SPECIAL OFFER - Virage Vineyards (destruction from Glass fire)

Many of you know Emily Richer of Virage Vineyards, a frequent participant of the community, and nearly-constant participant in BerserkerDay. Her wines are extraordinary, and have many fans here.

Her property was destroyed completely in the Glass fire, and I reached out to see how we could help. Her insurance will cover the buildings, but she is in desperate need of cash flow right now, so she’s created a special offer to help generate cash flow to get through this long process.

15% discount on EVERYTHING, even already-discounted items, on her website, using code FIRE

That’s a direct link to her website, and I encourage you to do some quick searches for the tasting notes on her wines, as they are plentiful. I absolutely adore the Bordeaux blend, particularly with some age on it, and I’ll be buying some more.

Emily, feel free to post photos if you wish, more details, anything you like.

Thanks Todd, in for a couple of cases.

EDIT: The discount code didn’t work for me, said it was a minimum of 6 items. I don’t really care about the discount given the cause, so more of an FYI.

I’ve emailed Emily about that, thanks

Just an FYI-the first time I clicked on the link it took me to Wine.com. The second time to Virage. The redirection to Wine.com happened yesterday also when clicking to open a thread in Wine Talk.

Same here.

Same here

Thanks for posting this. Looking forward to trying some of their wines and glad to support

OK, order in. Best to Emily and thanks for setting this up, Todd. Make me proud to be a Berserker.

Yes order in! And our best to Emily!

Trying to figure that out - hopefully got it

In for a vertical case and I chose not to enter the discount code. Emily can use that 15% more right now than I can.

Order placed

In for 6 Rose - great tasty wine that’s drinking so well!

I don’t post here much and I am not an emotional guy at all. But for some reason as I was ordering… I genuinely got watery eyes. I blame it on my allergies. All the best to Emily.

So with the sappy stuff out of the way… this is one I was on fence for B day… but we didn’t drink much Rose back then. Then Quarantine hit and its Rose all day… so from the wine point of view this was perfect.

I went with a 6 pack of reds this time. I generally load up on Rose yearly however I never really had the opportunity to try her other offerings.

Thx for posting this Todd.

Jason, you’re the best, thank you so much, and everyone. I made the code apply to all the wines, forgot it was copied from a code with 6-bottle minimum, ugh, I fixed that. A full case is certainly meeting the test. Gratefully those all have built-in discounts, so hope everyone is happy with their order. I just wanted to do a little something for you all who have meant a lot to me, but yeah, wouldn’t hurt to have a few higher-margin sales. Sorry for the confusion. I’m frazzled, obviously.

Placed an order. Wishing all the best for Emily…

Hi y’all. Todd you’re just the best for doing this. My little Napa Valley home is all about a space to share and it has just vaporized to dust with everything in it. Including my personal wines, dang it. I brought four cases of special stuff out in the previous evacuation but so much more, all with stories, are gone.
Berserkers might remember I donated a couple of nights in the sweet guest cabin --it’s SO cute, built in 1880’s–for Todd’s auction on Berserker Day in 2017. Met the coolest couple from Atlanta. I need to figure out how to post a picture! The wee cabin was a retreat for so many, always had a great energy. It sits just outside of town, perched on a canyon, over a seasonal creek—you can hear the waterfall in winter. It’s magical. It’s not me, it’s the place. A respite to so many friends over my 20 years as its keeper—short term and longer term guests, students, some romantic escapades some professional, all called to take a minute’s reflection under the trees on the porch swing as birds soar overhead on canyon thermals… Home to untold many over 140 years. Including Herschel Woodruff whose family lived here in 1948, when he was nine years old, a family of five in 400sf. He said all the houses on the street, built with the St. Helena Rural Health Retreat ala Dr. Kellogg of Battlecreek Michigan, had a name on a sign out front, and my cabin was “Canyon Cottage” where he and his brother played outside, sliding on cardboard sleds down to the creek… A successful businessman—local concrete guy—now retired he donates time at the (now burned) local thrift shop, he graciously walked through with me last year, showing where he remembered the woodstove and his mom’s washboard… I felt so rich, to have this sweet space to share, to live between these two wee cottages just me, my dog, and my former renters and guests.

