Ravenswood at the Calgary Stampede

During the Calgary Stampede, beer is usually the beverage of choice, followed by rye, Jack Daniels and a few other spirits. Most of the beverage industry events in Cowtown during Stampede reflect these preferences, but I don’t go to all that many Jack Daniels events and I firmly believe that Budweiser isn’t beer. So the Stampede is a time for me to relax a little, aside from a few smaller events or social functions that I either host or attend.

Imagine my delight when I was invited to the Ravenswood client appreciation barbecue on the Stampede grounds. Hosted by Vincor on Monday, July 12, it was a dinner featuring the wines of Ravenswood with Joel Peterson. Ravenswood is one of the pre-eminent producers of zinfandel in the US, if not the world, and Joel Peterson is their winemaker.

Like the good boy that I am, I RSVPed, put it in my calendar and then promptly forgot about the event. A few days later, the office receptionist called me and told me I had some sort of “Cowboy” package at the front waiting for me. Thoroughly confused, I was greeted with this package:

Deconstructed, the package included a cowboy hat (more like a cowboy-style hat,) barbecue sauce made from Ravenswood Zinfandel, a corkscrew, a bumper sticker, a light up button, two passes to the Stampede grounds and a helpful map to get to the dinner location.

The big night arrived and I was on my way.

Drinks started at 6 pm with options of the Ravenswood Vintners Zinfandel, the Lodi Zinfandel, or the Ravenswood Chardonnay. After some opening words from the always personable Joel, the buffet style dinner began, complimented with more of the Ravenswood wines.

Every so often, Joel would cruise around the room meeting people and entertaining us with more stories about the sometimes turbulent beginnings of the winery. We learned about rolling trucks, the legions of tattooed Ravenswood fans and where the winery got its name.

Around 9:30 pm, the dinner wound down and full, a little tipsy and ready for the long C-Train ride home, I said my farewells and tottered off into the night.

Last photo

Happy Stampeding!

Tom