On the home front, life continues to fly by. Isabel is doing well in Kindergarten and loving every minute of it. She loves to learn and is working hard to master the monkey bars. Her smile at the end of the day makes your heart skip a beat and reminds you how special the world is.

Haley is a 2-year old with sparkle in her eyes and sweetness in her heart that makes you want stop everything just to give her a hug and goof off. The gifts our children give us are never ending and really make our lives special.

Alexandra has been doing a great job keeping up with the house, the kids and JC Cellars. Some days it's a huge challenge, but she always has time to talk to customers when they call.

Jeff has had a very rewarding year. The press has been very kind to both Rosenblum and JC Cellars, and we thank our lucky stars every night … trust me. Life at Rosenblum Cellars continues to get more exciting and challenging. Since the last newsletter, Jeff was promoted to Vice President of Production and has been traveling a lot promoting the wines.

Life at JC Cellars has been also very busy, with the new winery still under construction. This past fall we finally grew up, and moved our winery out of Rosenblum Cellars to the Jack London Square area of Oakland, about 10 minutes away. We share the space with our friends the Dashes of Dashe Cellars. We crushed and cold soaked our fruit at Rosenblum Cellars and fermented and pressed at JC Cellars. This was a logistical nightmare, but our crew did a great job and didn't lose a drop of juice. Although Jeff lost a lot of sleep thinking about it.

The winery is slowly being transformed. The offices are almost finished, and the laboratory, which is the last phase, is due to be completed by the end of April. The new open top fermenters and a new crusher are being installed. We have painted the building a lovely shade of burgundy with a chocolate stripe at the top. Signage should be up by the end of May, along with a glass storefront. As many of you know, and we are painfully finding out, everything takes much longer than you anticipate. Our tasting room has not even hit the drawing boards yet, but we hope to be working on a design soon.

And now to the vintage of 2004: It was a slow harvest, then a wham-bam in the winery until you couldn't fit anything more in the winery harvest. It was a tough year. One night at dinner, Phil, my brother-in-law, lamented that he had 284 punch downs to do the next day. But the wines that came out are incredible, with ultra ripe flavors and great balance. It is hard to resist going into the barrels to taste.

Part of our philosophy at JC has been, "to do less is best." While that may not always be true for everything, when it comes to the wine, the gentler we are the better the wines will be. Since 2002, we have racked the wines only once while in barrel, which we feel keeps the essence of the vineyard and produces more focused wines. That's why we recommend that you decant our wines to allow them to stretch and get a little oxygen.

TASTING NOTES

Caldwell Vineyards Syrah: Another classic in the making. This is actually my favorite Caldwell Vineyard so far. Who could resist its Syrah purity, with exotic and incredibly layered aroma and flavors: roasted herbs de Provence and blackberry/ raspberry.

California Cuvée: The blend of different vineyards and different parcels from these vineyards shows the greatest expression of Syrah. This year's is the most full bodied, and powerful version so far. A beautiful black/purple color is followed by the aroma and flavors of black cherry, with roasted herbs de Provence, crushed white pepper, stone fruit, and a touch of crème de cassis.

Fess Parker's Vineyard Syrah: Every year this wine seems to get better. In 2003 we started incorporating some of the new French clones that have become available, and the results are in the bottle. Smokey black cherry, roasted earth, hints of raspberry and just a touch of creamy cassis. I have tried this wine three times since bottling, and each time it makes me contemplate how great it is to make wine.

Frediani Vineyard Petite Syrah: Like a deep dark secret, this is a mesmerizing wine: midnight black color and aromatic blackberry concentrate, all wrapped in a caramelized vanilla bean. Although powerful and a bit broad shouldered at this point, it shows enough finesse that with a few hours decanting, you're going to be astonished by this wine.

Philary Vineyard Syrah: This is the finest Philary that we have ever produced, although we have much less of it - only 34 cases. This is the first year I have kept a case for myself. Yields were low and the intensity up. If I had to describe this wine, I would have to start with the smoky, almost inky, gamey wild blackberry liqueur that has been immersed with a touch of lavender and black olives. A streak of minerality flows through out the wine that gives it just the right structure to carry it through one of the most outrageous finishes I have ever had in a syrah.

Rhodes Vineyard. Cuvée Isabel: As with one's child, they change, they want to express themselves a bit differently all the time, become more independent and show what they can do. Isabel is now five and as she has changed, we wanted to let the wine change as well. This year we decided to let the vineyard express itself and produce the wine rather than being held back to making a Zinfandel. A blend of varietals from the Rhodes includes old vine Petite Syrah, old vine Zinfandel and the introduction of Syrah. It resulted in a wine that shows the darker side of the Rhodes Vineyard more then ever before. The wine still has that blackberry pie filling in a cinnamon crust, but just a touch more on the wild side. This wine is a true reflection of the wonderment of childhood.

