Friday, February 25, 2011

The Karl Lawrence Blues

We here at Karl Lawrence have established ourselves as one of the most popular and most frequently enjoyed wines on the blues music circuit. We've partied our way through concerts, festivals, and cruises getting our name out there by way of t-shirts, baseball caps, and word of mouth. However, for some reason, KL has never meddled in advertising (in the traditional sense of the word). But, it turns out that, Robert Jr. Whitall, the Publisher and Editor in Chief of Big City Rhythm and Blues Magazine (and Karl Lawrence fanatic) wanted us to do an ad for the mag. So we got together with our graphic artist, Brian Nash, and this is what we came up with:

Well we think the results are pretty superb. We are proud to be involved in a great magazine and want to thank Brian for styling our ad accordingly. Most excellent.

Check out the blues mag and Brian Nash here: www.bigcitybluesmag.com, www.bndco.com.

In other news, The Flaming 8-Ball Jackets (who after the coach's poll were actually the number 3 seed) rolled past their first opponent by a mercy-ruled score of 69-29 (their opponent, The Leonards only showed up with 4 players...). Although it was slightly uneventful and disappointing, considering the lack of competition, the Jackets hope to meet some tough competitors next week on the road to the finals.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Undefeated

I know it's only been a day, and you guys are most likely exhausted from reading the epic Karl Lawrence love ballad of Seo and Yesi, but get ready for customer "story" numero dos:


Howard Chin (above) recently held an '01 cabernet restrospective tasting. And as you probably could guess from the picture, Karl Lawrence's Herb Lamb reserve was the overwhelming favorite of the day.


Now this wouldn't be surprising if the competitors were, say, Two Buck Chuck, Franzia box wine, or Carlo Rossi. But Howard thought the line-up was pretty strong (and so did we): Bryant Family, Pride Reserve, (our) Reserve Morisoli, Sloan, Mondavi Res, Montelena, LaJota 20th Anniv, Bond St. Eden, Leonetti Res, Paul Hobbs Beckstoffer, etc. etc.

So we encourage all of you to make some tasting brackets, like our wine the best, and then tell us about it. Then you can get your picture on here too! Thanks for the story, Howard!

Speaking of winners and brackets, in other news, Nicholas's intramural basketball team, The Flaming 8-Ball Jackets, just finished an undefeated regular season and are moving into the playoffs Monday as the number one seed. We'll keep you posted on the Jackets' trip to the championship.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Heat



St. Helena hit the 80 degree mark three days in row: a sling of the highest February temperatures in 25 years. It was so warm in fact that Ric ended up spending the whole time painting his white picket fence. Oh, America... He couldn't do the Tom Sawyer trick by telling Nicholas how much fun it was, as he's off at college.

And for the business side of the heat wave, the Karl Lawrence 2008 Release Offering Letter is going out this week to all the customers living in the cooler areas. Production is lower this year, so we'll have to stick a little closer to the allocation numbers.

Also, a few customers have said they couldn't fax in, so here's our secondary fax line: (866) 874-5369.

Keep in touch with the blog as some stories a little more interesting than the weather are hitting soon. And if any of y'all have any epic Karl Lawrence tales (of course you do!), email us with your story and a pic at ric@karllawrence.com.

A repeat of Ann Ryan's pic of her Bowman Lake experience made better with a glass of Karl Lawrence.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Slim and Spring

Spring is busting out all over here in the Napa Valley. Ric's first azalea blossomed the other day, even before his daffodils. Growers are worried that this warm weather will cause bud break too early. After record rain falls, we're now in our 19th day of drought, blue skies, and record breaking temperatures. As Ric rode his bike down the Silverado Trail, it was almost 80 degrees. He would have rode longer, but had to hurry home and prune as he is weeks behind.

The Offering Letters for the 2008 release are going out as we speak to those of you who live in the warmer areas. Michael calls this vintage "plush and lush." Please note that this is our smallest release since the last century (1999). In striving to be fair, requests for more wine over your allocations will have to be held until everybody has had a chance to order.

Langhorne Slim at the Fillmore. Photo courtesy of Ric's phone.

In other news, good family friend and KL affiliate, Langhorne Slim (above), opened for the Old 97's at the ever historic Fillmore in San Francisco. And although Ric and Cheryl were not able to party on the Rythm and Blues Cruise (which just set sail from Ft. Lauderdale) for the first time in seven years, they kept the blues alive by caravaning to the city to see Langhorne wail on the same stage that Janis, Jefferson Airplane, and The Dead made famous.

Langhorne's lover and long time Henry child Jessi Friedrich with Cheryl, Langhorne, and Melissa in SF.

Check out Slim's tunes here: http://www.langhorneslim.com/