This is your August member hub — it has all the recipes, updates, and information to accompany your shipment.

We are so glad you are a member of the Round Pond family — your support makes everything we do possible. We’re always looking for ways to improve your member experience, so we have created this space to have everything you need in one easy-to-access place! Not only does this reduce our carbon footprint, aiding our continued sustainability efforts, but it also ensures you can have the most up-to-date information at the touch of a button.

Read more to learn about what’s happening in the vineyards, view and download seasonal recipes from our Estate Chef (they’re easily printable!), and watch some of the latest videos from around the Estate.

Wishing you and your family the best!

Ryan MacDonnell Bracher & Miles MacDonnell
Second-Generation Owners

PS: If you want to learn more about all of the sustainability efforts happening around the Estate, read about them here.

Rolling vineyards in summer

Vineyard Update with Winemaker John Wilson

So far it has been sunny, dry, and moderately warm. For the past month at least, and since flowering, we’ve consistently been in the mid to upper 80s. It’s essential to have even and warm temperatures to get the vines to develop and then to stop growing after a certain point to focus on ripening the fruit. We are thrilled that the weather has been cooperating.
We just began harvest on the southern block, bringing in the Estate Sauvignon Blanc. Typically, when we’re halfway through verasion on our Cabernet, we say we’re about 60 days out from harvest, which would bring us to mid-September if conditions remain consistent. That means harvest for reds will start earlier than in past years, and most of the fruit should be in by the first or second week of October. Of course, this all depends on the weather that’s still to come.
Thomas Rivers Brown and I can’t wait to craft our 2022 wines and share them with you over the next few years!

John Wilson
Estate Winemaker

John Wilson
August Recipes

Click below to access some recipes from our Estate Chef, Fernando Arias that are featured in our Il Pranzo experience.

To print the recipe click download at the bottom of the expanded block to download a printable PDF.

Salsa Verde
Salsa Verde

This recipe changes with the seasons according to what herbs are thriving in the Round Pond garden at the moment, but is always a delicious, bright finishing sauce. Use this recipe as a base and add your favorite herbs!

1 cup Round Pond Italian Varietal Olive Oil

½ cup Champagne vinegar

½ cup Sherry vinegar

2 cloves garlic

2 sprigs thyme (picked)

1 serrano (depends on how hot you like it)

1qt herbs (Chef’s favorite is equal parts cilantro, parsley, and mint but any fresh herb works!)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

With hand blender, combine vinegars, oil, garlic, and serrano until it starts to come together.

Add your herbs and blend until incorporated. Don’t be afraid to add a bit more oil or vinegar if it makes it easier to blend!

Download Recipe
Roasted Scallops with Tomato Butter

Scallops

6 ea scallops

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp fennel pollen

Salt & pepper to taste

2 tbsp chives

DIRECTIONS

Pat dry scallops and season with salt and pepper both sides.

Heat a stainless-steel sauté pan on high heat, add oil once warm

Place scallops in hot pan and sear until golden brown on first side (2 to 4 minutes)

Turn down heat to medium then flip scallops, add butter and season with fennel pollen.

Remove and place on paper towel to absorb excess fat and ready to serve!

Slice chive finely for garnish on top of scallops

Summer Tomato Butter

10 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp Round Pond Varietal Italian Olive Oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 small shallot, peeled and sliced

3 sprigs of savory, stems removed (can substitute thyme or oregano)

1/2 lb cold, diced butter

¼ cup Round Pond Estate Sauvignon Blanc

DIRECTIONS

In a small sauce pot, lightly cook tomatoes with olive oil over medium heat.

Once tomatoes begin to pop, add garlic, shallot, and herbs. Cook until aromatic, 3-5 min.

Deglaze with wine and reduce mixture by half on low heat.

Increase heat to high and gradually add butter, whisking to incorporate.

Remove mixture from heat and blend with an emersion blender or Vitamix.

Strain through a fine mesh sieve and enjoy!

Download Recipe
Olive Oil Pinwheel Cake

4 whole eggs, cold

7 oz granulated sugar

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp baking soda

3 oz Round Pond Italian Varietal Olive Oil

½ oz Grand Marnier liquor

zest of one orange

4 ½ oz all purpose flour

24 oz buttercream

DIRECTIONS

Line sheet tray with parchment paper and lightly grease with canola oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a stand mixer, combine eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whip on high for about 15 minutes. 

When mixture has roughly doubled in volume and lightened in color, reduce speed to low and add olive oil, Grand Marnier, and zest. 

Add flour and mix until combined – be careful not to over mix! 

Pour batter into prepared sheet tray and spread evenly. 

Bake 12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately cover with aluminum foil – this keeps the cake moist and pliable for rolling. Allow to cool.

