MEMO

TO:               My Favorite Customer in the Whole Wide World
FROM:         Mick Unti
SUBJECT:   Livin’ Large
DATE:          November 12, 2002

Is bigger really better? (My daily barrage of junk e-mails seems to indicate "yes.") At 5’7½" tall, (we count half inches at this height) I’ve conditioned myself to think it’s not. However, when it comes to wine bottles, big is good. Collectors revere larger size because of increased staying power (again, the subject of many an e-mail.) So, to repress any insecurities about being small, we present the Big Boy — 1.5 liters of our 2000 Syrah.

For our first ever 1.5 liter bottling we chose two barrels of experimental lots of our 2000 Syrah. We aged the wine in sexy one-year-old French oak for five months longer than the rest of our 2000 Syrah. As you would expect, this wine shows a bit more complexity from wood, which may not appeal to all of you. But, the additional time in barrel also made the wine more refined and polished. It’s as if we sent the 2000 Syrah to college. It’s definitely a well-read red. This wine is exuberant and elegant all at the same time. And big bottles do last longer, so if you are absolutely hell-bent on aging our wines for 10 years (as Robert Parker suggests) this is the one.

We only bottled 120 of the mags, so they won’t last as long in our winery’s cellar as they will in yours. We are selling them on a first come, first served basis and limiting purchases to three bottles per person. You may add them into a purchase of our other current releases for a 10% case discount.

Lastly, I’d like to dedicate the Big Boys to two Untis who have been large for the winery: my Uncle Dick and Aunt Judy. Lots of you have met them at the winery because they have faithfully worked every one of our events. (Dick was on a businesses trip for one event, but Judy still showed up and worked/played hard enough for two. Ask Dick about his 2 A.M. phone call from Judy and he’ll vouch for how hard she played.) Heck, a bunch of you are getting this newsletter because Judy made you sign our mailing list. Our wines can only hope to ever be as legitimate, sincere and enjoyable as Dick and Judy are.

2000 SYRAH 1.5 LITER 120 bottles produced $55.00 per bottle, limit 3 

Wine to go with bell-bottoms, platform shoes and Donna Del Rey

 Sooner or later, every small winery must face the reality of eliminating certain barrels of wine in order to improve the main blend. Our difficult blending decisions in 2000 left us with a few extra barrels of Zinfandel and Sangiovese. We added our experimental Cabernet Franc lot and voila, 2000 Rosso del Campo. Bottled in April, this is a lovely, fruity example of a mostly Dry Creek Zin at a very 1970’s price. Fortunately, this wine will not last nearly as long as the 70’s have.

2000 ROSSO DEL CAMPO (70% Zin 25% Sangiovese 5% Cabernet Franc) 135 cases produced $12.00 per bottle

Last Chance Texaco

 This is probably your last opportunity to purchase our 2000 Segromigno and 2000 Zinfandel since we are running low on both. The Zin is drinking quite well now. Unti wines can be quite useful during the holidays — they make great gifts for people with the last name "Unti" or they make a terrific ice breaker at a Japanese New Year’s Eve celebration.

4 2 0 2   D r y   C r e e k   R o a d  -  H e a l d s b u r g  C A  9 5 4 4 8          -         t e l  7 0 7 -  4 3 3 - 5 5 9 0  /  f a x   7 0 7  -  4 3 3 - 5 5 9 1

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