February 2010

Greetings from the Napa Valley,

The 2007 Baconbrook is in the bottle and barrels of ‘08s and ‘09s are resting in the cellar. A soft rain is falling on the dormant vines and we awake from our long winter’s nap to release our sixth vintage from the 7 acre vineyard that started it all…

2007 Match Vineyards Butterdragon Hill Cabernet Sauvignon

It was almost ten years ago we started looking for our own place in the Valley. Our goal was sort of fuzzy then: a house with a pool; a house with a pool and views; a house with a pool and views of a vineyards; a house with a pool and views of its own vineyard. At first, our dreams didn’t include a winery, but as is often the case, when one pursues a dream, the dream becomes clearer. We found Butterdragon Hill and a few years later Baconbrook – two vineyards and two distinct wines.

In 2007, a dry, mild winter brought bud-break by mid-March and our vineyards ran 10-14 days ahead of normal for the entire season. However, a mild September allowed Jim Barbour and his crew to wait until October 1 st to harvest. We, along with winemaker Cary Gott, immediately knew the vintage was going to be something special. Throughout fermentation and barrel aging, the wine showed a classy elegance of floral and fruit. We were not alone in our high expectations of the vintage. The buzz started early among vintners and consumers alike and has not let up as Robert M. Parker pronounced this “the greatest vintage for Bordeaux varietals in Napa since 2001 and 2002.” Here’s what he had to say about our wine:

The 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Butterdragon Hill possesses attractive, fleshy black currant, crushed rock, cedar, spice box, and tobacco leaf characteristics. This broad, savory, pure, moderately tannic 2007's overall impression is one of elegance, with a Bordeaux-like framework to the tannic structure. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring and drink it over the following two decades. Rating 90-92, Wine Advocate #186, December 2009

We couldn’t have described it better ourselves.

Across the country, the mid Atlantic is getting snow of epic proportions, Toyota owners are wondering if their car needs fixing and, although the band has not quite struck up Happy Days are Here Again just yet, the economy does appear to have turned the corner. All in all, in our opinion, the 2007 vintage offers a great opportunity to buy and drink Napa Valley Cabernet. We look forward to sharing our wines with you.

All the best from our family to yours,

Sasha Match and Randy Sloan

Ordering
Please read and fill out the enclosed order form completely and fax to (707) 968-9040 or mail to 3060 White Sulphur Springs Road, St. Helena, CA 94574. Your order constitutes acknowledgement of all information contained in this letter. Incomplete or incorrect orders may delay or prevent the receipt of your wine.

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Guarantee
We spare no expense in bringing you our wines. We use the best winemaking practices and bottle with the finest bottles, corks, and packaging available. However, if you are ever not satisfied with a bottle of wine purchased from us, let us know. We’ll replace it with either the same vintage or, if that vintage is unavailable, our current vintage.

Repeat Customer Discount Program
We appreciate loyalty from our repeat customers and want to give them the best selection at the best price. At the same time, we want to give new mailing list members the chance to try our wines. We think we’ve come up with a fair solution. We send our mailers out in waves, starting off with customers who purchased from us during the previous year. They will have the first opportunity to purchase the new release. They may also take advantage of a special discount based on their past purchases: 10% plus 1% more for every hundred dollars they spent with us during the previous year (up to a maximum of 20%). Customers who purchased from a release but then chose to skip a year will still receive a 10% discount to welcome them back. Skipping two years will return a customer to retail pricing and a regular spot on the mailing list. Allocations are not guaranteed to we do encourage folks to act quickly to get the widest selection of vintages and formats.

Referral Program
We want to thank those of you who help spread the word about our wines. If you are a customer and recommend our wines to a new customer (or even a mailing list member who has never purchased), you will receive a very special gift if they buy. All the new customer needs to do is put your name in the comments section of their order form.

Storage and Personal Pickup
We are unable to offer personal pickup or storage of your wine except in cases of weather holds. If you wish to store your wine longer or are unable to provide a shipping address in a state to which we can legally ship, we recommend you set up an account with 55° (www.FiftyFiveDegrees.com / 707-963-5513) or All Ways Cool (www.AllWaysCool.com / 707-545-7450). These companies offer wine collectors secure, temperature controlled storage, cellar management, and access to their wine collections close to Northern California’s finest wineries. We offer free delivery of your order to these or other commercial wine storage or 3rd Party shipping locations within California.