[rcvd 20-Oct-2000] Wineglass Cellars 509-829-3011 email: wgvellrs@attglobal.net fax 509-829-6666 Fall 2000 Volume 10 We are in the process of crushing another great vintage.... three in a row! We are having a nice long fall with beautiful days of sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60's. If you haven't seen it yet, the tasting room remodel has transformed our tiny space into a nice big comfortable room with 25 feet of bar space. We also have a shelf to display unique wine glasses and offered prizes. We held our drawing 15-Oct and the winners of gift certificates for wine are: 1st Siri Strom - $150, 2nd Leanne Voltz - $100, 3rd Richard Pease - $50. Thank you for the glasses! NEW RELEASE: 1998 Merlot, DuBrul Vineyard, Yakima Valley When Linda and I put together the blends for our wines, occasionaly a wine comes to the fore as being unique, classically varietal and definitive vintage. The 1998 Du Brul Merlot is such a wine. It starts on the nose with blackberry jam and a hint of oak. This wine is quite dark and 'thick' in the mouth. The blackberry fruit continues on the palate and gives way to cassis and cream and then a huge fruit basket of flavors opens up high in the middle palate. The creamy finish of this wine shows off the 12 months in new French oak barrels. This merlot is more akin to a Cabernet Sauvignon and with it's tannin structure will probably age much longer than a normal Merlot. PRE-RELEASE: 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon, Elerding Vineyard, Yakima Valley This wine is the anchor at Wineglass Cellars. It has always been a classic Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon and the 1998 vintage is no exception. Linda and I left a bottle open for 24 hours to try to get through the tannins and taste the underlying fruit from this vintage. The 1998 Elerding is dark, rich, opulent, silky and full of berries, cherries, licorice, nice acid balance and nice tannin structure that will help this bottle age nicely. As in previous years it's a bit young to give a totally accurate description. Suffice it to say the 1998 Elerding Cabernet Sauvignon is wonderful. Our Christmas gift to you, our best supporters [tell 'em you read about it on Mike'Ls WA Winery Guide], is the opportunity to purchase this wine (before public release 04/2000!) For 30 days (03-Nov - 03-Dec-2000) you can buy our Elerding Cabernet at a 25% case discount which means $360 + tax for a total of $387.36. This special price is prepaid for case sales only, no other discounts apply. ALMOST TO YOUR DOOR.... our wine 'just in time for the holidays' run will be 2-Dec & 3-Dec. We will once again be at our friend Kristen's Queen Anne condo. Give us a call, email, or fax to place you order. You can pay by phone with a credit card or pay by check or cash when you pick up your wine. Hours for pick-up: Sat 10:30am-4:00pm or Sun 11:00am-1:00pm. If you need to pick up at a different time please call and we will do our best to accomodate you. THANKSGIVING IN THE WINE COUNTRY If you come to this event (24-Nov -26) we will be serving another great offering from the kitchens of the Birchfield Manor. WINEMAKER NOTES: The 2000 crush is almost finished. We have about 15 to 20 tons of grapes left to crush within the next one to two weeks, then two weeks after that we'll press and it's champagne time!!! It's been a long arduous season that threatened to come all at once. I was punching caps on 30 plus bins of fermenting red grapes at once while seven tons of Chadonnay juice cooked away in the tanks. Luckily a small rain came through and cooled off the vineyards and gave us a break for a few days so we could catch up in the cellar. The last third of crush will go along at a much more pleasant pace I hope. The summer was long and hot but not too hot. Actually it was the perfect weather for grapes. While tasting the grapes before harvest I was struck with how much flavor and varietal characteristic there was in the fruit. I think that the 2000 vintage will be as good as the 1999 and 1998 although somewhat in between as far as the acid/flavor balance is concerned. A lot of winemakers wanted to thin fruit this year thinking that less fruit on a vine makes better grapes. Following my growers recommendations I decided to leave to ripen an almost full crop. We were right and because of this decision there will be more 2000 vintage wines at Wineglass Cellars than there will be 1999 (a cold summer) and 1998 (a hot summer). That's good for you our customers and us. The quality promises to great too. WINES AVAILABLE FOR PRE-HOLIDAY PURCHASE 1998 Chardonnay $11.95 Fran's Wine $6.95 Capizimo $12.95 1998 Merlot, DuBrul Vineyard $25.95 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon, Elerding Vineyard $40.00 1998 Merlot $19.95 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon $22.00 Zinfandel Batch 98 $19.95 Discounts on full or mixed cases are 15% and on two or more cases 20% plus tax. These discounts do not apply to the 1998 Elerding Cabernet Sauvignon. Thank you for a great year! May you enoy a happy and healthy holiday season. Please call if you want to have orders shipped or to arrange a pick-up if you're in the area. David, Linda, Steven & Pat