"UPSIDE DOWN" - A TRIP TO THE RHONE

Only once in a blue moon does one get to be part of history. Well this occurred for Chris, our assistant winemaker, Ron from Rosenblum Cellars, Ron from the cooperage of Seguin Moreau, and me. This historical event was a trip to the Rhone for two and a half weeks. Just four guys.

I call our trip "Upside Down." It started simply enough: a flight, a few bottles of wine on the plane, arrival at the airport and a great car - too bad all the luggage did not fit in the trunk.

Our first mission was to get out of Lyon to Malleval, see Pierre Gaillard and find our hotel room. Once out of Lyon, we got side tracked and went to Yves Cuilleron to say hello. He invited us to a party that evening with a bunch of wine makers. When we finally arrived at Pierre's place, there was the Hospice du Rhone gang of Matt Garretson, John Alban, and Vicki and Howard Carroll. I knew this was the start of a great trip. Wine and food are two of my favorite things. We all went to the party at Yves Cuilleron. During this party we realized that we forgot to check into our hotel; I was afraid this would be a sign of things to come. Thank goodness that Pierre's wife, Pasquel, was able to check us in.

The first week included a journey called Discovery of the Rhone: a 6-day trip to different areas of the Rhone where the producers from these areas pour their wines. It was like a Hospice du Rhone event in each place. When can you say you tried 90 Cote Rôties, 45 Hermitages, 70 Condrieus and 65 Cornas wines at one time? Granted these numbers are just guestimates, but this was just the beginning. We traveled north to south. And when we finished in Chateauneuf du Pape, we started all over again in the Northern Rhone. Oh! Life is good.

We had our share of mishaps. Like putting gasoline in the car instead of diesel, forgetting to make reservation for rooms, and just a touch of tripe to boot. But seriously, at times during our trip I was amazed and inspired by both the wines and also the passion each of these keepers-of-the-vine had for their craft. I would have to say one of the most memorable parts of the trip was our day in Cornas. First, our time with Laurent from Domaine Courbis was pure fascination. This man was able to take a wine that is known to be brutal in tannins and power, and add finesse, a sense of style and still keep a sense of place to his wines. I feel fortunate to have tasted his artistry. His wine is at the top of my list of wines to find.

Our next stop was to meet Thierry Allemand. I have had his wines before, some of the most expressive Syrahs I have ever had in my life - and I have had many Syrahs. I was very excited but a little unsure how our meeting would go. None of us speak French, and Thierry speaks very little English. But then, in walks Pierre Clape to the rescue (of Clape Cornas Fame). Although we had a meeting with him later in the day, he was more than happy to join us on our visit with Thierry. Who could ask for a better translator? Well, I am here to tell you Thierry's vineyards and his wines are just pure poetry. This is why the expression "terroir" was created.

Then last, but certainly not least, a personal tour of the cellar with Pierre and August Clape. We must have tried almost every lot and combination of blends that they produce, plus a few older wines. I would say this was the first time a wine tasting got the best of me. You just cannot spit out wine that good. The passion these three wineries demonstrate, for both the vineyards and the wines, truly takes you to a special place and I know will influence me in my future winemaking.

Well, I could certainly go on; there are so many other stories I wish I could share. But I am running out of space and wine in my glass. Thank you all once again for allowing us to express ourselves through our wines. And thank you for continuing to support our efforts.

NEW RELEASE WINE CLUB

We would like to thank all our 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 schedule for the 2003 vintage is as follows, (weather permitting, of course):

Spring Release
April 2005 (Shipped April 18, 2005)
2003 Fess Parker's Vineyard Syrah 372 cases
2003 Frediani Vineyard Petite Syrah 175 cases
May 2005 (Ships May 16, 2005)
2003 Philary Vineyard Syrah 34 cases (4 bottle limit)
2003 California Cuvée Syrah 429 cases
June 2005 (Ships June 13, 2005)
2003 Rhodes Vineyard Cuvée Isabel 173 cases
2003 Caldwell Vineyards Syrah 337 cases

Fall Release
September 2005 (Ships September 26, 2005)
2003 Ventana Vineyard Syrah 310 cases
2003 Iron Hill Vineyard Zinfandel 98 cases
October 2005 (Ships October 31, 2005)
2003 Rockpile Vineyard Haley's Reserve Syrah 398 cases
2003 Arrowhead Mountain Vineyard Zinfandel 146 cases

OPEN HOUSE

We are happy to announce our Grand Opening Open House. It's Sunday June 12, 2005 from noon until 5 p.m. at our new facility in Oakland. We will be sending out postcards to all of you who live in California and our website will have information as well. This will be a joint open house with Dashe Cellars. We hope to see you there.

And remember, "Drink it now, we'll make more".

Jeff & Alexandra