Ymm, Wine

[sagegrouse]

I got some old French stuff, which I bought in DC in 2002 or earlier. Hey, I'm old, so my wine is old! I shipped it out when I moved to Colorado 17 years ago. That's prelude to this:

Whenever I get ready to open one of my older bottles, I have learned to check cellartracker.com (actually, I just enter the complete name of the wine and the vintage, and it's one of the top search results). Anyway, no matter what bottle, there are always recent reviews from consumers who seem to know something.

E.g., I just opened a Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1995 (Bordeaux, from the commune of Pauillac). This is not a well-known chateau, although Pauillac is on the top of the heap, but there were still four helpful reviews from the last two weeks. Main message: decant for an hour or two to soften the tannins.

[fuse]

I got some old French stuff, which I bought in DC in 2002 or earlier. Hey, I'm old, so my wine is old! I shipped it out when I moved to Colorado 17 years ago. That's prelude to this:

Whenever I get ready to open one of my older bottles, I have learned to check cellartracker.com (actually, I just enter the complete name of the wine and the vintage, and it's one of the top search results). Anyway, no matter what bottle, there are always recent reviews from consumers who seem to know something.

E.g., I just opened a Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1995 (Bordeaux, from the commune of Pauillac). This is not a well-known chateau, although Pauillac is on the top of the heap, but there were still four helpful reviews from the last two weeks. Main message: decant for an hour or two to soften the tannins.

Blows me away on a lot of levels to read this.
A 25 year old wine that a, is still good, and b, needs to be decanted because its still too tannic.

I don’t play in these price ranges- by all accounts 1995 was a great year for Bordeaux, and cellared well, amazing longevity.

Reads like a great drop.

[devildeac]

Dave owns Blenheim (outside C’ville).

Hooville, a great place to visit. I think it was two years ago we took the Monticello tour in the AM, then had a wonderful early afternoon wine tasting at Blenheim and finished the day with a sammich and/or salad and a pint at Hardywood after a lovely hour long walking tour of Mr. Jefferson's University.

[sagegrouse]

Blows me away on a lot of levels to read this.
A 25 year old wine that a, is still good, and b, needs to be decanted because its still too tannic.

I don’t play in these price ranges- by all accounts 1995 was a great year for Bordeaux, and cellared well, amazing longevity.

Reads like a great drop.

Well, the wine wasn't THAT expensive when I bought it over 20 years ago.

You always decant a 20 YO wine because of the dregs that accumulate in the bottle. Moreover, you sometimes decant a younger wine because you are trying to help the aging process by giving it more oxygen.

My college roommate showed up last summer, and we invited some friends in and opened up some bottles of older wines (2000 and earlier), including some bottles that I was prepared to pour down the sink. A 1997 St. Michel Chardonnay, e.g. They were all good (although the old whites were probably not what the winemaker had in mind ).

[sagegrouse]

You always decant a 20 YO wine because of the dregs that accumulate in the bottle.

No, I should have said, red wines, as they age, "throw off sediment." Dregs are the bottom of the barrel.

[mattman91]

Our Quarantine Wine came the other day and we are about to share it with my cousin in a little while. I'll be sure to report back afterwards

[Phredd3]

Had a 2008 Match Baconbrook last night that was really great. Certainly the best wine I've had this year, and one of the best I've had ever. The sad part: I bought it on clearance about 5 years ago when the producer went out of business. No chance to reload or try a newer vintage.

[Phredd3]

So, if I were to buy this wine, would I have to just dump it out right away? Surely I could not drink it.

[camion]

So, if I were to buy this wine, would I have to just dump it out right away? Surely I could not drink it.

I think you would need a wine tutor to drink it for you.

[fuse]

So, if I were to buy this wine, would I have to just dump it out right away? Surely I could not drink it.

No idea if I could drink it or not.
Thankfully no affiliation to the Cheaters and a reference to a location in Australia. Seems highly rated, also

I clicked the link hoping to see something like Hypnotic liquer.

Yes, I completely missed the point. 😳🙄🤣

[devildeac]

No idea if I could drink it or not.
Thankfully no affiliation to the Cheaters and a reference to a location in Australia. Seems highly rated, also

I clicked the link hoping to see something like Hypnotic liquer.

Yes, I completely missed the point. ������

Well, we've sipped blue beer. And purple. And red. And...

