Spring 2005

Lights, camera·

Yes, that was a Whitcraft label, (2001 ăQä Block), you saw in ăSidewaysä. Iâm going to tell you a short story as to how that came about.

As you might remember for all the Î90s I lived in my camper during harvest and a lot of the nights I was parked behind the Hitching Post, (with Frankâs OK), and spent many nights watching sports and talking wine. Iâm fairly certain that Rex Pickett, the author of ăSidewaysä the novel, was one of the people I talked to on more than one occasion. In late 1999 I got a call from Michael London, the producer, asking if I would read the script, which I still have, and send him two bottles of a wine I had made that was mentioned in the book. It was a Înovelâ way to get older wine out of me so I said I would. He said that they were going to start filming in 2000 and wondered if I would consult. I heard back a few times but the connection died out and I didnât think the movie would be made. I was surprised to read in the local paper in the fall of 2003 that they had started filming in the valley but we know how much happened in between,( 9/11, my surgery), that I didnât think too much about it, wished I had a part but·anyway on August 8, 2004 I was in LA doing a tasting fundraiser for Mike Bonaccorsi at Wallyâs in Santa Monica and Alexander Payne, the director/screenwriter, came up and introduced himself and we talked for about two hours during which he said he had put a nice lingering shot of my label in the movie. Voila! Now you know the story and I wish it helped me sell more wine than it has but I love telling the tale. My 15 minutes?

To remind you why we might have been in the movie, we make all our reds and most of the whites without fining, filtering or pumping and as little sulfur as possible, nothing else except natural acid adjustments, if needed and occasional non-native yeasts, again, if needed.

We got a nice write up in Matt Kramerâs ăNew California Wineä book. Thanks Matt. Check it out.

Alyssa is doing well at UCLA, already a junior and Drake is helping me with the winery and about to pass me in ability. I only wish it was harder than he makes it look! Great wines now and in 2004, Williams pinot noir from Anderson Valley and a new vineyard, Aubaine, (ironically an old word for chardonnay!), in Nopomo. Iâm doing well. Cheers!

Fall 2004

Hello Voters,

This is not going to be a political letter, other than the salutation that hopes all of you choose to exercise your hard won right to be in the process. Vote early and often, as they used to say!

Whatâs new on the Whitcraft Winery front? Iâve picked up some new states, renewed some old ones and am trying to get more representation in California.

It looks like Iâll be getting another pinot vineyard or two in 2004, not including some from Burt Williamsâ Anderson Valley vineyard for another sparkling wine. The 2000 Hirsch sparkling is coming along great and should be released, maybe, next spring along with the main pinot release of Melville and Bien Nacido or Santa Barbara County as I havenât decided if theyâll be a Bien Nacido yet. The Melville is astounding but the Bien Nacido is still a little hard, as per the vintage, and at bottling Iâll decide if it needs a little Melville to soften it up. Iâve already blended the ÎQâ and ÎNâ so there will not be that option. Also in the spring will be the 2002 Lagrein. This fall I have a chardonnay for the first time since the 2000 but thereâs not much of it, 140 cases so donât miss out on it or itâll be gone. I plan to make more in 2004 but I wonât have enough to last until it will be ready. The other wines Iâm releasing now are tiny in quantity but huge in flavor! (See tasting notes.)

There is a typo in one of the labelsâ of already released wine and even though it was government approved and passed by dozens of eyeballs it took my daughter Alyssa to find it in about 3 seconds! See if you can.

Now a couple of things that I want to address; Iâm very discouraged with the amount of junk e-mail and faxes I get and am almost ready to pull the plug on both of them. Maybe some of you have solutions that you could share with me so I can stay on line. Secondly itâs been a bad year for a number of my friends, two passing and four in bad shape. I was speaking with the spouse of one, lamenting that I could do nothing as I wasnât a prayer type of guy and they said prayer always helps so I said that while Iâm not sure there was anyone to pray to there always seems to be some one to pray for. In that light I shall pray for you and yours, our troops, country and that the world comes to its senses soon.

