Vin Perdu

2008 Vin Perdu Napa Valley Red Wine

All is not lost when the bread goes stale...The proof is in the pain perdu created by my dear friend and culinary mentor, Jacques Pepin. While working as a breakfast chef at the celebrated Plaza Athenee in Paris in the 1950s, Jacques accidentally dipped his crusty baguette in a tub of melted vanilla ice cream rather than the usual egg batter he was aiming for. Undaunted, or perhaps in a bit of a rush, he went ahead and fried the vanilla bread with butter and sugar...Et voila: a signature dish was born. (Jacques recently reminded me that the secret to perfect pain perdu is to use truly stale bread so it doesn't absorb too much of the batter mixture and lose its shape. The batter should be only a coating.)

The Wine

We are pleased to offer our fourth release of Vin Perdu with the 2008 vintage. Once again, Heidi has masterfully blended small lots from some of our finest vineyard blocks to deliver a "magical" wine, primed to bring you five liters of mind-altering bliss and suspense.

Ahhh!!!....the 2008 vintage. This was a challenging vintage throughout the Napa Valley due to unseasonal and untimely weather conditions. Yet Heidi has managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat with this one - literally and figuratively.

The composition of Vin Perdu 2008 is derived from seven different lots from our Amuse Bouche, La Sirena, Barbour, Revana and Au Sommet vineyards. This year's blend is Petit Verdot dominated (44%) with 39% Syrah, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc.

The 2008 artwork (the rabbit pops out of the wine bottle label and comes to life!) is enhanced by the use of our one-of-a-kind flip lenticular labels, using lenses to showcase moving visual images.