An abundance of texture and color lead to the Sullenger House entrance.

The grounds of our 1870s-era gentleman’s farmstead here in the Napa Valley are planted with the same flowers that may have flourished on this bucolic country estate more than a century ago. A stroll in the rose gardens, surrounded by the architecture of a bygone era, is enough to overwhelm you with a sense of time travel. A palette of soft pastel blues, lavenders, pinks and purples blanket the beds around the Sullenger house and main entrance to the winery. Blue and white Victoria Salvias are ready to push their spires ever higher above the waves of petunias, rising like candelabras.

Working together with my team and Mother Nature, we form a path connecting the past to the present, with a keen eye to the future. Please join us in the gardens as the days of summer saunter in.

Wine Club Manager Julie Zanze shared a bit about Futures and the Thief Club earlier. What we love about the opportunity to acquire these wines right now is that fans are able to snap up their favorite wines among the vintage before they sell out. (If you’re a long-time friend of Nickel & Nickel, you know this happens all too often!)

True, a little patience is required as the wines mature in barrel, undergo bottling and then take on a little more age in bottle—but it’s well worth it. Wines are shipped in late winter of the year the wines release—so lucky 2010 Cabernet Futures buyers have already received their wines this year, while the rest of us are awaiting the August release party.

For more on our Futures program, including 2012 wine notes, our 2012 Futures Diary, information on our Thief Club, and how to acquire 2012 Nickel & Nickel Cabernet Futures, visit our Futures website.

We had a wonderful time at our barrel tasting event on Saturday! We hope you were able to join us. If not, call us at (707) 967-9600 to arrange for a tasting of select 2012 Nickel & Nickel Cabernets. To view our photo album from the event, click here.

Bloom is well under way, and our crop is setting for the year. It all looks great!

This year, we and our sister wineries have the privilege of partnering with Lamborghini and FlexJet to present an experience that we hope will pique the interests of automobile, wine and travel enthusiasts—and raise important funds for community programs. A week spent with gracious host and winery proprietress Beth Nickel promises to be an experience the lucky winner and his or her three friends won’t forget.

To find out more about this auction lot, click here.

Follow the Auction Napa Valley fun on Twitter using #ANV13.

But the big reward goes to those that buy any 18-bottle Futures purchase with a membership in our Futures Thief Club! Members of this club receive their own etched Nickel & Nickel wine thief–a tool to sample or “steal” wine directly from the barrel. Members then have the opportunity to return to the winery on two occasions over the next several months to experience a private barrel tasting of the wines they purchased as they age and chart their progress.

Get a glimpse of the future and build your cellar collection now. Our 2012 Cabernets promise to steal your heart.

Click here to view the invitation to this event, or for more information call us at (707) 967-9600 or email information@nickelandnickel.com.