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NewsletterSpring 2009

Spring Fest
Saturday, May 9

2006 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Join us, along with Acorn Winery, Christie Vineyard, Foppiano Vineyards, Merriam Vineyards, Mietz Cellars and Rodney Strong Vineyards for our Spring Fest on Saturday, May 9 from 11 am to 4 pm. The wineries will be offering special wine tasting and finger foods. The cost is $10 including a glass.

At Christopher Creek we will be featuring our Petite Sirahs. A vertical of several vintages, as well as barrel samples of the 2008 Reserve Estate Petite Sirah will be available for tasting.

No Reservations are required for this event. Just come to Christopher Creek to start you wine adventure. Cellar Club Members can pick up their Spring Shipment at the event. We hope to see you there.

Futures Available for
2008 Wines

If you have never participated in our Futures program, now is the time. Guarantee the availability of your favorite Christopher Creek wine. Purchase Futures of the 2008 Vintage now and receive a 30% discount. Wines available in this Futures program are Estate Syrah, Dry Creek Zinfandel, Russian River Zinfandel, Estate Reserve Syrah, Cabernet and Cabernet Franc. We feel that the 2008 is going to be a great year. Order forms are on line for you convenience or just call us at 707 431-8243 for assistance with your order.

2007 Estate Reserve Petite Sirah Released

Our Estate Grown Petite Sirah grapes received, as always, very special care during the 2007 growing season. We are fortunate to have several blocks of Petite Sirah each with varying ages, elevation and sun exposure. We hand-thinned the crop and did extensive deleafing to expose the fruit, maximizing pigment in the berry’s skin.

All this work paid off and allowed us to get concentrated and healthy fruit. The favorable growing season coupled with the sun-exposed fruit helped develop rich tannins and let the complex flavors of blueberry, blackberry, dark roasted coffee and spice fully develop.

As with past vintages, the wine should age well over the next 8-10 years. So that the tannins will soften and the fruit shine, we recommend holding this wine until late 2010 before drinking. Should you want to drink the wine earlier, we suggest decanting 1/2 hour before serving.

Petite can be enjoyed with many foods and can make a meal more memorable. Our suggestions for pairing are ahi tuna, game birds (especially duck, goose, and quail), turkey, venison, lamb, pork and beef. If you are preparing gravy, try adding a tablespoon of wine to each cup of gravy to integrate the food with the wine (be sure to heat the gravy to cook off the alcohol).

Our past vintages of Petite Sirah has won many awards, example of such awards for the 2006 Vintage are: Best of Class at the Pacific Rim International Wine Competition, Double Gold at the Tasters Guild International, Best of Class Sonoma Appellation at the California State Fair.

  • Harvested September 2007
  • 3.6 tons/acre
  • Aged in French and American oak barrel
  • pH 3.61 at bottling
  • Released spring 2009
  • 600 Cases produced

Bottle Price $32.00

2007 Russian River Estate Syrah Released

At Christopher Creek we take special care in the management of our vineyard, and as always we hand-pick, hand-sort and hand–macerate our fruit to produce a distinct wine from “our” edge of the Russian River Valley vineyard. The 2007 Estate Bottled Syrah is no exception.

Produced in the Classical French Style from multiple clonal syrah grapes, grown at the winery site, our 2007 Estate Bottled Syrah displays black plum and red cherry with tastes of sweet chocolate, brown spice, minerals and slight subtle smoky notes. On the palate, the texture is smooth and ample with a very long complex finish created by the rich, yet soft tannins.

We would recommend bottle aging this wine for at least a year before drinking to let the tannins soften and the fruit fully develop. Properly cellared, we would expect the wine to age well for 5-7 years. Try our Syrah with Barbecued, marinated tri-tip roast, game birds, lamb, beef stew or spicy foods (Mexican, spicy Asian). Syrah is also a great food companion to chocolate.

