Mystery: District 4 Cab, Oxbow and the man with the accent

I was passing by the Oxbow wine merchant a few days ago and noticed our District 4 Cabernet was unfortunately missing from the shelves.   I'm thinking, Great, how long have they been out? On a seemingly unrelated note I got a call from an East Coast Prime fan (with a terrific accent) that was on vacation in Napa and was looking for the wine.  Turns out after I missed his call he stopped by the Oxbow in Napa for lunch and by chance saw the District 4 and bought all they had in stock.

All the pieces came together the next day when a 2 case order came in from the wine merchant and the customer let me know he found what he was looking for.  Mystery solved, time for a glass of wine.

Dining in ATL just got better

I've spent a fair amount of time in Atlanta's ATL airport.  Partly because I'm partial to Delta and end up there on connecting flights and partly because I really like Atlanta and its food/wine scene.  I often wander around the airport looking at the food options, riding the train to other terminals hoping for better fare than a TGI Fridays.  Other than the fairly cool piano lounge in terminal E the One Flew South  Sushi meets Southern cooking restaurant is the best I have seen in an airport.  Perhaps it is also the most expensive but sometimes it is worth the cost if you are captive for hours with a delayed flight.

Brian Hannigan was kind enough to send a photo to PRIME of his family enjoying a bottle of PRIME at One Flew South the other day and I wanted to post it here.  That's Susan on the left and Melissa on the right.  I can't tell you how excited I was to receive this picture of a group in an airport across the country enjoying my wine.  Its amazing to see where the few hundred cases of PRIME I make end up!

The Holiday Pack is Back!!!

Back by popular demand is our 6 bottle holiday pack at a 

super discount (25% off) with ground shipping included! 

Also check out our other holiday offers and 

the New Release of the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon District 4. 

BUY NOW!

2009 Chardonnay is now AVAILABLE!

On the one hand, Summer "time" has ended. School has started for the kids which means fewer carefree late nights and shorter daytime adventures. On the other hand, we just started getting our Summer weather! Dinner is finally being eaten outside, swimming is much more appealing now and the grapes on the vines are starting verasion (to change color).

With the change of the season, the Chardonnay moves on to a new vintage! We sold the last of the 2008 and now we are ready to present our 2009 PRIME Chardonnay, Napa Valley. 

You will find that this vintage of Chardonnay is quite similar to last year. Same great Coombsville Vineyard and same effort in creating a subtle blend of fruit and oak (think French).  This is very crisp and fresh for a Napa Valley Chardonnay and we hope you will give it a try.

$24/bottle

Order Now!

Now lets sweeten the deal. To celebrate the release of this new wine, we are offering a 4-pack for $80.

4 bottles for $80 (plus shipping and tax)
Offer available through September 2011Order Now

PRIME Napa Valley- the Coombsville connection

 © 2003, AirphotoUSA LLC, The Winemaker's Dance by Jonathan Swinchatt and David G. Howell

I love this satellite picture, it really tells the Coombsville story in one image.

Coombsville is the newest area to be considered for American Viticultural Area (AVA) within Napa Valley.  When I started PRIME the concept was to find "prime" vineyard locations within Napa.  I worked with fruit from all over but because of the high quality I kept returning to this Southeastern part of Napa known as Coombsville.  The black line shows the boundary of this new AVA.  It is a dramatic and unique piece of geology.  You can see in the center a hill and then a circular valley around it.  This is what is called the "cup and saucer" and is an indication of the special volcanic soils that lie beneath.

The grapes from Coombsville give PRIME its unique profile of crisp, fresh fruit with higher than usual acid levels and long finishes.  I hope you enjoy drinking the wines as much as I have making them!

2010 Chardonnay- Its getting close

Hard to believe but the Chardonnay 2010 has been in barrel for 8 months now.  I tasted the Stainless barrels (2) as well as the oak versions (3) today and decided it was time to blend them. The oak barrels are between 2 and 5 years old so they impart less "oaky-ness" and more structure and mouthfeel.  The Berry Lane vineyard did not disappoint and delivered screaming acid again this year.  I'm excited to taste the final blend in about two weeks. The wine is now chilling in a 500 gallons stainless tank at 29F.  This will drop out the acid crystals that would otherwise come out in the bottle when you put it in the refrigerator.

Prime time at the Oxbow Market

Not that you need another reason to visit the Oxbow Public Market in Napa but I'm going to give you one anyway.  Aside from my longtime favorite Taylor's Refresher (aka Gott's) there is a new excellent reason to show up at the Oxbow at least once a week.


The Oxbow Wine Merchant has picked up PRIME's 2007 District 4 Cabernet and is going to be pouring it by the glass.  Located directly across from Hog Island's oyster bar, you can't miss the shop so stop in and have a glass!  Don't forget to look for PRIME by the glass in San Francisco at Foreign Cinema, First Crush and Inner Fog too.