Once cooled, remove foil and spread about 18 oz of buttercream evenly across the cake, placing the rest of buttercream into piping bag for garnish. Starting at one long side, begin rolling cake gently into a spiral, removing parchment as you go. 

Chill your finished pinwheel and slice into 1-inch pieces to serve and enjoy! 

Download Recipe
Your August Club Shipment
August Wine Releases

Click below to learn more about all of the wines released to members in August.

Each shipment is unique. To view the wines you received click here.

2019 Louis Bovet Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Member Price: $102 – $122

100% Cabernet Sauvignon | Rutherford

This wine embodies a sharp focus on aspects of Rutherford terroir. Stylistically, this wine shows finesse and balance, with dark fruit hints, savory notes and supple, well formed tannins. This wine is age-worthy and deserving of a place of honor in your cellar and on your table.

 

Accolades

93+ points, Jeb Dunnuck

“This is reserve serious, offering beautiful notes of menthol, plums, blueberries, new leather, and dark chocolate followed by a medium to full-bodied, concentrated red with ripe tannins, good acidity. and freshness. This is one gorgeous, classy, and elegant Cab.”

– Jeb Dunnuck

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2021 Jannine Bovet Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

Member Price $40 – $48

The Bovet Reserve family of wines honors matriarch Jannine MacDonnell’s family who created exceptional wine in the early 1920’s. We carry on this tradition with these incredibly special wines that combine this legacy with our family’s 40 years of winegrowing experience in the Napa Valley.

The Reserve Sauvignon Blanc is made in a ripe, rich, and forward style. The grapes are harvested when the tropical notes are at their peak and fermentation occurs naturally in subtle, water-bent French oak barrels; increasing the perception of sweetness on the nose and adding layers of complexity.

 

Tasting Notes

This wine offers aromas of lemon zest, chamomile, ripe pear, and a refreshing minerality. Elegant upon the palate with flavors of key lime, white peach, and hints of melon. The sur lie aging gives the wine a beautiful roundness while still finishing crisp and clean with lingering bright fruit notes.

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2017 Proprietary Red Wine

Sold out 

This wine is a mélange of Cabernet Sauvignon with other varietals that thrive here on our Rutherford Estate. The varietal composition changes each year, but the fruit-forward and complex nature of this special wine remain consistent.

 

Tasting Notes

This wine opens with effusive aromas of black cherry, violets, and leather on the nose and is spicy and lively on the palate. The tannins are firm, and the finish is supple, rich, and delicious.

54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Petit Verdot, 15% Malbec

2019 Proprietary Malbec

Sold out 

Black cherry, cola, and herbal notes leap from the glass with flavors of blackberry, plum, and a touch of anise upon the palate. With ample structure through the mid-palate and soft, rounded tannins, this wine is rich complex with a beautiful finish.

2019 Proprietary Right Bank Blend

Member Price: $88 – $105

Our Right Bank Blend is alluring and captivating, much like its compatriots in Bordeaux. Showcasing the small selection of Cabernet Franc planted on the estate together with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, this small-lot blend has resulted in a supple, smooth, rich wine with silky, lengthy tannins.

Tasting Notes

Sourced entirely from the gravel streaks at Round Pond, this unique red wine blend is perfumed and spicy, offering an elegant reflection of our Rutherford Estate. The aroma is savory with notes of roasted pepper, grilled bread, and game meats. As it opens up, dark fruit comes through on the nose with hints of tobacco spice and black cherry unfolding. This is a rich, concentrated and powerful wine with dark fruit, plum, espresso and vanilla custard that leaps out of the glass.

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2019 Proprietary Petit Verdot

Sold out 

A balanced, uniquely rich wine with a mix of luscious fruits like blackberry and dark plum and beautiful floral like violet and lilac.

2019 Proprietary Left Bank Blend

Member Pricing: $70-$84

Inspired by the famous Left Bank blends of Bordeaux, our version is old-world finesse meets California opulence. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are artfully combined to create a graceful yet complex wine. Subtle, soft, and sophisticated, this is our most nuanced blend. 

56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot

 

Accolades

92 points, Vinous

“…packed with inky blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, cloves, chocolate and menthol. This fleshy, succulent red is another winner from Round Pond. Time in the glass brings out hints of redder fruits, blood orange and floral accents, all of which add brightness.“ – Antonio Galloni

Acquire
Upcoming Events
Our Mission

Join us to fight Alzheimer’s!

Our Dad and founder, Bob MacDonnell, believed in hard work, kindness and caring for your people. While Dad lost his battle with Alzheimer’s last year, we hope to honor Dad, and the 50 million people living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia worldwide by doing our part to bring awareness and funding to help find a cure. Join our family in the fight to end Alzheimer’s and make a donation today at www.alz.org/roundpond.

We would love for you to join us this September as we participate in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Napa Valley. We hope to exceed last year’s fundraising amount of $62,000.

Walk with us
Check out our latest videos!