Hi Berserkers!! Virage is back with 3pak bundles of our CabFranc/Merlot blended in the tradition of Right Bank Bordeaux. Aged and age-worthy wines of intriguing depth and complexity, now hitting their stride with a decade in bottle on library vintages offered today! Imagine my warehouse bills…
I love BerserkerDay! A wonderful winter pick-me-up with so many repeat buyers and fun new tryers! For newbies, I’m a hands-on vintner, when I’m not dodging catastrophes… please post questions freely!
WHAT TO EXPECT: Aromatic, rich expressive blends of layered character, driven by primary fruit not oak (under 50% new, French). Exploding with red-black stonefruit, grounded by earth elements–minerals, tobacco, anise, leather. All sisters but with their own personality twists. What they share is lush black-cherry fruit and vibrancy like they were put in bottle yesterday, while developing that indescribeableness you only get with age. A sense of wholeness? My favorite quote of WB Michael Martin, “The nose alone is worth the price.” Then the smooth, expansive midpalate andchored by dense 600-thread-count tannins, finishing long and mouthwatering. Always evolving, even over the course of one night. Invite friends to a blind Right-Bank Bordeaux tasting and this bottle will fit right in! I’m proud of all these wines.
My story, in a nutshell… I discovered wine in culinary school and after working with my CIA wine teacher and author Karen MacNeil, going back to school again (UCDavis, Napa Valley College), and a dozen years consulting for Napa Valley wineries, I mouthed off about my vision of Virage to financial investors, and dang, they backed this venture… We’ve produced ten vintages!
If interested in more of the story, pop into the website, or scroll down below for TMI!
****RIGHT BANK * Cool Climate * NAPA VALLEY
WHY these red blends taste like they do— Right Bank Bordeaux tradition meets the soils and climate of Napa Valley. We wanted slow and steady ripening over a long growing season. Fast and hot (think Modesto) creates sugar, not character! Our philosophy: with these varietals, cooler afternoons and warmer nights—a more temperate climate—brings optimal maturity in flavors, tannins and aromatics, retaining natural freshness (acidity), and avoiding heatwave sugar spikes (for lower alcohol). For me, in Napa Valley, you can do this two ways: head up to altitude (intense mountain fruit, low yield, expensive to farm) or come closer to the marine influence of San Pablo Bay. We started in the Southwestern foothills of Mt. Veeder (aka Carneros), in a unique pocket of volcanic soils in the rolling hills just above the Carneros Hwy, at the “turn in the road” to Hwy29. I’m not the first! Neighbors like Hudson and Hyde are well known–my 2010 Virage includes a nice block of Hyde Merlot!
The primary vineyard blocks–on East-facing slope of Forward soils–enjoy cooling breezes flowing up from the bay, yet protected from colder winds that blast across lower-lying Carneros from the Petaluma Gap.
For BerserkerDay13, our offers are simple: A limited quantity special 6pak (just 13 for BD13), and 3paks you combine to 6 and 12paks.
To order ONLY a SINGLE 3pak (the Vertical or the Bourriquots) use code BD3PK
To ramp up the fun, combine two or more 3paks for a
13% BONUS discount on your order.
Trying to run with the Lucky 13 theme here!
CODE BD13 does BOTH discounts with 2+ bundles in cart OR 1 bundle + three or more individual wines you chose
TWO FAST 'n EASY 1-CLICK BUNDLES:
3PAK MINI VERTICAL @18% off = $164
Three blends in their optimal drinking window… One bottle each Virage 2010, 2011, 2012
Use code BD3PK if ordering only this item and nothing else in order.
Double up to a 6pak with bonus discount BD13 for 6@ $285.36, just under $50/bottle.
It’s just no fun to have only ONE of a new wine… you figure out what to drink it with (or whom) and it’s gone!
These wines were rated 91-93 by the Pros at release: Here’s Virage Press on our website
Lots of TN’s on CellarTracker, here’s three recent Berserker threads:
2012: Another nice thread on Virage with 2012 tasting note by David:
3pak of BOURRIQUOT 2012 @20% off = $105.60
Our 2nd Label, Bo-Ree-ko Hard to say, easy to drink!
Use code BD3PK if ordering only this item and nothing else in order.
