April, 2009

BEHIND THE BARREL NEWS
Spotlight and Wine Quip!
Matt's Unique Perspective on Our Wines

Spring is here and with it the grapes are beginning to push, the fig leaves are emerging and the weather is warming up! What a great time of year to be at the vineyard. Everything is turning green and sprouting, the vegetable garden is looking great and the seeds are going into the ground as I type this.

The first two weekends of March saw the annual Barrel Tasting event and it was a huge success here at the winery. We had over 4,000 close personal friends enjoy our 2008 futures out of the barrel. The big screen was pumping out concerts and everyone was devouring the delicious Brunswick stew. All in all, it was a lot of work and a lot of fun, all helped along by my new hobby of brewing. After all, it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine!

April brings a couple of interesting things to be done here at the winery. First off is that we will be racking and blending our wine for the final time until our annual July bottling. During the blending we will put together our 2008 Ultimate Cuvee, which will age an additional six months before being bottled up in January. Think of it as our favorite barrels of 2008 wine blended together and then allowed to co-mingle for a bit longer in order to become more rich and interesting.

Next is that we will be making our first Dave's Wine Club shipment! It will include one of our two featured wines for April as well as two older vintages. The April spotlight is on our 2007 Zinfandel (Estate Dry Creek) for $26 and 2007 Aca Modot (Dry Creek) for $28.

The 2007 Zinfandel is a well balanced, spicy and yet rich flavored Zin. What you want to do is grab a whole chicken, grab an open can of beer, stick said can into the cavity of the chicken so that it is sitting up like it's trying to dance. Then flavor it up with a little salt, pepper and spice and toss that bad boy into the 450 degree oven for about an hour. You will get the moistest chicken ever to be paired up with this Zinfandel.  Unlike many Zin's around the valley, this one has proven its ability to age amazingly well. We recently opened Dave's 1988 Zinfandel amateur wine, which was succulent and paired very well alongside the dinner of lamb chops with mushroom risotto.

The 2007 Aca Modot is what a man from Bordeaux would make with Dry Creek fruit. Deeply dark, intensely flavorful and smooth with a hint of tannins. Everyone instantly says steak, but I say phooey! Go vegetarian! Now before you start arguing, just listen for a second. Eggplant Parmesan with fresh green beans. The crispy bread crumb with just a touch of tomato sauce and Pecorino Romano, amazing. It goes very well with a glass (or two) of the Aca Modot!

The annual Passport to the Dry Creek Valley is coming at the end of April. We will be featuring the imaginative Catheads Barbeque to come up with a delicious, southern inspired meal for the event. With the glorious weather we are also going to chill down our 2006 Fresco ($99 a case!) and have it ready for the sunshine.

Enjoy and Cheers!

Matt Wilson
Assistant Winemaker

David Coffaro Vineyard & Winery
7485 Dry Creek Road
Geyserville CA 95441
Phn: 707-433-9715
Fax: 707-433-6008
www.coffaro.com