[Rob Babcock]

While it's not a "serious" wine I always have fun waiting for the Beaujolais nouveau.  About the only one I can reliable find is the Georges Duboeuf but this I like this year's batch better than last year's.

[low.pfile]

2006 Argiano Solengo for under $35 shipped is a bargain.  2006 was a very good year for Super Tuscans and this wine is rated 94 by Wine Spectator and 93 by Wine Advocate.  This kind of "universal" rating usually goes with wines well over $50 a bottle.  I have not tasted this particular wine but I like Super Tuscans in general.  Unlike other ones though, Solengo is now 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 25% Syrah with a touch of Petit Verdot and no Sangiovese.  Can't wait to try. 

woodsyi looks like its up to $40 now. I am curious about it. as I expand my wine knowledge. I am lucky to have K&L wines 5 minutes from my house. but I will add this to the list. I did buy that 2004 Brunello di Montalcino recommended by you..... but it has yet to ship. I guess I bought my first Wine future? I am a one bottle at a time guy though.

[groovybassist]

Getting back to the gin lovers for a sec, if you're in the Pacific NW, give Aviation Gin a try.  It's from a Portland, OR micro-distillery and has an excellent floral/herb taste.  Slightly more expensive than Sapphire, but that's the cost of smaller production - definitely worth it.

For you wine lovers, if you get an opportunity you should try some TL Cellars out of Walla Walla, WA - another small, boutique maker, but let them breathe for 20 mins or so after pouring and you're in for a treat!  We have some Cab, Grenache and Petit Verdot (I think???).

[JuanR]

I just got  Angel landis cab from napa , excellent wine for $15.

[woodsyi]

2008 Schild Estate Shiraz can now be purchased for $18.97 per bottle case price with free shipping.  This one is #7 on Wine Spectator top 100 list and rated 94.  As I have mentioned before, 2007 is really a nice drinking wine and 2008 is supposed to be better.  Hard to find a WS 94 pointer for under $20.   

EDIT:  I got 12 but I think you can get 6 and still get free shipping.  Never mind whatever price they quote as regular price.  It was released at $19.95 but some have added premium for it's rating.  I have seen it offered around $40. 

[woodsyi]

Number 8 on 2009 and rated 99 by James Suckling is "eclipsed" by the 2007 vintage rated 96 by Bruce Sanderson who took over from JS who retired from WS to be on his own.  Robert Parker gave both years 96.  Whatever the reason, the 2006 is being offered below "market." Both vintages were released at $110 and '07 is still around there but '06 is being offered for much less. 

How many 99 rated wine can you get for this price?

[woodsyi]

Haven't updated for a while since I started using Cellar Tracker and FB to talk about wine.

Just added:



If anybody can take advantage the conditions, it's Randy Dunn.  I am looking forward to tasting this Cab from a 99 rated vintage year in about 20 years. 

[F-100]

Please do share your opinion on the 2007 Dunn cab. I was going to grab a a bottle at my local wine store but they want $90/ea so I hold off.

[woodsyi]

I doubt I will be opening any of mine for years.  Here is a good article on the wine.  BTW, I paid 30% less.  You have to shop around.

[etcarroll]

I feel the urge for some good Barolo, what are people buying that they like?

[richidoo]

Our latest favorite table wine is Menage a Trois, a nice fruity red for $10 at most restaurants. The best thing about it is that I can remember the name.   

For special occasions we dip into our case of 2001 Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I love that stuff but I had to go look at the bottle to remember what it's called. 

[Paul Hynes]

Woodsyi,

I caught this thread tonight and it reminded me of the time I worked in the wine trade in the 1970’s because you have had the experience of some great French wines I was privileged to drink at this time. The company I worked for had an extensive fine wine cellar but it was slow moving for obvious reasons of price. The company was turning over low cost wines and spirits at such a rate that it was more profitable to use the storage space for the fast turnover products. So they sold all of the fine wines off for £2, £2.50p and £3.50 per bottle just to clear them. I was new to wine at the time and having tried the low cost wines was not particularly keen on wine. I decided to try a few of these fabulous wines to see what all the fuss was about and was astounded by how good they were. I went through the fine wine list buying single bottles and cases of them as and when I could afford them.