UNFILTERED, dark, dangerous, juicy, smooth and intriguing, a black plum tart among wines! Brambly blackberry, black plum, licorice/anise, slippery elm, pepper, all finishing like that last bite of a fresh plum, the refreshing brighter core…
My noninvestment in marketing here is your gain. These are the same sources, same barrels as Virage 2012. I tried to shoot the moon on Virage 2012 scores, and this fun ~70/30 CabFranc/Merlot blend came together from some of the remaining barrels! The initially scratchy Franc is smoothing out beautifully! That Atlas Peak block, in gorgeous red Aiken soils on a north-facing slope just below Antica, looking across the road to Stagecoach, delivered 9tons where, for the prior three years we harvested 1-3, and most of it would go into Rose’. I literally ran out of bins, and had to contract another winery for a tank (thanks to friends on Spring Mountain). The bumper crop of 2012 is what makes this deal possible!
Also great for doubling (use code BD13) for a herd of 6@$183.74. Double again (same code), same shipping on a case! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
With the bonus discount, a screaming deal ~30 bucks a bottle. There’s just not enough of these bottles in your hands and I want y’all to start DRINKING them TALKING about them SHARING them.
There WILL be a carryover reorder case deal for BD13 buyers. Cuz you will want more. This wine tends to become a house wine. Here’s a Berserker TN thread about 2012 Bourriquot.
And something I never do, the scarcity thing, for a lucky 13 on BerserkerDay13…
A SPECIAL OFFER: LIMITED QUANTITY 6Pak
(13 lucky Berserkers only!) $316.40
Includes the three VIRAGE vintages above 2010-2012, two Bourriquot 2012, and one bottle of the SOLD OUT 2007 VIRAGE. It’s heart-wrenching to part with these 2007s!! I would only do this for Berserkers. There’s no discount on that bottle, but 20% on the rest of the bundle. (Grab one of these 6paks, cuz the few remaining 2007’s are all MINE, you’ll have to come visit and bring dinner to share one with me). ****
OR CURATE YOUR OWN ORDER
15% off anything we have in stock. 3-bottle Minimum.
I know some of you really like your own mix.
Shop at Virage Napa Valley
COUPON CODE: BD13
DETAILS OF ENGAGEMENT–
PAYMENT: My website accepts all credit cards, but as a small business, I love Zelle! To pay by Zelle, where 100% of your payment deposits straight to the Virage account without the exhorbitant (~10%) bite removed by my credit card processor, please place your order selecting Pay by Check and Zelle your total from the invoice to emily@viragenapavalley.com My bank puts your name right on the incoming payment. Only takes me a minute to pair up. Saves hours fighting the cryptic CC statement.
SHIPPING: I’m offering FLAT RATE SHIPPING COST of $25. Take advantage and order a full case, but NOTE: Unless you’re a seasoned home-delivery wine buyer on a first-name basis with your FedEx driver, I’m only picking up the tab here if we’re shipping to a BUSINESS ADDRESS. Or, let’s ship to HOLD at FEDEX LOCATION (HAL) near you for pickup–this can be a FedEx Office or often a Walgreen’s or other retailer. I set the “hold” when entering the shipment–everything close to you pops up automatically, so I can email you local options. Basically, I ride herd over every order every day for months watching for a good shipping window. For me, BerserkerDay is like BerserkerQuarter January 27 to April 27, lol. Even with many working from home now, 80% of my shipping time is trying to time the delivery and dealing with missed deliveries. I cannot bear the idea of your wines bumbling about a FedEx truck in hot afternoons, or parked outside over a freezing weekend. Plus FedEx has added astounding Home Delivery surcharges with pandemic as excuse to execute poorly with no more service commitment. HAL or business addresses ALWAYS go more smoothly.
STATE RESTRICTIONS: I ship to most states, excepting AK, KY, MI, NH, NY, and SD. There are legal means to buy your wines in California and ship them to yourself if you live in a state being strangled by old-school distributor financial interests. Email me and we’ll see how I can facilitate this before you order.
