This will go down in history as being our biggest release to date! We are releasing the entire Selene lineup at one time. So sit back and enjoy the show, featuring:

2009 Selene Sauvignon Blanc Hyde Vineyards

2008 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyard

2007 Selene Cabernet Sauvignon Dead Fred Vineyard

2005 Selene ‘Chesler’ Red Wine

First off, we should mention that the 2010 vintage will be the 20th Harvest for Selene Wines. Mia started Selene Wines with the 1991 Vintage. Although Mia has been at it a little longer, with her first harvest in 1983, so she will be on her 28th Harvest this year.

Everyone thought Mia was crazy back in 1993 when she released the 1991 Merlot and the 1992 Sauvignon Blanc. They said, “No one is going to buy an $18.00 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc!”.

We want to thank all of you for supporting Selene. We have enjoyed meeting and making friends with so many of you over the years.

To celebrate, Mia came up with the idea of ‘Roll Back Pricing’. (Crazy winemakers!) For any order placed now to the end of August, we will offer the Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot at the original release price on any mixed case order. So if you want to enjoy the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc at $18.00 a bottle, or the 2008 Merlot at $22.00 a bottle, just make sure you order a case of Selene Wine (including a mixed case – any combination Cab, Chesler, SB or Merlot).

We will hold your order for you, (not charge your credit card) until the weather improves for shipping. Tracy will be adjusting your Roll Back Pricing on your order and sending you a confirmation with the new pricing.

On to the Wines!

2009 Selene Sauvignon Blanc Hyde Vineyards
Late spring rains kept 2009 from being the third bad drought year in California. While still a bit under normal rainfall, it could have been worse. Summer had good heat with less heat spikes over 100 degrees than we sometimes see in Napa. We picked in early September. (750 cases $27.00/bottle – Rollback price: $18.00/bottle)

Mia’s tasting note: Aromas are complex, with pineapple, apricot, peach, fig, honeysuckle, bees wax, lemon cream, mineral, slight nutmeg, and vanilla. All this developed fruit translates very well on the palate with a fine balance between good acidity and rich viscosity.

2008 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyard
2008 was our second consecutive drought year, and one of Napa Valley’s most difficult frost years in recent memory. Although the Frediani Vineyard Merlot escaped frost damage, uneven weather during bloom led to a very low crop.

Selene has two blocks of Merlot at Frediani Family Vineyard. For this vintage, we used the 70 year old dry-farmed Merlot from the J-Block. (378 cases produced $35.00/bottle – Rollback price: $22.00/bottle) Wine Spectator 92 points.

Mia’s tasting note: The nose features boysenberry pie with a buttery crust, raspberry, brown sugar, caramel, chocolate ganache, coffee, and sandalwood. There is very good impact and intensity on the palate; this Merlot is even-tempered, with balanced tannins and acid, finishing with fine texture and length.

2007 Selene Cabernet Sauvignon Dead Fred Vineyard
2007 had some nice weather for vineyards in Napa Valley. Though it was a drought year with about half normal rainfall, it followed the two abundant rain seasons of 2005 and 2006, so the vines fared nicely. (380 cases $50.00/bottle) Wine Enthusiast 93 points, Wine Spectator 91 points, Wine Advocate 91 points.

Mia’s tasting note: Both raspberry and blueberry lead off the aromatics, with sandalwood and sweet spice, espresso, roasted almonds covered with dark chocolate, and finishing with fragrant crushed red rose petals. The mouth has very good initial impact, intensity, texture, and length, with excellent development and integration of flavors.

2005 Selene ‘Chesler’ Red Wine (50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot)
Vines looked very good across the board in the 2005 growing season. Good, steady rains in winter and early spring set up a good profile of available water in the soil. The temperatures were moderate and steady as well. The weather stayed dry through October. (292 cases $50.00/bottle) Wine Spectator 92 points, Wine Advocate 92 points, Wine Enthusiast 91 points.

Mia’s tasting note: Loads of blueberry and violet for this wine, along with fresh soft cheese, a bit of blackcurrant, caramel and vanilla. The mouth is very focused with very good concentration of flavor and texture throughout and a strong finish.

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Finally, we do have some of the previous vintages of these wines in stock, so you can find them on our website on the buy page, if you missed the previous release letter, or you just want more from the previous vintages. Heck, we’ll even give you the ‘Roll Back Pricing’ on the 2008 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2007 Merlot! Remember you have to order by the end of August, and Tracy will adjust the pricing in your confirmation email.

Remember the 10% discount on 1 mixed case, and 20% discount on 2 mixed cases! Plus, 2-day Air shipping is included on all orders over $100.

We can accept your orders on the BUY page of the website: www.selenewines.com , or print out the Order Form from the BUY page and fax or mail it to us, or give us a call (707) 258-8119.

Cheers,

Mia Klein and Tracy Hall
Selene Wines
Chesler Wines

The tasting will end promptly at 4pm, so don’t miss out!

We will have all our new releases on hand.

2009 Selene Sauvignon Blanc, Hyde Vineyards

2008 Selene Merlot, Frediani Vineyard

2007 Selene Cabernet Sauvignon, Dead Fred Vineyard

2005 Selene Chesler (50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot)

We hope to see you there!

