April 2010

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Dear friends,

This spring, red blends are in season at Boisset Family Estates! We are introducing two very different, exceptional red blends at Boisset: the Fleur de Lyeth, a Bordeaux style blend and the R Collection Field Blend from Raymond Vineyards, a unique 7 varietal field blend that is one of the first wines crafted by our new Director of Winemaking, Stephanie Putnam.

The beauty of blending is that the finished product becomes so much more than the individual elements would be on their own; it is a complicated art form to craft a complex, beautiful blend with incredible balance and length. We often run blending seminars for our friends and partners, making them winemaker for a day. This week, I am leading a blending seminar in New York where 600 restaurateurs are competing to create the best red blend.

How did a Burgundian raised in the tradition of single-varietal wines became so passionate about the art of blending? Even in Burgundy, we often blend Pinot Noirs or Chardonnays from diverse terroirs to create well-balanced, single-varietal blends. At Domaine de la Vougeraie, for example, we unite prestigious village and 1er Cru selections from the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits to make a unique, bold Bourgogne Pinot Noir we refer to as Terres de Famille, or family lands.

I urge you to open your eyes to the possibilities of the blend and discover all the nuances that the different elements we have chosen bring to these two new red blends. If you have any thoughts on blends, please email our marketing department with your comments.

Warmest and faithfully personal wishes,

Jean-Charles Boisset
President

Stephanie Putnam Named Director of Winemaking at Raymond Vineyards

Raymond Vineyards warmly welcomed an extremely talented winemaker, Stephanie Putnam, to the family this February. “I’m excited to become a part of the Raymond Vineyards and Boisset team where I can contribute to the growth of wines built on the strength of a rich family history, a terroir-oriented philosophy and the pursuit of superior quality,” says Stephanie.

Stephanie spent 8 years as Winemaker at Far Niente Winery where she contemporized their house style; prior to Far Niente, she was at Hess Collection. Throughout her tenure at these highly acclaimed Napa Valley estates, Stephanie proved her gift for crafting Napa Valley Cabernets and Chardonnays. She has won high acclaim for her wines, including placements in Wine Spectator’s Top 100, the Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100, and winning “Cabernet of the Year” in The Wine News.

The Raymond winemaking team is now solidified with Stephanie at the helm, complemented by long-time Raymond Winemaker Kathy George, well-known Napa Cabernet consultant Philippe Melka, and Winegrower Eric Pooler.

Lyeth Estate Unveils a New Wine: Fleur de Lyeth

Lyeth Estate has just released its new red blend, Fleur de Lyeth. Lyeth has long been known for its red wine blends, most notably its Meritage, a classic Bordeaux-style blend. Fleur de Lyeth is an extension of this tradition of unifying the best characteristics of multiple grape varieties to produce a harmonious wine with balanced complexity. Made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, Fleur de Lyeth has a suggested retail price of $10.99, offering Lyeth fans an exceptional, attractively priced red blend in an elegant, Bordeaux bottle that they can be proud to bring to a dinner party or enjoy at home.

Domestic red blends, which make up 6% of all table wines sold in the U.S., are a one of the hottest premium growth categories right now; blends priced above $4 are growing at a rate of 24% per year, four times the rate of the overall wine category.

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Raymond Adds a Field Blend to R Collection

Raymond Vineyards is reviving an old Californian winemaking tradition of harvesting all the varietals growing in a field and vinifying them together to create a beautiful wine known as a field blend. Raymond’s winemaking team sought to blend together similar varietals that would have been found growing in the same field erstwhile to create the R Collection Field Blend. This rich wine unifies seven different grape varietals - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot - creating a red blend that has incredible length and structure.

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DeLoach Introduces Pinot Noir Tasting Kits

Last month, DeLoach Vineyards announced an innovative, new way for consumers and trade to taste through flights of their ever growing portfolio of Pinot Noirs without visiting the winery. New technologies have allowed DeLoach to create perfectly-preserved, sample-sized tastes of its Pinots in 50ml glass bottles, which are packaged into six-bottle tasting flights. DeLoach has been expanding its Pinot portfolio since Boisset purchased the winery in late 2003; today, the portfolio boasts over a dozen Pinot Noirs more than half of which are limited-production, vineyard designate Pinots made in small open-top fermentors.

Currently, there are two Pinot Noir flights containing six 50ml-bottles each. The first is the Tour de Pinot ($25 SPR), a vertical tasting thru our different tiers of Pinot Noir, from our California Pinot Noir up to our limited-production Green Valley Pinot Noir. The second flight available, our Vineyard Designate flight ($35 SRP), showcases our most exclusive Pinot Noirs from some of the best vineyards in Northern California and explores the unique effect that the terroir of different vineyards has on Pinot Noir.

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