holly + flora

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The Storm Cellar

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// hello //

I’m Jayme, a sommelier-turned-farmer, and I live in a small town out on Colorado’s Western Slope. My husband and I own and work on a vineyard together, where we make high-elevation white wine and rosé, under our label, The Storm Cellar. I share my cocktail explorations, travel stories, vineyard life, and wine musings here at holly & flora.

You can read a little more about me here.

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// @hollyandflora on instagram //

hollyandflora
Instagram has some sharing hiccups, but I’m goin Instagram has some sharing hiccups, but I’m going to do my best to get around them. 😏 Go to my Instagram highlight, “Somm Series” — it’s the very first one right now — and follow the link to my winery account, @stormcellarwine. ✨ Tonight’s IG Live was one to remember. • My husband, @big_zen, and I tasted through our 2019 Roussanne with sommelier and wine judge Nadia Pavlevska @npwine, and we contrasted Roussanne grown in Colorado with a version grown in the Northern Rhône region of France. • Colorado is such a new frontier for quality winemaking, and sometimes it’s even scary to talk about its uncertainties. I was happy to show up and talk about those realities tonight with Nadia and my husband. • I’m feeling so much gratitude and pride for what Colorado is doing as a whole, and what we are personally doing in our small, 1,400-case production corner of the desert southwest. • 📌 Do you like Roussanne? 📌 Do you drink it? 📌 Do you have a favorite producer? 📌 Have you even heard of the grape? • Gosh. 🤩 I remember hearing about this grape for the first time. That moment isn’t one to be ignored — it’s one to be celebrated. 🎉 Frankly, I’d rather talk to someone trying the grape for the very first time than to someone who’s over it and has no viewpoint on it other than boredom with the grape, whatsoever. • #thankyounext 🙄🙄🙄 • • • • #hollyandflora #stormcellarwine #coloradowine #cowine #highelevationvineyards #highelevationwine #roussanne #coloradoroussanne #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker #johndeere #tractortime #coloradograpes #winestagram #cbdrinks #imbibegram
The “feels like” temperature must be well unde The “feels like” temperature must be well under 10°F today because I woke up and never warmed up. 🥶 Steve and I ran outside for this photo, and we lasted only three minutes. • Did you open up anything special for #OpenThatBottleNight?! • I went with a high-elevation Malbec from @catenawines, a luscious 2015 from their Catena Zapata label, a blend of fruit from two of their top-tier Malbec vineyards, Nicasia and Angélica. • The label is a beautiful representation of the variety’s rich history in France and its rise in Argentina, personified by four female figures. I give a 360° view in my stories. • Catena Zapata, Malbec Argentino, 2015, $125 • 👁 — deep garnet 👃🏼 — wildly aromatic with a smoky backbone and notes of blackberries, black olives, oregano, and violets 😋 — well-balanced oak treatment, dry, full-bodied but lifted with medium- to medium-plus acidity and moderate tannins • The Catena family has pioneered and revolutionized high-elevation viticulture for over 50 years. I put the price on this post for a reason. 💰For $125, this is a wine that rivals any $125-bottle of wine in the world, in both complexity and quality. • I love what the Catena family has done with respect to high-elevation wines. As a grape-grower at 6,000’ above sea level, I am just beginning to understand both the limitations and the possibilities of growing quality grapes on the fringe. • This was the bottle Steve and I chose tonight, and it paired perfectly with roasted root vegetables, spicy wine-simmered sausage, and a hearty winter-greens salad. • Also, @lauracatenamd, you are welcome to come and stay at our high-elevation tiny home, nestled alongside our Riesling vines. My husband, @big_zen, still owes you (jokingly) for letting him stay at your high-elevation bodega for Malbec Camp back in 2015!! • What’s in your glass tonight? Any splurges? Any steals? • CHEERS!! 🍷🍷🍷 • • • • 📷: @big_zen 🎨: @hollyandflora #hollyandflora #openthatbottlenight #malbec #malbecargentino #lauracatena #catenazapata #highelevationwine #highelevationvineyards #acidhead #winetasting #redwinelover #foodwinewomen #nicasiavineyards #angelicavineyard #cbdrinks #imbibegram #winestagram
Earlier this week, @garnish_girl shared the drink Earlier this week, @garnish_girl shared the drink that started her cocktail journey, an Aviation. It was the cocktail that ultimately shifted her career. 🥃 The cocktail that did it for me was a Negroni. I was instantly smitten. • For the uninitiated, a Negroni is equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth, and for an unconventional “gateway cocktail,” as it was for me, it takes quite the bitter stance. • I’m sharing a new IG guide with you this morning, featuring five versions of this classic cocktail, including this Crushed Blackberry Negroni. Also? I can’t believe I’ve never posted my current favorite Negroni riff, a Sbagliato, which features sparkling wine in place of gin. • If you ever had the chance to visit Denver’s iconic Negroni bar @barhelixdenver, a dream child of my friend @swirlgirldenver, you experienced something special. ✨ Although it’s since-closed, some of Kendra’s Negroni cocktails are forever ingrained on my palate. • Maybe Kendra will let me share one of her famous concoctions here. 😏 She gave the most thoughtful departing gift to her friends, patrons, and Negroni family, when she closed her doors — a PDF of recipes for a few of her favorite Negroni recipes. 🤩 THANK YOU!! • What was the cocktail that started it all for you? Your gateway cocktail? That life-changing sip? • • • • #hollyandflora #negroni #negronioclock #imbibegram #drinkpunch #cocktailrecipes #negronirecipe #classiccocktails #drinkstagram #blackberrycocktail #cbdrinks #ABMhappyhour #ttcocktails #foodwinewomen
