posted 10-06-2012 06:21 AM            

Glad to see that you are still on the green side. Do I read that you will be going to Napa in a couple weeks? If so, have a good trip.

Four days 19 hours before we take off, but who is counting.

posted 10-04-2012 03:54 PM            

"At the risk of sounding immodest, we wanted to share some great news with you: The 2009 Black Sears Estate Zinfandel was named Wine & Spirits magazine's "Year's Best Zinfandel". It will also be named Best Zinfandel in their annual roundup of their "100 Best Wines of the Year" this November.

We have to admit, there was one other Zinfandel included in their "100 Best Wines": Our friend Robert Craig's single-vineyard designate from, you guessed it: Black Sears Vineyard! A clean sweep...

Over the past 30 years, Black Sears has established itself as the premier Zinfandel vineyard in all of Napa Valley producing the truest, spiciest, most complex Zinfandels your cellar has ever seen.

Add to all that the fact that our own Estate wines are handcrafted by the incomporable Thomas Rivers Brown, the only winemaker EVER to receive scores of 100 points from both Wine Spectator and Robert Parker three years in a row.

Just some food for thought as the clock ticks away on the 2010 Estate Zinfandel release... a wine that Thomas Brown feels "features more true ripening than we have ever achieved on the mountain."

We will be visiting Black Sears again on our trip that leaves in about a week. My congratulations to Chris Jambois and the Whole BS crew. By the way, they make a pretty good Cab and Cab blend, also.