Happy New Year (and vintage)!

Greetings and good cheer to you all. Hopefully you’re all recovered from your New Year’s Eve celebration and ready to move forward into the exciting and odd-sounding year of 2011. We have some very exciting – and delicious – news for you…

But first!

Bob will kill me and then fire me after he finds out that I put this on the blog, but I just have to. The photo you see here is of Bob ever so carefully opening a bottle of our sparkling Symphony, making sure not to spill a drop in the process. There’s a number of things here to smile about (use your imagination), but the greatest thing about this photo is how it captures the spirit of a New Year’s celebration. KA-BOOM! Happy New Year!!!

Okay, back to the news. As I’ve said once before, our Cliff Club will continue to improve this year, giving members even more benefits and value. So what’s new?

1. Members will now receive not one, but two complimentary bottles of our beloved Goat Head Red in their wine packages. The price of your package remains the same as it was last year, but you get more wine. Life is good…

2. Wine club referral program: have a friend, family member, ex-girlfriend (hell, I don’t care) sign up for the club thanks to your recommendation, and we’ll reward you with 4 free bottles of Goat Head Red. You scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours.

3. New wines! Members can look forward to a new vintage (2009) of our Estate Barbera, Cabernet, Merlot, Nebbiolo and Syrah. The 2010 vintage of our Estate Symphony will also be coming your way this Spring. And some new kids on the block, like our 2009 Estate Cabernet-Merlot blend and 2009 “Blood Red” Barbera, will be unveiled.

4. Goat Head Red finds a vintage… This wine has always, always been a “NV” (non-vintage) wine, utilizing fruit from more than one vintage date. This year, for the very first time, the GHR will be one vintage- 2009. It’s a darker, softer version this time around, utilizing a combination of syrah, merlot, malbec, and barbera.

And much, much more. Members can look forward to continued theme tastings at the winery, including library/vertical tastings of our Estate Barbera and Cabernet Sauvignon. Monthly parties, live music, vineyard tours, and on-line deals will continue and improve this year as well.

BOTTLING PARTY THIS WEEKEND!

This coming Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, 1/15-1/17, we’ll be bottling our 2009 vintage wines. Come by and lend a hand! See how the process works, be some of the first to get your hands on these wines, and brag to your friends that “I helped bottle that wine”. In honor of this occasion, we’ll be pouring some older vintages of Barbera and Cabernet just to keep you warm.

With good cheer and big fun for the New Year,

Jared