Weddings and celebrations mean different things to Weddings and celebrations mean different things to different people, and we definitely went the unconventional route. ✨ And I wouldn’t change a single thing. It could’ve been just a *little* warmer, though. ❄️ • Steve and I had known each other for a long time. Our surprise elopement in 2019 wasn’t just a celebration of a new start; it was a celebration of where’d we’d been so far, and of where we were going, together. • I finally shared our wedding day from two years ago on the blog, captured beautifully by @oliveandwest, in a step-by-step, editorial style. Her snowy photos are so dreamy and told the story of what was happening in our lives at the time. • And we threw the whole wedding on a super-tight budget, including a thrifted wedding dress, which allowed for more room to spend on flowers, special wine, and CAKE. • And flower crowns for our cats. 😸 • Thank you for all of the kind anniversary wishes on my last post. We’ve gotta celebrate those good times, right? 🍾 We’ve had some delicious food this week, tasted some great wines, and visited with both old and new friends. • Our busy season is coming up soon, so I’m savoring all that I can. 💞 • • • • 📷: @oliveandwest #hollyandflora #coloradowedding #westslopebestslope #wedwestslope #snowywedding #elopement #winterwedding #vineyardwedding #foodwinewomen #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker #redstonevineyard #stylemeprettyweddings #sommelierwedding #highelevationvineyards #winemakerslife
It’s #nationalmargaritaday, but it’s also my w It’s #nationalmargaritaday, but it’s also my wedding anniversary with @big_zen. 🥂 It’s always a toss-up, whether or not we’ll pop some bubbly or make some kind of margarita riff. 🥃 Tonight, we opted for bubbles, in the form of @schramsberg 2005 J. Schram, made with grapes harvested the year we met. • Tomorrow, I’m actually sharing a full-on blog post about the story of our surprise wedding/elopement we did two years ago, together, in the middle of a snowstorm. • Tonight, I’m sharing a moment within my cocktail-creating career, where I tried using avocado as a mixer within a drink, for the first time. This concoction, created by Denver’s @whiskynwaffles, is smooth and sublime. The texture is the main player here, and it’s supported by delicious, tropical notes of mango, lime, celery (my spirit vegetable 💞), and grapefruit. • Find the recipe on my site — just search “avocado” — it’ll pop up on the first page. • Which ingredient made you realize that unconventional ingredients can make a cocktail a culinary piece of art? 🎨 Or — let’s get off the pedestal — which ingredient made you rethink TEXTURE in cocktails?? • And big congrats and thanks to my friend, Alex Kady, who created this cocktail, which I photographed, for @patron’s 2017 “Margarita of the Year.” It’s one margarita I make on the regular. • • • • #nationalmargaritaday #hollyandflora #patrontequila #avocadococktail #imbibegram #cocktailsandflowers #avocadococktail #culinarycocktails #ABMhappyhour #ttcocktails #cbdrinks #cocktailoftheday #drinkstagram #driiiiinks #drinksblogger #homebartender #cocktailphotography #coloradoblogger #sommlife
Tea cocktails. ⚡️ They bring the tannin, the c Tea cocktails. ⚡️ They bring the tannin, the complexity, the spice, the nuances, the balance, and the depth. Whether you’re infusing a spirit, making a syrup, or simply adding brewed tea to a drink, this is another layer you’ll want to incorporate in your next creation. • I’m definitely swooning over @gastronomcocktails’ recent Bridgerton cocktail, which features gin, lemon, and Earl Grey tea. It pairs so perfectly with the show’s pomp and circumstance — and a little tension (like a good story) is just what a cocktail needs, at times. • For @spokeandblossom magazine’s recent winter cocktail recipe, I shared a snappy, gingery drink that incorporates the same chai simple syrup I posted a few squares back. It’s so easy to make. You can get the recipe for this rum-centric cocktail, via the link in my profile. • T h e R u m R e v i v e r • ⚡️ aged rum ⚡️ ginger liqueur ⚡️ chai simple ⚡️ sweet vermouth • This cozy, stirred drink hits so perfectly during these cold nights. And during these early-ish afternoons. 😏 They all blend together, right? Like sweatpants and Zoom calls. • What are your favorite tea cocktails? • Better yet?! —> What is your favorite sip to enjoy with Bridgerton? I’m definitely one to sip on a low ABV drink because that show has me absolutely transfixed. And completely distracted from my current situation. • • • • #hollyandflora #spokeandblossom #spokeandblossommagazine #westslopebestslope #coloradoblogger #foodwinewomen #womeninwine #drinkstagram #cocktailgram #drinkoftheday #imbibegram #ttcocktails #feedfeed @thefeedfeed.cocktails #cbdrinks @cherrybombedrinks #bridgerton #bridgertoncocktail
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