recipes that have not yet been added to my blog, including my strawberry black peppercorn Cabernet cobbler. Instead of having ice cream, It tastes amazing if you eat it with a little bit of brie or chèvre. I pair this with our 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon. Today I’m starting with dessert versus the salad or lunch course. The first…
by Beth Heiserman
Oxidation in wine is the most common wine fault. It is presence of oxygen and a catalyst is what makes the process to transpire. Oxidation can happen during different stages of winemaking through aging in a bottle. It can cause a loss of color, for instance the red wine will have a brownish tint. It reminds me of the color of a raisin. Sulfates are added to wine, to prevent this.
The Romans used sulfur dioxide in winemaking, they had discovered that burning candles inside empty…
Sometimes Cabernet Sauvignon is referred to as just Cab, Cabernet, Cab Sauv and many other names. It is the same thing. There is no official grape called Cabernet. It is just a nick name like you might hear someone say Zin instead of Zinfandel.
There are grapes called Cabernet Franc, Ruby Cabernet, Cabernet Gris and a few more that aren’t cultivated anymore. Cabernet Sauvignon is a hybrid from Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc which are…
There are different types of tannins; skin, seeds and from the barrels. They all have a different complexity. It is a naturally occurring polyphenol which is found in plants, seeds, wood and skins of a fruit like grapes. Tannins are usually from red wines unless the white wine was aged in a barrel or was a skin-contact white wine, like our 2015 Amber Chardonnay.
Skin tannins make you feel like you just had a bite of…
One of the most noted characters of Cabernet Sauvignon is its likeness for oak. You can ferment the wine in oak and during its aging period in the barrels it will acquire that oakiness we love. During the ageing period in a barrel, the wine will soften so the tannins, will be less pronounced.
In a previous article I wrote about the history of wine barrels, I mentioned that around the 2nd century BCE that people realized that oak softens…
The third stage of an annual grape vine is “fruit set”. It follows flowering, when the fertilized flower begins to develop a seed and the grape berry to protect the seed. Every week I walk around the fields to see the progress of the grapes each season. I was so impressed to see how the grapes are growing this year. Walking around the Cabernet Sauvignon…
In the next couple of weeks, leading up to our Cabernet Sauvignon vertical on August 25th, I will be sharing some wonderful info about this popular varietal. I will share each week a little something. There is so much to share about the fantastic grape that it’s too much for just one week.
Cabernet Sauvignon is considered to be one of the most popular wines. America is the third most grown varietal around the…
By Beth Heiserman
I was reading an article the other day about wine blends are their origins then I came across an article about blending wine in a blender. Combining two or more wines makes each one better than they would be on their own. Sometimes wine varietals need other wines to help them have the complexity that a wine needs. Sometimes a wine can be flat and if you blend…
About 20 years ago, I remember being in the tasting room of Wente Winery during my internship and the tasting room manager was doing a wine pairing with me. He made beef jerky and paired it with their Cabernet Sauvignon. He also showed me a brownie mix they sold, that you add eggs, oil and Cabernet Sauvignon. I was sold! I have adapted this concept and made my own brownie recipe. Reyes Winery 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon has a sweet aroma gives this fruity wine its huge popularity. Raspberries, Cocoa and Blackberries…
By Beth Heiserman
This past weekend, we had many people ask about Petite Sirah. Why are they spelled different? Is Petite Sirah a smaller grape, lighter on flavor? Many people had so many questions, that I thought I would elaborate about Petite Sirah. A few months ago, I mentioned a little about one of my learning experiences of wine and Petite Sirah.
It’s really called Durif. It’s grown mainly in Australia, California and France. In the past 30 years, its popularity has…
Come celebrate National Wine and Cheese Day at Reyes Winery…We will be serving our Muscats from 2011-2016 and Sweet Serenity, a dessert wine made from our 2009 Muscat. Sweet Serenity has won Gold & Best in Class in the 2014 Long Beach Grand Cru and a bronze in the 2014 Los Angeles International Wine…
By Beth Heiserman
Six weeks ago, I wrote about “The First stage of a grape vine”. This week we are now starting the second stage in our Chardonnay grapes, which is called “flowering”. It can be anywhere from 40-60 and some varietals takes longer than the 60 days. The average daily temperature needs to be about 65 °F from bud break. Our Chardonnay has taken about 45 days to flower the last two years, from bud break. Our Syrah, Cabernet…
Pinot Grigio is sometimes known as Pinot Gris. It is a white wine grape. It has a grayish hue, where as many other white wine grapes are generally yellow or greenish in color and sometimes even pink. When the wine is produced it can very clear to grey or even a light yellow to a copper shade. Reyes Winery’s 2016 Pinot Grigio is a grayish tone. It’s very clear almost like water.
