2008 Amuse Bouche Napa Valley Merlot

2008 Amuse Bouche Napa Valley
Merlot label artwork by Steve Kaufman.

This will happen only once! Her name blesses the back label of some of Napa Valley's finest wines. Now Heidi is making her debut on the face label. With this tantalizing opener, we are pleased to offer you the release of our 2008 Amuse Bouche - embellished with a Warhol-esque representation of our esteemed winemaker.

Once again, we have produced a Pomerol-style wine, blending 94% Merlot with 6% Cabernet Franc from our estate vineyards. The '08 was harvested by blocks on Sept 18 and October 1. This was a very good vintage in Napa Valley, but with much lower yields; our production was just under 500 cases. Heidi describes this wine as remarkably aromatic, with strong flavors of jammy black cherries and cocoa bean and underlying hints of crushed minerals and vanilla. Simply delicious! The Amuse Bouche 2008 is resting in a combination of Taransaud, Gamba and Radoux cooperage, awaiting its April 2010 bottling date. We will release the wine to you in the fall of 2010, weather permitting.

The Amuse Bouche 2008 original art was created by legendary artist, Steve Kaufman. Known as the "Warhol kid" for the past two decades, Kaufman was Warhol's assistant from 1978-1981 and is commonly referred to as the "Prince of Pop Art." His artwork hangs in the White House, the Smithsonian and more than 600 galleries across the United States, Japan and Europe. The New York Times recently lauded Kaufman, stating that "his bio rivals that of Picasso at the same age." www.SteveKaufmanart.com.

As always, when you purchase your allocation of Amuse Bouche 2008, you will receive a limited edition lithograph featuring the label artwork-a nice distraction until you actually receive your wine! The lithographs are individually signed and numbered by the artist, and are hand-pulled on Rives paper on 19th century presses in Paris, France.

We expect the Amuse Bouche 2008 to sell out very quickly and, given our limited production, we encourage you to secure your allocation with great haste. Please place your order to us no later than December 15. Allocations will be based on product availability, mailing list seniority and past purchase history. Any unclaimed allocations will be offered to our patient waiting list wine lovers-and then they will be gone for good!

The cost of the 2008 Amuse Bouche is $1,350 per six bottle case ($225 per bottle plus applicable sales tax). Please download our order form to purchase.

The large format Amuse Bouche 2008 bottles will be offered to you in Spring 2010.

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2002 Vintage