Join us Friday, March 19th at Antonello Ristorante for Sodaro Estate’s first pre-release dinner showcasing our upcoming 2006 vintage, including the Felicity and the limited Sodaro Estate Reserve Blend.

Total cost for this 5-course meal is $109 per person, all inclusive.  See below for the full menu.  For more information go to http://www.antonello.com, or to make a reservation, call 714-751-7153 or email Steve@antonello.com.

SPACE IS VERY LIMITED, SO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS TODAY!

Sodaro Estate Reserve Blend

Assaggini

Chef’s selection of Passed hors d’ Oeuvres

Wine pairing:
Sodaro Estate Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Antipasto

Bresaola e Burrata
Thin slices of cured beef topped with Burrata drizzled with organic extra virgin olive oil

Wine pairing:
Sodaro Estate Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Primo

Lasagna Casareccia
Layers of pasta, béchamel, and beef ragu topped with a light San Marzano tomato sauce

Wine pairing:
Sodaro Estate Felicity 2006 preview

Secondi

Costata di Cervo
Oven Roasted rack of Venison with dried fig and port wine sauce served over carrots puree

Wine pairing:
Sodaro Estate Reserve Blend 2006 preview

Dolce

Cioccolata e Zabaglione
Chocolat fudge topped with creamy zabaglione and fresh berries

2010 is well underway, but we still have plenty to celebrate!

We are writing to you, today, to tell you that we have been infiltrated by our new friends, The Wine Spies. This Thursday only (February 11^th, 2010), they will be showcasing our a award-winning (Gold Medal and 91-point)  2004 Sodaro Estate Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was personally selected by Agent Red, one of the founders of The Wine Spies. He is crazy about the wine.

Be sure to visit thewinespies.com on Thursday, to take advantage of the special price on this delicious wine. Read the full review and make your purchase before time – or the wine - runs out. Since the quantity is so limited, they will likely sell out of this wine.

This one-time offer includes an added bonus: If you purchase 6 or more bottle of this wine, The Wine Spies will include ground shipping on your order (see below for details and a savings code).

Who are The Wine Spies?

The Wine Spies is a unique one-wine-per-day wine merchant that only sells wines that they fall in love with. The Wine Spies are intrigued by our very special 2004 Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon and they have captured this small allocation just for you. You can read a great review of the wine from Agent Red, one of the founders of The Wine Spies on thewinespies.com only on Thursday, February 11^th.

About the Sale

Remember, this wine will run only this Thursday, February 11^th on thewinespies.com, beginning at midnight, PST. The Wine Spies will feature a small quantity of this wine at a one-time-only price. To order, click on the large blue button with the countdown timer. Sales are first come, first served, so we suggest that you buy early. Wine Spies “Operatives” (their customers) tend to buy up wines quickly.

As an added special, The Wine Spies will include ground shipping on orders of 6 or more bottles. Enter the promotion code CABSPY on the order screen, and you’ll see your savings at the final checkout.

Participate

If you’ve tasted this wine before, please do us a favor and post a review on The Wine Spies. This will help spread the word about our wine. Also, please feel free to share this offer with friends and family by forwarding this email.  Finally, be sure to sign up for the Spies “Daily Dispatch” to learn about their daily wine sales and gain access to exclusive deals and savings codes. Also, you never know when the Spies will feature our wines again.

Below, you’ll see a Wine Spies mini-review of our wine.  Just go to thewinespies.com to read the full review – and an exclusive interview with our winemaker - on Thursday.

Wishing you a wonderful and wine-filled year,

Don and Dee Dee Sodaro

P.S. For a complete list of states where The Wine Spies can ship, please visit their website.  This offer is only good through The Wine Spies and it expires 02/11/2010 @ 11:59:59pm. If you have any questions about placing an order on their site, or if you have general questions about their service, please email them @ info@thewinespies.com

The 2004 Sodaro Estate Winery ‘Felicity’ Cabernet Sauvignon is dark candy-apple red with beautiful ruby red edges that practically glow. When swirled, this wine shows a soft surface that hints at the viscosity and mouth-feel. On settling, thin tears move slowly down the inside edge of the glass.  Perfumy and deeply layered, this wine show off gorgeous top notes of blackberry, black cherry, raspberry and cassis. These hover right over dried rose petals, soft forest floor, dried meats, brown sugar (have you ever smelled a See’s Candy Butterscotch Square?) and smoky cinnamon.  The deep color of this wine belies its soft body. The wine is wet and softly light on initial entry, then a medium-bodied feel emerges as fine-grained tannins add a tender mineral grippiness.  Initially bold, then immediately softer, leading with flavors of juicy raspberry, black cherry and blackberry. After a moment, follow-on flavors of young strawberry, pomelo (Asian grapefruit), hibiscus flower, dried meats and subtlest rose perfume.  Very long and very flavorful, rich with red fruit and soft mineral-spice flavors.