TMI ABOUT ME, THE UNINTENDED VINTNER:
A longtime foodie, I discovered wine in 1998 in my first week of culinary school at CIA in Napa Valley. After the program and working as a cook at Greystone, this former investment banker became a $10/hr assistant to my wine teacher, the inimitable author Karen MacNeil, helping with private education programs and regular tastings at her home. I’m proud to be listed in the credits of the Wine Bible, her James Beard award-winning book, the best $20 you could ever invest in wine. How about I send a signed copy of The Wine Bible to an enthusiastic commenter on this thread! Every day at work, the FedEx, UPS, DHL trucks would bring wine down the long driveway, and our combined three Dalmatians would get a great workout chasing them. How I survived driving down that hill, without hitting the huge tree in the middle of Spring Mountain Road, I’ll never know…
I grew up on the other side of the tracks so to speak (un-tenured professor dad fired from UF Gainesville for Civil Rights activism early 1960’s). College was financed by working as a bartender; we made great cocktails at Jeremiah’s Steak House, but poured mostly Wente Blanc de Blanc and Gallo “Chablis” and “Burgundy.” My few experiences with “fine” wine was watching obnoxious partners from my firm order expensive bottles at business dinners, and rarely did they taste good! So I arrived in Napa Valley mid-30’s a blank wine sponge. And truth be told, a bit of attitude, almost skipping the program’s first week, Wine 101 with Karen MacNeil–“OMG, we’ll have to listen to those pretentious wine words ALL DAY??” I thought, imagining all the horseback riding I could do instead… but with the first morning exercise from our stern taskmaster–Taste Wine #1 and Wine #2, Which do you prefer and why?–I got it. Never learned so much in one week in my life. A year later, when Karen’s husband Dennis Fife needed some financial help, I earned a better hourly rate rallying my former corporate finance experience to run some numbers for his wine business. Recognizing that hundreds of local wineries had a bookkeeper to pay the bills, a tax accountant to file the annual return, but no resources for financial decision-making, I started Accounting for Taste to help answer strategic questions. Should they start a second label or sell excess grapes or wine? Should we buy vineyard or sign a supply contract? Lose money on every bottle and make it up–i.e., make it worse–with volume…?
Consulting allowed me to stay in wine country and renovate a little historic 1880’s redwood cabin with a sweet view. I went back to school at UCDavis and Napa Valley College to study viticulture, wine economics, winemaking. I helped small wineries raise capital, buy/sell vineyards/wineries, build a winery, finance replants. I never built a strategic plan without engaging everyone expected to execute, from bottling managers to vineyard manager, winemaker and sales team, learning from them all every day. I shoulda stuck to it! But, after 12 years serving clients from the St Emilion-born brother/sister owners of Beaucanon Estate to Quintessa to Constellation brands, a rabbit hole opened and I tumbled in it: I had an idea inspired by a wine I loved, and partners backed the launch of Virage Napa Valley.
TERROIR AND BLENDING:
Did you know Napa Valley hosts 33 soil types? SIX of the TWELVE soil orders on the entire GLOBE. Seriously, one 29-mile long and about 1-mile wide valley contains HALF the world’s soil orders (defined by the method of formation)! While Americans are most familiar with Cabernet Sauvignon, the hardy cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, which is a classic variety as it thrives so many places in the world, there is indeed more to Napa Valley than Big Bad Napa Cab! Just as CabFranc/Merlot thrive on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, there are sweet spots for these varieties here.
Wine is an expression of place. There’s no greater diversity of winegrowing terroir than in the Napa Valley. Plant the right grape to fully express a unique place. Bordeaux varietals were not born to be bottled alone; let your Winemaker blend for you! Lastly, I like to pay for what’s in the bottle–not hype, heavy glass, marketing and vintner lifestyle. I drive a Subaru Outback not a Range Rover 
Take a turn in the road to the Right Bank.
I LOVE BERSERKERS Even with all the new clubs/fees/growth, the core serious-about-wine-but-not-about-ourselves Berserker vibe is alive and well. The inherent contract: Vintners offer insane discounts and wine-loving Berserkers pop corks and chat about what they love!
Every year I say, WHY the heck don’t I hang out here more!? Y’all are so smart and fun.
CHEERS! HAVE FUN AND ORDER UP!
Emily
I’ll be here, propounding and editing all day, snacking, sipping,… and shopping
Or email me: emily@viragenapavalley.com
or call/text: 707-480-9155
