The Grocery Outlet Spring 2023 Wine Sale will start Monday, April 3 and run through Tuesday, April 11. This is the first time I can recall that a biannual GO wine sale has run over one week. I hope this means more interesting wines will come in over the course of the sale, but we’ll see.
This year, I’m outside GO territory at the moment, and won’t be contributing to tasting notes. However, please do make use of this post, as usual, to describe what you have (or haven’t) found, where, how much was left, notes for new wines that appear during the sale, etc. I hope I’ll be able to get back for at least some of this long sale, but in the meantime, cheers!
The magical world of wines from Grocery Outlet 
WORN, I didn’t do much scouting for the Spring Sale, but did buy the Cathedral Bay SB while scouting for more Ch. Lavabre way before the sale at my local GO where selection isn’t too interesting, generally. BTW, I want to thank all the sale scouts since there is less scouting on my part since the Berkeley store closed and I live in the N. Bay. I had two expectant daughters, one to deliver just before the sale so that took time out for scouting just before the sale. The other daughter expected 3 weeks later and they both live in San Mateo County and would deliver at the same hospital. The first delivery was on time, April Fool’s day. The other daughter wants to visit the newborn, but she says “I think I am going to bring my hospital bag because I might be having contractions” Sure enough by the time she arrives she is stooped over in pain and I let her and son-in-law rush to L&D while I take over the two sleeping grandkids. I tell the nursing station to save the next door room for my other daughter. Delivery was April 2, so two newborn grandchildren in two days. The irony of all this was I was just a block away from one of my favorite GO’s. Close but yet so far. By the time I went shopping for sale wines, two days before the sale ended, I couldn’t smell due to a virus and had to rely on my wife’s assessment.
As I was saying, the only wine I scouted was the Cathedral Bay SB and found it unlike Marlborough and Martinborough SB’s on the S. Island I have had before. It was less Sauvignon than I am used to from those areas. Like I said, the color was nearly water white and it was that fruitiness you describe better than I did. Bought a case since I was sure about it and it was good QPR. I’m just hoping those fruity aromas aren’t so much fermentation bouquet. The only thing that threw me for a loop was the grapes are from S. Island and the winery is in Hawke’s Bay on N island. So the grapes must be shipped by boat?
Darrell, first of all, congratulations on the birth of two grandchildren in 2 days! Your cup runneth over w such blessings!
I couldn’t find much tech information on Cathedral Cove SB unfortunately, so unsure how the grapes get from A to B. I’m not conversant w many other SB from Marlborough NZ, Mudhouse (GrocOut) and Ti Point from Costco are also very good.
I’ve never had the pricier SB ie Kim Crawford, Cloudy Bay, Love Block.
I drink mostly WA reds and red blends.
A Forbes article re: Kim Crawford entails how inexpensive and quick it is to make NZ SB, in comparison to red wines that are aged in barrel for years, so making a popular SB is extremely lucrative. US is NZs main market for SB.
Kim Crawford sold his eponymous brand to Vincor in 2003, then Constellation for $50M, a 10 yr noncompete clause prevented he and wife Erica from making wine but not from growing grapes. They bought a lot of land and planted grapes. The Crawfords then started Love Block in 2013.
Kim Crawford SB $15-$20.
Love Block $20-$28.🤯
Too pricey IMO.
TLDR: Cathedral Cove and Ti Point NZ SBs are a great bargain.
One wisened contributor, after experiencing GO’s NZ SB’s, said he didn’t have to buy any more Kim Crawford. I chuckled and agreed with his experience.
20 years ago the GO got ahold of pallets of the 1999 Doctor’s Creek SB from New Zealand. I must have bought 3 cases of it, towards the end they were selling it for $1 a bottle. It was delicious, down to the last bottle, which might have been opened 10 years later. Made by Kim Crawford.
Agree very much on the Cathedral Cove–best NZ SB since the Mudhouse SB back a bit. I think I am recalling correctly that it was Lim3 who first alerted us to that wine, and he was, as usual, right on. I bought a case after we tried it. And, later that day, my husband returned from a trip to a hardware store and said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I also stopped at Grocery Outlet and picked up a half case of the Mudhouse that we had the other night.” We still have a few bottles, and they are still going strong.
It was me. Bought 3 cases and have a couple bottles left. Friends had visited the winery and loved it, so we stopped there too when we went to NZ…and also loved it…especially when it came to GO for $5.99 when the winery changed U.S. distributors…and the old one wanted to unload remaining stock.
The only ‘weird’ thing about the Cathedral Cove NZSB is that a quick skim on winesearcher only turns up 1 seller globally, which is in NZ. Is it a bottling for GO specifically? It seems very strange that there is no other info, at least easily available on normal search engines. The $7 price point is ‘ok’, but recognize that a lot of this ilk is very industrially made at that same money will buy Giessen NZSB at Costco, or a bunch of other supermarket brands at $9 like Villa Maria, Matua etc.
Opened a bottle of my 2020 Lapilli Fiano Di Avellino from the sale tonight. Brilliant medium golden; closed nose really shows little; flavors of lemon, roasted grain, toastiness and underripe pear with a real earthiness (terroir); not as fruit forward as other Fianos I’ve had, but flavorful; very austere; a definite food wine. From Campania in southwestern Italy about 29 miles east of Naples.
Next day and the Fiano tastes completely different. Still very closed nose, but it now tastes like there’s residual sugar, more fruit and a bit of oxidation, though it doesn’t detract…now. But I won’t be holding it in the cellar for long.
Some comments on the NV Muscat de Beaulieu dessert wine: 375ml, 18% abv, a mix of young wine along with some blend of reserve aged wine. It sounds like a solera kind of product. Simple muscat like flavors of pineapple, caramel with low acid and high levels of sweetness, with a short finish. I suspect this bottle was pretty old, since there is a trademark/copywright on the back label suggesting 2012. These same to run $35 on the winery’s website, figure $12 or so in the real world. $4-5 at Grocery Outlet is ‘ok’ but it’s not really like a true Muscat de Beaumes de Venise like Domaine Durban’s or Jaboulet’s branded one. Drink up and consumers should remember to be circumspect of NV flagged bottles at GO, as they can be older (and more tired) than one realizes.
Cellar Tracker notes over the last dozen years suggest this was not an outlier.
PS: True AOC muscat de beaume de venise is made in a fortified style, young sweet wine fermented then halted with alcohol to get to a stable abv. But it cracks up quickly.
I don’t think this is made like that.
I turned the rest of the bottle into the base for an afternoon wine cooler/spritzer with some sparkling peach accented La Croix. It was honestly better that way.
Sometimes with GO purchases, there is a lottery aspect, and one needs a backup plan.
Aubergine, thanks for the honest appraisal of this halfsie. Guess I’ll save it for for homemade wine coolers this summer using peach pear flavored LaCroix. 🍑🍐🥂
Last wine of the tasting event today.
