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Today, we are proud to add several premium quality wines from Slavonija's top wine makers Ivan Enjingi and Vlado Krauthaker to our portfolio. Until now we offered only a single Grasevina from Continental Croatia, the white wine Croatian's love to drink all summer long. It is a nice, easy-drinking wine from the Krizevci winery for only $11.95.     The Golden Valley and Ivan Enjingi
In the slim eastern stretch of Croatia, between Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina, is the region of Slavonia and the Valis Aurea, the Golden Valley. It is here, in Croatia’s bread basket, that Ivan Enjingi creates his masterful, expressive, award-winning wines. His vineyards include some of the best in the Golden Valley around Kutjevo, where white wine is predominant, including Grasevina and Rhein Riesling.
Enjingi also produces a beautifully made Zweigelt Barrique. which is reminiscent of an elegant Pinot Noir. Also of note is a unique late harvest wine named Venje. It is a special blend from several grapes and is only made in years with excellent growing conditions. Definitely world class!     Valis Aurea and Vlado Krauthaker
Vlado Krauthaker is the other "big gun" in Kutjevo, producing consistently excellent wines, again predominantly white but with more and more red grapes planted. In our web store we feature his Merlot which demonstrates that Krauthaker can produce very tasty red wines. Still, his flagship wine is a Grasevina. which has been so popular that we only succeeded in receiving a handful bottles of the 2007 vintage. For our introduction we'll have to limit each customer to one single bottle! But you should also try his other white wines, a crisp Pinot Gris (Sivi Pinot), a semi-dry, rich Chardonnay from his top vineyard Rosenberg, and finally Krauthaker's Sauvignon Blanc, the wine selected by German airline Lufthansa to be poured in their First Class.     News & Events
Our calendar is packed with a number of interesting wine events in California. Important reminder: This week you can meet Tamara Glavina the wine maker of the Top Slovenian estate Santomas in Berkeley and L.A. We promise: She will pour memorable wines!
         Friday 5/8 - Berkeley - Caffe Venezia - Santomas Wine Maker Dinner

    Sunday 5/10 - Los Angeles - Silverlake Wine - tastings at three with Tamara

    Thursday 5/14 - Alameda - Alameda Wine Co. - Central Euro Flights - 6 - 8pm

    Saturday 5/30 - Berkeley - Vintage Berkeley - New Arrivals - in both locations

    We hope you can join us on one of these occasions.

There is a great deal of truth in the saying that "good things come to those who wait" - at least that's what a Roman carving found in Herzegovina promises. We are very happy and proud to inform you that the wait is over. In the past two years we have been traveling in the heart of the Herzegovina wine country and visited many wineries around the famous city of Mostar. You can read all about our visits to Čitluk and Međugorje in our blog. At that time we discovered what a great wealth of wine was on offer in the Herzegovina region, but sadly, none of it was available here in the U.S.          We have been working hard to bring you a very nice collection of nine wines from the well known Vinarija Čitluk in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The Čitluk winery produces a large variety of wine, many made from indigenous varietals like Zilavka, Blatina, and Vranac thus providing unique tastes from Herzegovina. We offer two lines here, the Quality wines and the top notch Premium or "Vrhunsko" wines, giving you the choice between two different price points. Our selections include several of the luscious white Zilavkas, several of the fruity red Blatinas, and even some Vranac' which people will find is quite different than what is being made across the border in Montenegro. For those looking to try a bit of everything AND to SAVE, we prepared the Premium Mostar and Value Herzegovina Six-Pack Samplers as well.          Leaving Bosnia Herzegovina and going a little farther north along the Adriatic coast to Slovenia we arrive at the Santomas estate in Koper. Save the dates for the very first U.S. visit of Santomas wine maker Tamara Glavina. You can meet Tamara in person and taste her excellent wines at several events in the Bay Area and L.A. in the first week of May. Check out our News and Events section for details. As can be expected for a winery located in Slovenian Istria, Santomas focuses on the local specialties Refosk (also known as Teran in Croatia) for reds and Malvasia for white wines. Take a look at our selections of Santomas wines and mark your calendar to meet Tamara Glavina.

