Raffle Winners!

We are happy to announce the winners of our 2010 Humane Society Raffle! Thanks to you all we were able to raise about $1500 for the OPHS. Great job everyone!

Contact Harbinger Winery at 360-452-4262 to claim your bounty! Thank you to everyone who participated and a Happy New Year to you all!

And the winners are...

2010 OPWA Raffle Winners:

Kayak Winner: Marilyn Muscat (yes thats really her last name!)
Case of Wine or Wine Club for a year: Clyde Sies
Luncheon Facelift with Olympic Day Spa: Pam Caldero
Strait Fusion Glass Bowl: Jeanine Cardiff
Handmade Wool Purse: Adeline Prange
Harbinger Fleece: Sharah Truett
(2) 1/2 Day Kayak or Bike rentals: Charlotte Pierce
Bottom Line Duo CD collection: Zachory Mazar
Harbinger Hat or Beanie: Mary Sue French
Wine Barrel: Leslie Mraz
Wine Slave for a Day: Darcy Gray

I - 1100 and I - 1105

This quote is straight from the Washington Wine Commission...

"I urge you to vote no on Initiative 1100. Most people think I-1100 simply allows private retailers to sell liquor instead of state liquor stores. In fact, if I-1100 is passed, it could have devastating impacts on our winery and on the majority of Washington wineries which are almost all small businesses. Our current laws enable small wineries like mine to compete with national and international brands by ensuring equal access to the marketplace. This creates a vibrant, highly competitive domestic industry that benefits consumers with incredible choice and value at every price point. The success of our industry also benefits the general public, as Washington wineries contribute $4.7 billion to the state’s economy and provide nearly 20,000 jobs.

I-1100 repeals ALL of the equal access to market provisions in our current laws, and goes further than any other state in the country to deregulate wine distribution. We'd like to be able to continue to compete based on the quality of our product, not the size of our bank book. Please support your local wineries and vote no on I-1100."

In additon to this it leave the option for all wineries to have to use a distributor. Which would really suck for a lot of the small wineries out there...Harbinger included. We do our own distribution as we tried to use a distributor and our outside sales dropped about 90%!

Not kidding.

Kind Regards,

Sara Gagnon

Harbinger Winery

Harvest, harvest, harvest

Harvest! more grapes. we love this time of year. Pics from Sara's trip to pick some tempranillo.

Bill, Winemaker at Bonair and Whisper Ridge helping crush grapes.

Sugarloaf Vineyards

Sunset.

Harbinger and sailing

artsy photo mistakeblurry sunset
Long Beach, CA skyline
nice photo

Harbinger and sailing

Coastal Watershed Institute and Harbinger Winery pair up

The Coastal Watershed Institute and Harbinger Winery are sponsoring a commemorative beer to celebrate the contract signing for the upcoming removal of the Elwha dams. The beer, Gone Dam Pale Ale, is being offered at Harbinger Winery, for the month of October. The commemorative artwork, commissioned by CWI, was done by local talent Ken Debondt. We have created a commemorative label, and will also be offering T shirts and postcards (later two items will also be available thru the CWI webpage www.coastalwatershedinstitute.org, beginning in October). Net proceeds from the release and sale of commemorative items will be used for field equipment ( including turbidity meters and a gps unit for nearshore monitoring) and if sufficient, fund student internships and mentor travel.

We’ll be having an informal release social hour on Friday evening, 1 October, we hope you will join us. Either way, block out some time to swing by Harbinger during the month of October to toast the first advent of this long awaited legacy project. And spread the word: The dams are finally coming out-it’s time for a beer!

Ketchum Outpost

one needs very little, a good bottle of Harbinger, a Laguiole cork screw, some crusty pheasant bread, some butter, some good company, and not much else. Signing off from the Ketchum outpost, pleasant evening to you all, I trust our evenings to Harbinger. Martin De Board

Thank you Martin for the very nice compliments. I love this photo!

preparing for Harvest

Quick update on the latest at Harbinger.

Just finished racking all our 09 reds to new barrels this last week...getting ready for the upcoming and late harvest. Yes, it's a late harvest this year. Gives us more time to prepare. In theory!

And check out our revamped website. www.harbingerwinery.com. Still a few tweaks to make but we are enjoying our new look!