Pagos del Rey Tamaron 2020 Ribero del Duero
🕰️2020
💯80/100 🌟3.0
👁Dark garnet
👃👅Dry, herbs, slt smokiness, tobacco, sharp sour red cherries, no leather notes, high acidity, medium tannins, expected better
from RdD.
🍇100%Tempranillo
🌄Ribero del Duero
No tech sheet found.
⛽ 14.1%ABV
💵$15 MSRP $6.99 GOBM
Tasting sample at local Grocery Outlet.
—————————————————-
Wines I purchased during this sale: (prob 18 bottles)
Double Canyon 2018 Cab Sauv
Deloach 2018 Pinot Noir 1850
Viña Marichalar 2018 Rioja Reserva
Cathedral Cove 2022 Sauv Blanc
Lapilli 2020 Fiano del Avellino
Guarda Rios 2020 Tinto
7 Colores 2021 Sauv Blanc
Springtree 2017 Cab Sauv
Luis Gurpegui Mugo 2019 Primi Crianza
(The last 2 are untried by me).
Robert Willis Homestead Collection 2018 Red Blend
One of Mercer’s many wines.
🕰️2018
💯86/100 🌟3.6
👁Dark ruby,dense
👃👅Dry,herbaceous nose,blew off revealing black cherry,hints of coffee and dark cocoa,vanilla,dusty tannins,med high acidity,spicy long finish of clove and black pepper.
Decent middle of the week quaff but not a case buy.
More like 4th bottle at the party when the good stuff is finished but people still want mo’ wine, mo’ wine, mo’ wine!
🍇37%CS,29%SY,26%MB,7%ML,1%PV
🌄Horse Heaven Hills
🕰️Stainless fermentation
🕰️16 mo barrel aging 25% new French&American oak
⛽ 14.1%ABV
💵$15 MSRP $6.99 GOBM
Tasting sample at local Grocery Outlet.
Murviedro 2020 Pasíon White Blend.
$12.99 MSRP $3.99 presale
Spoiled bottle? Storage issues?
Something terrible happened to this wine between Spain to WA.
Our GO got in several cases earlier and sold most bottles, probably due to low price and the magic words “organic grapes”.
I hope other buyers were luckier
🕰️2020
💯000/100 🌟1.0
👁 Clear pale straw
👃👅Dry, funky animalic guava and citrus, tomato leaf, sour bitter lingering torturous finish. Just awful.🤮
🍇Chardonnay? (says website, not on bottle) Malvasia? (says Vivino)
Organic grapes says label
🌄Valencia (says website, bottle says “Spain”)
⛽13%ABV
💵$12.99MSRP $3.99 GOBM
I ran out of water to wash my mouth out and had to wait for the taste to dissipate.
Maybe you’ll have better luck and get a good bottle! 🎲
might be a natural/organic wine, and those tend to not tolerate transport issues / heat at all. that was probably flawed before it got into the GO system, and a non representative bottle was used for sampling with buyers. that needs to be called out, and returned.
Aubergine, So sorry for the misunderstanding!
I neglected to note this was a tasting sample at the event today.
I saw this wine on the shelf earlier in the week and was turned off by the ugly Kelly green label, no mention of grape varietals or specific region of Spain, screwcapped bottle shape was unusually squat and ugly, price was very low. ($4 presale).
I think the low price lured a lot of people into buying in the months previous to the sale.
“Best Chardonnay of the Year” according to USA Wine Ratings!
DL, yeah I saw that and read up on the group in charge. Total marketing 🐂 💩.
LOVE the imogees, WORN!!! 🤣
I got back from a long trip out of the country on Sunday and made a quick stop in to the SLO GO to see if, by chance, there was anything exciting on the shelves while the sale was on. Nothing jumped out at me, but I picked up a handful of bottles as experiments anyway. Haven’t tried any yet, though.
2021 Vita Bella Toscana ($8 pre-discount)
2020 Faliero Piemonte Nobilotto ($7 pre-discount)
2020 Feudo Zirtari Terre Siciliane ($6 pre-discount)
2022 El Pescaito Finest Selection x1 ($4 pre-discount)
Quick comments on the three I’ve tried:
2020 Feudo Zirtari Terre Siciliane = Inzolia/Chardonnay blend, coming off something like a Chardonnay but with hints of Sauv Blanc greenness and Chenin waxiness/phenolics…a nice all-purpose white, if a bit on the neutral side
2021 Vita Bella Toscana = good quality and hits the general notes you’d want in an Italian red, would probably benefit from some age
2020 Faliero Piemonte Nobilotto = seemed a bit off-dry (not a style I generally like in reds and not what I wanted last night)…after a small taste, I recorked the bottle and set it aside
Secondly is Vino CasaSmith 2020 Rosé (100%Sangiovese)
🕰️2020
Screwcap
💯86/100 🌟3.6
👁Palest pink
👃👅Dry, slt rose petal on nose, citrus, white Rainier cherry, faint slate, hint of salt, bitter citrus peel ending, slt unbalanced.
🍇100% Sangiovese
🌄Columbia Valley
⛽12%ABV
💵$12MSRP $4.99 GOBM
The famed Charles Smith brand lowest tier wine served free on airplanes, bottled in Mattawa WA, probably the Milbrandt facility.
K Vintners (Charles Smith kept this line) makes some incredible high end wines, Motor City Kitty, King Coal, The Creator.
C Smith’s lower end wine labels were sold to Constellation years ago ie Kung Fu Girl Riesling,Boom Boom Syrah,Velvet Devil Merlot,Charles Smith CS, etc.
Tasting sample.
Last day of the wine sale, went in to taste their lineup of wines.
First up, Stoney River 2022 Sauvignon Blanc.
🕰️2022
💯85/100 🌟3.5
👁Very light straw
👃👅Dry, herbs, grapefruit, saline and minerals, no tropical notes, high acidity, long grapefruit zest finish.
🍇%SB unknown
Stainless ferment, no aging.
🌄Gisborne, NZ
⛽13%ABV
💵$18MSRP $8.99 GOBM presale price
Made by Lake Road Wine Co in NZ that makes Lake Road, Kopû,Stoney River, Brunton Road, Arowhana and Trig Station. Will custom bottle.
Tasting sample.
Not a buy for me.
(I bought more of the Pitelli 2020 Fiano di Avellino DOCG which I found to be more complex and tastier, $7.99 presale.)
My and Lim13’s thoughts on the Stoney River here. Lim, did you wind up getting any more of this?
I did not. I enjoyed it, but still prefer the Marlborough SB’s…specifically the few bottles of Mud House I have two cases later and the Villa Maria…though the Kirkland Ti Point for about the same price is a favorite too. Still have 2 bottles of the Stoney River too. Right now, my cellar runneth over…again. So my purchases are over except for my two winery clubs, Gainey and Thurston Wolfe.
