i just purchased a bunch of stuff form b cellars. they don't sell commercially to liquor stores etc but apparently really good. will let yall know how it is
Thanks man! Tried to really use your input in the last zoom with Division, but Kate and Tom *really* go off on their own tangents so it was challenging to keep it tight.
Picked up a couple bottles of Concha Y Toro Don Melchor 2016. Never had it before and haven’t been into cabs lately but my guy at the wine shop gave me a great price and said he thought I would like it. Any experience here? Also got a case of the Hartford Court Sea Smoke Pinot which I have loved recently.
As far as S. Hemisphere BDX style wines go, Don Melchor is right there among the better examples. Let us know what you think.
Haha, no worries at all. It's the solid balance of learning a little about wine overall, learning a little about the specific wine, and seeing two wine producers as normal people, so their tangents was/is part of the fun of it. Any suggestions for next Friday?
It's a pretty reductive style of Chardonnay so I'd open it about 30 minutes prior to the tasting and let it see some air. I last had the Citrine with spatchcocked chicken and it was tits.
So I have a smaller cellar, about 250 bottles between cellar and wine fridge and have been stacking cases in the cellar next to the racking. In an attempt to get wine volume under control I mentally forgot what I paid for anything and have been drinking through whatever I wanted over the last couple weeks. It's been a pinot frenzy but I can say with a lot of sampling recently that 2014 has some decent life left in the bottles. They taste great right now, but if you wanted to cellar for another 2-5 years you could. 2015 is a very big year with lots of fruit, across a swath of wine makers. I'd say cellar length is actually less than 2014 which was a more balanced temperature year. Also when did Rose become so expensive. Feel like it was a year or two ago average sales price was under $20 and now everything is mid $20's here in Oregon. I'll still buy it but WTF. Also this rambling post was inspired by a 2015 Bella Vida Pinot and then a 2014 Bergstrom Le Pre De Col Pinot.
Some storage facilities in Houston have wine storage. I have a 3x3x3 that holds like 140 bottles and it’s $50 a month
Just ordered my Sister a bottle of Paul Hobbs 2017 Russian River so we can taste it together for her birthday as she's in San Jose Ca
I thought about that too, but it’s been nice drinking good wine every night. With three kids, no daycare, and work I’ll just drink my whole cellar to get through this and rebuild later.
The price of US Rose is weird to me. It’s typically more expensive than I can get from Provence with less consistency.
Im all for some alternatives, what are your top 3 or 4 Provence Rose? It’s nearing almost $30 a bottle here which is opening bid for some really good Pinot.
That pricing seems steep. Houston obviously required more cooling power but I was paying $2/case per month for a local liquor store that overbuilt its cellar. The only drawback was I had to give 24 hour notice to pull bottle because customers did not have direct access. Another local store has private lockers that are closer to $4/case (assuming it’s full). I pay $0.28/bottle ($3.36/case) for JJBuckley in Oakland to hold purchases beyond 6 months which allows me to build up to a case and then ship.
Keeping it 54 degrees in houston is expensive and the storage unit is in an expensive neighborhood so that probably contributes to all of it
Is it underground? Both of the local cellars are built well in to the ground so the cooling units don't actually have to run very much anyway. Depending where it is, I imagine the water table in Houston could make it harder to dig down too.
Nah there is nothing underground in houston. It’s in a self storage facility. Separate entrance and separate cooling system
The great thing with Provence or southern France in general is that it is very consistent quality regardless of producer. This is a higher price point (~$40-ish) but Domaine Tempier from Bandol is the best I've ever had and I've never had a bad rose from the village of Bandol but they aren't as easy to find. Chateau Miraval (made by Perrin family of Chateau Beaucastel fame and owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie--or at least it was) and Cheateau Peyrassol Cote de Provence are great examples that typically cost about $25. And then you can go through any good wine store and find a bunch in the $13-22 that are cotes de provence that will likely be very good. Rose Cotes-du-rhones can be of similar quality at $10-15 but from my experience the consistency is a bit less with some having some slight heat/alcohol noticeable.
Was the facility not insured and/or did he not have it insured? That should be included in the cost of a facility.
