Winewomen, Song and Ahnfeldt Wines

To close out California wine month, we want to tip our hats to a small Napa Valley winery you'll have the chance to get to know better next month – Ahnfeldt Wines.

Plan to join us as we reprise Winewomen & Song with a special Ahnfeldt wine dinner on Friday, October 22 at Miramonte Resort and Spa. Our last Winewomen & Song was such a magical evening under the stars at Miramonte's Mediterranean lawn that we were driven to do it again!

This time, we're honored to showcase talented vocalist Jessica Tivens and her accompanist, the ever-charming Gale Enger. Chef Nyerick has composed a gorgeous menu to pair with five Ahnfeldt wines.

Napa's Ahnfeldt has been turning out 90+ point winners, a laudable feat for a winery that only began in 2002. Crushing this successful run is enologist and winemaker Craig MacLean who put his talents to work at Markham Vineyards, Cain Cellars and Spring Mountain Vineyard. MacLean's handcrafted wines for Ahnfeldt are made only from grapes harvested from Ahnfeldt vineyards. They show beautiful fruit while offering refinement and complexity.

Check out the amazing lineup here along with the menu and festivities. Not only are you are in for a treat, but you'll also support Well in the Desert, the west valley charity that provides services to seniors and the working poor, homeless and disabled.

Bring a light evening wrap or someone special to keep you warm. Call Kathleen today to reserve at 760.799.7076 and you'll soon be singing Ahnfeldt's praises too.

September is California Wine Month

Pop a few corks this month in celebration of California Wine Month. For the sixth September in a row, the Golden State raises its collective glass to recognize the people and businesses behind the California wine industry, which accounts for 90% of all U.S. wine production and 330,000 jobs in California alone. Nationwide, the Wine Institute estimates that California wine supports 820,000 jobs.

That's a lot of people – and a lot of wine. California is the fourth-leading producer of wine worldwide, home to 3,000 bonded wineries and 4,600 grape growers. Led by quality, innovation and more than 110 different varieties of winegrapes grown around the state, California wines attract legions of wine and culinary tourists. Each year, California wine regions host an estimated 21 million visitors. What makes these numbers even more amazing is that vineyards cover less than 1% of California terrain yet ring up $17.9 billion in retail wine sales.

Events are planned all around our beautiful state – tastings, festivals, in-store specials, wine-themed restaurant events, classes, lectures, wine camps and much more. Find an event that suits your schedule and interests here and more happenings here.

We'll be celebrating two California wines at our Saturday, September 25 Hat's Off Luncheon and membership drive at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in support of Angel Light Academy. Make your reservation by this Wednesday, September 22 to join us from 11:30 AM to 2 PM. See full event details, menu and wines here. Call Kathleen at 760.799.7076 to prepay and reserve your spots. Wine pairings will include two winners from Paso Robles: An intriguing blend of Chenin Blanc and Riesling from Gravity Hills and the highly acclaimed Four Vines "The Biker" Zinfandel.

Start making your plans by visiting these sites for more information about travel to nearby California wine regions – salute!

Temecula
Ventura
Santa Barbara

Follow Us to L.E.A.D.

Today is the last day to lock in the early-bird registration fee of $75 for Women Leaders Forum Thursday, October 21 L.E.A.D. event. So what are you waiting for? Get busy and register here right now for what promises to be the year's most talked-about women's event.

WinewomenPSP connects with other leading Coachella Valley women organizations in support of L.E.A.D. – Learn, Educate, Aspire, Demonstrate. The 4:30 – 9 PM event will be held at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indian Wells. After today, registration for the full event, including dinner, is $85. Admission to opening cocktail reception and keynote address only is $40.

The evening leadership conference begins with a cocktail reception followed by a keynote address by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Dr. Cinzia Zuffada, who will address leadership in science.

Following Dr. Zuffada's talk, attendees will proceed to their choice among five breakout dinner panel sessions. Each moderated panel track will feature accomplished women in Lifestyle and Wellness, Business, Sports and Entertainment, Literary and Philanthropy fields. Esteemed panelists scheduled to appear include iconic fashion model and businesswoman Beverly Johnson, motorsports sportscaster Kay Presto, award-winning film producer Gita Pullapilly, Mars exploration engineering manager Nagin Cox, major league sports executive and sports marketing maven Joann Klonowski, critically acclaimed author Deanne Stillman, and other remarkable women.

Register now to stake your claim on the panel track of your choice!

For only $50 more, you can elect to sponsor a Young Woman Ambassador to attend the L.E.A.D. event. This WLF youth program is open to sophomore, junior and senior women attending Coachella Valley high schools. Help support these energetic and inspirational young ladies who seek to Learn, Educate themselves and others, Aspire to higher goals and Demonstrate how to get it done!

Join other Winewomen as we team up with Women Leaders Forum and women valley-wide to L.E.A.D. on October 21 at the Esmeralda by signing up to attend today.

Windows on the World

For many New Yorkers, it's still tough to look downtown and not see them rising up towards the heavens. They were beautiful, those Twin Towers. Golden and gleaming like mirrors one minute; steely and silvery sleek as clouds passed by the next.

Some New Yorkers never got used to them and the giant footprint they left on the city's skyline. But we loved them. They were just too cool, so in-your-face New York, center of the universe.

We liked to shop and hang out there. A new neighborhood, Battery Park City, grew and grew up around the Towers. We'd spend amazing days along the Promenade where you could walk, jog, bike and roller-blade to your heart's content. Yes, in Manhattan. And each time we'd look up and see them looming there all proud and purposeful, we were filled with that same feeling – so happy to be alive, in that moment, in the greatest city in the world.

The dizzying elevator ride that took you up to Windows on the World was an adventure in itself. No amount of hype readied you for the bar, immodestly called The Greatest Bar on Earth, and absolutely nothing prepared you for the view that awaited you from the 107th floor.

Windows and the Trade Center held sweet memories. We'll never forget the day we treated the parents on their anniversary and watched their faces fill with amazement as they sat down to their glorious table with a view. Business dinners brought delicious food and unforgettable wine on nights when sky-high Windows helped make deals happen. Another night brought a first taste of Chateau Montelena. And there was best friend's excitement over her Windows wine course, an investment that repays her with regularity to this day. Down on the street, hip- and smart-looking men in dark navy suits took their strolls at lunchtime – as did an ocean of gorgeous go-getter women in impossible high heels.

It was another world, too beautiful perhaps for many of us to appreciate at the time. A peacetime world, at least for Americans on our native soil. Before Portraits of Grief haunted us, before bombings in places we couldn't find on a map, before everything turned not nice at all, maybe forever.

Tonight we'll enjoy our wine, our friends, each other's company and every breath and blessing we have. Just like those moments at Table 32, when the view from those windows on the world seemed so spectacularly majestic, endless and calm.