Lim, I love the 3 SBs you mentioned. For some reason, the Stoney River just didn’t ring my bell. I was really searching for tropical notes and nada. Bottle variability? Tiny sample size (1 oz)? Who knows.🤷🏻♀️
thanks for the note. $9 doesn’t seem like all that great of a deal for NZSB. in our region they are mostly in the $8-13 zone, with a few special ones (Craggy Range) at $20 and Cloudy Bay up at $30ish. Costco cheaper of course…
Sometimes the mega producer Villa Maria’s stuff is available, and they are reliable, although sort of the Bogle of their little island.
I had an appointment up on the eastside, so stopped by the Bremerton GO this afternoon. I feel the need to say that the owners there have, thankfully, vastly expanded their wine selection. So somewhat reluctantly I left with 9 more bottles. Went in with a 6 bottle carry bag, but came out with a box. Damn OCD! I got 2 more bottles of the 2018 DeLoach PN, 2 bottles of Darrell’s favorite 2022 Cathedral Cove NZ Sauv Blanc, which I’ve never had, 3 bottles of the 2022 Ch Haut-Domingue Entre-Deaux Mers, which I was quite pleased to find, and 2 bottles of 2019 Hitch Edna Valley PN. Seems somebody here might have commented on that PN here, but dang if I can find it. Just hoping it’s not swill. Online reviews I found weren’t bad…lighter style, I believe. Only wine I was hoping to find, but didn’t was the Mas De Gourmande that got a lot of positive attention here.
We’re closing in on the point where we find wines we like on the last days and then hope some are still around for the Fall sale. Ha!
I saw some of that Entre Deaux Mers in the 916 today; I had not seen it before. It must be a new arrival since there was no shelf tag yet. The back label is fairly detailed, and claimed there are only 3000 cases made. It appears to be a true ‘estate’ wine and not some brand for a white labeler or a wine club.
Generally we don’t see much of that AOC here since it’s lowly priced, and tends to be less fruity than a comparable fighting varietal bottle from California. I didn’t purchase, but am intrigued.
Instead, I bought a bag of chili coated dried pineapple chunks – which sounds disturbing yet fascinating.
Opened my first bottle of the 2022 Ch Haut-Domingue Entre-Deux-Mers ($8.99 pre-sale price) tonight with some delicious, very moist char grilled and slightly smoked steelhead trout that I cooked on another in a string of beautiful warm days here in the PNW. 60% Sauvignon Blanc 40% Semillon; brilliant pale golden; pleasantly fragrant nose shows green herbs and spiced pear; rather soft and smooth in texture with more spiced pear flavors and subdued grassiness; would prefer a bit more acidity and a lower GO price (even with the sale discount), but I do like the nose and flavors. A decent example of Entre-Deux-Mers.
Opened a bottle of the 2019 Hitch Edna Valley Pinot Noir ($11.99) this evening. Brilliant pale ruby/orange; nose was rather skunky with earthy, mushroomy, dirty socks aromas and it doesn’t really blow off (but I’ve found this often in French Burgundies); lots of “sweet” cherry and red berry fruit along with peppery qualities on the palate; light tannins are enough to provide some texture; moderate acidity; not great, but not bad and showing obvious Pinot character. Worked quite well with our baked fresh sockeye salmon side filet with butter, light jerk seasoning, fine diced onion and preserved lemon bits. Glad I paid less than $10 after the sale discount of 20%.
Edna Valley makes some good chardonnay. I like Mt. Eden’s Wolff vyd bottling.
For about a day maybe three years ago the GO had a small amount of the Mt Eden Wolff chardonnay.
WOW!
Any opinions on the Kent East Hill store’s wine department? I’m thinking of heading over there later, after traffic, but not worth it if it only has a tiny wine section. My mom found a few bottles of the Silent Oak (at Puyallup South Hill) we had both been hoping to see during the sale. So now my “done with the sale” vibe has been broken; but not enough to drive to anywhere farther than Kent.
I’m too far removed from Kent to help out here, Schmamey. Only south of Seattle stores I used to hear a lot of good things about years ago were Renton Highlands and (somewhat surprisingly) Skyway. But who knows if the same “owners” are still there.
I took your advice and hit Renton Highlands again, which had been my first stop of the wine sale but didn’t leave me too impressed. It was a total score for me tonight. I was able to cobble together an entire case of the 2017 Silent Oak Red from Portugal, which is the one I had been hoping to find, at $5.99 before discount. I also found a case of the 2020 Latitude 38 that never made it to the shelves, and picked that up too given the more recent review here and how much I enjoyed the case of 2017 I got last spring (5 bottle left in my stash, so sad to see it go). I’m having some now, and it’s definitely not in the same league as the 2017, but I like it well enough to be happy at $7.99 before discount. Picked up 3 of the Grandfather Clock PN at $6.99 that is a perennial favorite at my family gatherings. Grabbed 2 more of the 2016 Caracol Serrano Red from Spain at $5.99 because I liked the one I got on the first day of the sale. Now I’m set until the fall sale, and have wine to bring all summer for camping and family picnics and all that. Thanks for recommending Sunset, I’m glad I went back.
Always happy to hear from a happy camper made happier. In my earlier review of the 3 Pinots side by side, the 2020 Latitude didn’t fare particularly well…and one day and two days later didn’t change my mind (though it did improve). But glad you enjoyed it enough to find and grab more because what YOU like is what’s most important, Schmamey.
Honestly I was happy enough with your review not containing the words “pour” and “drain” in the same sentence. That was enough to convince me to give it a whirl.
Well you gave me a good laugh first thing today, Schmamey. Hopefully you’ve never heard me say I poured anything down the drain and never will. If a wine is that bad, I usually return it for a refund or exchange for another wine. And then I’ve made some pretty decent vinegars too! 😏
I’m on day 3 of an opened bottle of the Lat 2020 and it has come around to being a decent match for my tastes. Day one was rough, and had me racing to get the screw cap right back on. Day two wasn’t much better. Day three and I’m good with this wine.
Glad it’s working for you, Schmamey. No wine lasts three days in this household. Just finished two partial bottles of next day wine here…one white, one red.
As I’m still outside GO territory, I have been drinking wine from “regular” wine stores, from which the wines I get are neither “drink now” nor so fancy that they need years of age to become approachable. As it’s only I consuming the wines, I drink them over 3 days. On the first day, I find I like them to air in the glass about 3 hours. Second day, about 1.5. Last day, maybe 30 minutes. This durability has been nice, but I have been missing those fully mature GO “drink now” specials.
Several red wines from Aridus, at high elevation in Wilcox, Arizona, showed up in the Florence GO on the Oregon Coast all at $7. I sampled several, and went back for what seemed the most interesting.
2019 Malbec, “American” grapes, 13.6% alcohol. (This is apparently not the same Malbec that Stephen McConnell praised in an Oct. 20, 2021, post, as a “ridiculously well-done wine” and perhaps the best wine he’s had from Arizona. The Aridus website says 2020 was the first vintage to go into their Malbec, so McConnell must have had an early sample of the”Estate” Malbec from Aridus.) Nevertheless, their “American” Malbec is a good pop and pour, a very smooth wine upon opening, unlike the other Aridus reds I tried that softened and improved on the second day after opening.