Early this morning, Michael Wolf and his Vineyard team harvested our Petit Verdot and the last of our Cabernet Sauvignon.  By noon, Dawnine Dyer and her crew finished up sorting, destemming, and transfering everything safely into the fermenters before an incoming rainstorm made its presence felt.

Our Cabernet Franc is now all that remains to be harvested, and its not quite ready just yet.  All of the lots have looked and tasted great, and our Vineyard Manager Mike Wolf is in high spirits, remarking this is turning out to be a terrific vintage.

We pulled one ton of Malbec grapes from the Sodaro Estate vineyard on Monday, and so far the 2009 harvest looks to be of exceptional quality.

Fall Harvest at Sodaro Estate

As appeared in “It’s Time For Wine” by Monty and Sara Preiser on 8/20/2009.

New Finds and Interesting News in 09

PART ONE of THREE

One of our best received series of columns each year deals with the new wineries we have discovered and recommend during our summer spent in California. For purposes of this article we use the term “wineries” in the broadest possible sense, meaning that while we include the traditional facility, we also include wines that have an independent label and are custom produced at a facility not owned by the wine’s producer. In other words, the vintner owns a wine, but not a brick and mortar winery. S/he merely rents the winemaking facility.

This year we have found some real beauties we will mention about below, along with a word or two about some of our favorite bottles of wine from each.

Sodaro Estate:

Some wineries sit on gorgeous properties but cannot produce wine to match. Others craft a wonderful product without a showcase winery at all. Sodaro Estate, however, has it all. The panoramic scene will grab you as soon as you arrive, and will influence you throughout your tour with Kari DiFabio (appointments necessary) and the subsequent tasting of two special wines at prices that are stunning.

-2005 Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon ($40): Bright red cherries and black plums brilliantly burst on the mid palate. There may be some 2004 available, but we preferred the 2005.

-2005 Sodaro Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($65): We think this wine reflects the more & more recognizable Coombsville characteristics of big fruit &  “dirt” on the finish. The approachable tannins want meat, especially with hints of clove & peppercorn throughout.

A new video tour and tasting at Sodaro Estate Winery is located on our MEDIA page. Click to view this short clip featuring our Winemaker Dawnine Dyer and our Director of Sales & Marketing, Kari DiFabio.

In an excerpt from Monty & Sara Preiser’s newsletter, “It’s Time for Wine”, Sodaro Estate Winery’s Felicity Cabernet Sauvignon is noted for its exceptional quality and price.

IT’S TIME FOR WINE

by

Monty and Sara Preiser

August 3, 2009

COMPARING VINTAGES, GREAT WINES FOR UNDER $65, CHAPPELLET, & NORMAN

We Know Where to Find Some Excellent Ones with Gentler Pricing

If you are one of the many who put stock in the wine scores awarded by the Wine Spectator, then you may have been as depressed as we were to read the Cabernet Sauvignon report published by that magazine a couple of months ago. Not chagrinned at any lack of quality, mind you, because surely California Cabs have never been better, but dismayed over the cost of these wines. And in a time of economic challenge, our concern seems to be pandemic.

Well, we have been in Napa for two months this summer and are here to list for you some excellent Cabernet Sauvignons for prices that might pass these days as reasonable (arbitrarily chosen by us as $65 and under). For those of you who are regular readers, you know that we do not favor awarding scores to wines, but rather putting them into categories of recommendations.

-2005 Sodaro Felicity ($40): Features a brilliant burst of bright red cherries and black plumbs on the mid palate.

To be frank, we had almost forgotten how many good wines and producers there are in Napa. Certainly we love (and buy) some very expensive bottles, too, but you will not go wrong enjoying any of the wines we have listed above, even with some of the best food you can imagine.

Just in time for the warm summer months, Sodaro Estate Winery now has eco-friendly Thermal Shipping Packs available!

Thermal Packs Keep Your Wine Cool

After use, the coolant bags can be cut open and the contents spread over a flowerbed for decomposition.  It is inert and will not do any damage to the plants, the soil, or the water table below.  It does not pose any danger to pets.  The bag itself can be disposed of with the rest of the average households’ recyclable goods.

Ship your wine from our Estate in Napa with confidence!

Auction Napa Valley benefits local Napa charities including health care organizations, youth services, and low-income housing.

Bid on Sodaro Estate Winery - Lot 483 HERE

Details:

Don and Deedee Sodaro invite you and five guests to join them and their award-winning winemaker, Dawnine Dyer, for a private luncheon among the hillsides and alluvial terraces of the winery and vineyard. As a special gift, the winner will be presented a limited-edition, specially etched double magnum of our 2005 felicity Cabernet Sauvignon. Less than 10 of these ornate large-format bottles exist. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a side of Napa Valley that few ever have! To be scheduled for a mutually agreeable date.