Yes.  In addition to many retail establishments in the Bay Area (Arlequin Wine Merchant, The Jug Shop, The Wine House, K&L Wine Merchants, Half Moon Bay Wine and Cheese Shop, The Wine Stop, Robert’s Market of Woodside), our current Pinot Noirs (2005 Chula Vina and 2005 Tondre Grapefield) are now available in a number of fine San Francisco restaurants, including:

 Ame Restaurant, Mission Street

Jack Falstaff, 2nd Street at Brannan

Umami, Union & Webster

Frascati, Hyde

Que Syrah, West Portal Ave (Sunset District)

 More to come….....

 Spring Has Sprung

Our cellar dogs got to escape the cellar and go on a little hike the other day in the hills above Carmel Valley, and here is what they saw.  The wildflowers are beautiful this time of year and it was a great day to get out!

Other News

This past Wednesday, Laurie Daniel wrote a nice article about Monterey Chardonnay and she reviewed our 2005 Chardonnay among many other tasty offerings from this area.  Click here to read further.

Our tasting room is moving right along and is scheduled to open in the first part of June.  I will keep you updated on the progress.

Our spring wine club shipment just went out and included 2006 Sauvignon Blanc and 2005 Chula Vina Pinot Noir.  It is not too late to sign up if you would like to receive these wines as a wine club member with a discount.  Call the winery at 831-384-7806 and talk with Laura about the details.

I finally got the opportunity to meet Rusty Gaffney, MD, aka “The Prince of Pinot” and creator of the Pinot Noir newsletter “Pinotphile” when I participated in the World of Pinot Noir event last week.  I have enjoyed reading his newsletter for quite some time.  It is well-written and entertaining and I find it particularly informative about what other winemakers are doing (I don’t get out much these days, so really don’t have much opportunity to find out for myself).  If you haven’t discovered this newsletter yet and love Pinot as much as I do, I would highly recommend it.  And, it just so happens that he wrote up a generous review of the wine we poured at the event—our 2005 Chula Vina Pinot Noir—click here to read what he says.

Now—Cima Collina available in many locations in Bay Area

Doug and I did a sales trip up to San Francisco yesterday and met with a few folks up there. We are now available at a number of online and brick-and-mortar sites in the area:

The Wine House, at 129 Carolina Street in SF, and also an online store.

The Jug Shop, Chuck Hayward has chosen to carry both our 2005 Chula Vina and Tondre Grapefield Pinot Noirs. 

Arlequin Wine Merchant, at 384 Hayes Street in Hayes Valley.  Ask Chris about our wine!

K&L Wine Merchants, in, I believe, all of their locations throughout California.

An Aside…..

We went to lunch at A16 in SF yesterday (wonderful lunch, by the way), and enjoyed the fact that they have, first of all, a tremendous by-the-glass list, and second of all, the current California by-the-glass wines are all made by female winemakers.  We happened to choose what turned out to be two astonishing white wines:  Viognier from Cold Heaven and a Malvasia from Palmina — both wineries I had never heard of before yesterday.  Both were the most well-crafted examples I’ve ever tasted from California….It is these kinds of inspriational and surprising experiences with wine that keep us all going and one of the main reasons I love this industry. Ooh La La!

 

 

 Check out this review of our 2004 Cedar Lane Merlot

 And this recent entry at Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wine about our 2004 Chula Vina Chardonnay

Also, the Great Wine Escape is happening here in Monterey next weekend.  We will particpate in a number of events.  If you are looking to do something fun that weekend consider doing this.  Fall is the best time to visit this area, in my humble opinion.