There's the flock of wild turkeys that ironically prefer a gewurztraminer snack,
and one of their kind that flew into a transformer and shut down the power for a whole day.

There's the enormous gopher snake that nested near the tasting room door, and the swarm of salamanders that crossed the threshhold and cornered the hilariously terrified manager.

The bobcat that waltzed past dozens of guests, undetected.
The rattler I stepped on.
And whatever clawed the hell out of that tree stump I walk past often in the dark.

The Great Horned Owl that hoots twice in the time it takes me to walk to my car each night. And the spectacular Barn Owl that once flew through my headlights.

The murmuration of starlings, the Raven we named Jacob, and the lonely Great Blue Heron that inexplicably reminds me of Michael Caine.

The raccoon in the attic, the mice in the cellar, and the various trophies left on the stoop by the winery cat.

The doe I saw leap clear over a 'deer fence' as tall as I am, only to catch her trailing back hoof in barbed wire at the top.
The beautiful, thin coyote that disappeared before I could be sure if he was hurt.
The trio of vultures sitting on row posts just above the ground fog, their wings spread to dry in the rising sun.

But one of the most memorable of all these wildlife encounters on Rhinefarm happened just tonight, as I left the winery office, and opened the door into the dark night.

And a startled bat flew straight at my face.

Normally at this time of year I would be writing words of comfort for those of you battling the snow and freezing temperatures but it seems that most of us have been blessed with a mild winter. So instead, I'm sharing a "favorites" list to lift you out of the doldrums of January with its broken resolutions and post-holiday credit card blues. Here are some mid-winter finds that I love:

This designer.

This, this and this - all made of felt. And this gorgeous store's felt walls.

Marking your place.

This twitter feed.

Yum, Yummier, Yummiest.

And speaking of food, this is a super resource for online recipes.

Fantasy hideaways: cabins and treehouses.

Life in a bottle.

Literate sheet wrinkles.

One day. One photo.

Make a name for yourself.

Modular, customizable wall hangings.

A place to put the pits.

A clever take on band merch.

This is the latest "if you're not on it, you're not hip" website.

Put an end to email spam.

Feed your office supply addiction.

Track your coffee addiction.

File this and this under simple and practical.

If only he and she would stop torturing me each week.

For a good laugh, this is a must watch.

For a good cry, this is a must listen.

Listen to the Gun Bun Music Monday 2012 playlist on Spotify or Everyone's Mixtape.
Watch videos of the tracks here.
Feel free to drop songs you find into our collaborative Spotify playlist.
Listen to the 2011 Music Monday playlist here.

"Unless You Speak From Your Heart" - Porcelain Raft
Dreamy, ephemeral sounds from Italian/Brooklynite singer-songwriter Mauro Remiddi's debut album, Strange Weekend. 

"Great Life" - Caveman
Yet another band from Brooklyn. Yet another breezy tune. What can I say? I definitely have a "type."  

"Madeleine" - Lissy Truille
Elizabeth McChesney goes by the stage name of Lissy Truille when she's modeling for famous clothing lines or fronting her four piece rock band. This track is from her self-titled full-length album due out in March.   

"Lay Your Cards Out" - Polica feat. Mike Noyce
This track is from Polica's debut album, Give You The Ghost, which dropped late last year, two months ahead of it's scheduled release. Apparently, Jay-Z likes this foursome from Minneapolis because he debuted this song's video on his website, Life+Times. 

"Guilty As Charged" - Chairlift
I might as well close out with yet another indie band from Brooklyn! At least this group has the unique distinction of originally forming to make background music for haunted houses. 

Cheers, Lisa 

• Listen to Gun Bun Music Monday 2012 playlist on Spotify or on Everyone's Mixtape.
• Suggest songs via the collaborative playlist here.
• Watch videos of the tracks here.
• Listen to 2011 Music Monday playlist here.

Music has always played a significant role in my life. I started playing the piano at a very young age, plunking out the tunes I heard in my head, and I have continued making and enjoying music throughout much of my life. 

But there was a time when the music went dark.

A few years ago I was living in a "rural, sophisticated" town in Connecticut. I found it to be a lonely, isolating place; of course, it didn't help that I was contending with an unravelling marriage and a partner with an undiagnosed mental illness. It was around this time that I stopped hearing music. I know I played it - I was always playing music for my two young daughters - but it stopped resonating with me. It became background noise to the chaos in my life.

And then I met Joe and Carol.

Joe and Carol were the parents of my daughter's friend. Soon after meeting them, they invited us over for dinner and a dip in the pool. With everything falling apart in my life I wasn't too keen on going, but I accepted the invite.