Axel Stieglmar, owner and wine maker at the JURIS estate in Burgenland, Austria is coming to the U.S. He has been invited by David Schildknecht of Robert Parker's Wine Advocate to participate in the first ever seminar on Austrian Pinot Noir at the World of Pinot Noir Festival in California.          The Juris Winery is a family estate run by the Stiegelmar family for generations. It is located in Gols in the wine region Burgenland between Vienna and Budapest in the warm Pannonian climate with permeable soils of gravel and sand. These are ideal conditions for Juris to concentrate on Pinot Noir and related Burgundian grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, and St.Laurent, an Austrian off-spring of the Pinot Noir.     "Total command of winemaking" is the goal, not to produce merely good or flashy wines. "We strive to produce wines with character and style that are well balanced and possess complexity, aging potential, and a certain elegance."          If you can not make it to the World of Pinot Noir you have plenty of other opportunities to taste the JURIS wines and meet Axel. He will be traveling to Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, and New York and Long Island. Please check our News and Events section for more details. And if all fails you can still order a bottle from our web store. As a special Thank You to our Newsletter readers we offer all JURIS wines at 15% off during the month of March. Visit our Store now and SAVE. (Discounts will show up on the invoice we'll send you.)          Sunday 3/8 - Los Angeles - Silverlake Wine - tastings at three     Monday 3/9 - Hollywood - Lou on Vine - Wine Dinner     Wednesday 3/11 - Palo Alto - Lavanda - JURIS flight     Thurday 3/12 - Berkeley - Caffe Venezia - Austrian-Hungarian Wine Dinner     Saturday 3/14 - San Francisco - CAV Wine Bar - the best of JURIS     Monday 3/16 - Chicago - Novovino portfolio tasting (trade only)     Tuesday 3/17 - New York - La Tavola - Wine Dinner     Wednesday 3/18 - Long Island - Northport Tasting Room - Wine Dinner     As you can see, March is JURIS month at Blue Danube Wine Co. But rest assured, we keep all of our other selections from Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, and Slovenia ready for your purchase here.

Recently, there has been a good buzz around the web about our wines. Starting it all off was the ever-prolific Alder Yarrow writing about our Croatian wines in his well-known Vinography blog. It's a lengthy review covering six Croatian whites and six Croatian reds.     Our Slovenian wines got even two nice write-ups. One is by Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein, the author of numerous books on how to pair wine and food in his Full Circle Wine Solutions. For more information on a flight of fine Slovenian wines, take a look at what Catherine Granger wrote up on Purple Liquid. Also noteworthy that Catherine has created an interactive wine data base named ManageYourCellar which you can access on the web.          For those who are thinking that perhaps it would be nice to actually taste these wines that others have been enjoying, there are a couple of upcoming events in the San Francisco Bay Area and in L.A. On the 16th & 17th of February, Nectar Wine Lounge will be holding an 'Island Hopping: glass-by-glass' presenting a smattering of wines from Slovenia and Croatia. Maybe a little something to nibble on with the wines? Sounds great to us. We're also happy to mention that the famous Cheese Store in Beverly Hills is having a Slovenian/Croatian wine tasting paired with exclusively selected cheeses from the Adriatic Sea on three evenings, February 17, 18 & 19.     Let's not forget about Hungary where the Budapest Daily Review published an article about how various types of Hungarian wines are marketed in the United States. A good read for those who wonder why this wine or that wine makes it to store shelves in the U.S.     And this just in: An online TV review of the great Kugler Riesling produced by our good Austrian partner Weinrieder one short hour drive north of Vienna. By the way: This wine scored a fantastic 92 points in Wine Enthusiast Magazine.     As always, we like to keep on top of these articles and events in our News & Events as well as in our Blog. If you happen to get a bit thirsty after reading all this information, be assured that we stock everything talked about in our wine shop.