Take care, Chris

Spring 2004

Hello,

It's that time of year again and I didn't begin with "Hello Friends" because you may not like some of the things I'm going to say in this letter and don't want to be my friend anymore. I hope not. Let's get right to it.      PRICES UP!!!!!!!

There is no way around it. I had to raise the prices as I was losing my shirt. I can't make the kind of wine I do cheaply. After I lowered the prices last fall I discovered that I wasn't able to either service my debts or afford the kind of quality materials that I require. A few examples; Corks, the best there is, went from $.49 to $.64 each, glass, $5.35 to $6.85, rent up, grapes up, tax up, freight up, (more on that later), in short everything went up but income. I make a high quality product and before I lower my standards I'll quit. If the 2003 harvest hadn't been so small I might have shut the doors!

The major factor in this condition is OIL! I was getting glass price increases, (glass uses a lot), on a weekly basis. Freight surcharges are huge on both UPS and overland trucking. An example; Today I shipped a two pack from a UPS store to a business, the cheapest way, in Los Angeles and it cost $7.95! That's without the container! My charge for that use to be $5.00, I'd guess that I've been losing on the shipping for about 3 years! Amazing, just about as long as I'd been sick and not watching the bottom line. So to the point! Oil is the reason we're still in the Middle East and in that light it reminds me that we, the USA, are like the South in the Civil War in that we want our own way, (states rights), and cheap oil, (cheap labor, i.e. slaves) and we know how that turned out!

I really love this country and all it provides for us and the world but we have got to wean ourselves off of oil! I know it's easier said than done but do we really need a 6000 lb. car/truck to get to dinner? I do have a large truck that I use when I have to and a small car to get around so I'm somewhat guilty but I can't be without the truck and I can't drive them both at the same time. Lecture over. Mea culpa.

The good news is the new wines are great. I only tasted the fall releases this week and they are tight but excellent. Since there are only three new wines I'll use the tasting notes page to talk wine.

Your pal, Chris

Fall 2003

Hello Friends!

"A rolling stone gathers no moss" and I've been positively 'peaty' for a couple of years. So, in an effort to shed some of this growth, I've moved again to 202 La Plata Street. Those of you who have been on the mailing list for a while might recognize this street where I lived from '85 to '93. Since this is where Alyssa was born and I began to gain some notoriety, it could be a good omen for things to come! I said in a few e-mails I sent out that I am closer to the beach but farther from the ocean and to try to figure that one out! It's easier and closer to the sand here but not on the oceans' edge. Sob, (both meanings), but I had a good run. The house is larger but weird. It's like a frat house or Al Bundy's dream house, wood paneling, large family room, only one real bedroom but what the heck, with my record I won't be here long anyway!

In terms of my family, I'm OK health wise, Alyssa starts UCLA in the fall and Drake is working both for me (yeah!) and at Trader Joe's, (boo!). I only say that because of Two Buck Chuck. Dan Berger, a wine writer I respect, wrote a story about how much Shaw wine is corked and how that is affecting consumers' palates in a way that will further harm real wine sales. I realize that I'm preaching to the choir but spread the word. The last wine 'depression' gave us wine coolers, white zin and Robert Parker. It will be interesting to see what shakes out of this one. I've already seen something like a frozen wine 'beverage' being marketed. In this business, you usually get what you pay for.

Before introducing you to my new wines, let me say that between the recall in California, (more debt to get a guy who got us in debt), war and murder in every direction, and possible rape by a respected sports hero, I can't believe I actually have any wine to sell. We need to sit back and 'pop a few'. Go ahead, do your share!

Since I've been a bit preachy in the last few letters, I've tried to make this note a bit more upbeat. It's easy to abuse any pulpit and I'm as guilty as the next person. Nobody is perfect but let's all try to be better than yesterday

Harvest starts in about 14 days so I've got to run. It looks small but good. Since this is the last letter on my current computer, I will be building an updated address list on my new system. If you are interested in being included, or if you have any changes in your contact information, you must respond to this letter in some way. I hope to hear from all of you!

