Karl Lawrence Cellars Latest News

2009-07-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

Happy July 4th

We celebrated at Pete McClory's and Holly Mason's house with most of the Soroptimist in St. Helena. Holly took this shot just before the St. Helena Fire Department showed up.

2009-07-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

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Michael will pour Karl Lawrence wines this Friday night, July 3, from 5:30 to 9 PM at Acme Fine Wines during St. Helena's Cheers celebration. We started Cheers this year which happens on the first Friday of the month. Its like the whole town turns out for a cocktail party. Almost every store has a winery pouring wine and some small bites of food available. So if you're in the area, be sure and attend. Acme is on Fulton, just before the railroad tracks.
On July 27, I'll be at the Discover Gold In A Glass conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento. I'll be appearing on a panel in the Capitol Ballroom A at 3:15 PM as part of David Glancy's presentation: "Do Points Matter?" You can register for this conference at: www.societyofwineeducators.org.
For anyone in the Kansas City area, save the date for a Karl Lawrence party at the Boulevard Brewery on September 17. We'll be dancing to the newest blues discovery, Trampled Under Foot. More on this later.
And finally, check out this link about Sophia's day with Michael at Sequoia Grove.
http://thylandviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/fathers-day-look-at-sequoia-grove.html.
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2009-06-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

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Sorry. Its been a while since I've been able to provide any latest information. Many thanks to those of you who placed orders this year. I know that times are tough and that many have had to pull back on their discretionary spending. So we really appreciate those of you who have chosen to remain with us this year. We still have '06 wine available for you or any of your friends. So please keep us in mind.

I recently toasted the success of the American Heart Association's Cotes du Couer in Dallas with their board member, Ted Domitrovich...

...while...

...Michael & Elizabeth celebrated John Corino's 50th birthday bash in Barbados. John's been with us since the first vintage. Now you tell me...who's working harder?

2009-04-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

When in France...

Michael and Sequoia Grove's Associate winemaker, Molly Hill, just returned from a two week tour of France's wine regions.

Sharing glasses of each other's wines are Molly, Eric Tourbier (Winemaker for Baron Philippe Rothschild), Jean Emmanuel (Winemaker for Rothschild's Clerc Milon and Opus), Michael, and Lars (Molly's husband).

Also in France was Loic Dupont, the Winemaker for Tattinger. Michael worked with him twenty years ago when the Domaine Carneros project was just starting.

Mark your calendars for May 30. Karl Lawrence Cellars is helping the St. Helena Skatepark's fund raising event. We'll be pouring wine at the tables and there will be a live auction lot called, "The Partners of Karl Lawrence Cellars and their MAGnanimous off the Beaten Path Friends." The lot should have 20 to 30 mags in it. Jeff Smith, of Hourglass, will have his band, Wristrocket there. So it should prove to be a great party. Just let me know if you need more information on how to attend.
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2009-03-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

THE TAX MAN COMETH

On April 1, the California sales tax goes up 1% for all orders shipped to and taken delivery in California. So its wise to have your order in before the deadline. Please have your orders into our office by the end of the closing day on Wednesday, March 25. Jefferson will then process all the California orders with the current sales tax rate. Any order received after that will be taxed at the new rate.
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2009-03-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

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The Offering Letters, to those of you living in the cooler areas, are going out this week. For the most part, this is good shipping weather. So order early to avoid having to go by air.
The economy is effecting the Napa Valley. Some restaurants closed during the month of January. One restaurant closed all together. A number of tasting rooms have closed during the mid week times. Many larger wineries with a number of tasting rooms, have closed some of them. Maybe during this time, some wineries will bring their pricing down to Karl Lawrence levels. We have always been a good deal. These times make Karl Lawrence an even greater deal.