Happy New Year SALE     We wish all our friends and customers a Happy New Year. What better way to say Thank You for your continued support and interest in our wines than to offer you a special Happy New Year SALE. Stock up on your favorite wines and save a bundle as you enter 2009. Buy any 3 bottles or more and save 15%. Simply place your order in our web store< and we will automatically apply the discounts when we send you the invoice. Save up to 70% by purchasing from our large selection of already discounted SPECIALS. This offer is only available in January, please plan accordingly.          In the News: We just posted on our blog a dozen reports by wine writer Katherine Camargo from her extensive trip to the main wine regions of Croatia. Read about her visits of the top estates and get to know key Croatian wine makers: Krauthaker and Enjingi in Kutjevo, Kozlovic in Istria, Katunar on the Island of Krk, Bura at the Dingac in Peljesac, Zlatan Plenkovic on the island of Hvar, and Marco Polo ;-) on Korcula. Her tasting notes will make you curious to taste the wines yourself. Luckily, many of these bottlings are available from us.     Finally, an invitation to join us in person: Our colleague Emil Gaspari of Slovenian Premium Wines is scheduled to host two tasting events of his excellent Slovenian portfolio in the San Francisco Bay Area. On Thursday, January 15th he will pour a Slovenian flight at Lavanda Restaurant and Wine Bar in Palo Alto. On Saturday, January 17th, our friends at CAV Wine Bar and Kitchen will open their doors for a comprehensive tasting of the new arrivals from Slovenia. Go to our web site for more information.          Top: German New Year's card from early 20th century.     Middle: Niko Bura at a tasting in his winery in the Dingac vineyard on the Peljesac peninsula.     Bottom: The beautiful Vipava Valley, home of extraordinary wines (courtesy of Insider's Slovenia).

Give a Taste from the Heart of Europe     December is here and with it the holiday season. What better way to celebrate this special time of the year than to sit together with your friends and family and to share a good bottle of wine. We have worked hard to have a large selection of fine wines from top Central European producers for you to choose from. As you are reading this newsletter we are getting a new shipment with exciting Croatian and Slovenian wines.     Just to name a few: The new 2005 vintage of the Zlatan Plavac Barrique is now available together with its exquisite big brother, the cult wine Zlatan Plavac Grand Cru. These reds form a nice trio with the white Otok Hvar, a blend of Posip and Marastina also made by star wine maker Zlatan Plenkovic. Another notable addition this time from continental Croatia are three mature white wines from Enjingi, one of the best estates in Kutjevo. They are made from Grasevina and Renski Rizling, the grape varietals which are so typical for Slavonian wine making. But make no mistake, these wines are very unusual liquid treats with tons of fruit and a lot of character.     From Slovenia we are receiving a number of new interesting wines. Fans of the Crnko Rumeni Muskat (Yellow Muscat) will be happy to hear that this delicious fragrant wine is in stock again. Regrettably, we could only secure 10 cases total of the 2007 vintage for the entire U.S. It will sell out quickly. For the first time we are getting a rare Pinela from master wine maker and pioneer of the art of organic wine growing Ivan Batic. The Pinela is a specialty from the Vipava Valley and only a handful of estates are undertaking the work to revitalize this native grape. Besides Batic this is true for the ambitious enologists at Guerila. We are now offering their Pinela together with another special wine, a Zelen which is also only grown in what many experts consider the Napa Valley of Slovenia.     The outstanding quality of our wines is attested in the recent editions of some highly respected wine magazines which featured prominently two of our Austrian wine makers. The Wine Enthusiast selected the Weinrieder Gruener Veltliner Alte Reben 2006 as their Editor's Choice and awarded it an excellent 92 points. The Alte Reben is made from vines that are well over 50 years old creating a super lush and full bodied Veltliner and making it a perfect winter white. Stephen Tanzer reviewed the same wine in his International Wine Cellar and gave it 90 points. Tanzer also tasted the complete line-up of the new 2007 vintage from the Schmelz family in the Wachau and rated them between 89 and 95 points. Our advice: Don't just trust the critics, try the wines yourself and taste the difference the terroir of the individual vineyards make in your glass and on your palate.     All of these wines make nice presents and you might consider ordering a couple of bottles for your loved ones. Another suggestion for a nice present with a touch of the Taste from the Heart of Europe is this newly published wine guide. The premier edition of Vinologue features the dynamically changing wine regions in Dalmatia and Herzegovina. The book covers all of the Northern Dalmatia, Island Dalmatia, Southern Dalmatia, and Herzegovina wine regions and major growers in a format that is easy to read and enjoy. The book is on sale now for all those who want the inside scoop.     That's all for now, we will be back with our holiday greetings in a few weeks.     Frank and Zsuzsa     Upper Left: The Schmelz family with view onto the vineyards on the banks of the River Danube     Middle Right: Ivan Batic and his son Miha in their dining/kitchen tasting room