That night, Joe and Carol fixed a delicious homemade meal and poured many glasses of wine. And they had the best music playing. After dinner, while Carol entertained the kids in the pool, Joe and I sat in lawn chairs, under the setting sun, and talked music. We both had a deep passion for it and he turned me onto the radio station that we had been listening to, WFUV. You know how some people just shine a little brighter than everyone else? That's Joe. His zest for life and passion for following his dreams (he had recently given up a lucrative job at a mutual fund to become a math teacher) was infectious.

Between the food, wine and conversation, I felt a part of myself come back to life that night. 

After that, I listened to that radio station all the time. Sometimes it was the best part of my day, letting the music sweep me away from everything else that was going on around me.

Eventually, Joe and Carol moved away. And then so did I. As will happen, we didn't keep in touch. This year, as I was putting my holiday card mailing list together, something resonated with me when I came across Joe and Carol in my address book. So I sent them a card. I didn't think much about it until a few days ago when I received a large envelope in the mail with their return address on it. Inside was a letter from Carol and a page full of pictures: Joe and Carol and their two children in front of a pyramid in Egypt; Joe with full camping gear on his back, knee deep in a riverbed, giving the thumbs-up; and Joe on horseback, giving a big old wave goodbye.

And there at the bottom of the page were the terrible words that Joe had passed away in August from inoperable lung cancer at the age of 49.

I never got to tell Joe how much he helped me that night.

The world has lost one of the good ones.

Joe, thank you for bringing music back into my life. This one's for you.

Listen to Gun Bun Music Monday 2012 playlist on Spotify or on Everyone's Mixtape.
Suggest songs via the collaborative playlist here.
Watch videos of the tracks here.
Listen to 2011 Music Monday playlist here.

"The A Team" - Ed Sheeran
This post by Bob Lefsetz made me take a listen to Sheeran. This twenty-year old musician leads the nominations for the 2012 BRIT awards and you can catch him here in the U.S. opening for Snow Patrol's upcoming tour.

"Eyes Like Pearls" - Van Hunt
I hate to be a name-dropper but I can't resist on this one because Van Hunt and I go way back. Ok, not really. He offered me a copy of his first CD on the streets of Park City at Sundance eight years ago. I had no idea who he was but I took the CD and I actually listened to it when I got home. I listened to it a lot. So I'm very excited to see that he's back with a new one. 

"Simple Song" - The Shins
This is the first single from the Shin's upcoming fourth album. James Mercer wrote it when he and his wife were about to have their first daughter, as a tribute to their whole new life ahead of them. Ironically, Mercer told Q Magazine that this "Simple Song" was the most difficult song to put together in the studio. You can preorder Port Of Morrow now.

"We Were Children" - Tribes
NME turned me onto this band with this cerebral declaration: "This track is actually fucking great." I have to agree. I love that this UK band initially rebuffed the interwebs and insisted that their fans find them the old fashioned way, through concert posters. I supposed with their increasing success, they had to give in.

"Thieves and Kings" - The Peach Kings
Sometimes to find new and interesting music, I follow the internet breadcrumbs and see where they lead me. This time, it led me here and I think the fact that they do this is so cool (food + music = a good combo). And then I read this and I had to add this track to the playlist. 

For those of you who aren't on the Spotify bandwagon, I'm trying out an alternative method for listening to the playlist - Everyone's Mixtape. You can give it a try here.

Cheers, Lisa 

P.S. Here's a fun mashup that's worth a download.

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season. Do you have any resolutions for 2012? I'm keeping it pretty simple by following the straightforward diagram on the poster from the To Resolve Project above.

Here are a few things that I am looking forward to in 2012:

This movie.

This book.

This album.

New seasons of this, this and this.

My geeky inner child is excited to play with these.

Taking my girls to this concert.

Attending this with my BFF (it's our tenth year!).

This music festival of course.

And finally, I am thrilled to be bringing you Music Monday posts again. So let's get to it.

To access the playlist, you need to download Spotify to your computer. And you really should, it's pretty darn revolutionary. If you are already using it, here are some features that might be new to you: Spotify Radio and Spotify Apps.

New for us in 2012, I have created a collaborative playlist on Spotify that will allow you to suggest songs that I should take a listen to. I have also set up a YouTube channel where I will post videos of the songs each week. Last year's playlist will also stay active. 

Listen to Gun Bun Music Monday 2012 Spotify playlist here.
Suggest songs via the collaborative playlist here.
Watch videos of the tracks here.
Listen to 2011 Music Monday playlist here.

"Stay Gold" - The Big Pink
In 2009, this English electro-rock duo won the prestigious Philip Hall Radar Award for Best New Act at the NME Shockwave Awards. This track is from their upcoming album, Future This, due out on January 16th. Expect to see this act make waves at this year's SXSW music festival. Anyone else think of Johnny urging Ponyboy to "stay gold" when you hear this song?  

