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FRAZIER FLYER
Wine Club Member Newsletter, XIX
December, 2008
In This Issue
Post Harvest 2008
Valentine's Day Cave Dinner
Personal Note!

 

 
2005 Memento
 
 
 

 

 

Upcoming Events

February 14, 2009

Cave & Barrel Picture

We hope that by now you have cracked open a bottle or two of Memento or Frazier Cabernet to get you through the early winter nights. It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of December as it seems like 2008 harvest just finished. This year was a fantastic harvest for the Frazier Estate. While grape yields were down throughout the Valley the fruit which came in was simply spectacular and concentrated. We averaged 1.5 tons per acre from this harvest with fruit looking and tasting great, enabling winemaker Kirk Venge to start off with the best possible footing. When Kirk first mapped out the Frazier vineyard he was very excited for all of the prospects post harvest. Kirk and Cellar Master Eric Cupp made the decision to ferment more small lots than ever before from the Frazier Estate, thus taking full advantage of the winery's resources of 16 stainless steel fermentation tanks in addition to the utilization of micro lot- bin and barrel fermentation winemaking techniques, some of which have never been utilized on fruit from the Estate. Additionally Kirk felt that introducing new types of yeast to the grapes was essential in creating wines which show the truest character and terroir of the Coombsville fruit. 

We are happy to report that all wine from the 2008 vintage is in barrel in more lots than ever before. The enhanced lot selection has shown to be  a great benefit in our first blending session of the 2008 wines with Kirk. Come bottling time the enhanced barrel selection will no doubt allow for an enhanced assemblage of Frazier and Memento wines. 

Valentine's Day Cave Dinner

It is chilly in Napa. Okay we know that cold weather is a relative concept and when you live in California it is hard for anyone out of your general vicinity to take cries of 30 degree weather seriously. In the vineyard the vines are dormant, any remaining leaves are yellow and falling off daily. It is in these quiet days late in the year that we concentrate our efforts on the year ahead and begin to plan fun activities. Our first event of the year is a Valentine's Day Celebratory wine dinner in the Frazier Estate Cave which will be held on February 14, 2009 from 6:00pm - 10:00pm. This event, titled "Dine with the Frazier's" is the second dinner of this type we have hosted, the last being in 2007.

We are very excited to hold another dinner in the cave as the first proved to be a great evening of food, conversation, and above all else wine. We have decided to enhance the intimacy of this event and limit seating to 24 individuals; as such we strongly encourage you to RSVP as soon as possible. The dinner will feature current released wines in addition to a few surprises from the cellar and a sneak preview of our 2006 vintage. The menu for this Valentine's Day celebration will consist of four courses and will commence with Seared Day Boat Scallops with Foie Gras and Chestnut Puree. Next an out of this world (speaking from personal experience) Pancetta wrapped Quail Pop will be featured. The main course consists of a Noisette of Beef Tenderloin, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Caramelized Onions, with a Wild Mushroom, Bay Leaf &  Black Peppercorn Sauce. To finish out the meal Executive Chef Roger Babel will execute a flawless Duo of Chocolate & Point Reyes Blue Cheese Tarts with Huckleberries macerated in Cabernet Sauvignon Syrup.

The cost to attend this event is $130 per person for active wine club members and $150 for all others. Suggested attire is dressy. To RSVP you will need to contact Julia Jinks at Julia@frazierwinery.com or (707) 255- 3444 ext 102.

Personal Note!

I have some very happy news to report on the Frazier personnel front. We, Kim Frazier and Adam Caterino were married on November 8th in Napa! We had planned on going away to Thailand for a two week honeymoon. One of the best perks in the wine industry is that post harvest there is not much activity in Napa. Not to mention we work for an understanding boss. We ended up enjoying our time in Thailand for almost an entire month. The first two weeks were especially great; it was the second two in Bangkok that were a little more than we anticipated. We had just returned to Bangkok after spending time in Southern Thailand on the islands of Koh Phi Phi and Phuket, where despite being winter time the temperature in both the air and water was in excess of 85 degrees. The plan was to spend our two final nights in Bangkok and return to California in time to celebrate Thanksgiving. A few days before Thanksgiving on the morning of our flight we awoke to discover that supporters of  the political party who support the King  and who also supported the overthrow of the then Prime Minister had begun a protest and sit in at the only international airport in the country. Besides being the airport we planned to use to get home, Suvarnabhumi Airport serves as the hub of air travel in South East Asia. We heard through one airline source that the closure of the airport and inaccessibility of airlines to access aircraft resulted in international travel seeing a 14% delay on all flights for a period of 5 days. This non-violent protest went on for 10 days until the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled that the then democratically elected Prime Minister (who the demonstrators opposed) had committed voter fraud during the election and should therefore be removed from office. We recently returned to the U.S. after 40 hours of travel and we couldn't be happier. 
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