Cheers!

Chris

Spring 2003

Dear Friends,

It is so hard to write a current letter when so much is happening around us, (and U.S.). I don't know but I expect when you get this we'll be at war. I first sat down to do this as I was hearing breaking news of the shuttle disaster. For some reason I couldn't concentrate. I remember that I was dropping off my son, Drake, at day care when the Challenger blew up. My daughter was 26 days old and the feelings I had, of helplessness in the tragedy and at my own perceived failure to be able to provide to keep my family at home came back to me. I remembered that I swore to succeed so that would happen - a classic transference of grief. We know how that turned out! I share this with you because the wine business is in trouble and this might be a good time to expound on the nature of the beast.

The two things that control all business is supply and demand and we all know supply,(two buck Chuck) is huge and the demand, (crashing economy) is gone. Those of us in the 'fine wine' market are hurt'n for certain and few can afford to compete by lowering prices. None of my suppliers have lowered their prices. In fact everyone and thing has gone up as have all other expenses of doing business, rents taxes, etc. Well, I think I have come up with an answer!

The wine business is a three tiered system, distributor, wholesaler and retailer. When you buy from me directly I'm a retailer,(even with the discount I give), and I feel I should be giving you, my loyal following, the wholesale price and shall! I don't base my economic plan on the retail sale price but slightly below the wholesale price. (Trust me, the distributors earn their dollar). Hopefully the prices on the web site will be changed when you get this.

I sincerely hope that all is well with you and we are able to avoid a war, anywhere, and that the economy rebounds and we all live happily ever after! Believe me, wine helps!

Peace out, Chris

Fall 2002

"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you"
                                                                                                      Jean Paul Sartre

I've seen this quote used a lot since 9/11,(try flying somewhere!), but I had heard it a long time ago and had actually thought about it during my recovery. There were so many things I was no longer able to do, (hopefully not forever), that I had a lot of time to think about things and, unfortunately, watch way too much television. I always try to write these things with some point or bit of wisdom I think needs to be addressed but I think I don't know as much as I thought I did! I want to pass on some things that became apparent to me and might be of help to you. Some of them deal with past letters and some are more recent insights. I will list them in no particular order, then talk wine.

1. Most TVs have a channel select button. When you see something that offends or upsets you, delete it. Networks that superimpose their logo over a great movie get deleted. Pretty soon you have no channels to surf and you can go read a book! (Don't advertisers realize that when stations tell you to visit their web site their commercials are not being watched?)

2. Unless the writer has a MS, Master Sommelier, or MW, Master of Wine after their name I need to know them and taste with them before I give them a second thought. Joe Sullivan was one of the best I've met without those initials and I forgot to mention him in the last letter. He passed away on the day of my operation and he is truly missed.

3. I said 12 years ago I'd use screw caps if I thought they could do the best job. I've started to use corks of such high quality that corked bottles should become almost non-existent in my wines. These corks cost twice as much as the corks I special ordered in the past at great expense. A corked wine is the most aggravating thing that can happen to a winemaker as we have no real control over it. The new wines all have the new corks with the new web site, .www.whitcraftwinery.com on them! Wow! A lot of 'new' there!

Well that's some of the stuff I needed to get off my chest so here's some personal news. I am doing much better and think I'll be able to do harvest as normal as usual. Ha! I've never used the word 'normal' in referring to myself! The new winery is running smoothly and the quality of the wines has improved in my opinion as I can 'mother-hen' them now. The kids are fine, Drake is working at Trader Joe's and for me while Alyssa starts her senior year in high school and continues to beat me like a drum at golf. More news in the tasting notes as I seem to have run out of room by making the print easier to read! Cheers!