Messages from the Outpost

a abstract picture of a glass of Champagne, with a warm incandescent light, the "warm" light passing through the crystal glass of Krug bubbles. I love this picture there were billions of very fine bubbles... we enjoyed a Harbinger last night with homemade soup!

A cream of broccoli without the cream, used whipped mashed potato to thicken the soup without the FAT of cream! Almost as good as the cream version, but the glass of Harbinger was lovely with it. Miss you two ladies, very much!

Kiss

MSD signing off from the SNOWY Ketchum outpost, we have received over 2 feet over three days, it's a DREAM SCAPE, I will try to send a pic when the weather clears off with the snow still clinging to all the evergreen trees!

a abstract picture of a glass of Champagne, with a warm incandescent light, the "warm" light passing through the crystal glass of Krug bubbles. I love this picture there were billions of very fine bubbles... we enjoyed a Harbinger last night with homemade soup!

A cream of broccoli without the cream, used whipped mashed potato to thicken the soup without the FAT of cream! Almost as good as the cream version, but the glass of Harbinger was lovely with it. Miss you two ladies, very much!

Kiss

MSD signing off from the SNOWY Ketchum outpost, we have received over 2 feet over three days, it's a DREAM SCAPE, I will try to send a pic when the weather clears off with the snow still clinging to all the evergreen trees!

We received this great recipe from our friend Jean, author of “A Chef’s Journey”. Stop by the tasting room to pick up a copy of her book to try some other wonderful recipes.

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Just had to send you this recipe, Sara - we stopped by the winery the other day and picked up a bottle of the Bliss, came home and reduced it and served as a sauce over ice cream with sliced bananas. It was just wonderful.

Pear & Port Reduction

Recipe By: a Chef's Journey

1 firm but ripe pear -- peeled and cut in half

1/2 cup granulated sugar

5 whole cloves

3 whole allspice

2 stick cinnamon -- broken in half

1 bottle ruby port or Merlot wine -- (750 ml) (and now Blackberry Bliss wine)

Bring port, sugar, cloves, allspice and cinnamon to boil in heavy 2-qt. saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Reduce heat to medium low; add pears, cover and simmer 20 min. Remove pear and keep to use on a salad or fruit platter.

Strain the liquid and return to saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Let reduce to a syrupy consistency - stay close, once the reduction starts, it goes quickly.

At this point you'll have to play with to get the consistency you want. I would stop when the liquid is like a maple syrup, it will thicken more as it cools.

If it's not the thickness you want after cooling, return the pan to the heat and reduce a little more. This step will just take practice.

You can use this reduction to drizzle over a salad, fruit platter ( I arrange the fruit, drizzle with the reduction and sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano ), over ice cream, pound cake, hot cakes/waffles.....it's fantastic!

Tip for marking a reduction of 1/2 - measure 12 oz (approx. half of a 750 ml) of water and pour in pan you will use for reduction - stick a skewer in and mark with a pen where the level is. Discard the water and go on with the recipe - when reduction starts, every minute or so measure with your skewer till the same amount is reached. That's when the reduction will go quickly, so stay close.

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C. Jean Denham, CC

Owner/Chef, a Chef's Journey

achefsjourney.com

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding

Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding

Serves 8 Start to finish time: 1.5 hours

4 cups fresh bread cubes (we used challah from a local bakery)

1 ½ lbs fresh wild mushrooms (we used chanterelles)

½ Cups finely chopped shallots

½ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 cups half-and-half

4 large eggs

½ cup grated cheese (we used Mt Townsend’s “New Moon” tomme)

½ cup fresh camembert or chevre (we like Mt Townsend’s “Cirrus”)

Preheat oven to 350* F with rack in the middle. Bake bread cubes in shallow pan until golden brown; about 10 minutes. Clean and chop mushrooms in large pieces. Cook shallots in butter until soft. Add mushrooms, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper and cook until mushroom juice evaporates; about 15 minutes. Add parsley and garlic; cook and stir for 2 additional minutes. Remove from heat.

Whisk together ½ & ½, eggs, cheese, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper in a large bowl. Stir in mushrooms and bread cubes until coated well; let stand 10 minutes. Butter you baking dish (shallow 2 qt), spoon mixture into the dish until firm to the touch, sprinkle with “New Moon” cheese, and bake until firm to the touch (aprox 30-35 minutes. Enjoy with your favorite Harbinger wine!