What's new in 2010?
LOTS! Including a new, weekly feature: Money Wine

January 6, 2010
Greetings!
Thank you for reading these emails, buying tasty Back Room Wines, visiting the shop and being cracker-jack wine lovers in 2009. Was a very good for the shop. "Flat is the new up," I heard over & over last year. Well, then, what's up? Not that there's much time to rest. In football-ese (appropriate for this time of year), there's no time-out, let alone halftime with an old rock band performing (quick: know who's playing Super Bowl halftime this year?). We're ready to rock 2010 with new wines, new events and a better shop. All this, and joining a gym too! Maybe...

Quick recap on December 2009: two social events highlighted the holiday at BRW:
"Bring An Interesting Bottle Night" was full of fun people and good, intriguing bottles of wine.
Our Christmas Eve Social exceeded our wildest expectations. Expecting, oh, maybe 20 visitors, we had about 75. Great fun  for our extended wine-famil,
and ample last-minute holiday shopping made the owner happy. You can be sure both events will be on this December's calendar.

Now, as we all settle in for a winter full of braised foods and hearty wines, we at Back Room are picking new wines to dazzle you. A few have arrived. Remember to keep an eye on our
"What's New?" page for the latest arrivals. On this email, I present you with a new email feature: Back Room's Money Wine. It's a delicious wine that most everyone will like a lot and is a particularly good value to boot. I explain more, and present Money Wine #1 below.

TASTING EVENTS! Our 8th annual New Year's Sparkling Wine Tasting is this Friday night (come anytime between 5 & 8 P.M.). Look at the right hand column, just below, for details please. Frito Lay's stock soared in anticipation of the event as I prepare to buy the potato chips for the tasting.
Thursday (tomorrow) night, we launch our "Bring a Blind Bottle Night." We begin a year long wine tasting competition. Bring a bottle, taste the others, guess the grape, and try to win a $100 Back Room Wine gift certificate. The bottom of this email explains how it works.

I wish you a very happy, healthy 2009: full of great wine, food, friends and laughter.
Dan

Back Room's "Money Wine"
I can hear your question: What's a Money Wine?
Glad you asked.  A Money Wine is,
A) really really good,
B) an exceptional value...could be it's dropped in price or simply priced "aggressively," if you will, on release. Sometimes, I've received a volume discount on it that I'm passing on to you.
C) It's a wine with broad appeal to you, my fine wine-drinking customers. Acquired taste wines are more on an individual sell. The "Money Wine" hits the pleasure buttons for anyone who likes really good, artisan wine.
D) back to the top...IS REALLY REALLY GOOD.
It'll sometimes be front & center in this email (like this week), sometimes one piece of the email puzzle, sometimes an extemporaneous "bonus" email because I just tasted the wine and want to share my enthusiasm. Enjoy, and don't be shy to order. Here's the first "Money Wine" for 2010:

VOCES Petite Sirah, Napa Valley 2006, $28/bottle
This is not a new wine in the shop. We've carried it since June, in fact. A recent re-taste, multiple glowing reviews and reorders by customers, and a nice price for the concentration & qualitymakes this the perfect Money Wine to start the New Year.
Voces is owned & made by Fernando Candelario, the long-time assistant winemaker for T-Vine Cellars. (Now that Greg Brown has passed the T-Vine torch to new owners, Fernando is head winemaker.)

Voces Petite comes from the Voces Petite Sirahnorth end of Napa Valley, where the summer heat is the strongest and the fruit tends to get the ripest. For rich, hearty, slight jammy Petite Sirah, this a good thing! Big fruit and the complexities of fine wine converge. Nose is berry pie, beef stock, soy sauce, black licorice and blackberry liqueur. Taste blackberry jam, cracked black pepper, soy and licorice (again) and just a smidge of vanilla toast. As each month passes, the wine gets a little bit more mellow and a little bit better.

Voces, or "voices" in Spanish, represents the Hispanic voices in our little wine community.
Only 180 cases made.

ORDER VOCES PETITE SIRAH HERE
or you can reply to this email,

or call us to order. Toll-Free: 877-322-2576
Thank you!
Bring a Blind Bottle Night
this Thursday

Bring a blind (i.e. bagged & concealed) bottle, share with others, taste the others, and try to "guess the grape."
This Thursday - tomorrow - night, anytime from 5 to 8 P.M.
See below for more regarding time.


Bring a Blind Bottle will be held the first Thursday of the month all year, and we'll be keeping track of attendees' success in guessing the grape, with BRW Gift Certificates awarded to the two best guessers at the end of the year. Here's how it works:
1) BRING A BLIND BOTTLE.
In a wine bag, so we don't know what it is. One bottle will admit two people. If you live locally, it's OK, helpful even, to bring your bottle earlier in the day (or day's before...we're happy to hold onto it for you) so earlier tasters can try it. If you don't have a bottle, you can buy one from us during the tasting.
2) GUESS THE GRAPE OF ALL THE OTHER WINES.
Guess vintage and country/region too. All wines should be "classic" representations of the grape. Classic blends are OK, like Chateauneuf du Pape, for example.
3) You're answers will be graded by yours truly.
Partial credit will be given for vintage, geographical proximity and quality of answer. Hey, I'm putting up the prizes, so I get to be judge!
4) Your answers will be collected and kept here.
The two highest accuracy percentages (based on the modified Wetlaufer scoring system) after the December tasting will win a $100 (1st place) and $50 (2nd place) Back Room Wines gift certificate.
5) To be eligible for the end of year prize, you have to attend 6 of the 12 blind tastings.

Tasting is from 5 to 8 P.M., but it may behoove you to come around 6 as that's usually when most people, so the most wines, will be here (I'm guessing).

Dan Lee and I are excited about this tasting because, for once,
WE GET TO PLAY TOO!

That's it for now. Check out the Voces Petite, and we'll see you both Thursday & Friday for our very fun, challenging and delicious tasting events!


Drink more Absinthe.

Dan


Daniel Dawson
Back Room Wines
Corner of First & Main Streets (First Street Entrance)
Downtown Napa, California 94559
Phone: (707) 226-1378  Toll Free # is 877-322-2576
email: [email protected]


NEW YEAR'S SPARKLING WINE TASTING
This Friday,
January 8,
come anytime from
5 to 8 P.M.

Our 8th Annual Bubbles Tasting to launch the New Year.

Six Sparkling Wines: Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Cremant de Bourgogne, Roederer Estate "L'Ermitage" and Gruet Blanc de Blancs. A tasty line-up!
PLUS, the best sparkling wine
match there is: POTATO CHIPS!


$15/Tasting


Here's the line-up and tasting sheet.
Yelphttps://twitter.com/backroomwinesFacebook