It is a long time ago now and I can’t remember all of the wines I was able to try but I can remember a few from the long list of classed growth wine. Here are a few I was able to try that I can remember :-

Chateau Lafite Rothschild
Chateau Latour
Chateau Cheval Blanc
Chateau Petrus
Chateau Belair
Chateau Canon
Chateau Figeac
Chateau Chasse Spleen
Chateau Cantemerle
Chateau Cos d’Estournel
Chateau Montrose
Chateau Calon-Segur
Chateau Haut-Marbuzet
Chateau de Pez
Chateau Phelan Segur
Chateau Haut-Batailley
Chateau Grand-Pey-Lacoste
Chateau Lynch-Bages
Chateau Leoville-Las Cases
Chateau Leoville-Poyferre
Chateau Leoville Barton
Chateau Gruaud-Larose
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou
Chateau Lagrange
Chateau Langoa Barton
Chateau Talbot
Chateau Branaire-Ducru
Chateau Beychevelle
Chateau Rauzan-Segla
Chateau Lascombes
Chateau Brane-Cantenac
Chateau Giscours
Chateau Cantenac-Brown
Chateau Palmer
Chateau Siran

And from Burgundy :-

Chambertin
Chambertin-Clos de Beze
Charmes-Chambertin
Clos de la Roche
Clos St. Denis
Clos de Tart
Bonnes Mares
Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses
Chambolle-musigny Les Charmes
Clos de Vougeot
Echezeaux
La Romanee-Conti
La Tache
Richebourg
La Romanee
Romanee-St. Vivant
Le Corton
Corton Clos du Roi
Corton-Bressandes
Corton-Charlemagne
Le Montrachet

As you can imagine this was an education for me but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity at these prices even in the 1970’s. I selected the vintages carefully from the wine list only choosing the best vintages going back to 1947 with the classed growth wines.

An interesting experience was trying several wines made by Dr Barolet who was a local physician to the chateau owners of burgundy. As payment for his services he took quantities of grapes from the finest vineyards to make his own wine. He fermented the grapes on the skins all the way through the process extracting large amounts of tannin into the must. The tannin was instrumental in preserving the wine for decades instead of years, which is more normal for Burgundy. Some of these wines were labelled with vintages in the 20’s and 30’s and the sediment was up to an inch deep in the bottle. Careful decanting rewarded a very special experience from what must have been the longest lived burgundy on the planet.

Sadly real world prices have kept these fine wines out of my day to day experience and I only see them on special occasions nowadays.

Regards
Paul

[woodsyi]

Paul,

You lucky dog.  That's a list of some of the finest and most expensive wines in the world.  I only hope I get a chance to drink half of the wines on the list.  I am totally jealous.

[Marbles]

It's a blend that is very smooth.  Cheap at around $10 bottle

[Paul Hynes]

Woodsyi,

I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time otherwise I would never have experienced most of these wines. There are a quite a number of wines from the classed growth list that are missing on this list either because they were not stocked items or they had already sold out when I got involved. So the experience was by no means comprehensive. I saw it as an education at the time as I was interested in wine as a career move and there is nothing like trying the goods so you are able to advise others with reasonable clarity. I found it fascinating how much variation there was from one vineyard to the next, even those next door to each other. Of course there are many factors involved with winemaking aside from the grapes and their quality. Know how, the manufacturing and maturing process and the ground the vines are grown in all play a big part. Rather like HiFi really, the results are more than the sum of the parts.

One very useful outcome was that I had a number of wooden cases that were very useful for my audio projects as they were easy to machine with hand tools, and, although I didn’t know this at the time, they were beneficial to the sound as they did not interact with the electronics like steel cases do.  I found this out the hard way when I transferred an amplifier into a steel rack mount chassis and had a devil of a job trying to make it sound as good as when it was in the wine case. Eventually I gave up and fitted it back in the wine case. Good sound was back to stay. The fact that I used wooden boxes in my hifi system became a joke amongst my friends in the audio industry who were more interested in presentation.