Pinot Gris or grigio…
By Beth P. Heiserman
My mother and grandmother always made casserole when I was growing up. Brunch at grandma’s was always fun. I always looked forwarded to spending time with my grandparents. This is one of my favorites that I love to share when I cater the monthly hike and brunch at Reyes Winery. Sometimes I add hatch chiles when they are in season or even sometimes red pepper pesto which I did for this past hike. Many people adored…
“Bud break”…what is that?It is the initiation of growth from the bud. It is the first stage of the growth of a vine. When it starts, dormancy is over. Then Flowering starts approximately 60 days later, and then the fruit will set, fourth is veraison and finally harvest.
Every year after harvest all the plants go dormant. We generally need at least 45 days of 54° weather every year to have a good harvest the following year. Generally,…
Cork Taint, one of the “Wine Faults”
By Beth Heiserman
Have you ever opened a bottle of wine and as you are opening the bottle, get a whiff of something you aren’t sure what it is? Last week, I was opening a bottle of wine and as I removed the cork, an odor like no other was coming from the bottle. It smelled like a wet dog! I took a small sip to make sure, and then I knew the bottle had “Cork Taint”. I put the…
by Beth Heiserman
Viognier is white wine varietal from the Rhône Valley in France. Officially, it is the only white grape allowed in the region. It is also grown around the world, such as Australia, North and South America. We brought in our 2016 Viognier from Lake LA. That is approximately 50 miles north east of Santa Clarita. It is my favorite white varietal.
Viognier is a full bodied white wine that is full of aromatics like peaches, tangerines, violets and minerality. Generally, it is not aged in oak because the exposure to…
Over 2000 years ago, a Greek historian, documented that wood barrels were used for wine in ancient Mesopotamia. I have mentioned before, in my article about “Orange Wines” that approximately 6000 years ago, wine was aged and stored in clay pots called Qvevri. Then eventually besides the clay, people started to use wood. Wood was lighter than clay when traveling. As the Romans were expanding their empire, they brought wine with them.
by Beth Heiserman
Many people think that there are certain descriptive words that people look for on a winery’s label, like reserve, estate grown, single vineyard, old vine, et
c. This past week, I had someone ask what our “reserve wines” were.
In the U.S., “reserve” doesn’t theoretically mean anything. When applying for label approval from the TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau) in our country, reserve is nothing more than a brand…
any years ago, I went to Concannon Winery in Livermore, CA. They are known for their Petite Sirah. My father knew Jim Concannon. I stayed up there for two weeks to learn more about wine. He taught me from Wine Tasting Etiquette to wine pairing. I enjoyed my trip so much; it is something I will never forget. I remember walking through a courtyard with him, asking him what do Petite Sirah grapes taste like compared to the actual wine. He reached up above up on an…
Did you know Santa Clarita has Hard Cider?
And its right here at Reyes Winery!
By Beth Heiserman
For many years apple juice was considered apple cider which is unfiltered and unsweetened non alcoholic beverage. There was no difference in the name, some states call it differently and to differentiate from processed apple juice and cider. Some people call it soft or sweet cider. Then we have hard cider, which is fermented. Fresh cider is not filtered. Juice is filtered and pasteurized.
Cider will begin to become somewhat carbonated shortly after pressing and eventually become hard cider…
Last week, was the second leg of a 6 six-city tour for the “Double Gold” medal tour with the San Francisco International Wine & Spirits Competition. Last Tuesday, I went to Manhattan to Quality Italian Steakhouse on 57th street to the “Double Gold” Tasting event. I am excited to meet the media from New York. I love to share that we are the only winery here from Los Angeles County especially because we…
by Beth Heiserman
Last week, was the first leg of a 6 six-city tour for the “Double Gold” medal tour with the San Francisco International Wine & Spirits Competition. I will be traveling to New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the next few weeks. Plus the wine will travel on to Portland and Chicago without me. I was in San Francisco pouring our 2012 Syrah. This was our second Double Gold Medal. The 2011 Syrah won two years ago…
Last week, I attended a wine education class at the LA County Fair in Pomona for Award Winning Wines of Southern California. They presented our 2013 Syrah which won a silver award. I was so excited to be there and experience a class which I attend every year that had one of our wines. This was the first time we were included in this class or for that matter any class. As I waited in line, people kept…
By Beth P. HeisermanTempranillo ripens earlier than other varietals. It grows around the world, but is mainly grown in the Rioja region of Spain. This varietal has been growing since Phoenicians settled in the Iberian Peninsula somewhere around 1000 BC when the wine trade was flourishing. The Phoenicians had created a widespread wine trading network around the Mediterranean Sea ports. It is possible that they started trading around 800 BC when they founded Carthage in 814 BC. They also founded Málaga,…
Mission Statement Our mission is to produce the best quality wines in Los Angeles County by having a high standard of care and focusing on every phase of production. This passion for perfection will ensure that once consumers taste our wines, they'll know the quality and craftsmanship that goes into every bottle of Reyes Wines. (Our collection of 100 medals and awards as of June 2017 is a testament to our mission to be the best)
10262 Sierra Hwy, Santa Clarita, CA 91390, USA
(661) 268 1865
