Dear Friends,

We got a sneak taste of summer in late March, at the Soirée on the Bay, a multiday food and wine celebration benefiting the Children’s Volunteer Health Network in South Walton, Florida.

The lavish festivities were held at the stunning Dugas family estate, overlooking Choctawhatchee Bay in Seagrove Beach, Florida. Having escaped March in Ohio, we were happy to just be standing around in the sunshine, pouring our rosé in the weather that screams for it.

Now that it’s officially rosé season everywhere, we’re looking forward to a few months of sipping dry pink wine at the beach and by the pool. Cheers!

PURCHASE

loretta’s sonoma table

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

Cook basmati rice per instructions to render 4 cups, and preheat oven to 350°.

Slice bases off bok choy, pull leaves apart, and soak in cold water. Spin and/or pat dry, trimming bases further to make uniform leaves.

Sauté on medium-high heat in a heavy skillet in 2 tablespoons avocado oil, about 5 minutes, adding salt to taste. Set aside. Bring a medium pot of water to boil and lower tomatoes in water for approximately 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer tomatoes to a bowl of ice water. When cool, snip off the tops and peel off the skins, then set aside.

To make the coconut red curry sauce base, add 2 tablespoons avocado oil to a Dutch oven and sauté shallots on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté another minute; add curry paste, maple syrup, salt, and coconut milk, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and add cilantro. Blend to smoothness using an immersion blender or standard blender. Return to the same pot, add bok choy and cherry tomatoes, and simmer 15-20 mins for the flavors to meld; squeeze in juice of one lime and stir.

Salt the fish filets and heat your skillet to medium high. Add ghee, then sear the filets, flesh side down, for 2 minutes; flip to skin side down, then place the skillet in preheated oven for 8-10 mins until cooked through, to taste.

To assemble dish, serve basmati rice in four generously sized bowls. Spoon the coconut red curry sauce base over the rice, top with fish, and serve immediately.

PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION

After a quiet winter in the vineyard, the month of May is a whirlwind. The dormant, skeletal vines begin to bud in March and April, but in May they really go wild, sending out exuberant green shoots and leaves. And then we enter bloom, when puffs of white inflorescence accent the lush green. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful and exciting time in the vineyard. On the other, that beauty doesn’t hold up to inspection. It’s also terrifying. Allow us to explain…

Grapevine flowers are not actually all that attractive. In truth, the petals are green, and they form a cap over the important flower parts, making what look like tiny green grapes. When the petals open and wither away in late May and early June, we then see the vineyard dusted with what appear from a distance to be attractive white clouds of blossoms.

They may smell fragrant, but up close, the clusters look more like tiny, spiny Tinker Toys. These petal-less flowers appear white from afar because the pale, stick-like stamens are topped with white, pollen-coated anthers. (If you’ve ever brushed against a bunch of blooming lilies and stained your shirt orange, you have mixed feelings about anthers.)

Each of these tiny, fragile structures represents a future grape, so the unpredictable weather of late spring can cause stress.

A couple of weeks ago, a freak hailstorm caused widespread panic in Napa and Sonoma. Our property in the Alexander Valley narrowly avoided being pelted by ice balls, but we did get 25-mph winds and rain. Fortunately, only our Grenache vines had flowered, and those delicate flowers were well-protected by their leaf canopy.

As our remaining vines flower over the coming weeks, we’ll get a sense of how generous the harvest will be this year. It’s looking good, as long as we don’t get hit by hail.

events

join us!

In this photo, we’re pouring the 2017 Roco’s Blend and 2019 Rosé of Grenache at the VIP party for the Arthritis Foundation Silver Spoon Awards dinner in Cleveland. We hope to see you at a similar celebration soon, such as:

• Jun 6: Gojo Dinner
  Firestone Country Club, Akron, OH
• Aug 26: Mila Family Vineyards Wine Dinner
  Firestone Country Club, Akron, OH
• Sep 29-Oct 1: Park City Wine Festival
  Park City, UT
• Oct 21-22: Gran Fondo Hincapie Celebrity Chef Dinner
  Hotel Domestique, Travelers Rest, SC

membership

the inside line on mila wines

When we meet new customers, they always ask us where they can buy our wines. We are such a small operation that we simply don’t produce enough bottles to distribute widely to retail shops. To ensure access to Mila wines, your best bet is to join our wine club. There are no memberships fees or restrictions—members simply receive two annual pre-release wine shipments, in spring and fall, plus invitations to fun events! For more information, please contact Loretta at (216) 952-1550, or click the link below to email us.

JOIN THE CLUB