[rcvd 14-Nov-1998] Latah Creek Newsletter November 1998 #36 Customer Appreciation Night, November 20th THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Life has gotten so busy that we don't often take the time to say THANK YOU for your continued support. Our annual Customer Appreciation Night gives us that opportunity. This once a year evening is quite special for us so Ellena goes all out with a variety of delicious foods to sample. And to accompany these dishes, Mike is usually able to find something quite wonderful and old from the wine library. This is also a great time to preview our expanded gift selections available in our gift shop. Elena has been ordering new items almost daily for the holidays. Join us -- you won't want to miss the fun. ORDER FORM INSIDE [omitted -- MikeL] Latah Creek believes in hassle-free shopping. Give us your Christmas list and your holiday work is done. No list is too big or too small -- we will package and ship for you any number of personal gifts to most anywhere in the country. What could be easier? You can either fill in the required information and mail (or fax) the order form to us, come by the winery, or call us with your order. If you've got the time, though, you might want to consider coming in. We have so many new and exciting gifts that you're going to want to see them before making your gift selections. Please remember that we need UPS deliverable addresses -- PO Boxes will not do. CUSTOMER APPRECIATION NIGHT Join us Friday evening, November 20th, 1998 between 5pm and 9pm here at the winery for: A SPECIAL EVENING OF WINE AND FOOD Come one, come all. Bring your friends. Enjoy this special evening of Wine and Food: our thanks to you for being loyal friends and customers. Special discounts in effect. A WALL OF GIFTS In an effort to make your holiday shopping quick and easy, we have pre-assembled a number of gift boxes just for the holidays. Along with including great Latah Creek wines, these gift packs may contain glasses, Christmas ornaments, huckleber5ry treats, pasta, candles or wine mulling spices. If you don't find what you're looking for, though, we'd be happy to custom make one just for you. Prices start as low as $9.99 for a bottle of wine, packaged in a wood box and adorned with a holiday bow. WINE BOTTLE PEPPER MILLS No meal should be without the great flavor of fresh ground pepper. These wonderful, lifetime-guaranteed Old Thompson Pepper Mills are a great way to have that fresh ground pepper and a stylish table adornment at the same time. Made of solid wood, two styles are available. This is a gift that keeps on giving and giving well after the holidays are gone. Priced at just $39.95. And for only $5.95 more, you can include a bottle of gourmet pepper to finish off your Pepper Mill gift. GRAVITY DEFYING BOTTLE HOLDER A number of variations on this very popular conversation-piece-bottle-holder have been seen over the years -- but none quite as unique as these. Hand painted and decorated to look like Frosty the Snowman, these free-standing bottle holders delicately balance your finest bottle of Latah Creek wine. Priced at $15.99 each. MIRACLE WINE STAIN REMOVER How many rugs or pieces of clothing have been ruined by red wine stains? With this brand new product, no need to worry any more. Just spray the area with Wine Away and the stains disappear. Also works great on other difficult stains like grape juice and red punch. All natural ingredients of fruit and vegetable extracts make this safe for use around children and pets. Two sizes available: $7.99 and $4.99. A great stocking stuffer. PEWTER BOTTLE STOPPERS We have a number of hand-painted and pewter bottle stoppers available in our gift shop, but my favorite is Betty Boop. She is so cute and reminds me of my childhood days. Along with Betty, we have many other Looney Tune characters: chef Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny. But the selection does not end with these cartoon characters. We have bottle toppers for sports events, holidays and anniversaries or weddings. Prices start at $14.95 for pewter, $16.95 for painted and $24.99 for Looney Tune figures. ELLENA'S COOKBOOK Ho-ho-ho and bah-humbug! The holidays are a time of year I absolutely love, but hate at the same time. I love the decorations, the smell of Christmas cookies baking but the spirit of the season is what makes the season special. What I hate, though, is how hectic life becomes -- there just isn't enough time to spend with friends or relatives. The two recipes I have put in this holiday newsletter may help. I have found a great way to accomplish two things at once -- cook for the holidays and visiting with friends. Invite a few friends over and have a food party. Let everyone bring a different ingredient, open a great bottle of Latah Creek Chardonnay and have a ball. These two recipes are easily prepared in large quantities. The holiday cheese ball is delicious and wonderful to have "on hand" for those drop-in visitors. This recipe was passed on to us from Mary Waller, one of our wonderful wine friends. The Late Harvest Chenin Blanc Cranberry Relish is scrumptious with your holiday turkey, ham, pork or chicken. Both of these recipes will be served at the Customer Appreciation Night so if you are skeptical -- come and sample them here. Merry Christmas, Ellena HOLIDAY CHEESE BALL 1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened 1 tsp Dijon style mustard ½ tsp garlic powder 2 tbsp Latah Creek Chardonnay 1 cup pitted ripe olives, chopped ½ lb cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups) 2 tbsp minced parsley (optional) 1/3 to ½ cup sunflower seeds Beat the cream cheese with mustard, garlic powder and wine until smooth. Beat in olives, cheddar cheese and parsley. Form into ball and wrap in wax paper. Chill, then roll in sunflower seeds. Garnish with additional ripe olives and parsley if you'd like. Serve with butter crackers or triscuits for a wheat treat. This recipe is a great base from which to work. You can add a small amount of tapanade to give it an Italian twist as well as smoked salmon for that Northwest flair. LATE HARVEST CHENIN BLANC CRANBERRY RELISH 2 cans whole cranberry sauce 1 can crushed pineapple 1 cup Latah Creek Late Harvest Chenin Blanc Mix together all ingredients and serve as an accompaniment to turkey, ham, pork roast or roasted chicken.