Mia and Tracy

We are happy to be invited back again this year, as this is an awesome party (did we mention the Dwight Yoakam concert?) for a great cause!

See you there!

We will be pouring the 2007 Selene Cabernet Sauvignon Dead Fred Vineyard at the Grand Tastings both nights.

See you in Vegas Baby!

There are four wineries for each Session. Selene Wines is in the eighth session along with Selby Winery, ZD Wines and Ravenswood Winery.

Mia’s chosen the 2007 Dead Fred Cabernet Sauvignon for our Reception wine.

Mia’s Seminar topic is “Why I love Merlot and Cabernet Franc – and you will too!”, and the 2009 Selene Sauvignon Blanc will be served at the gourmet five-course finale dinner (by candlelight!) prepared by The Ahwahnee’s Executive Chef Percy Whatley.

Skippy is hoping for SNOW!

I know what you’re thinking, she gets all the good jobs, but in her defense she’s been pretty busy with Barrel orders and getting ready for another bottling. I tell ya, getting these tasting notes out of her hasn’t been easy!

The timing of the release of the latest Podcast from the 3 Wine Guys couldn’t have been more perfect! I downloaded it and we sat in the office working while we listened to it.

If you haven’t checked these 3 Wine Guys (Terry, Stevo and Scott) out, here’s your chance! For this podcast they did the entire lineup of Selene Wines!

2008 Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Merlot
2006 Dead Fred Cabernet
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Chesler

You can download it from their website, or if you prefer, you can get it from their ITunes page.

The cool thing about their podcasts is Terry, Stevo and Scott each have their own likes and dislikes in wine (different flavor profiles/varietals). Listening to them describe a wine as they are tasting it gives you a much better idea of what the wine really tastes like. I don’t know about you, but it’s always been more difficult for me to read a written review of a wine and get a sense of what the wine really tastes like and if I’m even going to like it.

Keep up the good work guys! – Skippy

Mia wants to see how the wines are evolving in bottle. Once in a while we get asked how an older vintage of Selene is doing, and where it is at now. Should it be consumed now, is it at it’s peak or should it be held, and if so, how long will it age? Vertical tastings help us answer these questions, so we can give a pretty good description of where the wine is, and where it’s going.

As a winemaker, Mia wants to make the best wine she can for that vintage, without straying from the flavor profile that she likes, and that our customers have come to know. In other words, when you open a Selene wine, it should be the Selene wine you have always loved, even vintage to vintage.

Tastings like this one is also a good time to include the vintages that are in barrel (haven’t been bottled yet) to see how they compare to the previous vintages of the same wine.

For this Merlot tasting, we only included the Merlot from Frediani Vineyards in Calistoga.

Here is what we tasted, and our thoughts:

2005 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyards – Hold/Drink – This is showing like a big wine right now. Blackberry Jam and Molasses. Lots of life left.

2006 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyards – Drink/Hold – Nice integration of blue fruits and oak. Smooth and good length. This is in a pretty spot, but will last.

2007 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyards – Drink/Hold – Chewy and Jammy with good balance and length of fruit on finish. Yummy now!

2008 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyards – Not released – Boysenberry cobbler, long powerful finish. Almost ready for release, should be great by summer/fall.

2009 Selene Merlot Frediani Vineyards (in barrel) – Youthfull blackberry jam, and red fruits. Tasty!

There has been some recent press on the Selene Merlot from Frediani Vineyards. The Iowa Wino gave his thoughts on the 2007 Selene Merlot, thanks Dan!

During Mia’s recent trip to Ohio, Burke Morton gave his impressions of the entire Selene lineup (current releases) on Wine Think. Thanks Burke!

You might remember that Mia used three different yeasts for the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc in stainless steel barrels, and three different French Coopers, so she had six lots to work with for blending.

We do have some 2008 Selene Sauvignon Blanc left, but it’s been flying out the door since spring has finally arrived.

The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc has received some great press lately. Check out Cellarmistress’ Cellar Talk, and The Iowa Wino for their take on the 2008 Selene Sauvignon Blanc. Thanks Grace and Dan!

Happy Spring! – Skippy

Check out this Merlot tasting on “For My Love of Wine” blog.

Mia and I are going to do a Selene Vertical Merlot tasting this week. We are going to focus the tasting all the vintages of Selene that came from Frediani Vineyard.

So our line up will be 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 which are all in bottle and the 2009 from barrel.

I’ll report back our tasting notes and how the vintages are showing! – Skippy

One of Mia’s clients is Boyanci Wine. The owners Kevin Boyer, Tom Steffanci and Sarah Steffanci Murray take volunteers on a trip to Peru each year to help Coprodeli. Boyanci supports Coprodeli by donating 10% of it’s profits each year, and by taking these volunteer trips.

They have a blog, so you can follow along and find out what it’s like to be a volunteer there in Peru. Check it out on their Blog:

Be Uplifting

They are all in Peru now! Their stories are not only incredible and life changing, but inspirational.

For this years trip, they opened up the comments section, so all the volunteers can make an entry on the blog comments.

We are proud of you Boyanci!