Hey Thieves,

A very happy new year to you and our deepest thanks for a wonderful 2010. For the last number of days, I have been far from home and have had the opportunity to reflect. I hope that you each have taken the time to reflect on your 2010 and have made big plans for 2011. I have had the joy of spending the holidays with family, roaming around Germany and Austria – places that cool the skin but warm the spirit each and every moment.

In my own reflections of 2010, I wanted to share some thoughts with you – our beloved CellarThief community. We launched almost exactly one year ago and have learned much, grown much and enjoyed much. As I reflect, a few highlights of 2010 for CellarThief include:

• Launching and earning the trust, friendship, and respect of so many wonderful wine geeks.
• Offering over 225 different wines – all delicious and all at incredible prices. We have offered wine from most of the leading wine producing regions and love that the CellarThief community continues to push its collective palate.
• Facing competition from big boys that entered the market either right before or right after us. We don’t deny that each presents great competition but we also keep ourselves squarely focused on you, on building community, on making a difference and on building a company that delights you rather than just delivers deeply discounted wines.
• Making a difference in the lives of people who simply need clean drinking water to survive. Because of the great folks from the CellarThief community, we have been able to deliver clean drinking water for a lifetime to 36 people. To put this number in perspective, this means 36 people who were in danger of not living past their first birthdays before CellarThief, will now enjoy a full and mostly healthy life simply because you folks bought great wines at stellar prices.
• Getting tremendous press from the likes of Rachael Ray Magazine, InStyle Magazine, ReadyMade Magazine, ABC Radio, Thrillist, The Webbys, Springwise and countless blogs.

As we look forward to 2011, we want you to know that we have been working hard on some new things that we didn’t want to introduce in the heart of the holiday season but will now be doing so shortly. Some of these things include:

• A shiny, sparkly new website that will, among other things, enable you to create accounts, view past orders, earn points for sharing CellarThief, get involved in conversations about the wine, learn more through videos, and so much more…
• A nifty and easy-to-use iPhone app so you can be a thief on the go.
• Side deals on other great wine-related goodies and treats.
• More ways to make an impact and share clean drinking water through simply buying great wines at stellar prices.

When we started CellarThief, we chose the name "CellarThief" because it has two meanings. As thieves, you know that one of those meanings is to grab wines at prices that could make a grown person blush. But, the other meaning plays on a winemaking tool that winemakers use to taste wines out of the barrel. This “thief” is an analogy that CellarThief aims to consistently bring you great wines you can sample and taste that will grow your cellar while also growing your palate and your knowledge of wine. We look forward to a spectacular 2011 in which we hope we can become even more a part of your wine journey and you become even more a part of ours.

We deeply appreciate each and every friend of the community and wish you a wonderful, successful and healthy 2011 filled with passionate living, great wines, and many new dreams realized. Here’s raising a glass to you and a wonderful 2011…

Cheers,

Ryan and the rest of Team CellarThief.