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HOLLIS CABERNET
A serious Napa Cab for a not-so-serious price
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Greetings!
I heard on the radio today this Winter Olympic spot...
Homer Simpson: "Curling is the perfect sport for us, Marge. It has bowling for me and sweeping for you!"
Thank you, Back Room Wines Survey-takers. The survey from the January 20 email garnered 350 responses. From these 350, I drew four names to receive a $25 Back Room Wines Gift Certificate. Congratulations to Tony of Georgia, Thomas of New Jersey, Richard of Florida and Share of Southern California. You're today's big winners!
What did I learn? Keeping in mind that a majority of the respondents did come from my email list, I see that:
- A majority of my customers will spend $15-30 for an "every day wine" and a little over $100 for a "special wine."
- More of you discovered Back Room Wines by a recommendation from someone than any other way (like an internet search or walk into the store).
- Just 20% use Facebook, and half of those 20% less than once a week.
Less than 10% use Twitter. - 23% use Yelp, and 33% use winesearcher.com.
- As for other websites used, there are many. K&L Wines, Wine Spectator and Benchmark Wines were mentioned the most.
- As for the way you choose the wine you buy, your wine merchant's recommendation was #1. Excellent, I have you trained! Almost as important is that the style of wine appeals to your palate. That's good news, because I'm always professing it's not just what's good, it's what's good for you.
This less-than-scientific survey helps a lot. Gets me more acquainted with you, my best customers, and my strengths. Not much in the weakness department mentioned. Now, either I have no weaknesses, or you were being kind. Which one do you think it is?
Fantastic tastings this week.
A Super-Special flight of Northern Rhone Valley wines from  the tiny, artisanal producer Patrick & Christophe Bonnefond this Thursday night. 3 great Côte-Rôties and one Condrieu. A worthy way to spend $30 of your hard-earned money. More details.
FRIDAY night we pour you a flight of Petite Sirahs.
Five of them, lined up for you like good little soldiers for optimal comparison. Switchback Ridge, Robert Foley and Scholium Project included. See you here, and best to bring your toothbrush. More details.
A great tasting next Thursday. A mini "Blow Out," if you will...
Next Thursday, February 26, from 5:30 to 8 P.M.
We welcome three Diamond Mountain wineries to Back Room Wines:
Dyer, Mueller Family and Diamond Terrace.
All are tiny, family-owned wineries, and each family lives on their vineyard-I suspect they'll carpool down to Napa. They'll be here to pour you their wines, tell their stories and have us all understand Diamond Mountain wines a little bit better than we already do!
At $10 a tasting, this is a deal to end all deals. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL: buy two bottles of Diamond Mountain Cab tonight and your tasting is FREE. Here's more information.
Wuh Wuh Wuh WIPE OUT! Dan
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Money Wine
for February 17, 2010
Money Wine: a wine that anyone who loves good, rich, utterly delicious wine will enjoy A LOT, and is an EXCEPTIONAL VALUE.
HOLLIS Cabernet SauvignonNapa Valley 2007 $36
I admit that I'm pretty much a dealer of immediate satisfaction. "Luscious, rich, unctuous, ready to drink and love love love" riddle my tasting notes. No doubt about it: immediate wine satisfaction sells.
What say you to a Napa Cabernet of fine pedigree and lines (sorry, I re-watched "Best In Show" last night) that tastes good now, but asks for a little patience to get really good. And what do you say if this Cabernet falls squarely into value category, considering the fruit and winemaking involved? If you're saying "I'm interested, Dan," then check out the Hollis Cabernet Sauvignon.
HOLLIS is the 2nd label for Napa  Cab producer STEWART CELLARS. The great Paul
Hobbs oversees the winemaking (which pretty much means he makes the wine). It's 2/3 "Stagecoach Vineyard," on the top of
Atlas Peak, where Cabernets normally start at $50/bottle and go up from there. I don't have the oak information on the Hollis, but it tastes at least 50% new French, heavy toast. 1000 cases made.
I struggled about making Hollis a "Money Wine" because it doesn' t give the immediate satisfaction that makes for easy writing. This wine takes a little more patience. And a little more writing. Here I go.
Monday, 3 P.M., just opened, it has a nice sweet nose, but in the mouth it's got structure, fine tannins, and a short finish. Pop, pour, swirl and sip is not doing the wine, nor you, any favors right now. If you do open now, best to decant for at least an hour, giving the decanter a good shake every 10 minutes. That's what I did, and now, Monday at 4:30, it's opened up, but at the speed of the hour hand on a clock. Here's what I taste now: espresso, dark chocolate, black currants, Maraschino cherry, pencil lead. The nose is great, and in the mouth it's now almost-very-good. At 5:15, with ample coaxing, it's opening up more. I like drinking this wine because it makes me think every sip: how it's changing, how much cellar time will it need, what do I compare it to, what foods will make it blossom. May not be setting up the shop for massive sales by stating "it will make you think," but we can't have immediate satisfaction wines every time, can we? As for best drinking time: 2 hours of decanting, or better yet wait until 2014 and enjoy through 2020. You don't hear that too often about a $36 bottle of Cab.
Today you do.
HOLLIS Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2007
$36/bottle
Case price: $389 (10% discount)
3 ways to order:
Buy Hollis Cabernet Sauvignon online here.
Just reply to this email with your order.
Or call us, toll-free, at 877-322-2576.
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Honey, what am I drinking?
| Last month Holly (my wife) and I started writing a bi-weekly column for Napa Valley's newspaper, The Napa Valley Register. It's called "Honey, what am I drinking," a wine-meets-lifestyle column in which I choose or bring home the wine and Holly asks...you got it.
Column #2 was in last Friday's Register. It's about our toasting each other every night, at least twice. Had a Valentine's Day twist to it. Here it is.
Holly and I are going to send our column in email newsletter form, a la this one. Would you like to receive it? If so, just reply to this email with a great big "YES!"
And while you're at it, if you'd like to order some wine from me...
Drink more Chianti Rufina.
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: daniel@backroomwines.com
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PETITE SIRAH
TASTING
This Friday,
February 19,
come anytime from 5 to 8 P.M.
A flight of five Petite Sirahs for you to enjoy, including Robert Foley, Switchback Ridge & Scholium Project.
$15/Tasting
Here's the
Petite Sirah line-up
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A Great Northern Rhone Tasting
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