Duke of Bourbon: E-mail Specials

Bill Wathen and Dick Dore have been making world-class wine at Foxen Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley since 1985. Their "rustic" tasting room is shown at right. Foxen Vineyards has been receiving much attention from the wine writers, especially in the last few years. Their wines consistently earn top scores from both the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker. For example, Parker has said: "I hope readers have recognized how gorgeous the Foxen wines have been over the last five or six years. Their individuality and distinctiveness as well as high quality are evidenced in their newest releases. Kudos to Foxen."

We were fortunate to be able to taste many of the stunning Foxen wines at our Wine
Bowl 2009 on February 12. The consensus was, "Wow!" Jenny Williamson-Dore was leading us through the seminar and offered many interesting comments including the fact that Foxen's Pinot Noirs, Rhone blends and Bordeaux-style wine are bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is a difficult process, especially so for Pinot Noir, but the enhancement of flavors makes the process worth the extra care and work. Read on for more comments from our seminar.

As in past years, we are offering the Foxen wines on future individually or in the combo packs listed below for delivery in mid-June, 2009. Sorry, at this time, the Sea Smoke Pinot Noir is available only in the combo packs. As you can see, both the by-the-bottle and the combo packs offer very significant discounts. To our knowledge, we are the only retail wine merchant in the U.S.A. to offer the Foxen Sea Smoke and Julia's Pinot Noirs on future.

Combo #1

3 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Sea Smoke Vineyard
3 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Julia's Vineyard
3 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido Vineyard, Block 8
3 - Foxen 2006 Cuvee Jeanne-Marie

List price - $665.50 - Duke's price - $599.99

Combo #2

2 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Sea Smoke Vineyard
2 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Julia's Vineyard
2 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido Vineyard, Block 8
2 - Foxen 2006 Cuvee Jeanne-Marie

List price - $437.00 - Duke's price - $399.99

Combo #3

4 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Sea Smoke Vineyard
4 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Julia's Vineyard
4 - Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido Vineyard, Block 8

List price - $738.00 - Duke's price - $685.96

Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Sea Smoke Vineyard
(List price - $77.50) - Not Available except in Combos 1-3
Foxen is the only winery, other than Sea Smoke Cellars itself, with access to Sea Smoke's fabulous Sta.-Rita Hills fruit. We tasted the 2007 vintage at the seminar and it blew us away! Big, full and rich - a wine of both power and finesse - it is sure to receive top accolades from the wine writers. Do not miss out on your chance to obtain this magnificent wine!

Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Bien Nacido Vineyard, Block 8
List price - $55.00 - Duke's price - $49.50
Full and rich like the Sea Smoke we tasted, this is a fabulous Pinot Noir with loads of stuffing, but with more elegance than previous vintages. Custom-farmed at Bien Nacido by the Foxen team, it could be called a monopole. Our opinion is that it should rank right up there with its Sta. Rita Hills brother (both the Sea Smoke and Block 8 could be called "masculine" wines) and will be rated very highly.

Foxen 2007 Pinot Noir, Julia's Vineyard
List price - $52.00 - Duke's price - $46.99
Are we excited by this one! This is our first chance to offer Julia's on futures and perhaps your first chance to taste an absolutely first-rate Pinot Noir. Julia's tends to be a more "feminine" wine than the Sea Smoke and Bien Nacido. Don't think for a second that this one didn't hold her own. There is that wonderful spice on the nose, an elegant palate and a long, satisfying finish. Then you realize the underpinings are there for a truly classic California Pinot Noir. Watch out Sea Smoke!

Foxen 2006 Cuvee Jeanne-Marie
List price - $34.00 - Duke 's price - $29.99
While the other wines have not yet been reviewed, Parker did get his paws on this one and awarded it 92 points. His notes: "The stunning, sexy 2006 Cuvee Jeanne Marie (a blend of 60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 15% Mourvedre) offers up gorgeous aromas of roasted Provencal herbs, ground pepper, sweet, smoky game and meat, and copious quantities of black cherries and black currants. The expressive aromatics are followed by a pure, lush, succulent, hedonistic, medium to full-bodied red with considerable complexity, purity, and depth. Drink this beauty over the next 4-5 years." Our limited vocabulary bows to Mr. Parker - we couldn't have said it better.

Foxen 2005 Range 30 West (from Happy Canyon, a soon-to-be AVA)
List price - $35.00 - Duke's price - $27.99
This Bordeaux-style blend is named after the geologic designation of the area in Happy Canyon that the grapes call home. With temps as high as 30° warmer than those in nearby Sta.-Rita Hills, Bordeaux varietals achieve ripeness quite easily. Foxen's farm team's expertise comes through in Range 30 West's bright fruit flavors and sweet, silky tannins. This is a very serious wine with both early accessibility and aging potential.

Make your selection and

Call the Duke today!!

Note: Prices are good while our supplies last and we reserve the right to change them at any time without notice. We expect the wines to be released in late June, 2009. We will notify you when they arrive at the Duke to arrange for pick-up or shipping.