Niner News
May 2009
Spring 2009 Newsletter
Welcome to the eighth issue of Niner News!
Construction continues on the winery building and the hospitality building. The winery has walls, roof, a cement mezzanine and we are getting ready to start on the catwalk. We are lining up winery equipment to be delivered and installed in May and June. Construction is on schedule at this time and we plan to open the doors of the winery building in August 2009.
Heart Hill and Bootjack Ranch Updates
We have done some great winter work at Bootjack Ranch, adjusting cordon length in the oldest vines and improving our block and irrigation design in the acreage planted in 2001. Dormant bench-grafts have been ordered for planting an additional 30 acres at Bootjack and 25 acres at Heart Hill in 2010. The 2008 red wines have all completed malo-lactic fermentation, been racked and put back to barrels for aging.
Summer Shipping Update
Because we want to be sure our wine gets to you in the same condition that it left us and we cannot guarantee its quality if it is exposed to high temperatures, we will not ship wines during the summer months. Please place your orders by June 15, 2009. All orders placed after June 15, 2009 will be held until September.
Overnight shipping can be arranged on a case by case basis. And local customers are always welcome to pick up their wine here at Niner. Please contact Allison at 805.239.2233 or adana@ninerwine.com prior to placing your order. We appreciate your understanding. To place an order, click on the “Shop” tab on our website: www.ninerwine.com.
New Additions
2008 Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
The much-anticipated 2008 Extra-Virgin Olive Oil is finally here! Eight years after Pam and Dick Niner first purchased the Bootjack Ranch Vineyard and planted thirty Olive trees of mostly Italian and Spanish specimens, we are proud to offer our second batch of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil! This Olive Oil is best if enjoyed within 24 months of harvest, which was December 3, 2008.
Price: $20
CLUB 9: $16
CLUB 9 Onyx: $15
To order, click here or call Allison at 805.239.2233.
2006 Reds Now Available
Several wines from our 2006 vintage (including our fabulous 2006 Petite Sirah) are now available for sale online: www.ninerwine.com. Check them out today!
Upcoming Events
2009 Paso Robles Wine Festival
Golf Scramble - May 15, 2009 - 7AM-2PM
Reserve Event - May 15, 2009 - 4PM-6PM
Grand Tasting - May 16, 2009 - 1PM-5PM
The Niner team will be participating in this year‘s Grand Tasting on Saturday, May 16th in the downtown city park. Please stop by our booth to sample our latest releases, talk wine with Winemaker Amanda Cramer and check out what Niner has been up to lately.
Our team will also be offering a special 20% Wine Festival Promotion the day of the event (Saturday, May 16th) on all Niner wine purchases (made in person at the event or online: www.ninerwine.com). If placing your order online, please include “Wine Festival Promotion” in the comments section of the online order form.
For more information on the event or to purchase tickets, please visit www.pasowinefest.com. Hope to see you at wine fest!
Winemaker Night at Vinoteca Wine Bar
Vinoteca Wine Bar
835 12th Street
Paso Robles, CA. 93446
805.227.7154
Wednesday, June 17th
5:30PM
Join Amanda Cramer at Vinoteca Wine Bar in downtown Paso Robles for an evening of fine wine tasting! Amanda will be sharing several wines from our latest vintage, discussing her winemaking philosophy and our exciting winery construction on Hwy 46 West. For more information on the tasting, please www.vinotecawinebar.com or call 805.227.7154.
Flight Night at Bernick’s Steakhouse
Bernick’s Steakhouse
835 13th Street
Paso Robles, CA. 93446
805.226.9400
Tuesday, July 14th
6PM
Join the Niner team and Winemaker Amanda Cramer at Bernick’s Steakhouse in downtown Paso Robles! Amanda will be pouring a selection of our award-winning estate-grown wines at this exciting new restaurant known for their selection of world class wines and prime steaks. The Niner team is especially excited for their Prime Beef Sliders appetizer – delicious! For more information on the evening, please visit www.bernicks.net or call 805.223.9400. We hope to see you there!
Club 9 Updates
2009 has been the year for change, especially for Niner Wine Estates. We have decided to simplify our wine club program and are doing so by eliminating one tier and creating more consistent discounts. If you are currently a member of CLUB 9 (at any level) you will receive an email notifying you of the change and what to expect. Below is an outline of our new program:
We invite you to join our team as a member CLUB 9. We created these exclusive clubs not only to share our new wines, but to get to know our customers better. Whatever your choice of our two unique club options, you will receive invitations to member-only events, CLUB 9 discounts, a subscription to our quarterly newsletter Niner News, and access to our pre-releases and library wines. Membership is free, and entitles you to receive three shipments per year of hand-selected varietals.
CLUB 9 -
- Three shipments per year of three to four bottles per shipment.
- Discount of 20% on club shipments and additional Niner wine purchases.
- Food pairings and special promotions included with each shipment.
- Invitations to CLUB 9 member-only events, including grand opening celebrations.
CLUB 9 Onyx –
- Three shipments per year of six bottles per shipment.