"Devils Work" - Miike Snow
This Swedish indie pop band's self-titled debut album topped many Album of the Year lists in 2010. Prior to forming Miike Snow, two members of this group shared success under the moniker of Boodshy & Avant, producing and writing songs for such artists as Madonna, Kelis and Britney Spears. They even won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording for Spears's track "Toxic." This song is from their second full-length album, Happy To You!!, which will be released on March 26th. 

"I'm His Girl" - Friends
This Brooklyn band formed, no joke, after a group of friends shacked up together to escape a bedbug infestation. "I'm His Girl" is the band's first single.

"The Believer - feat. John Legend" - Common
Common is an American hip-hop artist and actor. He won Grammy's in both 2003 and 2007 for his R&B and Rap work. He also also starred in films such as Terminator Salvation, Date Night and Just Wright. You can see him now on AMC's television show Hell On Wheels. This track is from his new album The Dreamer, The Believer and it features John Legend.

"In The Wild" - LP
L.P. (Laura Pergolizzi) is a pop/rock musician who has been performing on the NYC music scene for many years. Tip of the hat to my friend Rod for turning me onto this song. It's infectious. You can watch her perform it live here.
Note: This track is not on Spotify but you can download it here and put it in your computer's music library. It will then show up in the Spotify playlist. 

Cheers, Lisa

This time of year always brings back memories of holidays past. I can still feel the giddy anticipation of Christmas morning, sitting at the stop of the stairs with my brothers and sister, all in our footed pajamas, anxiously waiting for our parents to give us the nod to go downstairs. Or the annual tradition of my siblings and I staging the manger scene with an old refrigerator box, some stuffed animals, and inevitable arguments about who was going to get to play Mary and Joseph. And remember the time before TiVo when you had to actually plan in advance to watch Christmas specials? We would curl up around our tiny television set, wrapped up in blankets, popcorn in little bowls, watching Rudolph, Frosty and the Charlie Brown crew inaugurate yet another holiday season.

Now I have the pleasure of making Christmas memories for my own children and I absolutely treasure it each and every year. 

This is going to be my last post for 2011 as I plan to take the next two weeks "off" to relax and enjoy the holidays with my family and friends. Thank you for lending me your ear each week. If you hit "play" in our Spotify playlist, it would take over twelve hours to listen to the 186 tracks that we have accumulated over the year. I look forward to discovering and sharing lots more in 2012.

Here are my picks for the final playlist of 2011 which you can listen to via Spotify here: GunBun Music Monday 2011.

"Default" - Django Django
Django Django is made up of four mates who met at art school in Edinburgh. This single is from their self-titled debut album which will be released January 30th, 2012. 

"Hell, Heaven" - Parlovr
This track comes courtesy of my friends Steven and George who are avid SXSW'ers and who have created a Spotify playlist of bands that are slated to perform there in 2012. Parlovr is supposed to be killer live, so you should definitely try to catch them at SXSW if you are going next year.

"Boy Lilikoi" - Jónsi
I am a big fan of Sigur Ros frontman Jónsi so I was very excited to see that Director Cameron Crowe tapped him to score his new film, We Bought A Zoo. I think that the entire album is fantastic and I can't wait to see the film. 

"Ribbons & Detours" - Silversun Pickups
Another favorite of mine is the alt rock band Silversun Pickups - especially their 2006 hit Lazy Eye. This track is from a three-song vinyl they put out in late November for Record Store Day's "Back To Black Friday." I am looking forward to the release of their third studio album in Spring 2012.   

"Woo" - Anthony Hamilton
Anthony Hamilton is an R&B/soul singer-songwriter from Charlotte, North Carolina. I came across his new album, Back to Love, on Spotify and put it on as background music while I worked. Before I knew it, I was dancing around a bit in my seat - it's just that kind of music! Funk-pop meets R&B meets hip-hop. And not a lurid lyric to be found.  

"Riverside - Lulu Rouge Remix" - Agnes Obel
Agnes Obel is a Danish singer/songwriter with lots of prizes and awards under her belt. Her cover of Elliot Smith's "Between The Bars" is worth a listen (available on iTunes here). This remix of her 2010 song Riverside is my bonus song to end the year!

Until next year - Cheers, Lisa 

Music + color go hand in hand for me. I have a condition called synesthesia that causes me to "see" letters, numbers and even music in color. It's an involuntary reaction that I always thought everyone had until I read a news story about it in Time Magazine about ten years ago. I think that's why I have a strong reaction to certain types of music. It's also why I struggle sometimes with math: 3 + 2 does not equal a green 5 when you see 5 as the color red!

Here are my picks for this week's playlist which you can listen to via Spotify here: GunBun Music Monday 2011. I've had a busy week so please excuse the lack of info about the songs/artists.