Maryanne Layne (of Layne Vineyards), Stacey Bressler (of Bressler), & Elizabeth Naylor (of Karl Lawrence, of course) celebrate Stacey's and Les Behrens (of Behrens-Hitchcock) birthdays along with 200+ guests at St. Helena's Native Sons Hall. Jeff Smith's band (of Hourglass), Wristrocket, provided the dance music. The co-age of the co-birthday people will remain a St. Helena secret.

Mile 18 of 26.2.
My brother, Bryan runs the Napa Valley Marathon again, along side my son-in-law, Chris Pratt (of Staglin) during a rain day where the yellow mustard carpeting the vineyard rows gave us a glorius Vincent Van Gogh day. At the finish, it was age before beauty as Chris finished a few minutes ahead.

2009-02-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

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Michael will be in New York city for the Michael Skurnik tasting during the March 9 week. He's been known to also poke his head into a few nice restaurants and wine shops. So keep on the lookout for him.

This past Sunday the Amgen Tour of California passed thru the Napa Valley. Our party of 30 watched from Matt and Kari Anderson's driveway on Howell Mountain Rd. It rained about three inches that day. Lance Armstrong is the second rider. He said that it was his most miserable day riding ever.

2009-02-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

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It's Friday the 13th. What were you doing at one this morning. The Karl Lawrence family got a new addition. I got left home as Cheryl went to the hospital to help with the delivery of Mike & Wendy Henry's baby Oliver. Cheryl took the pictures.

Bryan delivered Oliver with Mike's help.

Mike gives Wendy her due after she did all the work. It doesn't matter now that he was way past due.

And for hopefully the last time; Iowa is a cooler area. So anyone living in a place around, or similar to Iowa; you will receive your Offering Letter the first week of March.
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2009-02-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

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While in Ft. Lauderdale we went out to dinner at Casa D'Angelo with Mike and Alison DeYoung. The chef-owner, Angelo Elia, came out and toured us thru his showroom cellar. We had a fabulous dinner. So stop by when you're in the area.

Alison & Mike Deyoung & Cheryl

For those of you who love to dance and have great wine, check out the Soroptimist party this coming August 1. Besides Karl Lawrence, wine will be supplied by Clif Family, Flora Springs, J3, and Regusci. Food will be provided by Go Fish, Azteca, The Soroptimists, and Crane Carter. The band will be the Four Shotz. They're the same band that played at our 35th wedding anniversary party last December. They play danceable rock n' roll. My dentist is the bass player. It's $100/ person and will be here in the field between my office and the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard. You can email me for tickets. Check out the poster below.

2009-02-07T16:00:00.001-08:00

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While I was away at the Blues Cruise, the cats that stayed here, that is to say, Jefferson, Mike H., and his younger brothers, Ben, and Mathew, got the Offering Letter out to those of you in the warmer areas. So now I've come home to a lot of questions as to what constitutes a warmer area. Well, the easy answers are: Pittsburg is not a warmer area. Neither is Cleveland. VA is a place that is on the cusp. Last year it was considered a warmer area. This year, Jefferson made an executive decision and moved it into the cooler areas. So VA and the rest of you all that haven't received the Offering Letter yet; you'll get it the first week of March.

Our good friends, Barry and Holly Walter, from the South Bay, purchased this year's Karl Lawrence 3 L, with the etched & painted Blues Cruise logo on it, at the Blues Foundation Charity Auction. As you can see, many blues artists signed the bottle.

And of course, no Blues Cruise can go by without a shot of St. Helena's own favorite son, Kester Smith. He was up for two Grammy's the other day. One for Taj Mahal's Maestro disc and the second for Pinetop Perkins' Pinetop Perkins & Friends.

