Fabbioli Cellars

Dear Friends,

Weather or Knot

Could this weekend have nice, warm weather for visiting Fabbioli Cellars? Could Matt and Colleen get a tasting day where they do not have to shovel snow off the crush pad/hospitality veranda? Maybe.

Our Open House is scheduled for March 24th from noon until 5pm. We are planning on tasting our regular lineup of Fratelli, Tre Sorelle, and Rasberry Merlot along with a couple additions: Our guest wine will be the 2005 Waterford Vineyards Barrel Select Chardonnay. This is a balanced wine of pineapple, spice, oak, caramel and butter characters. This is the wine that reminds me of the Troop 1910 Pineapple upside down cake. Also we will be tasting the 2006 Cabernet Franc from the barrel. At 3pm, I will open the 2004 Tre Sorelle for evaluation. This is for those who have some bottles left in their cellar and for anyone wondering about bottle aging. I may find a few bottles to sell also. We will also have a few nibbles out along with our mandatory good folks and spirits.

The Old Town Crier: Bob Tagert has been writing and promoting the VA wine industry for years in the priceless monthly newspaper The Old Town Crier out of Alexandria. He and partner Lani came to visit the Cellar last week with an agenda: Find some self-promoting, opinionated winemaker to write a series of articles for the paper. Well, mission accomplished. If he approves what I write, (he is pretty easy), I will be in next month’s issue. I will include my column in my newsletter. I am hoping to kill a few birds on my agenda with this stone.

Blend with Friends: This is an event I have done at Windham for years and want to share it with you. We will blend the Cabernet Franc and the Chambourcin as small groups. This is a flash back to chemistry class with beakers, graduated cylinders and pipettes. Science, art, competition and fun combine to make a great afternoon. Limited seating and reservations required. If you want more information, please contact me. $30 per person for a great experience.

Bottling: The next bottling date we have scheduled is May 1. this will be when we label the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. A number of you have taken advantage of the futures price on this wine, (a smart move). It will be labeled on this day and available for pick up. We will also be bottling 2006 Chambourcin, 2006 Cabernet Franc and Rasberry Merlot.

Total Wine: My distributor informed me this week that Total Wine, a local wine superstore has picked up the Fratelli for its 14 stores. WOW! Although I focus on small lots with most of my wines, the Chambourcin based Fratelli is a wine that I could produce in larger volumes and sell in larger stores. I truly respect the smaller wine shops that build our wine drinking market one taste at a time. These shops are the backbone of the market and continue to build relationships and educate people about quality wines. But as I watch cases roll out of my cellar headed to the bigger boys, I am hoping I can maintain the balance of sales and attention to all of my retailers along with the quality in the cellar and the flow in the bank account. Another step along the path.

Calendar for Fabbioli Cellars