N'est pas une barrique

April 30, 2009

What a week... first I attended a big launch event to promote The Winemakers reality show (and the 10,000 cases of winner's wine we are making). Then on Monday we launched Crushpad Bordeaux. We got a few new 90+ scores for wines this week, including Tyler Florence's 2006 Zin which just got 92 from the Wine Spectator. But mostly we're just doing early season vineyard work (check out videos on Crushnet), bottling some 2007 reds and 2008 whites, washing our hands and covering our sneezes. Here's what's up...

Crushpad Bordeaux Launches OK, it's official: on Monday we opened Crushpad Bordeaux in St. Emilion. After a number of starts and stops, earlier this year we entered into a partnership with Jonathan Maltus - one of the original garagistes and a phenomenal winemaker (look over there >>>). Crushpad Bordeaux is housed within his Chateau Teyssier and he is overseeing the winemaking on behalf of our clients. On the viticultural front, we are working with Stephane Derenoncourt and Eric Boissenot, and we have secured fruit from some fantastic vineyards across multiple AOCs. Check out our Bordeaux site or talk to Dave Gifford (dave@crushpadwine.com) in the US or Stephen Bolger (stephen@crushpadwine.com) everywhere else.

Get Into the Business with the Crushpad Internship Program Over the past few years we've had hundreds of people talk to us about pursuing their passion and changing careers. We've long thought about an internship program, but never felt we had enough time to make sure that the participants could get as much as they gave. So finally we've put together an internship program - both three and six month versions - that covers all areas of running a winery from production to sales, marketing, finance and technology. It's unpaid, except that six month interns will spend 25% of their time creating their own wine business with all wine and other resources provided by us. If you are interested, then check out the internship program.

2009 Wine Plan Seminars Are Beginning Want to know how to make your Cab more extracted? How about getting more minerality from your Pinot Noir? Then you want to attend one of the wine plan seminars. In addition to one-on-one wine planning with your winemaker, you can attend these client-only events that drill into the finer points of making your own wine. The first event is for Cabernet Sauvignon on May 11th, with other varietals to follow. Check out the seminar dates.

Crushpad 2009 Harvest Barrels & 2008 Adoptions Available Just a reminder that 2009 barrel sales are underway and we still have some awesome 2008 adoption barrels if you want to accelerate things by a year. We still have pretty much every varietal available, although a handful of vineyards are sold out. It's too early to predict what 2009 will look like, but we are off to a good start with Mother Nature holding back on water like 2007 and 2008 - two great years. You can check out the list here or contact Dave Gifford (dave@crushpadwine.com or 415-864-4232 x222).

Thank You and Contratulations to Jonathan Maltus

Want a hint as to what Crushpad Bordeaux is all about? Then you should check out some of the wines of Jonathan Maltus.

Jonathan's 2008 wines were just reviewed by Robert Parker with more insane 95-97 point scores. Buy some 2008 futures if you can (he doesn't make that much). In the meantime, check out the Teyssier website and then track down a bottle of his good stuff on Snooth!

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