Dear Loyal Customers,

Robert Lewis Stevenson once wrote that “Wine is Bottled Poetry.” And, we couldn’t agree more, especially when you consider what occurs in the bottling process.

Recently, we completed the bottling of more than 1,500 cases of wine from the 2005 vintage. These include our flagship Cabernet Sauvignon reserve wine Sympa & our Cabernet Sauvignon estate Scandale, along with our new Violation Petite Sirah label. We also bottled our children’s brands, Seduire (Kristian’s label) and Ravenous (Kimberly’s label), as well as my private Japanese client’s label that’s available exclusively in Tokyo.

Similar to previous years, we brought in a mobile bottling truck and parked it on our driveway. The day began very early in the morning and lasted until later that evening. Even so, it was still the smoothest and fastest bottling to date, which is quite impressive when you consider the intricacies of a bottling line.

You have to make sure the bottles are clean and sanitary. Then you must carefully watch the bottles fill with the finished wine and ensure the proper amount goes into each. (We don’t want to short you a couple ounces of high-quality wine). Lastly, you must cork the wine and make sure the proper level of compressed air fills the remaining space in the bottle. This is hugely important in helping increase the age-ability of each wine.

This year was a family affair, with Kimberly and Kristian, and even our grandchildren helping. In fact, we had about a dozen customers visit and observe the project, and eventually, we put them to work, too!

Now these wines need time to rest and age properly. We look forward to releasing these wines to you later on in the year.

A Family Affair
As you know, over the past several vintages, our son Kristian and daughter Kimberly have taken a keen interest
in the business and winemaking. They have helped with harvest, bottling, and even marketing and sales of Sympa and Scandale. As a result of this family passion, they both started their own labels from fruit grown on our Estate Vineyard.

What started as a hobby for Kristian has turned into a devoted passion for everything wine related. He now has an absolute love of the lifestyle here in Napa Valley’s wine country, and a strong interest for the business side of winemaking. To say that Kristian has graduated to full-fledged oenophile would be an understatement. All of these passions brought him to the realization that he wanted to trade in his technology career (and blackberry) for a life among the vines and barrels (with a wine thief in hand) here at St. Helena Winery. During his tech career, Kristian, a material engineer, managed the engineering and production side of the business for several respected Silicon Valley companies. With this background, we’re confidant he’ll contribute tremendously to the production side of our winery.

With Kristian now working at the winery full time, Peter will now spend more time in the vineyards and cellar ensuring that each new vintage brings a quality and enjoyable wine experience for you. It will also allow Peter and Paulette to enjoy their other passions: traveling and grandchildren.

We are proud to welcome our son to the business and are looking forward to the next generation of winemakers in the family.

From Forgotten Barrel to Bouchée
Earlier this spring, Peter found a lost barrel of Petite Verdot sitting in the far corner of the cellar. Quite surprised, we weren’t sure at first what to do with this discovery.

Should we pour it down the drain? Absolutely not - the fruit is too unique to waste.

Should we age it longer and release a port-style wine? Not with Petite Verdot.

Instead, we decided to bottle the fruit and release it for your tasting pleasure under the name Bouchée.

Typically, this Bordeaux grape variety is used predominantly for blending in Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines. It’s characteristic tannic structure helps bring muscle to a flabby wine and build structure. There are not many Petit Verdot bottlings available, so this is a perfect opportunity for you to try this unique varietal.

For this special offering, we created a unique Sample 3-Pack that includes a bottle each of 2005 Scandale Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Violation Petite Sirah, and 2005 Bouchée. This special gift pack is now sold out. With only 25 cases produced, we are offering this to the first 300 orders received. Click here to download the Order Form.

We are preparing ourselves for the upcoming harvest and look forward to sharing all of our wines with you, especially those just bottled and Bouchée.

Cheers,

Peter and Paulette Story

peter@sthelenawinery.com
www.sthelenawinery.com
1-877-245-6006 (toll free)

P.S. Click here to read our past newsletters. You can also find out more details on our wines here.