  • Harvested September 2007
  • 3.6 tons/acre
  • Aged 13 months in French oak barrels
  • pH 3.68 at bottling
  • Released spring 2009
  • 490 cases produced

$27.00 per bottle

 

Upcoming Events

Summer Fest—
Saturday, August 1
11am to 4 pm

It’s vacation time and what better place to visit but the wine country and Christopher Creek on a warm, sunny Saturday, August 1st. Come try our BBQ Ranch Food and sample the 2008 Barrels of Reserve Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. We will also be releasing our 2007 Estate Reserve Syrah. Mark it on your calendar, details in the Summer Newsletter.

Fall Fest—
Saturday, October 24
11 am to 4 pm

Harvest is over, a chill in the air, the leaves have turned, it is time to visit Christopher Creek to select your holiday dinner wines and gifts. We will again have our dueling Zins (Russian River verses Dry Creek) as well as our hearty “Fall Fare.” There might also be a trick or treat or a goblin or two seen at the winery. Fall is one of the nicest times in the wine country, so we hope you will join us for a fun event.

Wine Style Profile

To help better describe our wines, we are developing a” Profile” for each wine. The profiles for our new releases, the 2007 Syrah and 2007 Petite Sirah, are listed below. We include these descriptions on all our tasting notes. We hope you fine this helpful. Any other characteristic you would like to see describing the wine, please let us know.

Syrah 2007

No residual sugar—Dry
Medium bodied
Fruity
Softer tannins
Will age 5-7 years

Petite Sirah 2007

No residual sugar—Dry
Full bodied
Very fruity
Heavier tannins
Will age 8-10 years

Past Newsletters

Winter 2009 2006 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 Sapphire Hill Vineyard Chardonnay, 2008 Vintage Notes

Fall 2008 2006 Russian River Zinfandel, 2005 Deux Barriques

Summer 2008 Russian river Estate Bottled 2006 Reserve Syrah; 2004 Russian River Petite Sirah; Awards.

Winter 2008 New Releases: 2005 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2006 Sapphire Hill Chardonnay; 2007 winemaker notes.

Spring 2008 New Releases: 2006 Estate Reserve Petite Sirah, 2006 Russian river Estate Syrah.

Winter 2008 New Releases: 2005 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2006 Sapphire Hill Chardonnay; 2007 winemaker notes.

Fall 2007 New Release: 2005 Russian River Zinfandel, Holiday Gifts.

Summer 2007 New Releases: 2005 Russian River Estate Bottled Reserve Syrah, 2006 "Catie's Corner" Viognier; Awards.

Spring 2007 New Releases: 2005 Estate Petite Sirah, 2005 Dry Creek Zinfandel, 2005 Russian River Estate Syrah; Wine Profile feature announced.

Winter 2007 2004 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2005 Dry Creek Zinfandel, 2006 Vintage Notes

Fall 2006 2004 Russian River Zinfandel, Deux Barriques, Christopher Creek Fan Mail

Summer 2006 2004 Estate Bottled Russian River Reserve Syrah, 2005 Catie's Corner Russian River Viognier, Christopher Creek in the News, Awards

Spring 2006 2004 Estate Reserve Petite Sirah, 2004 Russian River Estate Syrah, Awards, 2005 Futures

Winter 2006 2003 Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, 2004 Russian River Chardonnay, 2005 Vintage Notes, Christopher Creek in The Wall Street Journal, Replanting

Fall 2005 Christopher Creek in The Wall Street Journal, 2003 Russian River Zinfandel, 2001 Deux Barriques

Summer 2005 Estate Bottled Russian River 2003 Reserve Syrah, Catie's Corner Russian River 2004 Viognier, Awards

Spring 2005 2003 Petite Sirah, 2003 Russian River Estate Bottled Syrah, Awards

Winter 2005 2002 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2003 Russian River Chardonnay

Fall 2004 2002 Russian River Zinfandel

Summer 2004 Estate Bottled Russian River 2002 Reserve Syrah, Catie's Corner Russian River 2003 Viognier, Simple Steps to Decanting

Spring 2004 30th Anniversary of Christopher Creek Winery, 2002 Estate Bottled Syrah, 2002 Petite Sirah

Winter 2003 2001 Dry Creek Cabernet, 2002 Russian River Chardonnay