Chris

Spring 2002

Hello walls,

The above is a title of a heart-jerking country-western song, (We have both types of music here, Country and Western!), and as I sit listening to Hank 'Sugarfoot' Garland I find it apt. Quite so, as I have been sitting and looking at this empty screen for over 30 days now wondering what I could say about the horrible things that have taken place since I last wrote a release. I take some, (little), pride in my writing but there is no way I can adequately express anything that could convey my feelings or, (more importantly) give some measure of comfort to any of you that might have been closer to the events of 9/11. I was born in New York at Mitchell Air Force Base on Long Island and have some relatives still there, (OK). I have a little 'New York State of Mind' in me and the attack hit a deep nerve. At the time it happened I was three weeks out of major surgery and already not doing too well with recovery. I, in no way, am comparing the two. I do, however, feel that it's part of the reason my recovery has been so slowed. As I sat thinking about how bad that was and what I could say it occurred to me that I had benefited from some of the greatest response to my condition I could hope for and that would be what I would write about. Maybe, in some small way, it might help for you to know what kind of people are in this industry. We already know the quality of the people in New York.

When word of my condition got out every winery and winemaker I knew, (and some I didn't), offered to do anything they could to help as, if you remember in the last letter, I had to move, bottle and harvest in three weeks! I first was going to cancel this harvest but Greg Brewer and Chad Melville offered to make my Melville pinot at their winery, (Thanks Ron), and all I had to do is have my son, Drake, drive me to check on it. That offer made me go to Bien Nacido and ask if I could take only half of what my contract required as I thought that would be the most I could handle. The owners, Steve and Bob Miller, not only agreed to that, but when the reds were done they didn't require me take any chardonnay! (There will be no 2001.) I was really in bad shape by that time and this allowed me to take some much needed rest. Tons of people helped sort, stomp, press and rack the vintage and I can't thank them all here by name for space reasons but in addition to those mentioned above, Craig Jaffurs, Bob Knight, the crew at Central Coast Wine Services, retired winemakers, and my kids, Alyssa, who sat by me every day in the ICU and hospital and Drake who was my eyes, ears, legs, and driver, I can never thank you all enough! It's gonna kill me if 2001 is my best vintage yet as I had so little to do with it! There will be more information in the tasting notes.

I'm going to be OK.

Fall 2001

Greetings all,

There is so much information to give you I have to get right to it. A lot has happened since the last letter; I've been to Hawaii to be honored by Hawaii Public Radio along with David Hirsch. We did a tasting of '94 thru '99, all were great with the '95 taking 3 hours to open up and the '96 1 hour! No need to rush to drink any of these wines! The experience led me to try the same thing with the Bien Nacido pinots and here's what I found; of all the wines I've made from that vineyard,('90-'98), only two wines were not what I'd like them to be, the '91 and the '94 'Q'. The '95s are years away from showing their best, the '96s more ready but not there yet, the '97s are drinking well now,(light year), and the '98s not ready, but delicious. I would recommend drinking all wines from '94 and earlier on special occasions AFTER letting stand for at least a week,(a good cork will last months) and decanting off the sediment! That means if you want to take the wine anywhere you must decant it before you leave. Believe me, it makes a world of difference! The '93's are fantastic as is the '90!

The really BIG news is that the winery is moving to 819 E. Montecito Street in Santa Barbara in August! Craig Jaffurs has built a facility that we both will use and that means we can have visitors but we can't have a full time tasting room however you can arrange to come by and pick up the wines you purchase and save on shipping and who knows, maybe something just might be open,(wink-wink). I am very happy that this is finally happening as it adds 2.5 hours a day back in my life! (I'm hoping not to waste them!) I don't have a phone number for it yet so continue to use the ones below until further notice, and please wait until after November to try to visit so we can get settled and done harvest!

