Our Brasas members only receive the best possible ingredients: meticulously crafted Napa Valley wine from Palmaz Vineyards and 100% grass-fed Wagyu beef from Genesee Valley Ranch.
Set into the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Genesee Valley Ranch is comprised of lush pastures and pristine grassland. It’s a bucolic image from a distance, but downright gorgeous up close.
Dear Tim,
Thank you for so thoroughly covering our story. I really appreciate the effort to capture such a technical topic and make it an enjoyable read! I have a couple reactions to some concepts your article drew that might potentially serve as a followup topic for a future piece and an interesting discussion for our blog where your article will be featured.
Palmaz is best known for its big steak-worthy reds— and for its high-tech winery innovations. But it also produces a limited amount of this gentle, gorgeous Muscat Canelli. Minus the sugary overtones often found in Italian Muscats, the Florencia tastes like the purest expression of this grape, largely attributable to its cold fermentation. A delicate bouquet lures you in, but its fresh, clean and dry palate comes as a surprise. While this is a dessert white, it tastes only lightly sweet, a testament to the lower alcohol levels we’re seeing across genres, coming in at 13 percent. $65, palmazvineyards.com
Listen to the episode here. Or on Apple Podcasts here. Or on Spotify here. In episode 253 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Christian Palmaz, co-founder of Palmaz Vineyards, a family-owned and operated winery located in Napa Valley that practices a unique form of gravity-flow wine making. Listen in as Palmaz discusses the vineyard’s history and his role at the company, how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted the business, and how Palmaz Vineyards adapted and launched innovative experiences such as virtual wine tastings and a weekly live stream discussion, “The Wine Stream,” where customers can engage with the brand online.
“Meet Christian Palmaz, CEO of Palmaz Vineyards in Napa Valley. We discuss the history of Palmaz Vineyards and innovation in the wine industry. Christian shares some insight into building Palmaz Vineyards as a family business with a family atmosphere, traveling to various wine destinations, his favorite bottle of wine and what it’s like being a part of their wine club.”
The 2018 Vintage marks a breakthrough for Palmaz Vineyard’s grape sorting capability. In 2003 we developed a unique 3-axis vibratory conveyor that aided our team of sorters to visually identify and remove any deficient berries. Quite the tedious task, at the time this was the penultimate method for ensuring only the best fruit made it to the fermenter. However after several hours, even the most fastidious succumb to quality affecting fatigue. Finally technology has caught up with the capabilities of human dexterity and visual comprehension.
All of us at the Brasas Food and Wine Society are very excited to see the Fed Ex truck arrive and take away our first shipments of our 100% grass-fed wagyu beef raised on the ranch. The first 131 customers will be receiving their shipments in the next few days.
Fall is almost upon us and harvest just around the corner. But before I dive head deep into the season, I am compelled to reflect on this summer. Last moth I had the good fortune of accompanying a small group of Brasas wine club members on a Mediterranean cruise. I never expected the trip to be so memorable, joyful and of course delicious. We were a group of 36 who became the envy of the cruise ship. Known on the board as those “winery kids” we proceeded to stage a gourmand’s mutiny. Each each port more inspiring than the next, and dinner more festive than the one before. Over the course of 16 days the group bonded together. Between decadent afternoons over pasta in Venice, Limoncello in Amalfi, and bottomless bowls of bouillabaisse by the French seaside we laughed and inspired each other.
The primary goal of the trip was to learn about the wines of the regions. We sipped our way across the coastline of Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia. We began on the hallowed ground of Bandol sipping ethereal Rosés. Then we immersed ourselves into depths of Primitivo, and the Roman history of Italian coastal wines. Finally, we celebrated our good fortune with the Slovenia’s latest unfiltered sparkling wine that literally explodes!
Many friends in both Napa and Genesee Valley have been asking what are the Palmazes going to do with all those fancy Wagyu cows on their ranch in Plumas County? At last I can share with you all what we’ve been cooking up, literally…
This last year I have learned more about ranching in the High Sierras than I ever thought possible. Thanks to Michele and the whole team at GVR, we have developed an animal welfare program that is producing incredibly luxurious Wagyu Beef in the most humane and environmentally responsible manner. Additionally, I learned how to butcher a whole animal from Plumas County legend Denny Wright and Wesley Neer. And finally, I honed my culinary skills on the task of how to prepare every cut of beef on an animal.