Regards
Paul

[zybar]

Our latest favorite table wine is Menage a Trois, a nice fruity red for $10 at most restaurants. The best thing about it is that I can remember the name.   

For special occasions we dip into our case of 2001 Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I love that stuff but I had to go look at the bottle to remember what it's called. 

I drank the Menage a Trois a few different times while vacationing on St. Lucia last week and it was nice, drinkable wine.  Definitely a nice table wine.

George 

 

[woodsyi]

Paul,

I did some poking around and checked the prices on 2005 vintage for the Bordeaux wines on the list.  2005 was the last great vintage. They are mostly in stock and are available in stores today. 

Chateau Lafite Rothschild $1550
Chateau Latour $1050
Chateau Cheval Blanc $725
Chateau Petrus $3750
Chateau Belair $50
Chateau Canon $90
Chateau Figeac $102
Chateau Chasse Spleen $35
Chateau Cantermerle $30
Chateau Cos d’Estournel $175
Chateau Montrose $120
Chateau Calon-Segur $85
Chateau Haut-Marbuzet $55
Chateau de Pez $35
Chateau Phelan Segur $40
Chateau Haut-Batailley $50
Chateau Puy-Lacoste $80
Chateau Lynch-Bages $100
Chateau Leoville-Las Cases $279
Chateau Leoville-Poyferre $90
Chateau Leoville Barton $115
Chateau Gruaud-Larose $60
Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou $180
Chateau Lagrange $50
Chateau Langoa Barton $65
Chateau Talbot $55
Chateau Branaire-Ducru $75
Chateau Beychevelle $96
Chateau Rauzan-Segla $53
Chateau Lascombes $80
Chateau Brane-Cantenac $75
Chateau Giscours $65
Chateau Cantenac-Brown $42.50
Chateau Palmer $275
Chateau Siran $43

Burgundy wine is tough to do since you didn't list every producer.  Did you really get to try DRC wine(s)?  2005 (great year in Burgundy too) La Romanee-Conti is $16,258.    I am resigned to go to my grave without tasting a DRC drop. 

[woodsyi]

Please do share your opinion on the 2007 Dunn cab. I was going to grab a a bottle at my local wine store but they want $90/ea so I hold off.

Infanticide? 

I had the itch and I had to scratch it.  I opened a bottle of 2007 Dunn Howell Mountain and a 2007 Temple Family Cab for a taste off.    Both were decanted for 6 hours before drinking.  These are big wines as you would expect from most Howell Mountain productions.  2007 is supposed to be excellent and I can see why.  Immense bouquet of dark fruits.  They attack the palate with big fruits with surprisingly smooth mid-palate sweetness.  The finish is long and sumptuous with strong but well balanced tannins.  Dunn was more elegant and Temple Family more viscous but both were drinking well with great promise in their maturity.  I am not opening another from this vintage for another 5 years.  At 2/5 the price, I would highly recommend the 2007 Temple Family Cab if you can find them. Don't get me wrong --Dunn is worth its price too but TF is a steal.

[Paul Hynes]

Woodsyi,

Sorry I missed your earlier post about DRC. I think it was the 1960 vintage. This was a lesser vintage and the only one available but I was lucky to get to try it. The best wines were rapidly depleted, as the stock levels of the finest wines were probably very low. It took me a while to get through those I initially purchased and when I attempted to buy more of those I particularly liked, not many were left and the finest wines were all gone.

Some of the vineyards you have priced up have appreciated considerably since then.

Paul

[woodsyi]

Great deal on good CDP from an off year.  2008 may have been a "88" year but good wine makers still made good wine.  Clos St. Jean makes good wine.  You typically don't see a good CDP at this kind of price.  I have jumped all over it.

http://www.vinsrare.com/2008-clos-st-jean-chateauneuf-du-pape-fine.wine-2968.html?zenid=d349813191dd0637632b759011a68021