Happy Holidays

Dear valued customers,

The staff at Murray Hill Wines would sincerely like to wish you happy holidays, good health and a prosperous New Year. We hope you spend quality time with family and friends, and return to work rejuvenated and optimistic. Throughout this past year, nearly everyone has felt strain from the economy. We would like to thank all of our customers for choosing Murray Hill Wines. We are very appreciative of our returning customers, many of whom we’ve enjoyed getting to know while recommending wines. We hope you’ll visit us over the holidays for wine as gifts or for holiday parties. For those leaving town, we wish you safe travels and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

We at Murray Hill Wines anticipate continuously improving our customer service and expanding online with the launch of our new ecommerce site MurrayHillWines.com and our new Mediterranean Wines Club mediterraneanwinesclub.com (both coming soon).

Happy Holidays,

MHW

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Please bring in this coupon to receive 15% off your entire wine purchase.*

*Applies to regularly priced wines only. Coupon expires January 1, 2010.

HOLIDAY SPECIAL!

Please enjoy

15% OFF

Your total

Wine purchase.

Top 5 Reasons to Taste Croatia

Croatian wine is Old World wine, lesser-known in the U.S. since winemakers of the small-production vineyards rarely import their wines overseas. A few importers and others (like Cliff Rames of winesofcroatia.com) are working hard to change that. So why not be ahead of the curve and enjoy wines from the gorgeous coastal and mainland regions of Croatia before everyone else catches on?

Tonight we'll taste Lirica Plavac Mali 2005, Katunar Riserva Anton 2005, and Kozlovic Malvasia. We realize those hard-to-pronounce names probably mean nothing to you right now. But let your senses decide tonight from 6 to 9pm. Here are 5 reasons to taste Croatia....

1. Geography. You’ll never learn what you love until you taste wines from around the globe. Many people shy away from wines not produced by mass labels or made in popular wine countries. But it’s fascinating that Croatia, located just across a thin strip of the Adriatic Sea from Italy, can produce such astoundingly different wines with great depth and complexity.

2. Experience. You could keep coming back to the same thing time and time again, or you could dare to try something new. Wine is meant to be enjoyed and discussed, whether you’re a connoisseur or a newcomer to drinking wine. Tasting new grapes and wines from different regions gives you something to chat about—maybe you taste a new flavor like a hint of cinnamon you’ve never experienced in wine before. Lirica Plavac Mali 2005, grown in the valleys of the Peljesac Peninsula, smells of cherries, cloves and cinnamon. Plavac Mali is a small blue grape indigenous to Croatia, and it’s the cousin of Zinfandel.

3. Food. Say you’re enjoying a burger for dinner tonight. Katunar Riserva Anton 2005—a red blend of Syrah, Sansigot and Debejan grown on the windswept Croatian island of Krk—pairs perfectly with a hearty burger. Aromas of red cherries, plums, sweet vanilla and spice compliment a juicy piece of red meat like nothing else.

4. Knowledge. Every wine has a story and a winemaker behind it. The most important Istrian grape is the white Malvasia. Gianfranco Kozlovic is the largest private producer of Malvasia in Istria, and a vocal crusader for quality. His vineyards dot the hillsides of northern Istria, where his modern winery is located. Kozlovic Malvasia is a lemon-colored dry wine offering notes of hay, white peach, apple and almond on the nose. It is medium-bodied, unoaked, with fresh acidity and a slight minerality and herb-y-ness on the palate.

5. Enjoyment. Croatians love their wine, and they make it with detailed attention and care. While most of their wines are consumed in their homeland, they’ve released their wines to the U.S. market not because they couldn’t sell them at home, but because they want us to enjoy Croatia too. Zivjeli! — As they cheers in Croatia, which literally translates to, “May you live.”

Croatian Education

We're going to go out on a limb and say when picking out a wine, you don't generally throw Croatian wine into the mix of options. We're hoping to change that. Taste three Croatian wines with us tonight from 6 to 9pm, and hopefully you'll realize that a $16.99 bottle of Debit (plus 10% off today) is one hundred times better than that bland bottle of Yellowtail you like to pick up because you recognize the little kangaroo label and are too hesitant to purchase anything but a mass label. How's that for a challenge?

Debit 2007 - $16.99 (10% promo discount offered)

A dry white wine made from the Debit grape varietal native to the sun-drenched Northern Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, the name Debit relays an interesting story. The grape was used as a form of currency for barter trade, dating back to feudal times. Legend has it, Croatians used Debit grapes as a form of payment to French merchants, and the debit grapes were used as a base in French wines. Hence, the origins of the American use of the word “debit.”

Fermented in stainless steel, Debit is crisp and refreshing with aromas of apple, citrus and almonds, complemented by a full and well-rounded body.

Another plus, this wine has a very low sulfite content and farming methods are organic.

Plavac Hvar (1L) - $16.99 (10% promo discount offered)

Made from the indigenous Croatian Plavac Mali grape—a cousin of the Zinfandel grape—this wine of strong and balanced flavor is zesty with berries and raisins. Plavac Hvar beautifully complements dark meat dishes, game, medium cheeses, and even fish or crab. It comes in a one-liter bottle with a screw top as it’s a wildly popular and everyday wine in Croatia.

Postup 2005 - $34.99 (15% promo discount offered)

If you ever see our Facebook posts, you know Postup, made from the indigeneous Croatian grape Plavac Mali, is an all-time favorite that borders on obsession. We’re known to enjoy a bottle on a chill, weekend night and at major holiday gatherings—Thanksgving and Christmas included. A full-bodied red with a raisin-like flavor complimented by a perfume-y nose of lilac and lavender that carries through the palate. We enjoy it both alone and paired with cold cuts and hard to medium cheeses.

Tasting: Rioja, Sangiovese and Verdejo/Viura

You can study wine, but the best way to learn is by tasting. Tonight from 5 to 8pm, we'll taste and learn about a Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain; a Sangiovese from Tuscany; and a Verdejo-Viura blend from Rueda, Spain. We’re offering a 10% discount on all three wines tonight!

Marques de Vitoria Rioja Crianza 2004, $17.99

Enjoy this Spanish Rioja slowly and you’ll appreciate each new flavor as the bottle breathes. Flavors of wood, tar, bright berries and cherry create this smooth Tempranillo. The grapes grow on vines between 15 and 20 years old, and then it ages in American oak casks. Medium- to full-bodied, the wine will continue to improve with age. It’s the perfect accompaniment to medium cured cheeses and a variety of meats.

Cignozza Peregrinus Toscana IGT 2003, $36.99

Cignozza was founded in 1997 when Roberto del Buono, then only 34, took over his father’s estate. Truly a small production wine at 3000 bottles, Roberto puts the corks and labels on himself. This is an intense 100 percent Sangiovese wine aged one year in small French oak barrels. Ideally served with grilled meats, game and aged cheeses.

Palacio de Vivero Verdejo/Viura 2008, $10.99 (750 ml), $16.99 (1.5 L)

The Rueda region of Spain is known for its exceptional dry white wines. Palacio de Vivero is a blend of Verdejo and Viura—the Verdejo grape allowing for the soft texture and flavors of honey, citrus and apple. This dry and refreshingly acidic white Spanish blend comes at an excellent value—especially in the magnum size!