2009-01-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

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Our Offering Letter will be coming out shortly. Here's Michael's notes for this years releases.
2006 Vintage and Growing Season
The 2006 growing season proved to be an interesting journey, providing us with lots of unpredictability and surprises. In the end, it produced great wines for Karl Lawrence. The Napa Valley started the season under water with our New Years Eve flood. The cool drizzly weather hung around through the spring with the sun coming out in June, causing the vines to finally bloom. The vines were hit with a record ten day heat wave in the middle of July. Most of the wines faired well with the heat boosting them to the normal season schedule. A cooler August gave the grapes a perfect, slow repening and extended hang time period. The fruit weathered the rains of early October with no damage. Our patience and the good weather that followed gave us that last bit of ripening to perfection. All in all we were given a great vintage.
Winemaker Notes from MIchael Truillo: 2005 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2006 vintage wines are very rich and bright with expressive dark fruit characters. This year is not a power vintage with lots of bold tannin, but one built on finesse, richness, and complexity. Michael blended in the barrels set aside for the Reserve programs, judging that this vintage was one not to be cherry picked as it shows better as a whole.
Michael states that our Cabernet Sauvignon is very fruit expressive in the aromas and taste, with big forward black cherry, currants, with hints of bittersweet chocolate and mocha. It's rich, smooth flavors follow hand in hand to the aromas. Plush with bright dark cherry and currant, coco, sweet vanilla, toasty oak are all laced together with perfect tannin and perfect acidity. This 2006 will be a crowd pleaser young and will only improve with time.
73 % Gary Morisoli Cabernet Sauvignon
11% Herb Lamb Cabernet Sauvignon
10% Beckstoffer-To Kolan Cabernet Suavignon
6% Beckstoffer-Dr. Crane Cabernet Suavignon
2006 Aldin Red
The 2006 Aldin Red is made from the same Cabernet grapes from all the vineyards that make the Karl Lawrence cabernet but it is complimented and blended with Merlot and Cab Franc. This is a smooth silky red wine with a bit more spice and herbal notes coming in from the Merlot and Cab Franc. The Aldin Red is a Meritage style wine and put together to be more approachable with a smooth soft texture complimented with a forward abundant rich flavor. Michael suggests that you don't rush into consuming the Aldin Red too quickly as it has been showing wonderfully with a bit of bottle time.
70% Cabernet Suavignon (Morisoli, Lamb, Beckstoffer To Kolan & Dr. Crane, & Healy)
18% Merlot (Boeschen Vineyards)
12% Cab Franc (Beckstoffer-To Kolan)
2007 Chardonnay
The 2007 Aldin Chardonnay shows great elegance and finesse. This was a very good year for Chardonnay. The long and cool growing season lends itself to the subtleness of this wine. This wine has nice delicate Chardonnay aromas of pears, red apples and honey with hints of pineapple and roasted nuts. The initial flavors are crisp with fruity pear and apple, shifting towards ripe peach and pineapple. The nice balance of acidity hold these rich flavors together for a full, rich finish. Michael recommends that you drink and enjoy this Chardonnay with food and that it is good to consume now and possibly throught 2011.
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On another note: we finally got some rain after a month of record setting highs and blue skies. I say, let it rain as I'm off to the Blues Cruise.
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2009-01-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

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It's that time again, during the dead of winter (it's been 80 degrees here everyday for the past week) that we do our data base clean up. It may take us a bit longer to clean it up this winter as there's golfing to do. Just as a reminder, for data base clean up we:
1. activate the people from last year's wait list,
2. archive people who haven't purchased during the last three years,
3. upgrade people who have purchased from us for three years in a row to Select Customer status,
4. downgrade Select Customers who did not purchase wine last year.
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As we did the last couple of years, the 2006 Release Offering Letter will go out to people in the warmer areas on February 1, and to people in the cooler areas on March 1.
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Jefferson in Robert Gallery's jersey at the Raider game.

Last year the Raiders had us serve Karl Lawrence wine to the luxury suites. I failed to get a picture then. So this year, they had Cante Swerigen, from Viader serve wine. Cante's a good friend and first baseman on our ball team. So Jefferson and Alisa got a second game in the luxory suites serving wine. Both times, Cheryl refused to go up there as she wanted to stay down where the action was, even in the rain.
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Shad Harris plays keyboard with former frontman Tommy Castro.

