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.

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.

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/

More than Wine

Well it seems like this blog has ended up being more of a bay area sports chronicling rather than wine publication. So, to keep the tradition going, we want to ask if any of you watched Oregon and Auburn in the BCS National Championship game on Monday night? If so, you might have seen this guy, John Boyett:

He's starting safety for the Ducks and a graduate of Napa High School. His dad was also Nicholas's Drivers Ed. and P.E. teacher at Saint Helena High. Although we were bummed at the Ducks loss (as many St. Helena juveniles attend school up in Eugene), we wanted to let you know about this Napa Valley native's success at the next level, and show you that we're capable of producing much more than just fine wine.

Happy New Year!

Hello, folks! Pardon the hiatus.

In recent news, Ric and Cheryl celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary on December 27 by going out to dinner at Terra's. Ric ordered the lobster in garlic butter and Cheryl ordered the pumpkin soup, so they didn't need their 2002 KL cab that had brought. They overheard the couple at the table next to them tell the waiter that they had just gotten engaged that day. So Ric and Cheryl gave them their bottle of cab and told them that now they'll always remember the day they got engaged as it was on our anniversary.

Also, to start the year off right, Ric's neighbor 's second son was the first birth of the new year. Bryan was the attending physician. The baby, Teddy Rex Blum, was born at 6:18 P.M. on 1/1/11. Teddy's dad, Todd, runs the tasting room at Merryvale Winery.

In other wine news: The 2007 750's are sold out, but still available in all other sizes. The 2006 wine that the restaurants didn't take is still available at $39/750ml. The 2008 will be released within the next month or two.

Walk-in Tastings!

Don't forget about our walk-in tasting hours! If you're bored on a weekend, and happen to be roaming around Saint Helena, stop by the office between 2 and 6 pm and have a glass or two. Our office is located behind Azteca Market at 639 Main Street. So come on by. We'd love to have you.

And without further ado, here's Ric and Cheryl with Dave and Ginge Jamieson at the sold-out Raider Victory on Sunday:

Fall Classic: Ric's Baseball Fashion Fiasco

Baseball has been in the Henry Clan's bloodline since day one of our days in this great country. Weiland Henry, Bryan and Ric's dad, was considered Northern California's best pitcher in 1939 and scouted by the New York Yankees to play professional ball. However, Weiland chose to stray from his baseball spirit in exchange for another calling: instead, he became a preacher.

However, baseball and the San Francisco Giants still played a huge role in the Henry household regardless of Papa Henry's career choice.

So, to watch the Giants finally overcome fifty-six years of disappointment, and bring their first title to San Francisco, Ric traveled with Ann Ryan and Brian Nash to the Hi-Dive Bar, underneath the Bay Bridge:

Although Ric was nearly brought to tears by his team's victory, he still had to defend himself from being accused a "bandwagon fan."

See, despite Ric's desperate search for his two (very authentic mind you) Giants' jerseys, it only took a couple of minutes to realize that Nicholas had commandeered both of his jerseys to support his team in Colorado.

Jersey #1 enjoying some late night cheese fries at "Smelly Deli" in Boulder, CO.

Jersey #2 (and #3 considering Angie's Hawaiian Giants extravaganza) back home for a regular season game in 2009.

Nicholas later brought it back to CO.

To cope with this dilemma, Ric luckily had his trusty orange and black Karl Lawrence shirt:

However, when looking for his black overshirt, he realized Nicholas had stolen that as well. So he finally resorted to wearing a tuxedo shirt, with pleats and french cuffs over his orange getup, and had to spend the majority of his night claiming he was not a "poser," but, in fact, a life-long fan.

Ric still gets a post-game hug from Ann despite his lack of "true-fan" gear.

Ric, fully pleated, with Ann and Brian outside the Hi-Dive after the victory.

But not to worry, Ric, we believe you. Here are some photos from Ric and Brian's phones documenting the historical night:

Go Giants!