"Thank you" at Thanksgiving Day     Dear Friends of Blue Danube Wine Company,     In the last weeks wine makers everywhere were busy harvesting their grapes, pressing them and getting the juice into the tanks and barrels in the cellar. Only a few grapes remain on the vines for late harvest selections such as the delicious sweet Gewürztraminer Spätlese from Sommer in Burgenland, Austria or an outstanding Hungarian Tokaji. A handful of grapes will only be harvested around Christmas time to produce the precious Eiswein (ice wine). Each cluster has to be anxiously protected against the winds and the birds with special netting and noise making devices.     Harvest time is a very special season for wine makers and with them we extend our "Thank You" to you, our valued customers. What better way to express our gratitude for your continued support than to offer you a discount that nobody else will get to see and know about. For any order you place now in our wine shop we will grant members of our mailing list and our existing customers X% discount. The only exception are the wines you find in our Specials and Samplers section. They have already greatly reduced prices and no further discounts will be given here.     Please understand that you will not see the discount right away when you place the order online. We will automatically apply this discount and subtract X% from your total when we send you the invoice by email or when you place your order by phone. You can take advantage of this special offer only until Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27th.     So please "Hurry, Hurry" as they say, because our special discount ends then. (Please contact us for details on this special sale if you are already a customer or on our mailing list. sales@bluedanubewine.com or (650)941-4699)          We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving in the company of good friends and family.     Upper Left: Vineyards in the Kalnik region, Croatia. Photo courtesy of Nikola Zulj     Middle Right: Leo Sommer in Donnerskirchen, Burgenland, Austria

Dear friends of Blue Danube Wine Co.     The summer is over, October almost gone, and we are getting ready for the Holiday season. To get into the spirit of giving, we thought it would be nice to offer all of you little presents as Thank You gifts when you place an order with us now.     We looked around and assembled nice items that speak about the wine cultures of the countries from which we are importing wines. So here we have a T-Shirt from Austria. It says "Wines from Austria - Precious Wine Culture" and comes in Large and X-Large. Then we have an informative Wine Guide about Croatia, nicely illustrated and very well written, published by the Croatian Tourism Board. When you read it you will find many of the wine makers featured that you see in our wine shop: Zlatan Plenkovic, the Dingac Winery, Kozlovic, Marco Polo Posip, etc. Next is an interactive CD about the Wines of Slovenia. Make sure you turn up your speakers when you watch it because it also plays folk music from the different wine regions. Finally, we have a few sets of authentic Hungarian playing cards. In the coming winter months you can play a card game with your friends and open a good bottle of Hungarian wine to provide some inner warmth.     Please let us know by email or phone which item you would like to receive after you place an order online. Keep in mind, our offer is only valid as long as we have gifts in stock. Only one gift per customer, please. (But you can tell your friends 8-), see the button below to forward them this email.     But the best deal is really in the wine shop. We still have a few of the Plavac bottles with the "spoiled labels". One customer called them "scratched and dent". Again, the wines are perfectly fine, just the labels got spoiled by a little red wine from other bottles that broke. You'll find these and other interesting and deeply discounted wines in our SPECIALS Section in the store. We invite you to check it out and to take advantage of our offers.     That's all for now. Halloween is coming up, so we say Booh! instead of Cheers! today.