This was true of the 2017 Aridus Cabernet Franc, New Mexico grapes, 14.1% abv, closed tight upon opening, but very good the next day with a hearty dinner.
Other Aridus reds run $50 to $70 on the website, worth exploring if you find them at $7 at GO.
There was considerable discussion here in April 2022 about some Aridus wines, Michael. If you click on the What’s New tab, go to the bottom and click on older comments and go back a few pages to the April, May 2022 posts, follow dluber’s advice of ctrl F, you should find those posts…if interested. Some were just too lengthy to copy and paste here. I loved their Tank 48 blend, but had a couple of others that were terrible. And I haven’t seen any Aridus wines at GO since.
Thanks for the information, Lim. I couldn’t have found it without the dates you mentioned. Incidentally, I still have some of the Tank 48, bought on your recommendation a year back. It’s a good wine, as is the Pleiades white of which I still have a few bottles in the basement.
Glad I could help you find the info, Michael…and that you enjoyed the wines.
I was a vocal advocate of the Aridus Sauvignon Blanc when it came through some time back.
I have not asked him but I believe that some wineries send samples to Stephen. He also buys and reviews a lot of GO wines.
I picked up a bit of their Syrah during the earlier sale.
There is a documentary out there on some Arizona winery run by the front man from the band Tool (Maynard something). It’s on Amazon, Netflix etc. It’s kind of crazy to see how hard it’s to make wine there. James Suckling, an Asia/Tuscany based wine critic even makes an appearance.
The headline prices for their bottlings are beyond shocking though. One of those items I’ll just watch the show, and chuckle. Fans of the band seem to absorb some of the production, so its not being sold to either a discriminating nor price sensitive customer base.
It looks like that documentary is Blood into Wine (2010). The IMDB says: “Take a look inside the life of one of Rock music’s most mysterious and interesting figures. With winemaking in his blood, multiplatinum recording artist Maynard James Keenan sets out to bring notariety (sic) to Arizona’s burgeoning wine regions.”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1394383/
Spotted the Aridus 2019 Malbec and Aridus 2018 Merlot in the Lewiston store this morning for any Idaho readers out there. (I bought the Aridus Grenache last Oct that was faulty so not for me. Too inconvenient to return (40 miles) if problematic.)
I see that Aridus just opened a fancy tasting room in Scottsdale. We’re planning to go down to Arizona in October for Arizona Fall League, so given the Aridus wines that have turned up at GO, I’ll make a report on them, assuming we make it to the tasting room. Probably won’t buy there, though, given the online prices!
I’ve drunk through a lot of that Grenache and so far so good.
Did another browse through my local GO to see what’s out there. Mostly standard fare and slim pickings. I picked up a lingering Seven Sinners Petite Syrah that’d been buried in the shelf, and will probably circle back for a Cathedral Cove Sauvignon Blanc to crack open when the weather gets warmer.
If anyone has a suggestion for a dry, bold zin or red blend, I’m all ears. Otherwise, might pick up one Homestead Cab tomorrow evening and call it good for the sale.
I will pick up that Cathedral Cove SB that I mentioned earlier. Glad to hear you like it, too.
Got some more new (to me) bottles at the Pinole, CA store
yesterday. Prices before discount.
Short take: none are that exciting.
Shannon Ridge 2020 Buck Shack Rosé (Lake County) – $4
In a squat, boozy-looking bottle with a gimmicky label, looked like a loser, but 89 WE and 3.6 Vivino, why not? The $35 SRP is silly, $20 was the average retail…not bad, a tad residual sugar and some decent fruit, a bit hot (13.5%), and a little saline minerality, pleasant but there are better rosés at GO now.
Red Raven 2021 Rosé (Sierra Foothills) – $4
No online info. Unspecified grapes, say they picked early for crispness (12.5%), it’s a bit lean but not bad with food. Drinkable if you like a dry & tangy one, could use more flesh and aromatics.
Pieces 2013 Red Blend (Paso Robles) – $7
The bottles at GO are burgundy screw-caps, not the corked Bordeaux shown on the website, but the blend is the same: Petite Sirah (53%), Syrah (22%), Grenache Noir (16%) and Viognier (9%). Very light, you’d never guess it’s majority PS & Syrah, but hey, 10% white grapes. A not-great attempt at a Cote Rotie, surprisingly thin even with the white content because Paso usually grows ripe Syrah. Interesting, but I’d rather have a real Cotes du Rhone, or the Quadrant blend that’s still on GO shelves.
Post House Road 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve, Livermore Valley – $9
From the aforementioned/suspect Cal Wine Trading Co, silly SRP but Vivino shows it’s $8 (but hey, 3.9 rating). Popped & poured, dark, lots of extract, but disjointed; seems like a blend trying to balance under-ripe and over-ripe grapes. Missing the classic cooler-climate Cab cassis notes, but has gobs of sweet & flabby red fruit, but also some very astringent, stemmy tannin. Aerated, tried again today, thumbs down.
El Pescaito 2021 Blanco – $4
Looks like a cheap negociant wine, Google found lots of different labels and blends with the same name. I got it because it’s 75% Viura, 25% Sauv Blanc, and you can taste both. Pleasant and innocuous.
Of my previous batch, the Zisola Notto NdA opened up nicely after a couple days open. The Haut-Domingue EdM held up nicely too, maybe even better on day 2. The True Myth did not improve, in fact, seemed hotter and fatter (14.5%); not a rebuy.
DL, someone else (BW?Lim?) tried out the Pieces 2013 Red Blend last year IIRC.
It’s made by Broken Earth Winery using various leftover wines from 2013, bottled in 2022, according to Public COLA Registry.
Hence the name “Pieces” as in “bits & pieces”.
There are only 2 listings for Pieces wine made in CA, both dated in July 2022.
Broken Earth also makes Quadrant.
Wasn’t me WORN…so maybe BW. But a grab bag of wines from 2013 bottled in 2022 weirds me out.
Ah, yes. So on tasting Pieces again on day 2, I think I liked it better. Calling it thin ain’t right, it’s like a decent mid-level Cotes du Rhone, I just expected more beef given the % of Petite Sirah. Seem sweeter fruited and darker and a bit more complex on day 2, but still not going back for more; drink now.
Found a review of a Quadrant 2010 Bordeaux-ish blend, hadn’t tried that one. The one I had and liked a year ago or longer was a 2012, same varietals as Pieces (PS, Gren, Syr & Vig), but less Petite, more Grenache. I forgot to check the vintage I recently saw on the shelf.
I’m also liking the Red Raven rosé better today, and calling it lean seemed stingy. It’s actually got a decent amount of flesh and residual sugar, let’s call it off-dry; went well with some fatty salmon. I liked the Buck Shack less on day 2, it seemed too sweet and flabby now, and kinda stale; in fact, I poured it out.