Posted this a while ago itt but I really like this Rose. When I purchases it I paid ~$12 including tax/shipping. Think it is a bit more now but still worth it. https://www.viragenapavalley.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1823
Rose used to be about salvaging mediocre grapes that the vineyard wasn't too ecstatic about and trying to turn them into a small profit. That's not the case anymore, especially if the winery has any goal of marketing to millennials. That generation wants to go to a winery to drink outside and enjoy the grounds. Millennials want Rose when doing this, and a winery that has a history of making rose will likely have a history of intentionally using quality grapes to do so. You don't go to a patio to have a warm drink. In short, imo buy Roses from places that actually make them on purpose and every year. Also, Cote de Provence Roses are nice, but I don't think that they are some rose archetype or better than something you can get in the states. The Provence region was simply the region that was bold enough to try and market and re-create a Rose niche recently to compete with other regional brands. They have done this well, but the popularity is not equal to its quality imvho. More they just branded very well early on during this surge.
Is it just me or is almost everything less than $25 a better value out of France than domestic? Maybe it's in my head because on the US side anything I drink is widely available at any liquor store/grocery store whereas the bottles from France are more unique.
I’m a big fan of acid. For me, CdProvence tends to be consistently crisp which makes them all quaffable. From my experience Bandol and Tavel can achieve more body while maintaining acidity which puts them at a higher level. There are U.S. producers that do it as well but I’ve had a lot more try for that and fail than actually achieve it. Even someone like DDO failed (body but not crisp enough) the one time I bought a 6-pack of their rose 4 or so years ago (probably 2015 vintage).
Unfortunately, there aren't any hard & fast rules like this, in my experience at least. That said, some regions provide better value than others.
Any thoughts on this from those knowledgeable with Oregon pinots. I made an impulse purchase on last bottle and it just came in. I’m not familiar with the producer or the area. My plan was to go ahead and open them.
Evening Land tends to be very good. Rajat Parr is or was an owner. He is a well known sommelier that started In Pursuit of Balance which highlighted pinot and chard producers that were striving for lower ripeness as a reaction to what was happening in parts of California.
Evening land had an entry level Pinot that was my daily drinker for a while, think I got it for around $20ish. 2014 is an awesome vintage for Oregon Pinot and I have been a big fan of anything that Evening Land puts out. Should be a tasty bottle that has quite a bit of life left if you want to wait.
Evening Land is great. I had their Seven Springs Gamay Noir the other day and it was fantastic. Served it chilled with some fried shrimp and a salad
Yup, we've got Enfield this month. First tasting (Chardonnay) is tomorrow then we've got his Tempranillo and Cab the next two fridays. On Evening Land, I work pretty closely with them and the wines are stellar. La Source is the highest elevation block on the property and is definitely the most structured, age-worthy wine they make. Did a day on the vineyard in January and it's fucking awesome.
Clients of mine won't shut up about this stuff.. they gave me a bottle and it tastes good - it tastes like a wine from that part of the Valley for sure - that St Helena/Rutherford/Stags Leap area. If you can ever find a bottle of Barnburner from Tom Scott Vineyard - that's the stuff. Or, you can order direct from their website - either way - highly recommend.
But I’m going to have some from the bourn vineyard now. Have had a lot of to kalon recently from various producers so want to try something different
Is the wine thread as snobby abt the glass choice as the beer thread once was? Bc, if not, then I approve as I'm all about the lack of snobbiness. Drink it any way you enjoy it.
First bottle of wine I ever bought, I drank out of a shitty green plastic cup we just took shots of tequila out of. Hell yes.
Yung/Embree Yeah, I'm going to need to know those wine and breakfast pairings asap. It'll be perfect for the EPL starting back up soon.
I've been using the same stemless wine glasses I got for practically nothing fifteen years ago at World Market. (Does that even exist anymore?) I have dozens of fancy Reidel glasses still in the boxes from my wedding that I don't use because we don't have the space to put them anywhere and I'm afraid of breaking them.
Last night's Chardonnay got paired with huevos rancheros this morning and worked damn well. Also, Gamay with scrambled eggs, zucchini, and roasted tomatoes is fucking divine.