[Tripping William]

I’m usually not much for a grocery store wine like Chateau St. Michelle, but their 2019 Columbia Valley (WA) Riesling is really, really good. One of the better non-German Rieslings I have had. Just dry enough.

[devildeac]

I’m usually not much for a grocery store wine like Chateau St. Michelle, but their 2019 Columbia Valley (WA) Riesling is really, really good. One of the better non-German Rieslings I have had. Just dry enough.

I've bought some other varietals of this and have found them very good, too.

[OldPhiKap]

I’m usually not much for a grocery store wine like Chateau St. Michelle, but their 2019 Columbia Valley (WA) Riesling is really, really good. One of the better non-German Rieslings I have had. Just dry enough.

Chateau St. Michelle is very good — outstanding for such a large producer.

[Phredd3]

Chateau St. Michelle is very good — outstanding for such a large producer.

I completely agree. I'm not even sure how they keep up the quality, given how large their production has gotten. They don't rival the really good stuff, of course, but you don't expect them to when they are so easy to get and inexpensive. They are one of the better QPRs out there.

[budwom]

My wife and I enjoy wine and have a reasonable level of knowledge about it, but no pretenses...having said that, for the second time in the past ten years or so, someone has enrolled us in a wine club...thankfully it's run its course, but we do have a bunch of mediocre (that's being generous) wine on hand, with nonsensical labels they come up with to make it look like you're getting some really special wine.

Fortunately, we do know some folks who often invite us to dinner but they NEVER have any wine (they do drink) so we're savings up these bottles for them, calling them the Chateau Bob collection...they'll get at least two bottles every time we visit...

p.s. I suspect there probably are some good wine clubs out there, but this isn't one of them...

[Phredd3]

p.s. I suspect there probably are some good wine clubs out there, but this isn't one of them...

Really good wine clubs are pretty much limited to the ones that come directly from a single producer, in my experience. If a winery directly sponsors a wine club (and you can afford it), their wine clubs are predictably good, offering decent discounts on wines you already know you like and access to one-offs in exchange for locking in a regular purchaser. Very few others are reliable enough to bother with, IMO.

[Tripping William]

Really good wine clubs are pretty much limited to the ones that come directly from a single producer, in my experience. If a winery directly sponsors a wine club (and you can afford it), their wine clubs are predictably good, offering decent discounts on wines you already know you like and access to one-offs in exchange for locking in a regular purchaser. Very few others are reliable enough to bother with, IMO.

+1 to this. I haven’t done wine clubs much, but this tracks with my experience.

[sagegrouse]

Really good wine clubs are pretty much limited to the ones that come directly from a single producer, in my experience. If a winery directly sponsors a wine club (and you can afford it), their wine clubs are predictably good, offering decent discounts on wines you already know you like and access to one-offs in exchange for locking in a regular purchaser. Very few others are reliable enough to bother with, IMO.

The Napa wineries are truly annoying. All they want to sell are "clubs, clubs, clubs." The last thing I need are two different bottles arriving each month. I have enough trouble keeping track of what I have. When I offered to buy some cases, they would only give the bare minimum discount. These wineries included Grgich, Beaulieu Vineyards, St. Supery, Sterling and Clos Pegase. The case stuff I got was good, though -- but there were no deals.

[Phredd3]

The Napa wineries are truly annoying. All they want to sell are "clubs, clubs, clubs." The last thing I need are two different bottles arriving each month. I have enough trouble keeping track of what I have. When I offered to buy some cases, they would only give the bare minimum discount. These wineries included Grgich, Beaulieu Vineyards, St. Supery, Sterling and Clos Pegase. The case stuff I got was good, though -- but there were no deals.

I'm mildly surprised to hear that about Grgich, which is still family-owned, albeit with a pretty large production. The others have been sold to large corporate conglomerates, so I'm not surprised about those. Treasury Wine Estates owns both Beaulieu and Sterling, St. Supery went to Chanel, and Clos Pegase went to Vintage Wine Estates. As an example, TWE produces about 15 million case per year across about 20 different labels, and a recent article about them going public quoted the CEO as saying, "In addition, the Company has a deeply experienced management team with a strong track record of synergistic deal-making, which, on top of impressive organic growth, should continue and will help drive profitable growth as well as enhance shareholder value over the long term." In short, those outfits are concerned more about shareholders than they are about wine. I'm not surprised they don't offer loyalty deals, which is what a wine club really is.

Take a look at Bedrock or Jean Edwards or some others to get a better idea of what a direct-to-consumer winery model in California should look like.