DL, a lady from Dusty WA, about an hour away, told me she drove to Pullman specifically to buy a half case of Pieces 2013. Guess she really loved this! We drove 45 min to Lewiston last fall to pick up a case of Force Majeure 2012, so……
Concord (CA) Store–
Liesl Pinot Noir 2016 (Pfalz) $5.99
Definitely over the hill, but decanting brought a bit of life back into it. Simple cherry and woody notes. Pass.
Morrows 2019 Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, Sarmento Vineyard) $12.99
This is a weird one. I can’t find much info about the producer, but allegedly this got a 93 at Wine Enthusiast. Any single-vineyard SLH though is something I’ll jump on, but I didn’t know what to expect. Lovely deep redfruit notes that remind me of some other great SLH Pinots, a little bit of tobacco and strangely green pepper that seemed a bit off. Not the most complex aftertaste, but quite good and absolutely worth the $11 that I ended up paying with the discount.
Roblar. If you like Roblar Winery (out of the Santa Ynez Valley), it seems like their entire inventory is on sale for $5.99. Chard, Pinot, Merlot (saw a gentleman walk in, grab 6 bottles of it, then walk out), and maybe more.
SA, Morrows wine is a label owned by Trinchero and bottled at Sutter Home, one of Trinchero’s crush facilities. “Napa Cellars” labelled wines are also made there, among many others.
You can look up any American made wine on Public COLA Registry to see where it’s made. Choose “Any” in production name category (Brand or Fanciful or Any), for the other small spaces, Product Class Type use “%” to “%”,no quotation marks, Origin Code also type in “%”, using no quotation marks.
The time span has to encompass no longer than 15 years.
Every alcohol beverage maker has to register all their labels at least once, for taxation on alcohol sales purposes.
betraying my age, I remember when Napa Cellars might have been the old Napa Ridge brand, which had some good wines back in the 90’s.
Thanks for the access info.
It’s not going to make anyone’s heart go a putter, but a wave of 2019 Bogle Petit Sirah has shown up in multiple GO’s. After the sale discount, they would change hands at $5 and change (heh). Bogle is everywhere in my region – grocery, Costco, gas stations and so on. But it’s cheap, basic and reliable. When traveling and without access to my own cellar, if I can’t find something good, their gusty PS is a safe fall back option for me.
Bogle also sometimes has rebates (I’ve never tried them though) as well as one day promotions at select retailers ($5 Fridays for example). So that GO price is, all things considered, not really anything special. My better half doesn’t like them, so they don’t enter the house, but I’ve long had a soft spot for the family.
=========
Was painful, but last night we went to a jazz lounge, where I had to pay $18 for a (big!) glass of warm Beringer KV cab, vintage indeterminate, but likely very young. At least the pour was Olive Garden in massive proportion. I almost never pay for wine when going out, since I’d rather just BYO, and once one knows inside pricing for this stuff, it just sticks in the craw to pay restaurant/bar markups.
Aubergine, I researched Bogle last year as a local pub serves it along w other budget wines. Usual markup is 2-3X retail IIRC.
Third generation independent winery, every dept from vineyard management, winemaking, marketing/business/sales is headed by a family member, so they’re all invested in quality control. As you’ve mentioned, not “hearts aflutter” wines, but reliable standby bottles that are quite decent for the $10 range (grocery store price). (Btw, a dangerous heart dysrhythmia does exist called “atrial flutter”- PS I retired early from ER nsg in 2020 after 36 yrs, due to pandemic)
Our GO gave samples of the Bogle 2020 Chardonnay on Wednesday.
🕰️2020
💯85/100 🌟3.5
👁Light yellow
👃👅Dry, crisp, apple, pear, vanilla, med high acidity, lime peel finish.
🍇%Chardonnay unspecified
🌄Clarksburg,Dunnigan Hills, Lodi CA
🕰️Fermentation 50%stainless, 50% new American oak
🕰️8 mo new American oak
⛽14.5%ABV
🎖️89 pts WE Best Buy Jim Gordon 🧐
💵$9 MSRP $5.99 GOBM presale
(I brought a wine glass, white cloth, notebook (and spit cup!) to evaluate properly.)
TLDR : Bogle wines reliable though unexciting. Bogle 2020 Chard is okay.
Yep, Bogle has always been reliable – good zins and PS especially. As a cheapskate descended from a long line of cheapskates, I also hate being price-gouged for wine at restaurants and bars. To, me it’d make more sense to price it reasonably, and then more people would order wine with their meal. But I don’t want to run a restaurant. Kudos to those who do it right! It’s been pre-pandemic since I’ve been, but one of my favorite places is/was PassionFish in Pacific Grove – besides the great food and service, they had a huge and interesting wine selection, knowledgeable servers, and reasonable prices.
Tried a few new things (Richmond and Pinole, CA). A couple that BW recced:
2016 Zisola Noto Rosso Nero d’Avola – It’s a more serious wine than I expected. Most NdA I’ve had are soft, light-bodied, and fruit-forward. This one has more extract and some structure on top of the fruit, seems very young and unevolved, will keep a few.
2021 Haut-Domingue Entre-Deux-Mers – A nice combo of a ripe but still crisp sauv blanc, with some citrus tang and herbaceousness, say between CA and Sancerre, complimented by the pear fruit and richness of the semillon.
Random whites:
2020 True Myth Edna Valley Chardonnay Paragon – BW liked the 2016 despite it being a bit too buttery, but he didn’t like the bitter tinge on the finish of 2017. It didn’t bother me as much; I liked it enough to get more, and it’s aging out. The 2020 is a very similar wine and has more of that bitterness, and is also fatter and more unbalanced. I’m liking the 2017 better but may hold a couple 2020s.
2020 Feudo Zirtari Inzolia/Chardonnay – always a sucker for oddball Italian whites, although they so often disappoint by being too lean and acidic w/o much character. This one is decent; you can taste both components, and the blend is more interesting than either would be alone. The fatness of the chard supports the tart, lean Inzolia. Decent but not a repeat buy.
2021 Tutela Pinot Grigio delle Venezie. PG can be vinified all over the map; this one is Drinkable plus. On the crisp side, but enough fruit and body to drink as a standalone. Still, probably not a repeat buy for me, but if your daily white is Ruffino PG from Safeway, you’d probably like this for half the price.
Got a Lapilli Aglianico, haven’t tried it yet, hoping to see their Greco or Fiano.
The other Mazzei reds are gone I think (BW?). The Effe Emme Petit Verdot I saw earlier, didn’t interest me as much, would try one if it’s restocked. Never saw the Doppiozeta.
The Belguardo Vermentino was disappointing like I said too many Italian whites are: lean, devoid of fruit, over-acid: about as much fun as a glass of water with a slice of lemon in it. The Avivo Vermentino was very good, but I’m not keen on storing a white wine under a sponge cork, so drink up soon I think.
