Hi friends & neighbors,

You are getting this e-mail because you have either asked to be put on our mailing list or have tasted our wines before. It has been a while since we've written to you, and we have exciting news to share with you!

Villa del Monte Winery is proud to announce that both of the wines we submitted to the Santa Cruz County Fair competition and all three of the wines submitted to the California State Fair wine competition won awards. These are brand-new, just-bottled wines, so we are very pleased with these results. For more information on these and our other awards, check out ourawards page.

California State Fair Wine Competition:

Silver Medal winners:

·        2006 Merlot, Carneros, Moon Vineyard

Bronze Medal winners:

·        2004 Cabernet Blend, California

·        2006 Pinot, Santa Cruz Mountains, Quenneville Vineyard

Santa Cruz County Fair Wine Competition:

Silver Medal winners:

·        2006 Merlot, Carneros, Moon Vineyard

Bronze Medal winners:

·        2006 Pinot, Santa Cruz Mountains, Quenneville Vineyard

At the Santa Cruz competition, we also unexpectedly won second place for our label design! Thanks to Erik Waage, our graphic artist.

We bottled the 2006 Moon Merlot and the 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir in the spring, and they taste great (they are award winners after all).  The fruity Pinot is ready to drink right now, and the full-bodied Merlot is awesome and will be getting better for at least 5-10 more years. 

We now have six different wines in the bottle:

2002 Moon Merlot, Carneros
2006 Moon Merlot, Carneros - award 
2006 Quenneville Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains
2007 Quenneville Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains
2006 Quenneville Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains - award 
2007 Quenneville Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains

Contact Neil, John, Suzanne, or Joyce  if you want to know more.

In other news, we have settled into our new winery location, less than a mile from our houses.  Now we have the room to make wine without being so constrained for space as in previous years.  We have also restarted the process of getting bonded--in time for the 2009 harvest.

Once again, we poured at the Santa Clara University Wine Festival last September.  We have been an exhibitor at this event for several years now.   You can find us by following the wonderful smells of grilling meat because we are right next to the Birk's booth. If you haven't reserved already, or aren't sure what the event is, follow this link: http://www.scu.edu/alumni/events/vintage/index.cfm

We are recovering from the frenzy of the harvest now that the wines are snug in their barrels.  Now we are confirming our grape commitments for next year with our regular growers who provide consistently high-quality grapes.  We recognize that, after all, it's all in the grapes.  Check out our wine page for more information on what we have in the bottle and what we have in the barrel.

Some of you have visited us for a tasting, and some helped us bottle last year.  For those of you who have not visited us yet or if you want to visit again or help with the next crush, press, or bottling, let one of us know when you want to come by.  We would be happy to show you around and give you a taste of our award-winning wines.

Thanks to all of you who have supported and encouraged us in our winemaking adventure.  May we all enjoy many more years of good friendship & great wine.

Wine us up!
  John & Suzanne Overstreet
  Neil & Joyce Perrelli