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Foyt Family Wine releasing second Collector Series

Honors 50th anniversary of A.J.'s 1964 Indy win.

A.J. Foyt

A.J. Foyt

Action Sports Photography

When Larry Foyt first told us about Foyt Family Wines during the INDYCAR race weekend at Sonoma Raceway a few years ago, an endeavor he and A.J. Foyt IV had just started, it felt right to be a bit apprehensive. After all, this guy manages a racing team owned by his father, the estimable A.J. Foyt Jr., a man capable of surviving, it appears, just about anything.

Due to consumer demand, we decided to continue with our Collectors Series offerings utilizing an image of my dad on the bottle

Larry Foyt

A single tasting session that weekend changed my mind and for a rather major birthday a couple of years ago, Larry gave me a bottle of the Foyt Family Wines No. 72 Meritage from Sonoma County, vintage 2009 (which was a fabulous year for reds). It was absolutely delicious and savored over a two-hour period. I kept the bottle, signed by none other than A.J. himself, together with other mementoes I’m cherishing greatly.

Second collector series

Now the winery is releasing its second collectors series wine to honor the 50-year anniversary of A.J. Foyt’s second - of four - Indianapolis 500 victory in 1964. The 2011 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the Meadowcroft Estate Vineyard (in the well respected Mt Veeder region of Napa Valley) was bottled this year in Foyt’s honor.

During that particular Indy 500 race on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, Foyt started the 200-lap contest in fifth place, dominated handily and led 146 laps en route to victory. In doing so, he averaged 147.350 mph, taking a new track record by more than four miles an hour. This victory marked the final time a front-engine roadster would ever lead a lap at Indy, as the rear-engine revolution began the following year.

Foyt’s second Indy 500 win was one of 10 victories he would take in the 13-race National Championship, winning every race that he finished.

To commemorate that magnificent victory, the Foyt family commissioned an image by British artist Colin Carter; it captures the essence of this historic moment in the family’s legacy and this image is used on each bottle of the 2011 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

High demand

“Due to consumer demand, we decided to continue with our Collectors Series offerings utilizing an image of my dad on the bottle,” said Larry Foyt, co-founder of Foyt Family Wines. “With Colin’s amazing paintings that he created for my dad, we have three incredible Collectors Series wine labels already for our collection going forward.”

The wine itself was created for the Foyt family by winemaker Tom Meadowcroft, using his Estate Vineyard. It was harvested at the end of September 2011 and fermented for two weeks. This particular wine aged in Alain Fouquet French oak barrels for the past three years, allowing the massive fruit and tannin structure to mature into the type of complexity that marks a great Cabernet.

Tasting notes for this wine state that it is “dominated by flavors and aromatics of blackberry, dark cherry, with a hint of cassis and licorice aromatics. The surrounding woodlands of Redwood, Manzanita, Madrone as well as white and black oak trees influence the flavors of blackberry, cherry and a touch of blueberry.”

Only 40 cases of Foyt Family Wines 2011 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon were produced with a public offering of 15 cases. Each bottle is wax dipped, packaged in a heat-embossed wooden box and retails for $106. It’s only available through the winery’s website: www.foytwines.com.

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