Count me in as a Bogle Petite Sirah fan…though I haven’t had one in years, as I became overwhelmed with all the wines out there by thousands of wineries and more every day. But Bogle has remained very reasonably priced, decent in quality and plentiful. Great party wines! Never had a white from Bogle…and haven’t see the 2019 PS in GO’s up here. I’m actually surprised it’s at GO.
Lots of Myth 2020 Chardonnay in our stores, but Chardonnay is near the bottom of my list for desired wines. As stated earlier though, I’d sure like to see that Entre-Deux-Mers here though.
Your restaurant wine comment, aubergine, led me down to my cellar where I’ve had a page from a Robert Parker (of whom I’m not a huge fan) wine calendar that I received many years ago, pinned to a wine rack. It’s oddly from April of whatever year and says “Given the vast sums of American discretionary income that is being spent eating in restaurants, a strong argument could be made that the cornerstone to increased wine consumption and awareness would be the consumption of wine at restaurants. However, most restaurants treat wine as a luxury item, marking it up an exorbitant 200 to 500 percent, thereby effectively discouraging the consumption of wine. This practice of offering wines at huge markups also serves to reinforce the mistaken notion that wine is only for the elite and the rich. The wine industry does little about this practice, being content merely to see its wines placed on a restaurant’s list. But the consumer should revolt and avoid restaurants that charge exorbitant wine prices, no matter how sublime the cuisine.”
Up here in WA, there is no law that prohibits taking your own wine to a restaurant, but you should always call ahead to ensure the restaurant allows you to bring wine (their option) and to inquire what their corkage fees are.
Yes, 98% of the time I either BYO or pass on buying wine in a restaurant, but we were in a jazz club which had a (loosely enforced) 2 drink minimum, so I had to buy a glass of wine. As it turned out, I observed no practical way for them to enforce that 2DM given that it was a ticketed event. (Some comedy clubs charge a table deposit, and drinks come off that initial credit, with any residual owed squared up when the check comes. This place didn’t do that way, likely due to their size, and lack of servers)
I dislike the restaurant’s industry approach to asking wine lovers to subsidize their business model, and try to avoid any support of that.
A couple of wines that I haven’t seen discussed that I have enjoyed from the Olympia store, both $6.99 pre-sale:
Orinda Hayes 2020 Red Hills Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon. BargainWhine commented on this one during the last Fall sale, noting that it seemed disjointed with weird flavors. Maybe another 5 months or so in the bottle was what it needed. Maybe a little heavy on the fruit, but with some tannins for balance. People on Vivino seem to like it. “Cellared and bottled by”, which I usually avoid, but I was curious and at the price I picked up a few more. A lot left on the shelves.
and
Mission Sud 2021 Cabernet-Syrah, Pays d’Oc. 50/50 Cab/Syrah. Quite nice. All but one case was gone this afternoon. I left two bottles.
And the Olympia store is closed all day Easter Sunday.
Interesting! I actually opened up an Orinda Hayes Cab on Friday and had the same thoughts. A little rough on the pallet, which I like, and lots of dark fruit and peppery notes. I could see it matching well with a potato-heavy dinner or a cheese plate.
Global warming has made Lake County grapes get ripe enough now to be bottled under own AVA.
Funny, I never thought of Lake County as being on the cool side. I know it gets some fog, but whenever I have been in the inland county, it was rather warm, especially compared to coastal AVA’s.
RB, Researched Orinda Hayes label. It’s made by Appellation Trade Co which has 19 other labels in their regular portfolio, ranging from $15 to $250 MSRP. ATC facility is located in an industrial park in Napa, no tasting room, not open to public. ATC has custom crush capability, packages bulk wines for clientele, has shiners for sale ready for custom labels which they also supply.
Most Interestingly, ATC offers recreation of a desired wine a client requests. 😳
“I’ll have the Quilceda Creek 2006 CS replicated, thanks!”
(Personally doubt this is possible, otherwise there would already be a flood of cult wine clones out there)
Orinda Hayes is sold by Firstleaf, also sold on Orinda Hayes website, $20-$35 range. This label is not listed on the ATC website, which leads me to believe it was primarily created for FirstLeaf.
One product, Orinda Hayes 2018 Paso Robles scored 89 on Wine Enthusiast 11/1/21.
No other professional ratings found.
Pullman got in a passel of the red blend and CS last fall. Some still around.
Passed initially bc of mediocre rating here. Glad it’s improved!
I really dislike this kind of contrived bottling, as well as the ‘Pieces’ Frankenstein amalgamation of leftover 10 year old vats. These aren’t estate wines, and for the same money, I’d just rather have a Bogle if I was forced to pick a $6 wine. Thank you for sharing these COLA interpretations — it makes me even more suspicious / skeptical of the typical GO California wine.
In the dicey world of sub $10 yet decent wines, I’ve had the best luck keeping an eye out for scuffed label bottles that retailers have put in their closeout or oddbin rack. That is assuming its something I’d like, or be willing to experiment with, to begin with.
Covid closed all tasting rooms, members dropped out, many smaller independent wineries were on the brink of closing.
I can see the necessity of trying to eke out a few more dollars by bottling up leftover wine.
Re: white label wines sold by online wine clubs. I always research wines that are unfamiliar to me.
Only 10-12% of wine consumers have knowledge of wine, others don’t care to know, price is their guide. (“If it’s expensive, it must be good.”)
Most US wine consumers have tried on average, 6 styles/varietals of wine.
Most find a couple of varietals or styles they like and they stick with those.
I was walking around a normal retailer yesterday, not some kind of shady/dodgy place, and found a bottle of the 2009 Kumeau River ‘Village’ Chardonnay. 2009 (!!!) I think I might have bought the 2017 or something a few years ago from the same place. Someone will get a cruel surprise if they don’t look closely at the labels, and that’s something obvious, like stale merchandise.
That’s actually a good / real NZ producer run by a MW (look up their podcasts) but its crazy that bottle is still being presented for sale to normal consumers. These are not white Hermitage intended for decades of aging….
I’m surprised how thinned out some GO’s wine depts are after a few days of the sale, especially when it didn’t seem like there were so many amazing deals to me. But perhaps the overall inflationary environment makes the $7 price point wines look more interesting.
I realize this is not the same thing, but definitely check out Costco, especially their Kirkland level wines, which can be crazy values if one doesn’t need a label. Recent example – their 2016 Kirkland Barolo was bottled by Borgono if I recall correctly, and was $20. Good vintage, good producer. GO had the 2017 Terre de Vino Barolo for $17 which is middling co-op for growers unwilling/unable to estate bottle. For some appellations they go back to same houses each vintage, for example the Rioja Reserva each year is bottled up by Vina Eguia, which is a large respectable traditional bodega that is in the Pernod Richard empire. Under their own label its a $15 wine, as Kirkland its maybe $7. It’s not my type – either way – but I can acknowledge that its capable.
Has anyone tried the 2018 Mas de Gourmande [Baux des Provence] that might still be floating around at GO for $7? weird shaped bottle as that AOC is wont to do
I liked that Mas de Gourmande 2018 Les Baux des Provence very much, but we got very little of it at Richmond, CA, so I am surprised you can still find it. Really nice complexity and balance and still has good life left in it. I have one more bottle left, which I plan to open this fall. IMO definitely try it, and personally, I would stock up.