We had the opportunity to experience a rarity at Modesto's State Theater; our good friend Shad Harris was reunited with Tommy Castro for one blistering blues night. Shad used to be Tommy's drummer. However, he had a stroke and can't fully use his left side. So he took up the one handed keyboard and gave us another bring down the house version of Big Legged Woman. These are tough economic times and tough times for all businesses. When I went up to say hi to Shad, before I could say anything, he asked, "Hey Ric, how's your writing going?" I was too choked up to reply. Inspiration from Shad will get me through this year.
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At Raider game for start of 35th wedding anniversary celebrations.

And speaking of inspiration, Cheryl and I could think of a no better way to start our 35th wedding anniversary celebration than another rarity: a Raider victory. We got married in 1973, which was called the worst recession since the depression. Now at our 35th, we're once again at the worst recession since the depression. Love conquers all.
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Sophia in the snow of Howell Mountain.

Elizabeth took this picture during our one week of winter that we had in December. Hopefully we don't have bud break this week or next. And hopefully winter returns as we are already on water restrictions here.
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2008-12-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

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Winter's finally arrived here in Napa Valley. It snowed the kind of snow that makes for great snow balls up in the higher elevations. We're having record lows as it was 28 degree yesterday as we tried to play tennis on frozen clay.

Tres Amigos
Aris Francisco

Aris sent in this picture for his holiday greetings to us. I told him that I didn't know he was a triplet. He asked, "What are you talking about?" So I thought I should leave it at that. It reminds me of the refrain that Johnny Nitro, of the Johnny Nitro Blues Band, says every night in one of the blues bars in the city: "Drink triple till you're seeing double and feeling single." Aris has been with us since the mid 90s. He's always amusing.
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2008-11-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

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For those of you visiting the Valley within the next month, you might want to stop by Mondavi and check out Bill Tucker's "NAPA: Behind The Bottle," photography exhibit. While strolling thru the exhibit, you'll notice a life size portrait of Michael. The shot is copy righted, so I can't replicate it here. If you can't see the exhibit, you can get Tucker's book at his web site.
Also at the exhibit are photos of other luminaries associated with Karl Lawrence. This includes, Gary Morisoli, Herb Lamb, Andy Beckstoffer, Gordon and Margorie Burns (ETS Lab), Jess and Chris Madrigal, and a comical shot of Jim and Steve Allen. Obviously, the rest of us working for Karl Lawrence didn't make it past the edit room. We've suggested to Mr. Tucker that his next photo book be titled: "Behind The Office Door."
It's in deed historic when the three of us partners are under the same roof at one time. Such a time happened last week when we opened our doors to our new neighborhood here at Vineland Station for a meet the new kids on the block type happy hour. So here's two shots from that night.

Taken By Elizabeth

Taken By Sophia

You decide who's going to replace Mr. Tucker.
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2008-11-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

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Cheryl & I go off for one week on the Mexican Blues Cruise and the whole economy collapses. We also had to miss the stop at La Paz and sail straight into the path of Hurricane Norbert. This allowed us to get around the southern tip of Baja and head north before the full force of the hurricane arrived. As the ship rocked and rolled, we all headed to dinner with a bottle of wine in each hand and commented with gallows humor that at least we had enough wine to get us through the night. We also believed that no hurricane named Norbert was going to take us down.
October 31 has come and gone. So if you haven't faxed in your order, please do so now. We're working through the stack of orders and won't know what exactly we do have or don't have until early next week. Shipping was held up a while as it was 90 degrees every day here and hotter elsewhere. We've since had three days of our first and much needed rain.

Victor Fu Picks Up His Karl Lawrence

2008-10-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

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Going out in the mail today is an Offering Letter for the release of our 2005 vintage Single Vineyard Designate Barrel-Select Cabernet Sauvignon from our Beckstoffer To Kalon and Beckstoffer Dr. Crane vineyards. These wines will be offered to all who purchased the 2005 Karl Lawrence main blend. They will not be made available to restaurants or wine retailers.

