Blizzard hits Breck and we are gearing up for a great winter!

This morning I had to get the shovels out of the boiler room...and do some work! The Alley is romantic and white...and another 12inches are anticipated tonite! At Ridge Street Wine/ Breckenridge Cheese & Chocolate we are super excited about the upcoming winter season!





New Wines: We have been doing our homework and have been stocking up on some great wine/ great buys this fall. We have a crazy amount of delicious Pinot Noirs in stock...from the much heralded 2007 vintage in California and 2008 vintage in Oregon. Adelsheim 2008. The Provocateur 2008. Lucia 2007. Littorai 2007. Plus, new Syrahs from Gramercy Cellars ("Best New Winery 2010" from Food & Wine Magazine)! Winemaker David O'Reilly is no slouch either in the NW. From his Owen Roe line-up we carry The Sinister Hand and Abbot's Table. We round out our selection with his outstanding values including: O'Reilly's Pinot Noir, The Rook, The Keeper (killer, modern, jammy Cab Franc), and Sharecropper's Pinot Noir.

DID YOU KNOW...MOST OF OUR WINES ARE UNDER $20!!

At Ridge Street Wine we have many tasty new acquisitions from Italy: Pardi Rosso di Montefalco (Sagrantino!!), Correggia Roero (the best 100% Nebbiolo value), Lagone Tuscan IGT (91 pnts from the Wine Spectator...Italian Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc), Scavino Langhe Bianco...juicy Sauvignon Blanc from Piemonte.





From Argentina: La Posta Cocina Blend (Malbec, Syrah, Bonarda)and its BIG brother...the Patriota (Malbec & Bonarda...92pnts from Robert Parker)! Luca's luscious Chardonnay...93pnts Parker...aged for 12months in French oak and everything you what in an elegant Chardonnay.


Spain: Jorge Ordonez's EPIC dessert wine. Muscat dried on mats in a barn high on the Malaga hillside. Pair this wine with our Spanish Cabrales blue cheese drizzled w/ some honey and Marcona Almonds and you are in HEAVEN. Plus...Borsao (the number 1 value for the year from the Wine Enthusiast) and Volver! 100% Tempranillo from La Mancha...a totally boisterous way to experience Tempranillo...and a great value to boot!@







French wines are HOT on the radar at Ridge Street Wine and By the Glass at Breckenridge Cheese & Chocolate...

From the Loire Valley: the outstanding Cazin Cheverny (a crisp and clean Sauvignon Blanc w/ 10% Chardonnay) and Baudry Chinon "Les Granges" 2007 (a righteous Cabernet Franc as the Old World intended it to be). And a new favorite...Chateau Haut-Monplaisir Cahors (100% knock out Malbec). Plus, Viognier from Triennes (one of my favorite wines of the year...a joint venture from two outstanding Burgundy producers who get this Rhone varietal right in Vin de Pays du Gard) and Syrah from Cuilleron (one of the coolest/trend-setting young winemakers on the planet from one of the coolest winemaking regions on the planet). Can you believe we have a Counoise (a random varietal resurrected and showcased here on its own) from Monpertuis? Plus fabulous values for your dinner tonite from the Cotes du Rhone. It is your lucky day @ Ridge Street Wine!


Great wine values to be had these days...Carpe Vino!


See you soon!

Vosges...INSANE new bars!

AWESOME new bars in stock!

Black Salt Caramel Bar with its thin liquid caramel center encased by dark chocolate and sprinkled with Black Sea Salt is out of control!

Blood Orange Caramel Bar...again...BLISS!

A liquid caramel center with sweet/tangy blood orange and Campari...

Passion for Pinot Tasting!

At the Passion 4 Pinot Tasting in September we sat down and contemplated 6 Pinots paired with a carefully articulated amuse bouche plate!

What is the secret to great Pinot Noir? Some say it is the cooling fog, afternoon winds and good sun exposure that lengthen the growing season. Hang time! This increased time on the vine allows the grapes to develop complex flavors while keeping their attractive, crisp acidity.
California and Oregon have made their mark...commanding attention across the globe. Amazing recent vintages have produced intensely structured, balanced wines allowing, small producers to showcase their talent!

California enjoyed a stellar vintage in 2007 (some say 2009 may rival it!) and the Willamette Valley in Oregon enjoyed one of their best vintages in 2008! Great Pinots are to be had at the moment...Carpe Pinot!

A to Z Pinot Gris Oregon 2009

Adelsheim Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, OR 2008

Handley Pinot Noir Mendocino, CA 2007

Lucia Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands, CA 2007

Hitching Post Pinot Noir Santa Maria, CA 2006

Adelsheim "Deglace" Pinot Noir Dessert Wine 2008

A fabulous night had by all...

See you at the next one!

Babes in the Backcountry Tasting & a Sat Nite full house!

Super fun night with Babes in the Backcountry! After they hit the trails all day ...they had earned their wine! Breckenridge Cheese & Chocolate hosted a "Wines Off the Beaten Path" wine tasting...and we all had a fabulous time! Super fun wines. Leslie, Babes in the Backcountry owner/innovator, was an old college classmate of mine @ Union College, Schenectady, NY. We've known eachother a long time...so it was great to do a joint event with her! If you don't know about her operation check out her web-site http://www.babesinthebackcountry.com/ and go on a women's mountainbike weekend or tele clinic!

Expansion Complete!

12 More seats and construction complete! The newly expanded Wine Bar @ Breckenridge Cheese & Chocolate !

June Demolition for Expansion!!

Long before June...the ideas were in our heads for our EXPANSION!

But...on June 1...the demo began...and our dream all of a sudden was becoming a reality!

After planning commission approval...we began knocking down the walls!

Larry created the arches and opened the space up with amazing results...much better than we had envisioned. Suddenly the ceiling seemed taller and the whole upstairs became a broader and more unified space. This is what the space needed all along!

We ordered 3 more tables, 12 more bar stools and more of our beautiful stemware!

Meanwhile Mike and Kenny got to work on the new bar...which will ultimately contain our gorgeous state of the art Wine Preservation System! The Enomatic from Tuscany will hold 8 reds and refrigerate 8 whites...while pressurizing and preserving the wines with an inert gas! This will keep our wines amazingly fresh...fresh enough to have them in the system for up to 3 weeks without fading due to oxidation!

4th of July Cupcake Extravaganza!

This July 4th we held the 2nd Annual Cupcake Competition and Bake Sale! Everyone did their best to outdo themselves! Amazing! What an array of fabulous cupcakes. And...we had 4 All-Star Judges...(the fabulous: Sam, Kelley, Dave and Susan) who examined, dissected and tasted every one of the entries! All 37 of them! They deliberated for hours...seriously...and came up with some great winners!

"Best Looking" Stacey Stang with her "Mariposa Butterflies"

"Most Interesting Ingredient" Alaina Smith with her "Mojitos"

"Most Delicious" Alex Kendall with her "Quadruple Lemon Delights"

"Best Theme" Stacey Stang with her "Popcorns"

and....DRUM ROLLLLLLL...

"Breck's Best Cupcake 2010"

Katie Warren with her "S'mores"

Great Job by all...411 SOLD and $822 raised for The Carriage House Early Learning Center and Team Breckenridge. 2 Great Non-Profits who do their part to enrich the lives of kids in Summit County!

Amazing time had by all...see you again next year for the 3rd Annual!