I just drank my last bottle of Mas de Gourmande 2018 Les Baux des Provence earlier this week, agreed would buy all I could find at this point
I’m with you on some Kirkland brands, aubergine. I’ve been buying the Kirkland Ti Point NZ Sauv Blanc for 5 or 6 bucks for many vintages now. I suspect they’re one of the producers that Costco goes back to year after year. The champagne and Proseccos are quite serviceable and well-priced too.
The one interesting aspect with most of the Kirkland type of wines is that (ex Champagne or so) is that one tends to only have a small window to buy them in. The warehouse gets a pallet or two, and then its out there for a week or two, and then its gone. So usually not much time for external opinions, reviews, and so on.
I’m a Francophile and have generally found that their Rhone buyers own brand portfolio tends to be safe picks. Their lesser known negociants have a good sensibility for the blends. And its not just Cotes du Rhone level; I’ve seen CNDP, Gigondas, and other AOC under that Kirkland flag too.
It’s probably a capital intensive, low margin business (for the made to order blends) so I doubt GO would ever try it, likely satisfied with just getting custom labels on existing cuvees from regional blending houses.
Random notes:
Disappointed not to see any Ken Volk Wines in the sale, just 2 desert wines of no interest to me. Anyone see any in SLO or elsewhere on central coast?
Lim13: FWIW, I agree, Suckling’s preferences do not align with mine, but I also believe he suffers from serious grade inflation, e.g the Marichalar Rioja (JS 92) in my scoring much closer to WORN’s 89.
Redwood City has a boatload of the Deloach 1950 Pinot ($12 pre-discount) if anyone around the Bay is having trouble finding it.
Hearing no info re: the Barowsky Pinots, I took one for the team and bought the Barowsky Disesa “Small Batch” Sonoma Coast ’16 PN. One of several BD PNs at Redwood City all $15 pre-discount. “Cellared and bottled” on back label, “Estate Bottled” on front, go figure; website similarly confused.
Tasted w/out food: 13.8% abv, ruby color, aroma of cherry and faint spice, satin texture and moderate weight on entry thru mid-palate. Rich fruit, black cherry, good length, tannins well integrated, crisp acid on finish. A well made wine that should hold, not likely to improve, for a few years. A solid buy, stands up with some Etude & Acacia PNs at 3+x the sale price, but their SRP of $100 is a pipe dream.
Hi Doon, So sorry for the late reply. Did some extensive digging on Barowsky Disesa Vineyards. The more I read, the more it seems this was a misguided overly ambitious business venture gone sideways. Benjamin Disesa (restaurant experience/Somm) and Andy Barowsky (baking experience) decided to go into the wine/restaurant/retail business together. What could possibly go wrong? Their restaurant/wine bar/retail location was in Miami (Abaco Wines & Wine Bar, now permanently closed), wines were bottled in California. The two do not own vineyards, they have or did have a business office on Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg NO SPECIFIC ADDRESS, which is odd/fishy. ALL their wines I found on Public COLA Registry are bottled by Keller Estate Winery in Petaluma, a much less “desirable” location in terms of wine than Healdsburg. My guess is they took California bulk wines and bottled them in Petaluma, trucked to Miami to serve at their wine bar/restaurant and sell at exorbitant retail prices. The website isn’t even finished, all wine reviews are trolls about Cialis, it’s a trainwreck. They probably went bankrupt, sold off remaining wine to pay off a long line of creditors. (I’m not saying their wines aren’t decent enough to drink, just not at $100/bottle.)
TLDR: Overambitious business plan using CA bulk wine goes horribly wrong resulting in wine on GO shelves.
I noticed the bottle is quite heavy, deeply punted. Typically a visual cue to get higher spenders. Yet the label is appalling visually, and the trade name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Thanks for the TN above
Hi aubergine, I did more digging re Barowsky Disesa Vineyards, henceforth called BDV.
Andy Barowsky was owner of Lepage Bakeries, one of the largest commercial bakeries, which was sold to Flower Foods in 2012 for $370M. Barowsky donated $12.5M to Dominican University in Florida in 2014, Andrew Barowsky School of Business is named in his honor.
Ben Disesa, handsome, young (late 30s), athletic, hip Somm with a young gorgeous wife, is the face of BDV and the wine expert.
The two men spared no expense, French oak barrels, Portuguese corks, imported heavy French wine bottles, German capsules. Grapes were most likely contracted from preexisting vineyards.
The wine bar/small bites/retail space in Miami (Abaco Wine Bar) was designed by the firm that designed Apple’s NYC Fifth Avenue store. (Wine Bar closed permanently.)
Since AB was footing the bills, his name is front and foremost on the label. Agreed it is a clunky name.
A gigantic house with grounds was purchased on Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg to serve as CA HQ/additional home. The grounds look neglected, dry, brown, huge weeds, no longer irrigated.
BDV has wines for sale on their unfinished website, a 2022 Viognier ($45) most recent vintage. Pinots run $99-$150.
($15 GOBM price is a fraction.)
No retail outlet, online mail order only (and now GO wines).
No professional wine ratings found.
My understanding is if wines sent to publications like Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast do not score 85 up, reviews are not published.
Either BDV wines were not sent (unlikely, as first vintage BDV was 2014), or they didn’t make the cut.
TLDR: Angel investor gets wings clipped in bicoastal wine business venture. “How does one make a small fortune in wine? Start with a large fortune.”
That sounds fairly typical for the GO life cycle of a wine entering its sad shelving. I picked up one bottle of the 2016, where the label more prominently features ‘Phil Leonard’ than the owners, which is in a fading script.
I can’t find anything out about the P – L name; perhaps there is some linkage with the Dan Leonard of (!) Bronco Wine Co. who specializes in jug/bulk wines.
In any case, one will have to just hope that because they put their name on it, and GO buyers would have tasted prior to purchase, that it will be at least worth the money. And I personally don’t have any issues enjoying ‘B’ grade wines. There is too much BS paid to (and for!) the tippy top wines with triple digit scores (and prices).
Aubergine, I was wondering if the BDV wine names, Phillip Leonard and Albertus Magnus have personal meaning for Andy Barowsky and Ben Disesa.
Fathers or grandfathers maybe?
Mark O’Neilly of Mark Ryan has named wines after his wife (Megan Anne PN) and 2 daughters (Lu & Oly Rosé).
Spring Valley Vineyard in Walla2 has Uriah (a RBBdx blend), Frederick (CS blend), Nina Lee (SY/VG) and Katherine Corkrum (CF), after their farmsteading ancestors.
After seeing photos of BD in a wine cave w a line up of Barowsky Disesa stamped Tonellerie barrels (exact cooperage name escapes me), I believe that at the very least, the wines were aged in pricey French barrels. They may have contracted fruit from vineyards in Windy Gap, processed at Keller Estate in Petaluma, so good effort.