The 2005 Single Vineyard Designate Barrel-Select Beckstoffer To Kalon and Beckstoffer Dr. Crane in front of our rows (34-42) at the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane vineyard in St. Helena.

TN: The Beckstoffer To Kalon is a clone #6 Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is an expression of its terrior as well as its clonel selection. Aromas of dense black fruit and spice lead way to big flavors of dark chocolate, dark fruits and spice. They all come together in a full bodied, firmly structured Cabernet. This wine is big and bold and has the structure to match.
The Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard contains the clone #337 Cabernet Sauvignon, which produces a wine that undoubtedly stands on its own. This wine is expressive with silky forward aromas of currant, black cherry and mocha. The generous rich flavors come together in harmony, showing off its complexity and balance. This Cabernet shows amazing richness, and intensity. The harvest gave us slightly more of this wine.

Kirsten & Tom Minasian

Kirsten and Tom have visited with us for three years in a row and have always managed to come on the day of bottling. This is strange as we're not exactly sure when we're going to bottle. So for next year, I've asked them to tell us when we're going to bottle.
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2008-09-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

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The CRUSH is here. All it takes is a few hot days and all of a sudden, everybody is back to work.
The Karl Lawrence Cycle team recently completed the Tour of Napa Valley. It took us six and half hours of ride time. We averaged 15.1 miles per hour. In this picture we're at the Pope Street rest stop in St. Helena. This is at mile 85. I was pretty much dog meat the rest of the way in. As my team waited for me near the finish line, I yelled out to them, "If there's no "I" in team, then how come "I" am all by myself?"

Team Karl Lawrence
Left to right:
My college roommate and personal lawyer, Dave Jamieson; my chiropractor, Daniel Hamlin; my son-in-law, Chris Pratt; my number two granddaughter, Indiana Pratt; me (propped up for support); and my brother and college roommate, Bryan.

2008-08-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

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One of my closer friends, Hughes Ryan, died recently. He was a winemaker for Beringer's Founder's Estate wines. His wife Ann, has worked with Cheryl off and on. They live a few doors down from us and their son is one of Nicholas' best friends. He leaves a big hole in our hearts.

Me with Hughes and Rodney Friedrich during our April trip to Sayulita, Mexico. We're having a few brews, in route from the airport, as we sit on our luggage in the back of the pickup. Our wives are in the cab.

Life does go on. Sophia holds the first 2006 Karl Lawrence to come off the line. She'd also like to say that her Mommie's wine got some good press and to go to her web site to see it.

2008-07-31T10:28:00.001-07:00

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I heard that the Wine Spectator did an article on Two Wives. This is the wine that Michael and Chris (the husband) Madrigal make for Elizabeth and Chris (the wife) Madrigal. So if someone who gets the Spectator could please forward me the site, then I'll post it here.
The St. Helena Star did do an article about Michael and Sequoia Grove in today's paper. So you might want to check that out at www.sthelenastar.com.
The fires are over and the 2006 barrels are in. Michael should bottle by the end of August.
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2008-06-29T14:17:00.001-07:00

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Just a quick note to let those of you in SoCal know that Michael will be doing a winemaker's tasting at Red Carpet in Glendale on July 11 from 4:30 to 8:30. He'll pour our 2004 and 2005 cabs along with our Vineyard Designated Reserves for Morisoli and Dr. Crane. He'll also pour some Sequoia Grove cabs. You can check out Red Carpet's web site for more info.
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2008-06-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

With all the fires around here, it's like trying to grow grapes in Los Angeles. We have ash on everything, cars and grapes.

Michael & Elizabeth with Jay Leno.

As Elizabeth and Jay are from Mass, they've known each other for quite a long time. Elizabeth introduced Jay to Michael at the recent Napa Valley Wine Auction.

