Optimism is the word I feel appropriate to describe the New Year. A few weeks ago I had dinner over at one of my friend’s; he passed out some buttons printed with the word optimism. It made me reflect on how much I have to be thankful for and what I have to look forward to over this next year.

On a personal note this last year my wife and I saw the arrival of our daughter Sofia. She has grown so much these last six months. Maybe I am biased but I think she is the cutest baby in the world. Every day I am amazed at the new things she discovers; it is exciting to see the world through her eyes, and I look forward to seeing her grow.

Professionally I've been excited with the completion of our new production facility. I have a full harvest under my belt in the new place and the wines are turning out better than I could have hoped for, which is saying something! We had a lot of fun events this past year, saw a lot of friends of the winery and made many new ones. Our wines have received many accolades, and also praise from the most important people (you, our customers), who buy up many of the wines before they ever get reviewed. With that said, I foresee another great year. We have some amazing wines lined up for 2009 and more great events where I anticipate seeing many of you.

A few things I am excited about for these next few months would be our two new releases in February and our second annual paella dinner! Last year we released our first Tempranillo which recently made it into Paul Gregutt’s Top 100 Best Washington Wines. I am delighted to say that the second Tempranillo resembles our first but with a more rounded mouthfeel. Limited quantities were produced – only about 70 cases. Another release I am thrilled about is our first ever Malbec. I can’t tell you how many people stop by the tasting room asking if we do a Malbec. I reply we have two vintages in bottle but our wine club gets the first crack at it. We only made 49 cases in 2006. It spent 20 months in barrel and ten months in bottle before its release date. The Malbec has the classic bright fruit and white pepper nose indicative of Malbec. It is certainly a palate-pleaser!

Our kick off for these two wines will be the Paella Dinner held February 7th out at our winery. We have enough room in my paella pans to cook for 28 people. I also have a new Paella burner which I am totally psyched about using! See below for more info! Club Members can also pick up wines that day, and we will have apps from 4:00pm - 5:30pm with dinner starting at 6:00pm.

Happy New Year!
May this be your best year yet and each one to follow better than the last!

Cheers,

Ryan Raber
Tertulia Cellars
Winemaker