Now that you mention that, I drank 2 of the Olsen Syrah Heritage (2007) when they were closing down and selling out inventory. I didn't take notes but upon looking it up on CellarTracker, I recall the bottle and I remember it being more ripe and less savory than this was. That was good but this was better.
When we were at the winery we had the option to buy at the "club rates" and it included free shipping. The club level we signed up for is 6btls minimum 3x a year and does not include free or discounted shipping. There is a cancellation fee of $50 if you cancel prior to fulfilling 3 orders. The average $/btl on our first shipment was ~$70. Had I had thought more about it at the winery I would have signed up for the club, bought ~$800 worth of bottles, had them ship them to me for free and then cancelled the club. It would have saved me a good bit of money on shipping costs alone.
Been searching for ww2 vineyards. Awesome stories and I'm gonna buy some frome France. if you haven't heard, once Germany broke thru into France, many vineyards built false walls in their cellars to hide the good stuff. Just bought this book: Anyways, anyone got any wines that have a unique story? Got two bottles from Rhys in California on the way. The Vineyard is literally split on the San Andreas fault line. Same wine, but from opposite sides.
I have that book. I read it on the plane as we were going to France on our honeymoon and it really helped me appreciate touring Drouhin's cellars under the city of Beaune (he used them to escape the Gestapo and then was hidden at the Hospice de Beaune). After the hospice saved his life, he donated a vineyard which has each bottling sold through an annual auction. When we were there we bought a bottle of the 2010 vintage and I noticed last week the 2015 vintage is going for 5x what we paid for our 2010 which probably says a lot about the market for Burgundy.
We paid $41 and I was slightly off but DDO was offering the 2015 vintage for $185 this week. http://store.domainedrouhin.com/2015_Hospices_de_Beaune_Cuvée_Maurice_Drouhin_1er_Cru
You should be able find it cheaper than DDO is offering it. After I looked up the offering I noticed CellarTracker is showing the average price paid is under $100.
You should look at their Facebook page. Coincidentally (?), they posted twice this week about things that relate to that book. https://www.facebook.com/DrouhinOregon/
I won it on a bet from the ND - Stanford game last year. I let it breath for a bit before dinner and it's been quite enjoyable. With a 4 year old and month old the dinner table isn't exactly the right setting to savor vino, but I'm enjoying it now plenty as I watch the US open on DVR.
Should I have let that age? I looked it up and it was a $30-$35 bottle so I figured I could drink it now
Drink how you like them. Im not familiar with the producer and their style. A nice thing about CdP is it takes age well but typically drinks well immediately too I haven’t had a 16 yet but I can say I had 2 15s in May and that vintage is going to need time.
Just picked up: Chateau Orisse du Casse St Emilion Mascota Vineyards Unanime, 2013 Tenet Syrah The Pundit, 2016 TORIAL RED BLEND Got a tomahawk ribeye for tonight. Leaning towards drinking the Unanime since I've always heard so much about it. That or the Bordeaux.. ...
Rabid IanC please buy some Unanime and let me know what you think. This is the most beautiful $19wine I've ever had. I want to make sure here....
Got some good news about the space we want for the wine bar and so we cracked open a lot of nice stuff. This is to the best of my memory. One of the guys is a Level 4 candidate with WSET and the other is a Level 2 Sommelier so we have a nice team. Started with a Lucien Albrecht Cremant from Alsace. Really light and great summer bubble option. For whites we did a sweeter Oregon Riesling I can't remember the name of that went well with the spicy Asian food we were eating. Also had a very dry version from Germany. Red we stuck with Red Car Pinor Noir and Failla Occidental Pinot Noir. I think I'm forgetting a few others. Highly recommend Failla, I've enjoyed just about everything from them.
Unfortunately I just lived bottle to bottle back when those were readily available on store shelves. I do a bad job of remembering one from the next when it comes to France. The names are always practically the same and the labels all look alike.
I continue my march through my 13s, but have tried some 2014 Pinots and they are all tasting great. 2015 was a super hot year so hearing those won’t cellar as well so may need to cycle those in front of 14 in my rotation.
I’m down to 8 from about 2 cases. The ones that remain I’m not wore about because they were a duplicate and the other was fine. Huge variation so I’m glad you brought it to my attention. We leave for Napa today. I’m very excited.
Went to Napa for the first time. Stayed 3 nights and did: Domaine Carneros V. Sattui Caymus Frog’s Leap Schweiger Spring Mountain Cakebread Viader As far as experiences, cakebread and domaine carneros are very cool. V Sattui is a party atmosphere but their wine was surprisingly not bad. Our favorite tastings were the Spring Mountain vertical cab tasting and the Viader tasting. Lots of good wine headed our way. We also did Sonoma/Russian River Valley for 2 days. Did a tour one day and met friends the other. Was very fun but the wine quality definitely took a dip compared to what we had in Napa.
We did Frog’s Leap and Chappellet yesterday. Both were tours of the property so they stretched out. We did a picnic with fried chicken from Addendum on Chappellet’s property. It was hard but we passed up an offer to do David Arthur because of wanting to get back for dinner. Today we have Continuum and Diamond Creek (this is the only day of the year they’re open to the public). We may stop at Inglenook too but we have an early reservation at TFL so I’m not sure.
Didn't mean to but I came home with two more bottles of Unanime and 1 each of 1858(caymus) and Austin Hope (also Paso Robles). Really want to Branch out from Paso, but I feel like I'm getting the same quality as Napa or Sonoma. Was gonna go with Quilt/Hall/Turnbull. Maybe next time....
Trying the frozen cork hack tonight. Opened a bottle of 14 Unanime. Lawd. Between this and Educated Guess, I'm set for a daily red. Both are under $20.
Left to Right 16 Predecessor Cab Franc 13 Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru 16 Massican Gaspare 14 Rene Cacheux Vosne-Romanee 1er Cru 15 Roam Cab Sauv 1942 Don Julio Tequila 17 Azur Rose 17 Nine Suns White (It’s really a Sauv Blanc)
Domaine Rene Cacheux & Fils It was more fruit forward and had more berry flavor than the Confuron ... I preferred the Confuron myself... I prefer my Burgundies to have less fruit notes
Thinking about a Napa rip end of September. How should I go about picking a hotel and location to stay? Best tastings?
That’s close to harvest... you’d better hurry... your hotel choice is likely to be based on availability
I’m not familiar with many places to stay because we stay at the same place in Rutherford every time My best tastings: Round Pond Wheeler Farms David Arthur 750 Wines in St Helena Azur William Cole
Lots of folks come to town to see and help with harvest... it’s a beautiful time of year... artists, wine lovers, staff and PR... lots and lots of folks
I’ve now done the Westin in the town of Napa and a B&B in Yountville. The Westin was chosen because I could use points for a free stay. It was nice and Napa was good. I liked the proximity to the Oxbow Public Market. However, I liked Yountville more because there are better restaurants within walking distance. It’s nice to be centrally located as well.
I've stayed at that Westin twice. It's pretty sweet. We got an Air BnB in St. Helena in August because there are three couples staying together and the wedding we're going to has festivities up there.