Sunday, August 29, 2010

Woolley's at the Fair




Woolley's very own Chef Peter Christenson is joining the ranks of Princess Kay and 4H'ers as he heads out to the fair to conduct live cooking demonstrations for the Minnesota Beef Council.


As the 2009 Beef Backer Award Winner, Woolley's is proud that Chef Peter will be returning to the Great Minnesota Get Together to showcase beef appetizers that families can easily prepare at home. The demos will be hosted in the Dairy Building (across from the Haunted House), September 1, 2, and 3, from 2:30-5pm. 

Make sure you stop by and say hello while he's out there, and sign up to win a Dinner for Two gift certificate. Then, just check our website to see if you've won! http://www.woolleysrestaurant.com/

Saturday, August 21, 2010

GIRL POWER - Freemark Abbey Wines


Woolley's is proud to showcase wines from Freemark Abbey!

Freemark Abbey, one of the original 15 wineries in Napa Valley, began in 1886. The winemaker, a woman named Josephine Marlin Tychson, became the first woman to build and operate a winery in California. 

The winery consistently received high marks and winning scores from consumers and sommeliers alike, as evidenced by its century-plus longevity. 

Stop into Woolley's and try the following features from Freemark Abbey today! 


Chardonnay 2009

Vintage and Winemaker's Notes: 
Greenish straw in color, our Chardonnay is concentrated with ripe stone fruit aromas and flavors, with an underlying subtle toasty oak complexity. Very ripe peach with ripe banana is interlaced with vanilla, lime-aide, clove, nutmeg and pineapple upside down cake. This wine has great viscosity, depth and a crisp long fruitful finish. The flavors in the palate are predominantly citrus, like orange, mandarin and sweet grapefruit with a honey suckle nuance. The 2009 Chardonnay is a pleasant experience, inviting from start to finish...enjoy. 
Statistics:
  • Varietal Composition: 100% Chardonnay
  • Aging: 100% French oak, 25% new wood, barrel aged for 4 months
  • Vineyard Details: 7 to 17 years; alluvial in Rutherford and Carneros, mineral volcanic at Howell Mountain
  • Alcohol: 14.1%
  • Number of Cases Produced: 7,300



Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage and Winemaker's Notes: 
The appearance is opaque dark red with ruby hues. The Cabernet Sauvignon shows aromas of dark cherry, blackberry syrup, bruleed sugar and aromatic cedar. The integration of oak adds hints of walnut oil, cinnamon and clove. Powerful, yet elegantly balanced, the flavors of blueberry, black currant, mint, cedar, and full cherry-berry notes lead into a fleshy mid-palate, over a bed of resolved tannins. This wine is full-flavored from start to finish, with a very long lingering fruitfulness dusted with cocoa. 

Statistics:
  • Varietal Composition: 82.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.9% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc, 3.4% Petit Verdot, 1.5% Malbec, 0.1% Petite Sirah
  • Aging: 2 years in 59 gallon French and American oak barrels
  • Vineyard Details: 6-17 years, well-drained soils of volcanic and alluvial origin
  • Alcohol: 14.5%



Merlot 2007

Vintage and Winemaker's Notes: 
The color is deep, dark ruby with reddish hues, quite opaque. The aroma is rich in dark cherry, plum and boysenberry, with aromatic cedar, juniper berry, vanilla and milk chocolate. The palate has bright cherry fruit and Santa Rosa plum, which lingers with great balance of acidity and fruit. The tannins are very soft and velvety. 
Statistics:
  • Varietal Composition: 79% Merlot, 11.2% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.9% Petite Verdot, .53% Petite Sirah , .23% Malbec, .14% Cabernet Franc
  • Aging: 13.8 months in French and American oak, 40% new wood
  • Vineyard Details: 11 to 18 years; well-drained loam formed by alluvial deposits.
  • Alcohol: 14.5%
  • Number of Cases Produced: 6,847


Friday, August 13, 2010

Farmer's Market Fare



Minnesota boasts the second highest growth rate of farmer's markets in the nation this year. The number of farmer's markets in Minnesota grew 61% over last year. The trend toward buying local, sustainable, and organic produce, continues to support this upward trend.

Woolley's very own, Chef Peter, will be hosting a free cooking class on utilizing farmer's market fare in your culinary creations. Join us tomorrow at 3pm for his demonstration.

Then, take your newfound skills to the market! If you don't already have a neighborhood farmer's market that you shop, the Minnesota Farmer's Market Association has a wonderful directory of farmer's markets in the state: http://www.mfma.org/memberdirectory.php.

You'll be amazed at what a diamond in the rough your local farmer's market can be! And by shopping locally, you will be sustaining growers and businesses right in your own community.