2008-05-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

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The legendary Robert Mondavi died yesterday morning. He was the pioneer who made this Valley what it is. Last night I sat in Mark & Pam Smithers backyard with the other board members of the St. Helena Skatepark. We exchanged Robert Mondavi stories. I shared with the group the stories that I shared with you all a number of years ago. You can page back to June 9, 2004 to see them. The last time I saw Robert was around two years ago when he, Margrit and their puppy came and sat at the table next to me at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. It was sad to see him using a cane and in such bad shape. The surprising thing was that he had walked all the way there from his car a block away. One of the things he was known for was saying that he had a bottle of wine a day. I guess that's what kept him young. We hoisted one for him last night and we'll do the same tonight.
Michael, Jefferson, and I, are all out this week (Canada, Hawaii, Tahoe). Our shop is winding down as the weather is getting really hot. A couple of weeks ago it was 22 degrees in the vineyards on Howell Mountain. I've heard that some vineyards lost fifty to ninety percent of their crop. Then, at the end of that week, I returned to find San Francisco hotter than Puerto Vallarta. So it seems that we went from Jack Frost straight to hot, hot, hot.
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2008-04-17T09:33:00.001-07:00

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Just a quick reminder that orders are due. We still have wine and are being blessed with mild weather.
Cheryl and I will be in Sayulita, Mexico all next week. We'll be with three other couples in a house that we purchased at our congressman's fund raiser. Jefferson will remain in the office to process your orders.
We have so many charity wine auctions in this town, that if any of you attended any, you could pick up a lot of wine for a deal. We had our Just Imagine charity auction last Saturday for our school district at the Trinchero Family Estates, followed by an after party at Martini. Many people said it was the best after party ever. So you all might want to put this on your schedule for next year. And as I said, we have so much wine donated that I came up with something different to donate: a bar crawl with me thru every bar in town. David Abreu purchased my lot. So now we have to see if the Portuguese can out drink the Irish.

Diane Stieber, Michael, & Jane Fairorth
at the MacArthur tasting in Washingto DC.
Sarah Powers took the picture.

2008-04-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Miami Food and Wine Festival

Mitch & Jane Johnson & Bill & Beverly Parker
They purchased the Karl Lawrence lot last year and returned to tell of the good times.

Linda Neal displays her own Tiera Roja
while Ariel Solorzano ensures a product placement for Karl Lawrence.
Actually he was filling in for me as I had sore feet.

Wesley Moura, the Executive Chef from the Prime Blue Grille, served food next to us
and then insisted that we come to his place for dinner. The offer was accepted.

Linda with Mike & Nelly Farra & Bob Hudson.
Bob's been with us for years. Mike & Nellie sponsored a dinner in which I was a guest.

Linda with Doug Gallagher, of Sonador, and Ned & Patti Valois.
Of course no trip to Miami happens without a visit with Ned and golf with Doug.

And as always, the Chair of the event, Bob Dickinson with Linda.

The Winners of the combined Tiera Roja/Karl Lawrence lot,
Kenneth & Sandra Olden.

2008-04-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

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We're at that time of year where the weather doesn't know what to do. Our clear and 75 degree day turns into a clear and cold night. The frost fans started at 2 AM and sounded like the invading air force at Pearl Harbor. Such is life in Paradise. It's still good shipping weather though.
I'll be spending the remainder of the week at the Miami Wine and Food Festival. Linda Neal of Tierra Roja will be going with me. We've contributed a combined auction lot to benefit the Camillus House and the United Way of Miami-Dade.
Powell Yang brought some local friends by Henry Brothers Ranch for a picnic the other day.

Assistant winemaker from Seven Stones Winery, Roy Piper,
And from Shifflett Estate, Jim Keller, & Molly & Will Sequi,
And of course, Powell Yang.

The Shifflett family has been in the Valley since the 1890s.
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