Done!

Prime Cellars has officially been launched! We had a nice little celebration and now are officially in the wine business. Picture link to come. Thank you to everyone for all your support, we couldn't have done it without you!

Reminder: Release Today!

Our Release party is today (June 29th), so come on out to Sonoma and try some of our wine. We are tasting the 2005 Prime Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon District 4. Here are the details:

LAUNCH of PRIME CELLARS!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
A wine tasting reception from 3pm - 6pm

at Ramekins
450 West Spain Street - Sonoma, California

Mommy, where do corks come from?

I had the pleasure to travel to Portugal last week to visit the cork forests and manufacturing operations. What a fantastic trip, the weather was perfect and I learned a ton about cork production. It is amazing the work that goes into making that little stopper.

In the evenings I sampled the typical foods and drink of the region. Most menus had at least two versions of the famous salted Cod known as bacalhau . All preparations, in my opinion, are disgusting. Otherwise the food was fresh, tasty and usually spicy. The drink of the region is the Super Bock, a beer that seems to be the mandatory beverage of anyone older than 12. A great country indeed.

Tulocay vs. Coombsville

The purpose of an AVA (American Viticulture Area) is to help inform the consumer where the grapes came from that are in a bottle of wine.

The Coombsville area in East Napa is where I source most of my fruit (excellent volcanic soils for Cab)and therefore I support the area becoming an offical Coombsville AVA. The fact that a couple of people almost got the area designated as Tulocay AVA is amazing. This area has always been known as Coombsville. If you ask a local where they live they might say, Browns Valley, Alta Heights or Coombsville but I'm positive nobody would answer "Tulocay". The comments of Aaron Pott who supports the Tulocay name are amusing (and disturbing) see them here. (keep reading till you get to the Redneck part)

FAQ

1. I see "District 4" on the label. What does that mean?
Good Question! The state of California has 17 separate districts set up to track average grape prices. Grape growers use these averages to set their prices every year. District 4 is Napa Valley where 2007's average price for Cabernet Sauvignon was $ 4143.14 per ton. Compare Napa Valley to District 13's (Fresno) average of $260.81 and you can see that quality doesn't come cheap. Cabernet in Napa costs 16 times more than Fresno. (Ouch)

The Store is Up and Running but...

Well shop away! That is of course if you live in California. We are looking into registering in other states but it takes a little while. If you are interested in us registering in your state let us know!

You can be Trade and Media in one easy step!

Usually the trade and media section of the website is off limits to the regular consumer. All of us sneaky sales guys don't want you to know what's in the wine :). But since we are really only selling this directly to you, you can now qualify as a trade. If you want to go one step further, you can also become a member of the media by telling your friends about our wine, writing about us on your blog, and tattooing 3-5-7 on your forehead. Once you have completed those tasks and the swelling has subsided, feel free to click away on that special part of the site. Lisa put together some nice pictures and a fact sheet for everyone to print out and frame on their walls right next to their participation certificate for the 7th grade geography bee.

Finding Good Help

As a small operation we have really had to be creative in finding help where we can get it. This was taken back in November 2006 when we needed a barrel sample. This courier service does excellent work 50% of the time, as long as there isn't anything larger than a bottle cap in their path to trip them up.