Cline Cellars First Winery to Crowdsource Wine Label Recipe Using Facebook, Twitter

SONOMA, Calif., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cline Cellars, a sustainable winery established in 1982, will use Social Media sites including Facebook and Twitter to choose their next featured recipe to be printed on the back label of their Cool Climate Pinot Noir. Cline was first to provide wine label recipes and they're now revolutionizing food and wine pairings with using social media. Voters can visit Cline's Cool Chefs website from March 7th until March 21st. The website will include five original recipes created by Chef Jerry James Stone exclusively for Cline. Visit http://www.clinecellars.com/coolchefs.

Using Social Media, voters will determine the top three recipes of the five which will then be prepared by Stone for a Top Chef-style panel of chefs, foodies and wine media on March 30th, where the winning recipe will be declared. The winning recipe will be printed on Cline's 2011 Cool Climate Pinot Noir label.

Stone--an eco-wine blogger and recipe developer for Discovery Channel's TreeHugger.com--first interviewed Cline two years ago for his Green Wine Guide, where he was introduced to Fred Cline and the rest of the crew. "I was really impressed with Cline's operation, their commitment to the environment and just how innovative they are. It was there that I learned about the Green String Farm and all of its sustainable efforts. From that moment on, I wanted to do more. I wanted to be involved more. Cline Cellars proves you can be both conscious about our planet and make great wine," says Stone.

Recipes are printed on the back labels of a few Cline wines already including restaurants like The Girl and the Fig and P.F. Chang's. So when Stone offered to create a recipe for Cool Climate Pinot Noir, Cline jumped at the opportunity. The idea to involve the public in the decision-making process was natural given both partners' active engagement in social media. Stone has over 47,000 followers on Twitter and Cline Cellars has 3,000.

"We could have picked a recipe on our own but we thought it would be more interesting if we made it inclusive. Food and wine are experiential, and this gives people a way to be actively involved in our winery's creative process," says Kathryn Nudelman, Cline's Communications Manager. Cline and Stone hope people will not only vote, but that they'll test the recipes and wine pairings at home first. Recipes, photos and more will be published online and available by voting time.

About Jerry James Stone
Jerry James Stone is a writer for Discovery Channel, and the producer and main recipe developer for TreeHugger's Green Wine Guide, which features sustainable wineries and vegetarian wine pairings. He's currently creating the official Philz Coffee cookbook for the Bay Area establishment which will feature recipes about cooking with coffee. He has been a food judge alongside Michael Pollan and Alice Waters for the Good Food Awards and wrote the nightlife section for Fodor's 2013 San Francisco guide book. His writings can be found in MAKE magazine, The Atlantic and Digg.com.

About Cline Cellars
Cline Cellars is a family-owned and operated winery located in the Carneros growing district of Sonoma, California. Established in 1982, Cline is known for producing some of California's most distinctive, award-winning Rhone style wines and intense, flavorful Zinfandels. The winery generates all of its energy needs through solar and uses the Green String Institute's eco-friendly farming practices in the vineyard. Fred and Nancy Cline currently own and manage vineyards in diverse viticulture areas including Sonoma-Carneros, Contra Costa County and Petaluma Gap in the Sonoma Coast AVA.

Cline contact: Kathryn Nudelman
Phone: 707.940.4082
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ClineCellars and FB: facebook.com/clinewine

Chef contact: Jerry James Stone
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Cline Cellars