BLOGS
Birdhouses in the Vineyard, 2021
With so many birdhouses in the vineyard, 2021 has been the biggest year for birds occupying the houses we placed yet!
Maple Apple Crumble
Maple Apple Crumble inspired by a recent trip to the East Coast by Chef Tamara Frey
Native Plants for Native Insects
Frey Vineyards is working to reestablish native vegetation on a large berm at the new winery: a landscaping project to support native plants for native insects. The berm will be part of a nature trail where visitors can enjoy the beauty of our vineyard nestled in the surrounding oak woodland, learn about key plant communities and the wildlife that they support.
Azolla
Late last fall after the grape harvest, members of our vineyard crew, spent a week harvesting azolla from one of our ranch ponds. The azolla began proliferating on this pond about five years ago. At first we were quite concerned about the rapidly spreading carpet of reddish plants – until we learned that it was very beneficial. Azolla is a tiny aquatic fern that floats on top of still bodies of waters and occurs throughout most of the temperate to tropical regions of the world. Our native California species, Azolla filculoides, has coevolved with a nitrogen-fixing cyanobactrium called Anabeana azollae for millions of years. Together they merge into a superorganism that holds much promise for mitigating greenhouse gases caused by human activities because of its ability to sequester enormous amounts of atmospheric CO2. Only legumes which are widely used as organic cover crops share this capacity.
More Than Just Grapes
More than just grapes are growing at Frey Vineyards! Over the years we’ve shared lots of details on the ins and outs of growing grapes and the seasonal flow of work in the vineyards. This drought year is moving things ahead in the vineyard in full force. Pruning is wrapping up this week and cultivation and frost protection are ongoing. But this time around I’d like to share about more than just grapes.
The Art of Grazing
The art of grazing requires a return to land based understanding and wisdom. In a modern society that is growing to be detached from the land, we are fostering a more intimate connection with the cycles and rhythms of this place. Frey Vineyards is located near the headwaters of the Russian River watershed, and we tend several hundred acres of organic and Biodynamic vines here.
Planting Pinot Noir
After three years of planning and preparation, the vineyard crew was busy this summer planting Pinot Noir and rehabilitating a historic Redwood Valley vineyard, Colony Ranch. This land had been farmed previously by the Lolonis and Graziano families and was part of the Finnish Colony established by early immigrants to Redwood Valley in the 1800s.
Sourdough Starter Guide
Here’s a Sourdough Starter Guide to get you going with sourdough! As we look ahead longing for cool rains here in California my mind turns to the cozy season ahead and fresh, homemade sourdough bread. Simply stated, sourdough starter is a stable culture of yeast and lactic acid bacteria in a flour and water mixture. Yeast strains present in sourdough starters are usually species in the genus Saccharomyces or Candida. The bacterial component is most often a strain of Lactobacillus, and there are many different strains. The beauty of making your own starter is that the specific strains of yeast and bacteria in your kitchen and their proportion to each other will be unique and yield one of a kind flavor.
Ginger Peach Cobbler
This Ginger Peach cobbler is a mouth-watering favorite for every summer table! Peach season is upon us! A family member dropped off a box of them last week, fresh from our vineyard peach trees. This led me to think of how the aromas of peaches are often detected in wines. So I set out to include a wine reduction in this recipe, a Pinot Grigio syrup, to bring out even more complex and wonderful flavors in wine and bring them into this peach dish. If you make this, we’d love to hear about it!
Sweet and Spicy Noodles
These sweet and spicy noodles are inspired by Thai cuisine. The dish is light, fresh, and pairs nicely with the Frey Organic Pinot Grigio. We hope you’ll enjoy these sweet and spicy noodles as much as we did! We always try to use organic ingredients whenever possible. Enjoy!
Chicken and Butternut Squash Tagine
I love this chicken and butternut squash tagine! A tagine is a delicious Moroccan-style stew that is slow-cooked in a ceramic pot of the same name, but you can also cook the dish in a regular baking pan as I did for this recipe. I used a tagine pot for presentation. Leave out the chicken for vegetarian version. I hadn’t made a tagine for years until a client recently requested a dish. It turned out so good I had to share! It paired wonderfully with Frey Organic Pinot Grigio.
Our Sense of Smell and Taste
Let us explore our sense of smell and taste with Eva-Marie Lind of our Sensory Lab. We each have our own genetic encoded odor print. None of us, outside of identical twins, experience the sense of smell and taste in the same manner. Scents and flavors elicit psychosomatic (mind and spirit) as well as physiologic (body) responses, which, beyond our awareness, imprint themselves onto our memory. In addition, our perceptions are influenced biologically, by age, sex chemistry and environment.
What is No Sulfites Winemaking?
What is no sulfites winemaking you may wonder? Organic Wine is wine without added sulfites. Under the USDA National Organic Program, sulfites are a synthetic food additive. They are not allowed in organic wine or any other certified organic food products, such as dried fruits, jams, salad dressings or juices. At Frey, all of our wines are made without the addition of any chemicals, including sulfites during the winemaking process. Uncork the organic!
Wild Edible Greens
Wild edible greens are easy to find in Northern California’s late winter and spring. Use this wonderful guide from Eliza Frey to help you dine on the tastiest salad mix that you can forage!
Asparagus Filo Basket with Tarragon Hollandaise
Enjoy this Asparagus Filo Basket with Tarragon Hollandaise Sauce Recipe from chef Tamara Frey. Hollandaise can be tricky as we all know. People are afraid to attempt it. Years ago when I had a little cafe and labored over the classic water-bath hollandaise method, one of the other cooks gave me this fabulous recipe. I have never gone back to the classic French method I learned in culinary school. I love that the consistency of this recipe holds its own every time.
BioFiltro Water Filtration System
Enter the BioFiltro water filtration system with a patented BioFiltro water filtration system that naturally regenerates process water in four hours. This chemical-free system removes grape skins, grape seeds, sugars, and other organic compounds from the water and regenerates millions of gallons of water per year to be used for irrigation and frost protection in our vineyards.
Katrina’s Perennial Flower Garden
The vision for Katrina’s perennial flower garden on the Frey Ranch started long before Katrina arrived in California. She grew up in Michigan, enjoying the blooms of her mother’s flower gardens. She spent summers working with her grandfather at his perennial flower nursery in Vermont, and came to appreciate her family’s floral heritage. When Katrina first came to California in the 1970s, her impetus for the adventure West was to learn organic gardening with the eccentric green thumb, Alan Chadwick. Her love of flowers blossomed there in the cultivating of perennial borders, as well as her love for her future husband, Jonathan Frey, who was also working in the nascent organics movement.
