Our biggest news is that we are half way moved into our new facility in Oakland, near Jack London Square. It's very exciting to finally have a place with plenty of room to grow. We will share the space with our friends Anne and Michael Dashe of Dashe Cellars. Double the wineries, double the fun!

We have been working on the production side of the warehouse since late July: installing drains, upgrading the electricity and plumbing, and ordering lots of equipment needed for harvest. Of course you know what they say about the best-laid plans. With such an early harvest this year, we still ended up crushing and cold soaking over at Rosenblum Cellars, but fermenting and pressing at the new facility.

Over the next few weeks we will continue to move barrels over to the new space. Meanwhile, we are renovating the offices and building a laboratory. That should be completed by the end of the year. Then we'll start work on the tasting room.

Many of you have inquired about our next open house. Our plans are to have a Grand Opening Open House at the end of March 2005. Look for an invitation at the end of February. We know it will be worth the wait.

2004 HARVEST

As winemaker for two wineries, Jeff gets to work with many varietals of grapes coming from many different vineyards. Their climates range from warm to very cool. At Rosenblum Cellars, our fruit mostly comes from warmer climates, with a few cooler locations. At JC Cellars, 95% of our fruit is cool climate.

In a normal year, warm climate fruit comes in first and then cooler climate grapes soon after. But not 2004, this has been a crazy harvest.

The warm climate fruit came in a tidal wave from the end of August until the third week of September. Rosenblum Cellars was 90% finished with harvest by this time. Jeff was either very jealous or getting way to nervous about his fruit.

The fact that it was only September did help to calm Jeff's nerves a bit, but patience is a virtue and his was running very low. The cool climate fruit just sat on the vines. In fact by the first week of October, JC Cellars had harvested only 10% of our total fruit.

Finally, the remaining 90% came flooding in. It was really good; great actually. From the minute it came into the winery, we experienced some of the best flavors and colors ever. It seems to hold true that good things do come to those who wait.

But the proof will be in the pudding (or the wine in this case). Only time will tell. Actually it's Chris and Jeff who will tell, when they start tasting all those many barrel samples and begin telling everyone about our new facility and the amazing wines inside.

FALL RELEASE WINES

Our Fall Release includes the Ventana Vineyard Syrah, California Cuvée Syrah, Rockpile Vineyard Syrah and Monte Rosso Vineyard Zinfandel.

The Ventana Vineyard is one of the most exotic we have produced. There are beautiful cherry aromas, flavors of fresh crushed black, white and red peppercorns, with roasted herbs and spices running through this full-bodied beauty. This wine has been the most fun to watch evolve in the barrel. It's always a mystery!

For the California Cuvée, all lots were kept separate until we put together the final blend, which is primarily made up of our Ventana, Fess Parker, Rockpile, and Caldwell vineyards. It's always interesting for us to blend together our different vineyards and see how the combination takes on a life of it's own.

The Rockpile Vineyard is our most Hermitage-like. Its liquid minerality and incredible power and intensity will blow you away. This wine makes Jeff want to open up a great Chave Hermitage just to compare similarities in aroma and flavor profiles.

The Monte Rosso Zinfandel is a big mouthful of rich, overwhelming, knock-your-socks-off, blow-your-senses-away, jolt-your-heart, got to have another taste type wine. That said, we only have two barrels of this wine so it is very limited.

Looking into the future, we have many new vineyards coming on line. For the 2003 vintage, we have two new Sonoma vineyards from which we are making Zinfandels. All Jeff can tell you is that 50 to 60 degree slopes and rocky terrain produce Zinfandels that are more reminiscent of a Northern Rhone -- but with a Zinfandel twist -- than anything he has ever tried.

We have planted a special section of the Rockpile Vineyard. We call it Buffalo Hill, named after the large wooden buffalo that sits on top of it. This should prove to be a mind-boggling Syrah, which will be bottled as a separate wine. We have also planted some Petite Syrah at the Rockpile Vineyard that should take Petite Syrah to the next level.

Last, but not least, we have found another steep hillside vineyard and I mean steep, in Lake County, which is planted with Syrah and Petite Syrah. The spot was screaming JC Cellars and as we write this, the Petite Syrah is turning out to be incredible. Something to really look forward to in the 2004 vintage.

NEW RELEASE WINE CLUB

We would like to thank all our New Release Wine Club members for your participation in our club program in 2004 and hope you continue to enjoy your shipments in the months to come. Our tentative schedule for the 2003 vintage will be as follows, (weather permitting, of course):

Spring Release
March 2005 (Ships March 28, 2005)
2003 Fess Parker's Vineyard Syrah 360 cases
2003 Frediani Vineyard Petite Syrah 240 cases

April 2005 (Ships April 25, 2005)
2003 Philary Vineyard Syrah 48 cases
2003 California Cuvée Syrah 100 cases

May 2005 (Ships May 23, 2005)
2003 Rhodes Vineyard Cuvée Isabel Zinfandel 144 cases
2003 Caldwell Vineyard Syrah 312 cases

Fall Release
September 2005 (Ships September 26, 2005)
2003 Ventana Vineyards Syrah 456 cases
2003 Iron Hill Vineyard Zinfandel 96 cases

October 2005 (Ships October 31, 2005)
2003 Rockpile Vnyd Haley's Reserve Syrah 550 cases
2003 Arrowhead Mountain Vnyd Zinfandel 155 cases

If you would like to sign up for our New Release Wine Club, please fill out the section on the order form and indicate how many bottles of each wine you would like to receive. Remember, Wine Club members have first priority on new releases and enjoy discounts not only on sample shipments but reorders anytime. See the order form for details.

We are very excited to unveil our newly revamped website. With the assistance of Zango Creative, our new website offers interesting facts, colorful photographs, and a bounty of information about JC Cellars. Take a trip to www.jccellars.com next time you're online.

Well, another year is almost over and another harvest is soon to be laid to rest in barrels for the next 18 months. Time seems to pass by all too quickly, and we see it in how fast our girls are growing before our eyes. So, take time out to smell the roses. And remember, drink it now, we'll make more.

Jeff and Alexandra