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Producer/Director Rudolf N. McClain has just released the DVD of his film Merlove and he will be on hand to sign copies in the tasting room at V. Sattui Winery. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are necessary.

Adjoining McClain’s spot ‘signing’ the DVDs, the winery will be offering a free tasting of the winery’s two Merlots, the 2006 Henry Ranch (Carneros appellation) and 2006 Napa Valley. The DVD contains new animated sequences, music, digital mastering and a director's commentary.  The movie Merlove premiered on June 27, 2008 and has been screened at film festivals around the world. “Merlove is a documentary I wanted to make in response to the movie Sideways,” explains McClain.  Filmed in the Napa Valley, Washington State and Bordeaux, Merlove interweaves documentary style filmmaking with animation.  The animation subplot centers on a bottle of Merlot wine named “Merlove” which must find a way to fill itself with love when aimlessly tossed into the ocean of mediocre Merlot wine.  “Merlot is an intriguing grape varietal.  Its past, present and future are of great interest to all of us who love great wine,” McClain comments. “As a wine, it holds the key to bottled poetry.  Passionate winemakers, in tune with terroir, translate their love for the varietal into some of the best wines in the world,” he adds.

V. Sattui Winery has just launched six new micro-websites simultaneously to update the world on how multi-faceted the winery is. “We wanted to communicate in short artful bursts of information and give people an internet destination for what we offer,” explains Winery President Tom Davies. “People are restless and don’t have a lot of time---they may be looking for a Napa Valley winery that’s affordable to visit (www.affordablenapavalley.com) or one whose wines win the most gold medals (www.napavalleygold.com) or one where they can bring their pets (www.petfriendlywinery.com) or one where they can get married (www.greatnapaweddings.com) or one with enormous picnicking and prepared food choices (www.picnicnapavalley.com) or one that celebrates two of us having fun doing ‘virtual’ tastings (www.vsattuiwineguys.com),” he says. “We are literally all of those things and our new flock—or is it a fleet?!---of micro-sites convey our many messages in a fun and easy-to-digest way,” he adds. Each of the micro-sites has a unique twist, whether it’s a pet word-search puzzle or the option to tell your own “I was married at Sattui” story or a picnic matching game. “People search for wineries to visit with different criteria in mind,” Davies says, “and these online ‘destinations’ will answer questions for people looking for a very specific and personal angle as they plan their time in wine country,” he adds.