Enjoyed the 2014 Bergstrom Pinot Noir and the company of a petite blonde on Sunday. A winning combination, both of which I will enjoy again.
How many other brands do this and is the wine any good? More and more places are starting to pop up here. Tried it at dinner once and honestly wasn't overly impressed although like anything else I'm sure there's great disparity in producers.
Not as rare as you think. Although quality issues with most other wineries is part of why we exist. We are bringing the premium wines to the category. More and more wines are going on tap now and I add about 4-6 taps a week in Texas to restaurants. For most vintners, this is the way they would prefer you enjoy wines. Not as romantic, but higher quality and fresh product. You can go to this website to see where there is wine on tap in your area. http://trywineontap.com/ Click on resources and under wine on tap has the account map and the list of wines available.
Interesting. Just curious is this catches on more, seems like at least some bars/restaurants it probably makes a lot of sense.
Good thread. Just got a wine fridge (won at charity auction) http://www.beveragefactory.com/wine/wine/winecooler3449/danby-DWC053D1BSSPR-wine-cellar.html It came full of decent stuff. Got lucky. Quick favor: post your top 3 of each category (reds only): Under $15 Under $25 Under $50 Under $100
For a lower price point maybe look at <$20. You will find a lot more decent wine between 15-20. I've been drinking a lot of two reds from Costco that are $17 Intrinsic Cab 2014 Columbia Valley Washington (especially like the babe on the label) Zaca Mesa 2012 Syrah from Santa Ynez valley I like Patton Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir from Wilamette. A lot of love ITT for Ken Wright Pinot. The specific vineyard bottles will run about $55, and he has a non specific one in the $35 range that is also quite good.
At Bergstrom now and the 2014 Le Pre De Cole is great already. Two to 4 years and this baby will be primo.
It appears national geographic is getting in to the wine game. here's a link for an introductory 15 wines from 5 continents for 89 bucks. https://www.travelzoo.com/entertain...nt=2373855&utm_campaign=2373855_html_-_deal:0
If you did want a couple for under $15 there are a few that will work Underwood Pinot Noir isn't bad. It's been described here as the Bud Light of wine, very easy to drink but not a whole lot to it. Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon
Had a taste of Brown Ranch pinot 2014. 94 rating. Fantastic bottle. Has some of the best smells of any wine ive had. 75$ is a steal for it
Is there a consensus on ordering the wine pairings at a very nice prixe fixe menu only restaurant? Better to start with a glass of bubbles and a bottle?
Depends on the menu. For tasting menus you will often time have trouble finding a bottle that is appropriate for all of the courses so you are better off getting the pairings.
This is generally my position. There is one restaurant here that does tasting menu but no pairings so I usually do a bottle of a food friendly wine like Pinot or Rioja that can bridge a wide range of courses, potentially starting with a by the glass sparkler.
I'm a wine newbie. Here's what's in my cooler currently. I've had the Cakebread and Caymus, like both. 2012 Cade Cab Howell Mountain 2012 Cakebread Cab 2012 Caravan Cab 2011 Caymus Cab 2014 Daou Pessimist Blend 2013 Jayson Cab Pahlmeyer 2013 Patz & Hall Pinot Noir 2012 Round Pond Estate Cab Rutherford 2012 Shafer One Point Five 2012 Shafer Relentless What are the best three bottles? Like full body. Will be paired with steak
There are a few in there I don't know (Caravan, Daou and I've seen but never had the Jayson) but any of those cabs that I do know will pair well with steak as will the Relentless. If you had me over to your house for dinner and I got to pick the wine, Cade would be my first choice because I'm a sucker for Napa mountain cabs. I'd probably give it at least an hour in a decanter. My next choice would probably be from Shafer because Stag's Leap is pretty great too. Rutherford is probably my favorite AVA from the valley floor and I tend to like wines that bring out the dustiness (Frog's Leap comes to mind). I'm not sure which would do that but if I was at a store and blindly guessing I would choose the one with the lowest ABV %.
Pretty good list of wines for a newbie to have invested in. I'd rate both Shafer's at the top, but that's my opinion. That Daou Blend would be third for me. Excellent. Here's what I currently have in my rack. 2 bottles of Orin Swift D66 2 bottles of Orin Swift The Prisoner 2 bottles of Decoy (Duckhorn lower level Cab) 1 bottle of 1999 Stags Leap FAY (may be past peak. need to drink it) 1 bottle of 2005 Stags Leap SLV 1 bottle of 2012 Stags Lead Cask 23 4 bottles of 2012 Heitz Cab 2 bottles of 2012 Maysara Pinot Noir 2 bottles of 2011 Paradigm Cab Franc 1 bottle of 2012 Shafer One Point Five Orin Swift makes the best blends. My favorite pure Cab is Shafer One Point Five followed by Stags Leap FAY when it's a good year. 2012 was not a good year for FAY cause it was going for 69/bottle when it's normally 99ish.
Great segment on NPR just now on wine, blind tastings, price points & the like. Anyone else catch it?
Anyone have stemware recommendations? I wasn't overly impressed with the Riedel stuff I handled yesterday. I've have Lenox currently, but it's quite fragile and I've already broken a few cleaning so going to buy a new set of burgundy, bordeaux, and white glasses (chardonnay most versatile?). Hoping to keep it around $20 a glass. Also, what non-flute glasses are recommended for bubbles?
All that I use are Bordeaux or Burgundy glasses. The Bordeaux is a really versatile glass that I use for most things--all BDX varietals, Syrah, GSM (rhone) blends, Sangiovese, crisp whites like Sauv blanc, Albarino, etc and that is what I use for sparkling wine (I use flutes in large groups where it is more about toasting than enjoying the wine). I use the Burgundy glasses for Pinot, Chardonnay (that is what they use for it in Burgundy) or fuller bodied whites and I don't hesitate to use them for young reds that need more air. When we were in Montalcino on our honeymoon, a winemaker had both types of glasses for a tasting. I asked him why he was using each and what he thought was proper glassware for Brunello. He liked the bigger Burgundy glass on younger reds because they need more air to open up and he uses the Bordeaux glass for wines that have a few years of age on them. As for brand, almost all of our wine glasses are Riedel Vivant from Target. It is a good bang for the buck and it was an easy thing to put on the registry for our wedding. Now that we have our cellar finished, and I have room for storage, I will probably buy a couple of high-end Riedel glasses for special occasion bottles.
Wife & I will be back in Northern California next weekend. We know our way around Dry Creek Valley really well, and have been to Spring Mountain a few times. Not as into Napa and generally prefer places that are a bit more chill/laid back vs. the super fancy estate kinda places (as long as the wine is good). We might get up to Anderson Valley for a day too. In terms of varietals; we like pinot, zin, cab - but generally more nuanced, not over the top in any one way. Whites - more minerally, definitely no big oak/butter bombs. Always looking for new places, so any suggestions are welcomed! Thank's y'all!
Pretty sure it's an embedding issue with imgur, I've seen that happening quite a bit lately. When I just clicked to edit the post the picture shows up right there, so it doesn't make sense. I'll try re-uploading it directly to the site
Watched last night. Big fan. I'm assuming people have already talked about the Netflix shows Somm and Somm: Into the Bottle but if people haven't seen them, they're must watch.
i will watch basically any Netflix Doc, especially food ones and Sour Grapes was one of the better ones, that was kind of crazy, reminded me of another great one on Netflix, Beltracchi but he forged art and hes way more talented