Now, I don't want to go on a rant here,(thanks D.Miller), but have you ever wondered what qualifies a person to be a wine critic? Not a wine writer which, like say Gerald Asher, is more of a feature/travel writer and one I consider one of the best but someone who 'grades' or 'scores' a wine? Nothing! There is no test or training, other than learning to drink, that one is subjected to! There are many who do study wine and then decide to become wine critics and I do also value experience as a valid method of learning about wine, but can't we, as both producers and consumers, devise some kind of test to subject those who would presume to be experts and really find out what they know? I remember the famous Harry Waugh saying the last time he mistook a Burgundy for a Bordeaux was at lunch and I completely understand how that can happen to a person as it can also happen to a wine, i.e. not showing it's best. I bring this up for two reasons; first, because I was a wine writer/critic who did more than 3,000 shows on radio and not once did I 'bad mouth' a wine! If I didn't like a wine I didn't review it, it might have been me, it might have been the time, place, company, food, or it might have been the wine but I could always fine another wine I liked or some other thing to talk about. The second reason is that I was in San Francisco in June and I had the opportunity to look over the wine lists of many of the city's (even world's?), best restaurants and what I saw convinced me that the wine writers of the world have totality screwed up the business! On one list I saw a Screaming Eagle cabernet of a very recent year selling (?) for $2,600! Now I'm sure that it's a very great wine although I agree with Burt Williams when he told Chuck Wagner of Caymus that he only drinks cabernet when he wants to hurt his mouth! On the very same list was the 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild , a great year, for, now wait for it, $550! You could have FOUR bottles and have money left for a nice meal! Who do you think is responsible for such madness? I'm sure it's not the winery because if they didn't sell the wine due to high prices they would be out of business or forced to lower the price. The rarity of such a wine could be a factor but if that were the case so many other wines would be priced near that or higher! Please don't think I'm picking on that winery as I saw many other wines priced like that. I wonder how many of these rare wines are tasted by, or now owned by, critics who reviewed them. I no longer submit my wines to any publication for review, not out of fear of a bad review but of mistreatment of the wine. I welcome any critic to taste my wines but at the winery or my home so I know the wine is right, remember that I don't use electricity in the production of all my red wines and most of my whites, allowing me to use less chemicals,(better for you), but that requires more careful handling. Remember that the age of instant information is also the age of instant misinformation! Of course, that's just my opinion and I could be wrong!

I have four new red wines to release at this time and please don't forget I still have both '98 and '99 chardonnays for sale. 2000 Bien Nacido pinot noir, 2000 Bien Nacido 'Q' block pinot noir, a new vineyard that I'm very excited about and which there will be much more in the future, 2000 Melville pinot noir, and my first blend, a 1999 red wine I call Rojo Grande. The tasting notes are on the back of the order form but I would like to tell you a little about the blend here first. The 1999 vintage has proved to be a difficult one in Santa Barbara County for me, (red wines, the chardonnay is my best yet). We had a heat spike in August and the pinots became very ripe quickly but not mature, resulting in wine that is not as smooth and round as I like. Conversely, my second attempt at petite sirah, a late ripening grape that was unaffected by the early heat, never sugared up and wasn't picked until almost Thanksgiving at only 19 brix! (That's a measure of percent of sugar content, 24 being desired.) What one wine lacked the other had in spades and while this has cost me 10's of thousands of dollars, (had they been 'normal'), the resulting wine has resulted in both maintaining the high standards I require to put my name on a wine and a gift to you because the price is so reasonable!

On the personal front I'm still loving life in S.B. next to the ocean, still trying to get in better shape, maybe I'll ride my bike to the new winery, (stop snickering!) and I still am staying away from cigars. On a sad note two of my best friends moved to Florida in June: Arne and Maryann Norbom. (I get to see her on Fox News once in awhile.) That, and now that the kids are too old to need me much I have no one to cook for! (Could be a good thing!) The kids are continuing to amaze me and I'm sure it's not because I'm getting dumber although that can't be entirely ruled out. Wish me luck with harvest, moving the winery and bottling all at the same time! I'm off to the heavy petting zoo!

Cheers, Chris

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