"Cloudy Shoes" - Damien Jurado
"BTSTU" - Jai Paul
"Titanium (feat. Sia)" - David Guetta, Sia
"The Color of Industry" - Radiation City
"Surfer King" - A.A. Bondy

P.S. I recently came across a band called Alabama Shakes and they are definitely worth checking out. They aren't on on Spotify or iTunes yet but for a nominal donation, you can download their 4-track album here. 

Cheers, Lisa

Some weeks before Thanksgiving, the manager of the prestigious Beachcomber Resort in Clearwater, Florida was shopping for interesting and unusual wines to serve his guests at their Thanksgiving meal. He asked all the wine representatives who called on him to submit likely samples. Our sales representative suggested Gun Bun Gewurztraminer for the white. The manager was not familiar with it but upon tasting it, he loved it and immediately selected it for his menu.

He began to have doubts almost as soon as the sales rep left. Would his sophisticated clientele be disappointed that there was no Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc on the table, wines with which they were more familiar? Perhaps he should call tomorrow and change his order.

But Bacchus is on our side. Friends of Gundlach Bundschu happened to be having dinner at the Beachcomber. In conversations with their waiter, they mentioned they were from Sonoma; the manager overheard this and approached their table. When he learned they were grape growers in the Sonoma Valley, he mentioned he had just selected a Sonoma Valley wine to feature for Thanksgiving. Oh really, which one, they asked. The manager explained it was a dry gewürztraminer with a difficult German family name, and right there in the wine cellar, the friends taught the manager the 'Gun Lock Bun Shoe' dance. They reassured him that his guests would love the wine, that many would know it and the rest would appreciate being introduced to it. So the manager stuck to his Guns and we have since learned it was a great success for him.

Hurrah for friends! Getting the word out is the hardest part of being a small family winery, and we know and appreciate that you WOMers help spread the word about us, perhaps more than anyone. We know how creative you all are too, so we invite you to help us with our next video campaign.

We had so much fun making the Turkey Loves Gewurz videos, and they proved to be a useful tool for our distributor salespeople to promote this unsung varietal. So next year, we plan to make more of them – not just for gewürztraminer, but for merlot, cab and chard as well. We invite you to send us your concepts for a 2 minute video. You can leave comments here, or email our Marketing Director at susans@gunbun.com. If we choose to use your ideas, we’ll determine some appropriate prize.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Jim

Hi- It's Jeff. ‘Tis the season for, among other things, ‘best of’ lists from wine publications. So far there have been three floating around our office- the Wine Spectator, the Wine Enthusiast and the San Francisco Chronicle. They all are similar in that they list their top wines of the year, ranked in some way that accounts for score, price point and availability. We did not make it on any of these lists. We didn’t submit wines to two out of three of them (SF Chron and Spectator), so that is our excuse with them. We did submit Cab and Gewurtztraminer to the Enthusiast and scored 91 and 90 points respectively, and were totally thrilled regardless of not making their list. Given the historically restrained style of our wine, that favors structure and balance over ripeness and brawn, we have been hesitant to submit wines for mass judgings. Big, bold, high-alcohol wines can dominate the palate, and in a mass tasting where judges taste many California wines at a time, the nuances of more structured wines can get lost. The endorsement of our friends and customers has been enough. Keith and Anne however have been making wines in recent vintages that represent a slight but clear evolution in our style. The structure is still there, but there is also undeniable intensity with freshness and rich mouth-feel. The change is enough for us to try submitting our wines to mass tastings. We started conservatively with the Enthusiast in 2011 and based on that success will expand the effort next year.

We did make one ‘best of list’ in 2011, that of Sub Pop Records staff picks of top 10 wines of 2011. It is a dream come true. Okay, that is a stretch, because I had no clue they would list wine as a category. But I can say unequivocally that had anyone given me the option in 1992, as I was starting out in the family business, thrilled by the nature of wine, our family’s legacy, the approachability of our wine community, and put off by what I saw as the general elitism of the wine establishment, I would have put a shout-out by Sub Pop way higher on my aspirational list than any wine publication. Based in Seattle, Sub Pop was the record company for many of the bands that framed my universe at the time, not to mention provided the soundtrack to long work days in the cellar. Most famous among them was Nirvana, but there was also Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Jesus and Mary Chain, 5Style and many more. On my very first visit to Seattle, 1995ish, I went straight to their retail store and bought 10 discs, 9 from Sub Pop artists I'd never heard of, trusting they knew what they were doing. Things have changed a bit since. Sub Pop still releases great music, though their greatest successes are with less loud bands like Fleet Foxes and Iron and Wine, and while we still make great wine, it is in the context of a wine establishment that I am generally proud to be a part of. But it is clear that things haven’t changed that much. When I heard that at the bottom of their compilation of staff best-of music picks for 2011 (see it here), there was a wine list that Gundlach Bundschu was on, I jumped up and down like it was 1992. Glad I didn’t pull out my back.