Summer
2005
HAPPY FOURTH
OF JULY! Paulette and I would like to be
one of the first to wish you the very best as we prepare
for the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend. We hope you
don't forget that red wines also complement a wide variety
of BBQ plates, including steak, pork, and ribs. (Give us
a call if you’d like us to recommend a wine recipe.)
We also hope that when you do uncork your bottle, it's one
of our delicious wines. But, whatever your wine and food
pairings happen to be, we still hope you think of us!
Story Family
4th of July, 2005
Another Scandale Vintage...
As many of you know, the story goes that we named one of
our wines Scandale, in tribute to the words uttered by our
French family members several years ago when we unveiled
the winning wines from a special blind tasting we put together
for them. The word "Scandale" translates to
Scandal in French, which was their phrase when realizing
another California wine, made by yours truly, was the clear
winner out of other wines produced from Bordeaux. (It brings
back memories from the historic Paris Tasting of '76!)
 We
take our winemaking process to the extreme. Everything we
produce is truly hand-crafted, and we use this term not
as marketing speak, but instead to define our winemaking
philosophy.
During harvest, everything is hand-sorted and de-stemmed.
The juice is then placed in small one- ton sized plastic
fermenters. Once fermentation is completed, the wine is
transferred into new all new French oak barrels from 5 different
barrel suppliers, with different toasts and oak components
to bring out a diversity of flavors, color, and aromas for
our blending pleasures. I explain this to you not as a quick
winemaking 101 course, but instead to help describe how
our wines are designated as either Sympa reserve level or
Scandale estate level wines when bottled and released.
Each Spring, we gather our winemaking team of myself,
consulting winemaker Sarah Gott, and several other local
winemakers and sommelier's to taste through each barrel
and each blend to determine the quality of each lot. It
is at this point when we determine whether or not the Cabernet
Sauvignon is of Sympa or Scandale quality.
 As
we prepared our 2003 vintage wine, it was determined that
we had eight barrels which warranted a Scandale designation.
Though it did not meet our highest standards to be classified
as a Sympa level reserve wine, this wine is still a beautiful
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that you're sure to
enjoy and love. This will be our first Scandale Cabernet
Sauvignon release since 2001. With the success and popularity
of our previous Scandale Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2000
and 2001 vintages, we are certain you'll equally enjoy
this wine, also.
Orders are now being accepted for this wine online. All
wines will be available for purchase from the winery on
or about August 15 under pre-release conditions. As always
our wines sell out quickly, so we encourage you to order
these wines now, rather than later because it could be too
late!
Again, warm wishes for a splendid holiday!
Peter and Paulette Story
peter@sthelenawinery.com
www.sthelenawinery.com
1-877-245-6006 (toll free)
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We're Going International!
There are many wonderful things keeping us busy at the winery
these days, but nothing as exciting as the recent partnership
we've made with a Japanese restaurateur to produce an exclusive
private label for him to be sold and served at his restaurants
in Tokyo, Japan. After an exhaustive search, St. Helena
Winery was chosen, becoming the first and only American
wine to be produced and served in these restaurants across
Tokyo. This is another example of why gourmet food and wine
are the perfect match!
This is a huge honor to be recognized and chosen over 3000
other American wineries of all sizes, appellations, and
varietal focus. This is also a credit to our focus on quality
and truly hand-crafted, small production Napa Valley Cabernet
Sauvignon. We'll keep you posted on this development
in the coming months.
A Match Made in Heaven
During our recent trip to France in March,
Paulette was surprised with a spectacular week- long cooking
course at the famous Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris.
Although this was intended for her pleasure, it's
now obvious that I'm reaping all the benefits from
her extraordinary dishes she's now preparing for us
at home! She has always been an extraordinary chef, and
even more so now! We cannot recommend this school enough.
During her week long course, Paulette sought out the Le
Cordon Bleu staff to help create the best recipe and food
pairing for our Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Cabernet and food
of all kinds seem to match up so perfectly, and it didn’t
take them long to find a great wine recipes.
 Paulette
worked alongside Le Cordon Bleu's
resident chef, Chef Marc Thivet - Chef
de Cuisine, to prepare these delicious recipes that we'd
like to share with you.
Above: Photo taken before Paulette's
first day of school at Le Cordon Bleu. Brings back memories
of taking photos of our children on the first day of school
when they were in elementary school
 In the next several emails we will feature
each of the three wine recipes created by Paulette. We hope
you enjoy them and we can't wait to hear your feedback!
And, as always, if you have any wonderful wine and food
pairings with our Sympa or Scandale wines, let us know!
Maybe we’ll feature your gourmet food and wine pairings,
too!
Above: Paulette and
Chef Thivet at Le Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu Recipe of the Month
FOIE
GRAS CHAUD, AUX FIGUES ET PAIN D'EPICES
Foie gras with figs and gingerbread
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