Some of you may also remember a dramatic photo posted on Berserker Day 2018 of that cabin smacked by a huge 120ft Douglas Fir in a windstorm the prior winter. That was my first of now four insurance claims since then, including an F3 Tornado that rolled past my (hopefully) retirement home, a renovation project in East Nashville. I was finally done with the restoration of the wind damage.

Lemme just say, if you have the chance, no matter how many times you are evacuated, no matter how many times your power company cuts your power for what they think is good PR, forcing you out of your house, or leaving you to rig up an inverter on your Subaru to keep food from spoiling, no matter how many fire evacuations when there’s truly no chance the fire is coming your way, but the County officials want to own the road… and no matter how SMALL the fire is at the point you do leave… like this thing was TWENTY (20) acres and seemed imminently extinguishable when I left at 5am… no matter if the winds are blowing the other way, no matter if the hospital (having taken over the site of the 1880’s rural health retreat) if you are blessed with TIME before the knock on the door to go due to a disaster, USE THAT TIME, use it, over and over, no matter how weary of it, to collect the things that make your house feel like home, because you can make home anew, and it’s a lot easier with those little things, the things that evoke shared memory and connection.
I’m a minimalist, I live in a 700sf house, and it’s just a few things I wish I’d grabbed. My CD’s, my recipes. The sounds and flavors of my life. My boyfriend says who cares, he owns every CD ever printed. Yeah, well, I want mine, and not just because they’re Indie stuff but because they all came through friends. My cousin Akasha the famous chef (woot, woot, who doesn’t serve my wine in her LA restaurant) says she’ll give me recipes. I don’t want her recipes. Well, maybe a couple, if we had a meal together, to start my collection anew, because MY recipe box held the meals learned from people who cooked for me, dishes that connect me to that occasion, dishes I prepare for others and extend the connection forward. My music is my set of moods, emotions, sounds, that express me and my experiences. So I’m moping. I’m belaboring so others won’t make the same mistake.

And could I have grabbed a few cases of wine, like damn, the magnums… or my secret stash of the last 7 half-bottles of 2007, I love those little babies! And the peach jam I just made from the harvest last month in the Purple Air, waiting for each to get ripe, and wanting to share with the neighbors whose garden I feasted from during the last 8-day evacuation. It’s all gone. Everything is vaporized.

Thanks for listening. I gotta get back to the insurance guy. It does look like so far so good they’re doing what they’re supposed to do—support me—in a total loss situation.

But emotionally, I’m frazzled. This is harder than I expected. I need to feel productive, and to connect with folks, that web of connection will lift me out. I’m so thankful Todd reached out and did this for me and y’all are re-stocking. I’m the worst at sales. I hate being bothered so I just don’t call people! Even though I know so many of you love the wines. Thank you so much for jumping in today with orders.

I’ll post here some more, I promise shorter, cuz you just have to see these photos. It’s insane. I’m safe in San Francisco, my dog is safe tho stressed out. I’m not on a cot on the floor of a church, I am blessed.

THANK YOU.

A local fire reporter who stayed behind took video; can I post a link to Twitter? All my neighbors and I watched and analyzed his tweets until Tuesday about 3pm, he finally stepped across the downed power pole to access our block, and showed us the entire neighborhood is gone. I think all that’s left in my yard is a piece of garden art, Toonses the Cat, given to me as a gift from a CIA culinary student. I’m obsessed with getting my hands on it. She is now a baker, in Austin, TX, and reached out with stories of her own of how much her time there in 2001 meant to her… A place in time. Carpe diem folks… Drink your good wine.

This is my block.

How do I post a pic? I have a before and after that kinda says it all. But it’s not online anywhere to link to?