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12 / the tasting panel / december 2016 INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Tis the Season F or the second consecutive year, Patrón is giving holiday entertainers and gift givers an added bonus for the season with the release of the 2016 large one-liter Limited Edition Patrón Silver bottle. This year's eye-catching holiday edition bottle was inspired by Mexico's rich heritage of Art Deco design. It features a black and silver pewter label, intricately adorned with detailed geometric lines and the iconic Patrón bee. The bottle is topped with a beautifully crafted cork closure in black and silver that mirrors the Art Deco aesthetic of the label, and is packaged in an attractive and easy- to-carry gift bag. (For more holiday specials, check out page 40.) A Customizable Chocolate Garnish T he ChocolateSideCar is a Belgian choco- late garnish—milk or dark, with flavors of orange, lemon, lime, strawberry, jalapeño and more—that sits comfortably on the rims of most drinkware and can be enjoyed as an extra shot of satisfac- tion with any drink, consumed simultane- ously or afterwards. The ChocolateSideCar replaces traditional garnishes that take time for bartenders to prep and are eventu- ally tossed out at cost. A great conversation piece that helps drive return business, the ChocolateSideCar can be imprinted with cus- tom artwork promoting your bar, restaurant, brand or event. Check out all the options at www.chocolatesidecar.com. Hitching a Ride C astello di Amorosa launched a ride-sharing program in August and has seen the program succeed beyond expectations. TheTuscan-style castle winery in Calistoga wants to be part of the solution. Approximately 30 castle employees have taken advantage of this program and are carpooling, cycling, walking or taking the bus to work. In this program, drivers and passengers are incentivized with cash payments by the winery of $5 per round trip per passenger if there is less than a 15 mile commute and $10 per round trip per passenger for distances greater than 15 miles. The winery is proud to be reducing traffic generated by its employees on Napa County roads. A New Partnership S mith Family Wines, the largest grape grower in the Santa Lucia Highlands, recently joined forces with major California distributor Classic Wines of California to sell select premium wines statewide. Four of their popular Paraiso Vineyards varietals— the Monterey 2015 Chardonnay, 2015 Rosé of Pinot Noir, 2014 Pinot Noir and Santa Lucia Highlands 2015 Riesling—will now be offered across California, on- and off-premise. Classic, which is owned by the iconic Franzia family, has been a distributor handling full service on- and off-premise sales for Smith Family Wines since September 1 of this year. The Franzia and Smith families share similar roots: Both started as California grape growers and evolved into multigenerational wineries and winemaking businesses. Contact: Mike Fine 602-206-8969 mike.fine@smithfamilywines.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Photos Included Smith Family Wines Partners with Classic Wines of California for Distribution of Paraiso Vineyards Santa Lucia Highlands, CA (November 8, 2016) – Smith Family Wines, the largest grape grower in the Santa Lucia Highlands, recently joined forces with major California distributor Classic Wines of California to sell select premium wines statewide. Four of their popular Paraiso Vineyards varietals, which include the Monterey 2015 Chardonnay, 2015 Rosé of Pinot Noir, 2014 Pinot Noir and Santa Lucia Highlands 2015 Riesling, will now be offered across California, on and off premise. Classic, which is owned by the iconic Franzia family, has been a distributor handling full service on and off premise sales for Smith Family Wines since September 1 st of this year. The Franzia and Smith families share similar roots: both started as California grape growers and evolved into multigenerational winery and winemaking businesses. "Having a strong connection as family-owned businesses that are both grape growers and wine producers is a bonus of our partnership with Classic. With more than 100 sales staff, we're expecting them to be our largest volume distributor, and we're excited to build premium wine brands with them in the future," said Jason Smith, president and CEO of Smith Family Wines. The Paraiso Vineyards varietals being distributed through Classic offer retailers and restaurateurs a glimpse of the quality reflected in Smith's entire portfolio of premium wines, which also includes the luxury Alexander-Smith label slated for distribution by Classic in the second quarter of 2017. The Paraiso Vineyards varietals being distributed by Classic have performed well in competitions and magazines this year. Top scores were awarded from Wine Enthusiast, with the Monterey Chardonnay receiving 89 points and the Monterey Pinot Noir receiving 88 points. "Our relationship with Classic represents a cornerstone of our broad market program," said Mike Fine, VP of sales and marketing at Smith Family Wines. "We waited to bring on a distributor in our home state until distribution in the rest of the country was secured. With decades of experience, Classic is well qualified to lead our reintroduction to the California market. They're the right distributor to handle our business for the long term and help us grow the Paraiso Vineyards brand." Paraiso Vineyards will also be highlighted in a national advertising campaign promoting the label's award-winning Monterey Pinot Noir. The series of ads, which will focus on telling the Smith Family story of roots that run deep in the Santa Lucia Highlands, will be featured in major industry and consumer publications including Wine Enthusiast, The Somm Journal and The Tasting Panel beginning December 2016. # # # About Smith Family Wines Smith Family Wines is a multigenerational vertically-integrated group of vineyard and wine companies. Since 1973 the Smith family has been growing grapes in Monterey County, California, where their SIP-Certified home estate vineyard and state-of-the-art winery are located in the Santa Lucia Highlands. Smith Family Wines is the largest grower in the SLH with more than 820 acres, and their award-winning Paraiso Vineyards wines are made and bottled there. They additionally grow and harvest on 4,000 acres throughout other AVAs in Monterey County. They have two tasting rooms: one in the SLH and one in Carmel-by-the-Sea. For more information, visit www.SmithFamilyWines.com or call 831-678-0300.