The Soroptomist Charity Event--Most of you know that Karl Lawrence participates in this event every year.  This year Laura Zahtila made the winning bid of $2,500 in the live auction for a pair of etched and painted 2001 3 liter bottles of Vineyard Designated Reserve.  Laura is relatively new to the Valley.  You should check out her Zahtila Vineyards at laura@zahtilavineyards.com. 

Wine & Spirits Magazine's December 3, 2003 issue rates the 2000 Karl Lawrence at 91.

                                                                  Photo by Ric Henry

HOWELL MOUNTAIN LUNCH AT THE HENRY FAMILY RANCH--Jean Luc Le Du, Chef Sommelier, Daniel restaurant (www.danielnyc.com), New York City, foreground, toasts the camera. Olivier Flosse, Chef Sommelier, Cafe Boulud, also of New York City, sits to his left. David Newlin, Michael Skurnik (www.skurnikwines.com) Wines New York Sales Representative, sits to Olivier's left. Michael Trujillo, head of the table foreground, toasts with his left hand. Elizabeth Naylor (Michael's girlfriend), of An Event To Remember, coordinated the event and sits at the far end of the table. Michael Henry, Bryan's eldest son, toasts from the back of the table. Bryan had been there but had to go back to the hospital. I'm taking the picture. Randy Dunn's vineyard spreads out in the background. The row of olive trees marks Duckhorn's vineyard. I mowed the wild peas two days before. They cover an old prune orchard which will soon be a new vineyard.

PHILADELPHIA RESTAURANTS--Check out the restaurants page to see what new restaurants Karl Lawrence wine is now being served at.

PRONOUNCING "ALDIN"--Even though the name has an English heritage, it's amazing how many of you mispronounce such an easy name. It's not Alladin. There's not two ls in it. It's not Aladdin, as in the genie. It's not Al (as in the guy flipping pancakes at the dinner) deen (as in James). It's Al as in all; din as in dim. If you can say "all dim," then you can say Aldin.

RIC has moved into town. He's in St. Helena so Nicholas can be on the basketball team at the Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School. Ric's new Karl Lawrence phone number is 707/963-2702. His new Karl Lawrence FAX number is 707/963-2703. Getting off of Howell Mountain should make it easier for some of you to do will-call.

1999 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon and 2000 Aldin Chardonnay are sold out.

                                                         Photo by Rodney Friedrich

Linzi Friedrich and Scott Gay model the Karl Lawrence shirts and caps that are available for purchase in the 1999 Release Newsletter. Linzi's t-shirt doesn't have the logo on it yet, which will be in gray. The descriptions are in the insert in the Newsletter.

FEBRUARY 2, 2002--Winemaker Michael Trujillo's hand-crafted oak box, with Karl Lawrence lazered insignias, and filled with a nine bottle vertical, from 1991 to 1999, was auctioned off at the St. Helena Soroptimist Club's Annual Crab Feed Charity Fund Raiser. The vertical is the first ever, made available to the public, and fetched the highest bid of the event, for wine, at $4,500, and was purchased by Mike Smith, owner of the Sunshine Food Market, in St. Helena.

                                                      Photo by Rodney Friedrich 

TWENTIETH CENTURY VERTICAL

1991-1999

NOVEMBER 2001

St. Helena Hospital Foundation Gala--was held on the 3rd. Karl Lawrence's 6 liter bottle of '98 cabernet sauvignon fetched $1,750 in the silent auction. This was the highest item out of 131 silent auction lots and went to Bob & Stacey Bressler. The dinner with the partners and Karl Lawrence vertical tasting went for $4,200 and went to three couples: Jim and Linda Burton, Alan and Michela Abrams, and Bob and Stacey Bressler. The Gala netted $210,000 for the Hospital Foundation.

HARVEST--Michael reports that the 2001 juice in the tank is awesome. He thinks we'll have a reserve for sure out of this lot.

SEPTEMBER 2001

St. Helena Hospital Foundation Gala--Karl Lawrence has donated a signed '98 6L bottle and a limo ride to Ric and Cheryl's home, over-looking the Napa Valley, for a catered dinner of filet mignon, for 6 people, with the partners and wives of Karl Lawrence. One prospective bidder already said that he'd pay $10,000 for this. However, that was before the stock market melt down. So I'm sure, the bidding will be wide open. The Gala will be held at the Culinary Institute of America, in St. Helena, on November 3. Vintner, John Shafer, will be honored. The auction will be conducted by Ann Colgin. A tentative list of other auction wines include, Harlan Estate, Screaming Eagle, Livingston, Dalla Valle, Colgin, Heitz, Juslyn, Shafer, Rudd, Araujo, and Grace. Please contact Elaine John, the Hospital's Director of Development at 707/963-6208 if you wish to attend or bid by proxy.

