Here's some good news, there is no price increases! I'm not sure I'll be able to say that next year but enjoy it while you can. The 2000 Hirsch sparkling wine will be ready, maybe, before the fall release and might have a separate release form as there is not much of this great wine so indicate on the order form if you're interested, it won't be cheap, five years holding, $3.40 a gallon tax vs. $.17, shipping it all over hell to get it disgorged and labeled, etc. Bribes and deposits considered·
As I said the 2004 look great! Big, yes but flavor in buckets! I can hardly wait for them but luckily we have some pretty good wines to drink in the meantime, the 2003s. All these are young wines with loads of promise.

There are a few things I'd like to remind you of concerning the way and care we,(Drake and I), put into the wines. All of the reds and most of the whites are never fined, filtered or pumped and the smallest amount possible of sulfur is used. No other chemicals, other than natural yeast and, if necessary, natural acids are used. This requires a much larger effort than most other wineries are willing to do. We don't even use electricity unless absolutely required. This is to bring you the purest rendition of the fruit possible. Whitcraft wines are living things and go through different stages of life at different times. Decanting is recommended on wines older than five years.

In order of appearance on the order sheet

2001 Melville Vineyard Pinot Noir

To refresh your memory, this wine was started by Greg Brewer and Chad Melville,(through to barrel!), and finished by me. It's a blend of two worlds and I think very successful! Drake and I would go up to their winery daily and make suggestions, (demands to their mind I'm sure!), and they did the work and I'll never be able to thank them enough. The color is light for a Whitcraft but the flavors are huge! I'm so happy to be able to get this vineyard's fruit and it's still a baby! I don't think I've ever made as burgundian a wine to date. The color, nose and taste are a cross between Burgundy and the Russian River and I can give no higher praise! (Unless I drop the Russian River part but let's be real!) Sweet strawberries and rose petals up front, clove is the first spice out of the gate followed by something like Chinese 5- spice, (been doing some woking!). If you were to use a black glass you'd think it was a huge, dark monster the flavors and finish are so big. Good now but will continue to improve for years. Thanks guys, we can all be proud of this one! Wow! Look out Mondavi!

2000 Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir

This looks to be the last vintage I make from this vineyard and it's been a good run. I made a Hirsch sparkling wine from this year also but it won't be available for 2-3 years. The price of the fruit now would require me to charge twice as much as I do now and I don't want to do that. Twenty-three years ago I wrote on a home wine label that 'we were dedicated to producing fine wine because we couldn't afford it!' and I don't want to make my wine unaffordable to myself! As with each Hirsch, the color is extremely dark for a pinot, the nose has an explosive amount of fruit and spice. The nose has lots of cinnamon and stone fruit with creme overtones. Full rich and round in the mouth, warm and smooth. The finish is still evolving, it took the '99 a year to really come around. Enjoy this wine in 2-3 years,(and on) with big food and hope we see this fruit in the future. There is only half as much of this vintage as last year! Sob!

2001 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir "N" Block

The martini clone once again clubs one into a Îfields of dreams' in that it's huge but seductive, dare I say modeled after its' maker? I wish! This wine will live forever, or at least a very long time. The times dictated that the free run juice of this wine ended up in all new oak which is OK for this grape. As dark as pinot gets, huge nose, so complex that it almost defies describing. Every flavor found in pinot jumps out at you. Name it it's there. You get to write the notes now. To the ãQä add the Îheavy' spices of coffee, chocolate, black pepper and healthy oak in the mouth as well as the nose. Endless finish! Wow!

2002 Melville Pinot Noir

This area is going to be one of the best in California for Pinot and I'm proud to say I was the first to have Santa Rita Hills on a label! ( It was illegal but what the hay.) Brilliant ruby red color. More like the 2000 than the 2001, heady aromas of cherries, strawberries and raspberries. Wonderful burgundy like nose, full rich round mouth filling taste with a long finish. A+

2002 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir "N" Block

The N has a heavier brooding nose but, as I almost always say, it's a very slightly more interesting wine. (Try the 2000, WOW!). It has the intensity of a cabernet almost but with the right flavors. The nose has hints of beeswax and expensive perfume. While it's still closed it still shows great pinot flavors of black cherry and cinnamon and fivespice. (The oriental one.)

2001 French Camp Vineyard Lagrein

It seems to me that all the lagreins I've made taste the same to me. At least close enough to be easily recognized and I mean that in a good way. I've had many people tell me it's the best wine I make and I never speak to them again! Inky black, again, chocolate and cherry, again, sweet, full and rich, again, smooth easy finish, again, the wine to fool your friends with, again. Get the picture? Check all the older tasting notes.

2003 Bien Nacido Chardonnay

If you need a reminder, 2000 was the last year I produced a chardonnay. 2001 was lost due to surgery and 2002 I couldn't get to finish and refused to sterile filter it so I sold it in bulk. (Sob). The 2003 is big enough to off set both years. It took a long time and a lot of work to get it done but it will prove it's' worth in time. Full blown is what comes to mind. Buttery, buttered popcorn, creamy and full in nose and mouth. It's big, 15.5% alcohol, (sorry, the yeasts are too good at their job!), ripe apples with a very long finish. It's an old world chardonnay at its best. At only 140 cases it won't last long, maybe not long enough to get the bottle age it needs! I had to raise the price a little, the first for my Bien Nacido chardonnay in 10 years. The corks alone went from $3.00 a case to almost $9.00 in that time.

2003 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir 'N' Block Young Vines

The vines in this wine are clone 115 and not the Martini as is the rest of the block and kept apart maybe for the last time in which case I will not be calling the 'N' block that anymore. For the last two years I've used this lot to teach my son, Drake, the old methods and he's doing a great job. These are his tasting notes; "Strawberries, berries, blackberry cola on the nose. It's showing it's a young, (4 years old), vineyard with lots of tannins but very good in 3 years." I'll add meaty and spicy berries. There are only 18 cases available.

2003 Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir

We lost Bien Nacido co-owner Bob Miller on, ironically enough, Labor Day last year. I say ironically because I don't think there was a harder worker for not only Bien Nacido, but all of Santa Barbara county wines and vineyards. Thanks Bob, you'll be missed. I felt that the 2003s needed more time in barrel and that the Bien Nacido was a little harder than I liked so I blended the ÎQ' and ÎN' together but that didn't do the trick until I added some Melville and that did it. It's got deep color, big cherries in nose, (black), strawberries too with a touch of pepper, nutmeg and a tiny toasty ness in the nose. Fat, mouth filling with flavors that follow in a smooth and lingering finish, it needs a little more time in the bottle to really show off its greatness.