By Stacy Bellew, Owner Coeur Cause® Wines

How does a dollop of Mango Sorbet topped with a splash of Coeur Cause® Brut Riesling and adorned with a Raspberry-Mint Sprig sound? It sounds even better when it can be enjoyed with gourmet bites all for a great cause!

This is the second year Coeur Cause® Wines has teamed up with Milbrandt Vineyards to co-sponsor a wine event that benefits the Alzheimer’s Association® and its Walk to End Alzheimer’s® in Washington State.

Reservation details are below for “A Sparkling Cause” taking place in the Woodinville, Leavenworth, and Prosser tasting rooms the next two weekends (Sept. 23rd – Oct. 2nd)!  

If you have time, please continue reading about the inspiration behind Coeur Cause®, and my latest journey with my fearless mother, and her fight with dementia.

A Valuable Tip I Learned: Create new moments, magic, and connection in the repetition.

It’s a Monday and that tip came to me as a gift during a hectic morning to finish work in time to pick up my mother for lunch. She was diagnosed with dementia several years ago.

“There’s three wishes I want today,” mom says as she plays with a clip-on earring that just fell into her hand as we sat down in our favorite restaurant. “I want to share a glass of wine with my daughter, I want to share dessert with my daughter, and if we can do both at the same time, that would make my birthday.”

Then, without skipping a beat, she adds, “Oh, and I need new earrings. These darn things don’t stay on anymore.”

I realize the clip-on culprit she’s referring to is not actually an earring, but one of those mini metal bookmarks. You know, the decorative kind you can clip in between pages like a paperclip. Somehow, she’s managed to squeeze her dainty little earlobe in between its metal teeth. At a distance, it kind of looks like her other real earring, but one is silver, and one is gold.

Also, it’s not mom’s birthday today. It’s Labor Day. Her birthday happened months ago, but it doesn’t matter. We are celebrating life again, and new earrings are on the agenda. “As long as we find some that really sparkle,” she says.

While moments like these may sound a bit somber, mom and I embrace them as connection points and expressions of joy repeating itself in beautiful ways. In fact, the paperclip bookmark earring has a tiny inscription on it that says “dreams”. She points that out to me, and laughs in the most joyful, visceral way. That moment right there was worth so much more than her remembering what today is.

I learned very early on with mom’s dementia that correcting her serves no higher purpose and can only add to her confusion and insecurity. It’s difficult hearing others try to clarify things with her in hopes she’ll magically remember.  She won’t.  Instead, finding ways to recreate new moments with her (even if temporary) helps her feel more confident and safer in not having to remember. In turn, she ends up having a better day. I commend my stepfather for navigating the uncertainty each morning brings.

At times, she’ll open her front door to me and thinks I’m her nurse or a salesperson, giving me a not-so-welcome look. Instead of explaining who I am, I point to the Crape Myrtle tree next to her yard and comment on how beautiful it is. It’s one of her favorite things. After a couple of minutes, she starts reconnecting to who I am. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

However, today is a good day. We are shopping for new sparkling earrings after lunch, and I’m on a mission here at the restaurant to combine something sweet with a small amount of sparkling wine. 

Yes, when mom says she wants dessert and wine at the same time, she literally means combining them like she used to do with one of her favorite sweet nightcaps- a splash of Baileys atop a scoop of old-fashioned vanilla ice cream crested with dark chocolate covered almonds. She enjoyed things like that always in moderation and would come up with the most delicious “treat-yo-self” rewards.

I shared this story with my tasting room team and they came up with a recipe that will be served at the Sparkling Cause wine event. 

A dollop of Mango Sorbet with a splash of Coeur Cause® Brut Riesling topped with a Raspberry-Mint Sprig is a delicious low-alcohol dessert. It’s lovingly and appropriately called “Shirley’s Fearless Sorbet” (named after my sweet mama, of course). 

I can’t tell you how touched I was when my staff came up with this concoction in honor of her. When you find people that truly support your uncertain journey as a caregiver, lean into them. They will become your healing tribe both during and after its transcendence. Remember to thank them with intention and focus from time to time. It’s easy to forget to do that in the fray.

We want to thank the Alzheimer’s Association and its Washington State Chapter for naming our company, Coeur Cause® Wines, as Community Partner of the Year. 

In co-sponsorship with Milbrandt Vineyards, we’ve raised almost $75,000 for #Walk2EndALZ with much more to go, hosted over six community-driven wine events that raised awareness and provided resource information, and included dementia resource materials in the shipments of 3000+ wine club members. 

Help us do more. Join us the next two weekends in our toast to courage. And… Sparkle Fearlessly!

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“A Sparkling Cause” Presented by Coeur Cause® Wines 

Benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association®

Reservations Required

Location: All Milbrandt Vineyards Tasting Rooms (Woodinville, Leavenworth, Prosser)

Dates: Sept. 23rd, 24th, 25th & Sept. 30th, Oct. 1st, Oct. 2nd (Two Weekends in a Row!)

Time: 12pm-6pm  

Upon arrival, all guests are greeted with a pour of the newest Coeur Cause® Brut Riesling. Enjoy a flight of six wines (reds and whites) with gourmet bites. Caregivers and customers affected by Alzheimer’s or other dementia will be given complimentary roses.   

Luxury raffles include wine country picnic baskets, getaways, restaurant certificates, and golf excursions. For dessert- Shirley’s Fearless Sorbet.

Optional: Bringin’ My Bling Contest  

Door prizes are given to the best sparkling, blingy, or dazzling wardrobe accoutrement.  

Live entertainment at some locations.   

Cost:

$30 for general waived with 2+ bottle purchase of Coeur Cause® 

$15 for wine club members waived with 2+ bottle purchase of Coeur Cause®.   

Reserve today:

Woodinville | Reserve Here.

Leavenworth | Reserve Here.  

Prosser | Reserve Here.  

10% of all Coeur Cause® wine sales will go to the Alzheimer’s Association as a direct donation to help raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

Can’t make the event? 

Buy the wine HERE and support the cause now.