WTC--We're saddened by the loss of a Karl Lawrence friend who was aboard one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. We want to do what we can to help out in the world-wide effort to assist the victims of this attack. Karl Lawrence has donated a Two-pack of etched and painted 750ml bottles of '97 Vineyard Designated Reserve in a pine box to the Grapes of Grief benefit wine auction, December 8. Proceeds will be donated to a special account of The New York Police & Fire Widows & Children's Benefit Fund. You can check them out at www.grapesofgrief.com. These bottles are different than the general release this past Fall, as they are etched and painted instead of having a label. These bottles are rare. We ask for your support for this worthy cause.

The partners of Karl Lawrence have privately donated to the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund as this fund directly benefits families of staff from the Windows on the World restaurant. This restaurant served Karl Lawrence and Michael participated in a tasting there every year. You can donate to this fund at Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, c/o David Berdon & Co., LLP, 415 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10017.

AUGUST 11, 2001

Melissa Henry, Ric and Cheryl's daughter, married Chris Pratt, from Ojai, at Rodney and Margaret Friedrich's home. The Karl Lawrence partners supplied cases and magnums of '93 and '95 which were enjoyed by all. They also supplied a Chardonnay sporting a Pratt Cellars label. You might want to look for the cousin of this Chardonnay next year. Karl Lawrence friends came from far away as Washington DC, New York, San Diego, Boston, and Portland. The Chris Cobb band, from San Francisco, supplied the tunes and said it was the "funnest" wedding they'd ever played for.

JULY 13, 2001

--HISTORIC--FIRST EVER COMPLETE KARL LAWRENCE VIRTICAL TASTING--The partners and wives of Karl Lawrence provided a catered dinner on the the deck of Ric and Cheryl's house, overlooking the Napa Valley for Bob and Stacey Bressler and five of their guests. The dinner was a big thank you for the charity events in which the Bressler's paid top dollar for Karl Lawrence wines. We sat at an eighteen foot long table and had eight Bordeaux glasses each, one for each of the Karl Lawrence vintages from 1991 through 1998. Counting our water, port, and Chardonnay glasses, brings the total of crystal on the table to 132 glasses, all highlighted by candle light. What a night. Look for the Bressler's release of their first 2000 vintage in the Fall of 2003. Their's will be a very exclusive list, to say the least.

PS Michael announced at the dinner that the 1999 Karl Lawrence Chardonnay is in deed "top drawer." 150 cases will be released next year.

--RESERVE BRINGS IN TOP DOLLAR--at the charity event in Boston. The two pack of reserve brought in $1,500 for the Community Servings program. Many thanks to our friends and customers for supporting this event.

--CHARITY EVENT--Vintage Imports and The Charles Hotel invite you to a rare, large-format Wine Auction to benefit Community Servings, (www.servings.org) Boston's free, hot, home-delivered meals program for individuals and families ill with AIDS. Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Attendance is limited and costs $30 per person. The event will be held at The Regatta Bar, at The Charles Hotel, Harvard Square, One Bennett St., Cambridge, from 7 to 9 PM, on Monday, March 12. RSVP to Candace LaBalle at 617/455-7777 or Claballe@servings.org. Vintage Imports can be contacted at 781/933-7777. A pine box two pack of 750 ml Karl Lawrence Vineyard Designated Reserve has been donated for this auction.

--$2,000 FOR '97 RESERVE TWO PACK--Was brought in at St. Helena Soroptomist Charity Crab feed.

--"Santa, Bring Me A Great Big Cab--2 STARS--Admittedly, this wine is in short supply, but the name is worth remembering because the winery is making very good, age-worthy Cabernet from grapes grown on some of the best vineyard land in the Napa Valley, and it's selling it for a lot less than its competition. Buy it if you see it." Los Angeles Times November 15, 2000

NOVEMBER 2000

--$2,000 FOR '97 MAG--That's what a magnum brought in for the St. Helena Hospital Foundation Gala. The '97 magnum was the highest priced wine in the charity event's silent auction.

--RESERVE RELEASE DELAYED--We apologize, but the release of our Vineyard Designated Reserve wine has been delayed because of difficulties in producing the mailer on time. Hopefully we can mail the offering by the 17th or 20th. We should be able to ship wine then just after Thanksgiving. We appreciate your patience and are working hard to make this special wine available to you.

--"97 Karl Lawrence rated as one of "top 100 wines of 2000" by the San Francisco Chronicle. November 1, 2000.

--CONNOISSEURS' GUIDE--BEST BUYS IN THE MARKET--"The Karl Lawrence 1997, ($40) is a bit pricier than those listed ahead of it, but it is also a tighter, more age worthy wine with a brilliant pedigree and deserves the wide acclaim it has received as one of the real bargains in Napa Valley Cabernet." September Issue Index.

SEPTEMBER 2000