- Discount of 25% on club shipments and additional Niner wine purchases.
- Food pairings and special promotions included with each shipment.
- Invitations to CLUB 9 member-only events, including grand opening celebrations.
- Each shipment includes a bottle of the award-winning Fog Catcher – a red blend of traditional Bordeaux varietals.
Wine club shipments are sent in February, May and November each year. The May shipment was shipped on May 5, 2009 and included one bottle each of our 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, 2006 Merlot, 2006 Petite Sirah and 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon.
To learn more or to join Club 9, please visit www.ninerwine.com or call 805.239.2233.
Bon Vivant’s Notes from the Road…
Hi to all! My name is Ken Bryant, I am in sales at Niner Wine Estates and I have been with the Niner team for just over a year now. My job is to go around the United States to introduce and sell our wines to this great country of ours. Nice job, huh? I am a native of New Orleans and grew up in the restaurant and wine business. My friends tease me about my work and call me the Bon Vivant; so from now on I will be reporting a regular dispatch to you titled – ‘Bon Vivant’s notes from the road’.
When I joined Niner Wine Estates last March, I found myself excited about the prospect of introducing these wines to new markets. I just now find myself coming up for air to report to you some of the fantastic places we now find ourselves in the new markets that we are opening. The response to our wines has been fantastic! People realize that we are offering delicious, estate-grown wines at reasonable prices and are excited to find that they can enjoy a great bottle of wine with their meal and have money left over for coffee and dessert!
I would have to say that one of the greatest aspects of my job as sales manager is to seek out great restaurants and present our wines to them. One of my favorite food cities at this time happens to be Portland, Oregon. I think that the proliferation of intimate, chef and market driven restaurants makes it one of the special food places in our country and a destination for those who live to eat! We have some great accounts that support us in Portland and I would like to mention a few. Three Degrees Restaurant, which is managed by our friend and Niner fan Stephanie Hubbell, is a magnificent restaurant overlooking the river near downtown Portland. We had a fabulous Sunday brunch there some months ago with some local winemakers and had a great time. Stop at Hollywood Wine & Espresso to find our wines and have some great coffee. T
hirst Wine Bar & Bistro is on the River Place Esplanade, just around the corner from Three Degrees and a great place to stop in and have a flight of wine and bite to eat. Blue Hour is one of the most visually stunning and happening restaurants in Portland at this time, and my friends at Acadia New Orleans Bistro served up some crawfish etouffee and fried catfish that made yours truly very homesick. Also, make it a point to check out restaurant Alu and Chef Paul Wagner for an ever changing menu and some incredible charcuterie as well.
Atlanta has proven to be a hotbed of fans for our wines and with so many great restaurants to choose from it is no wonder we are doing so well in Georgia. I must recommend to you a great place that is run by a good friend of mine from New Orleans, Chef Linton Hopkins. Holeman and Finch is the name of his restaurant, and along with Restaurant Eugene, they have to be two of the finest restaurants to enjoy a meal in throughout the south. Chef Linton is committed to finding the freshest, most local and authentic indigenous foods he can find and preparing them in a way that pays homage to the wisdom of tradition and simplicity. Muss & Turners continues to be a favorite stop and great supporter of ours in Atlanta -- I love the deli there. Di Paolo Cucina
, in Alpharetta, offers some of the best Italian food that can be found in the south and has been a great supporter of ours since we first came to Atlanta. We recently had a great meal at Atlantic Seafood, where Pam Niner enjoyed the selection of sushi and hand rolls that the chefs prepared for her along with our Sauvignon Blanc!
Our winemaker, Amanda Cramer, and I, recently did a tour of Texas with our distributor Avante Beverages, and made some great friends with our wines there. We hosted several people for a luncheon at our top account, The Grove, in Austin, where we paired some fantastic wood fired pizzas with our Sangiovese and Barbera. We also were honored by Chef Dirk Miller who prepared a dinner for our wines at Wink in Austin, which is a favorite of mine. Please say hello to our #1 fan, sommelier Darcy Jane, when you go to Wink! Cru Wine Bar is a fun place to check out while in Austin before heading out for the last set at the Continental Club. Houston showed us a good time -- Bill Floyd of the Reef and Little Big’s
, was a super host and prepared a fantastic meal for us while we were there. We are really looking forward to the opening of Crush Wine Lounge in the Woodlands area of Houston as Vance Maldonado is a big fan of our wines as well.
I hope this gives you an idea of some of the places you can find our wines now as you find yourself travelling around our country. I have made a promise to take better notes as I travel around and seek out interesting restaurants, wine bars and fine wine shops in which to showcase our wines. Hopefully I can report in more detail the dishes our wines are paired with and how the chefs prepare them. Let me know if you have a favorite restaurant or wine shop that does not carry Niner wines and we will certainly call them up and show them our wines. Next time I will focus on some restaurants and shops in the Paso Robles area so you can have a list of places to eat when you come out to visit us for the opening of the winery later this year.
Regards,
Ken Bryant
The Bon Vivant