November, 2006

On Aug. 25th we had our bottling for our '04 and our wine maker Craig MacLean said, "I dare go out on a limb. This could be the best wine I ever made". His words, not mine.

We started bottling at 7am and worked most of the day. I stood around pretending to know what I'm doing, tasting a little every 20 cases or so. I had a golf game scheduled for that afternoon and cancelled it twice only to reschedule it, showing my nervousness. John Sebastiani, my golf partner, confirmed I was hooked on the wine bus.

The wine was babied which means very carefully gravity fed out of the tanks with lots of TLC not to disrupt the sleeping magic. Once we had the wine bottled it was gently transferred to a hand labeling facility where each bottle was labeled by hand. The difference between that and a mechanical assembly line is your wine isn't manhandled and slapped around. We try to do everything just a little more perfect if we can. You have to love and care for your wine like no one elses does.

A word on ratings :
Nov. 16th the Wine Spectator came out with their Napa 50 best Cabs issue along with the top 20 rising stars. In order to be included you must have been available for at least 10 of the last 14 years. We haven't been around that long but they did give us a score which you can see on The Wine Spectator online.

Before I go any further let me also say that their ratings destroyed the 1998 Napa cabs much like they did '03. Napa was once again shocked for the '03 ratings and reviews. You say, "Why?" I asked everybody I could corner and the word was "Laube, the wine rater" decides a particular year is bad and that ends the discussion.

I'll give you some examples of the ratings some wines received, all for '03: Araujo Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley a 91, it sells for $215. Colgin IX Estate Napa Valley a 90. Harlan Estate Napa Valley a 90 price not available. Duckhorn, Heitz, Mondavi Sbragia 88's. Screaming Eagle Cabernet Oakville Napa Valley, which sells for $500.00, got an 88. It goes downhill from there: Duckhorn 87, Heitz 87, Pine Ridge 86, Silver Oak 86, all the way down to 82.

So without trying to crow about our own stuff I have to say I feel very good having either escaped the wrath of ratings -- or we just make damn good wine to be in such incredible company. Bialla Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon '03 received an 88, source: The Wine Spectator online.

The other major award in the Spectator went to Chuck Wagner, who won first prize for making the best Cabernet consistently for the last 14 years. I humbly mention that because we have his former Vineyard manager who spent 16 years there and after striking out on his own is doing his magic at Bialla Vineyards and believe me it really shows.

OK enough humility here.

We will release our '04 towards the end of November because it never went in to serious bottle shock after treating it so gently. This will allow you to have some for the holidays.

What to expect? I have gotten the same reaction from everyone I shared the '04 with, "Oh my god, outstanding, lovely lovely wine, so well balanced, superb structure, velvet-like, this is great wine, so elegant, long lasting, complex, " and so on. I also might add that our female samplers have an especially positive reaction. I think it is the velvet-like slightly more subtle nature of this wine which makes it so elegant.

Be sure to read the Nov. 30 issue of The Wine Spectator. Rumor has it there is a little story in there about caves that might be of interest :-)

Thanks for listening and sharing our passion. Stay tuned for an announcement of our release.

--Vito and Linda Bialla
Bialla Vineyards