BREAKING NEWS: Spoiled Label Specials     Today we bring you some "BREAKING" NEWS in the real sense of the word. It all began last week in our warehouse when we were moving a couple of pallets of our Croatian wines around with a fork lift. All of a sudden and out of the blue, the bottom pallet of a stack of four collapsed and the whole stack with more than 150 cases came tumbling down. The resulting mess was no pretty sight, cardboard boxes split open, bottles crushed on the floor, and a lot of good Plavac Mali from Dingač, Postup, and the Island of Hvar. spilled.     We started cleaning up immediately, removed the broken glass and wiped off the floor. We saved many cases which were only dented but not broken and re-stacked the ones that survived the crash intact. In fact, the total number of broken bottles was not that large. But every broken bottle caused a fair amount of subsequent damage by staining the labels of the bottles around it with red wine. So here we are with many bottles whose content is fine but their labels are spoiled. Some labels got damaged more than others but most only have a small Plavac stain.     Since our Newsletter was due we thought to turn this "Breaking News" positive along the lines of an old German saying: Scherben bringen Glueck! (or Broken Bottles Bring Luck!). We are offering four wines which were part of this malaise at a whopping 30% OFF their regular price. The only thing that's damaged is their label, the wines are fine in their original bottles. Please take advantage of this SPOILED LABEL SPECIAL and enjoy a couple of fine Plavac Mali wines at a steep discount. We have prepared the new SPECIAL section in our online SPECIALS in the Shop to make ordering easy and convenient. Simply click and enter the number of bottles you like to purchase. Please keep in mind, availability is limited to the bottles from last week's accident. When they are gone, the specials are gone.A final word: Considering how many thousands of cases and millions of bottles of wine are being stored and moved in and out of our warehouse it is amazing how few bottles break. One here and another there is usually the entire loss for month after month. No wonder were are grateful to the professionals who handle our wines, just as we are thankful for your support and business.

NEW SAMPLERS and SUMMER SPECIALS!!          Summer is coming to an end and we are gearing up for the big holiday season. To make sure that you will have your favorite wines we have been working hard in preparing our fall line-up. A major part of that is to have the new vintages ready for you. Two big containers arrived recently, one from Austria and the other from Croatia. The warehouse is shock full and we need to make even more room for additional arrivals scheduled for September. That's why, for the very first time we are offering our SUMMER SPECIALS! These may be single bottles from opened cases, a few bottles with labels showing minor damage, end-of-vintage wines, end-of-bin, etc. Check out our new Specials feature in the Wine Shop and take a look. We are sure you will find something very nice at very big savings. Don't wait, these wines are in short supply and will not last at these rock-bottom prices.     Among the many interesting wines we just received are the absolutely beautiful wines from the Bio-winery Geyerhof in Kremstal, Austria. This ancient estate is owned and managed by Ilse Maier, widely recognized and highly respected as a pioneer in organic wine production. For more than two decades she has not used any toxic chemicals, fungicides, or artificial fertilizers. Over these many years the plant material in her vineyards has become very robust and healthy. They now produce stunning wines, rich and flavorful, yet extremely focused like a bundle of laser beams. A pure pleasure to drink! To introduce you to these fine wines produced in only limited amounts we have created our third SAMPLER, the Bio-Organic Duo. It consists of 3 bottles each of Geyerhof Gruener Veltliner Rosensteig and the Riesling Sprinzenberg. Both are single vineyard wines from the 2007 vintage. This vintage was hailed in Austria as exhibiting the best balance between ripeness and acidity, yield and value for years. Save big time, instead of $140.80 pay only $100 for all six bottles!     We hope you remember the first two Samplers of Croatian Plavac wines, the Top-Three and the Value Six-Pack. They are only available until September 1st, so time to order is running out.

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