I wish our store would get some BDV wines in! I’d love to try them just out of curiosity, after all the sleuthing I’ve done!
TLDR:Some winemakers name wines after family members or ancestors for sentimental reasons. BDV wines probably legit.
Aubergine, mystery solved! 🕵🏻♀️ The founders full names are Andrew Phillip Barowsky and Benjamin Leonard Disesa. Hence, Phillip Leonard wine label. They must not like their relatives names very much! 😂
Keller is in the hills east of Petaluma, firmly in the Carneros AVA. Great location for pinot, chardonnay and syrah.
Does anyone have any information on Barowsky Disesa Vineyards? There is a boatload of Pinot Noir under that label at the Redwood City GO, $15 (pre-discount). I could not find any meaningful info on my phone while in the store.
My favorite buy so far in this sale is the Vina Marichalar ’18 Rioja Reserva, a very serviceable red blend at $10 price point that went well with my smoked baby back ribs last night.
I also picked up some of the Avivo Vermentino, ($6?) which I enjoyed last go ’round, and the Haut-Domingue Entre-Deux-Mers, $8, as everyday whites to have around.
Otherwise nothing has stood out to me in this sale.
Has anyone tried the Lapilli Greco di Tufo to comment on it?
I have a bottle of that as well as the Avellino…but there’s so much to get to in a week’s time!
(I do appreciate that we have an additional day in the sale this year and book-ended extra 10%’s off to boot)
Have seen only the Fiano up here…and only one case of that.
Minus one day on the extra days of the wine sale, because GO is closed Sunday for Easter.
Great reminder, Schmamey! Thanks. Silverdale owner told me the same thing. They’ll be closed for Easter Sunday.
Hi Lim13. In my experience, GOs might close early on Easter, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, etc., but the only day they’re completely closed is Christmas Day. Are you (and Schmamey) sure they’re closed the whole day of Easter?
I guess it depends on the store, 4 out of my 6 stores show closed for Easter on their Yelp pages. One of the two that show open on Easter on their Yelp pages confirmed by phone that they will be closed, and the other gave me a tentative “I think we’re open”. Good catch if it is up to each store, give them a call.
Thanks for investigating!
Christina, the owner at Silverdale told me they would be completely closed on Easter. She wants her employees to have the day off to be with their families. Kudos to her and her husband, James!!
Wow. So it can be done.
Indeed. And I’m a firm believer that it should be done more often on holidays. In this increasingly stressful world, days off have become more important. “All work and no play…blah, blah, blah…”
Since my wife and I shop Costco, she reminded me they close Easter, possibly due to holiday wages being much more.
Based on my first bottle of the Vina Marichalar 2018 I grabbed a half dozen to stick away for a few more years.
Me too
Hi Lim13. Yesterday, I opened a bottle of the Château Haut-Domingue 2022 Entre-Deux-Mers, Bordeaux, France, 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Sémillon, imported by Evaki Inc., 12.5% ABV, $9. I thought it was pretty good, with nicely crisp acid and yellow melon, gooseberry / lime / lemon, maybe slight grassiness as you say, slightly zesty white-of-melon-rind minerality, although it did seem a bit more yellow-fruited, less green, and riper than I remember the 2021. Today, it’s definitely softer, riper, maybe less complex, than I recall the previous vintage, and could use a little more acid to my taste. Still pretty good, but maybe because you suggested it, I am also a little less enthusiastic about it for $9. Links to my thoughts and DLuber’s on the 2021.
$9 isn’t particularly low for an Entre deux Mers, btw. It angers the Bordelaise, but their AOC and station determines so much of the market’s willingness to pay for what they offer. But that’s also a system they set up a hundred+ years ago.
Snuck into Oly about 20 minutes before closing time, to use my extra 10% coupon. Glad I made it home from my Cali road trip in time! I almost stopped into several GrossOut stores on my way north but we were under a time crunch and didn’t have much room in the car…
My main target was to grab one of the 4-5 cases of the Lapilli Fiano Di Avellino that I saw just before I left over a week ago. It’s become my favorite GrossOut white as of late. But to my surprise, there was barely any left — I scoured the area and grabbed the 9 bottles I found. I did leave one of the bottles that was in the chiller. You’re welcome! (In case someone here goes back to look for more 😁)
I saw the email this morning that said it was #6 most popular selling wines this week. Hmmm…
I first discovered Fiano in my 2021 trip to the Sacramento area (my girlfriend and I go visit her family) — we randomly stopped at Starfield Vineyards in Placerville, and they grow & produce some there. Going through the white varietals they offered at tasting, this one was quite memorable to me. I ended up joining the wine club precisely because of how well they make their whites. Their reds were every bit as good!
I have already bought about 5-6 bottles but have been too busy to take and share my detailed notes. But on memory, I consider this Lapilli Fiano Di Avellino one that fits my “delegant” bucket — “Delicate + Elegant” in flavor. Quite complex in its flavor when you dive into it (elegant) but not a big/bold wine (delicate) like some Chardonnay or other whites. When I crack the next bottle open, I’ll share my notes in the other thread.
I also grabbed another bottle of the Double Canyon that we were discussing during the fall sale. Haven’t opened the first one yet, but that’s going to happen soon! Heck, I still have a few bottles of the 2017 Red Mountain cab-sauv from the cases I bought a few sales ago.
Grabbed a few others I haven’t tried yet, some that we drink pretty regularly (Latitude 48, Impulse Rosé, Homestead Red), and closed the second case with another bottle of the Pacheca Tawny Port. I almost snagged the 10-year but to me the taste difference between that and the Tawny isn’t worth the extra $8 (pre-sale price).
Will bounce up again to Puyallup later this week, so I may stop in a few other places in search of more Fiano. Would love to have a full case at least, but I haven’t seen it in any other store.
I did snag a bottle of the Lapilli Aglianico at the Redding store as I shopped for wine to drink on vacation pre-sale. That was quite tasty, but I haven’t seen it in any of the shops I frequent. There’s another Aglianico available at some GrossOuts whose label escapes me at the moment, but I prefer the Lapilli. Will try to find some of that here, too.
Was really nice to have the extra 10% off, though — and the cashier said it was crazy busy with people buying wine in Oly yesterday.
Found Fiano Di Avellino by Donnachiara at Total Wine in Silverdale in February 2020 and loved it. Have bought many bottles since, but $14.99 including a 20% discount I usually get on Italian wines. So $6.99 at GO for the Lapilli is a steal…IF it ends up being tasty.
Lim&Pauly, I bought a single bottle of Lapilli 2020 Fiano di Avellino a few days ago, popped it open tonight.
White wines tend to linger too long in my storage, the majority of my friends prefer reds but this was very tasty!
At times it reminded me of a non tropical Sauvignon Blanc, other times an unoaked Chardonnay.
Non American wines tend to linger on the shelves here, most buyers stick to US made wines.
🕰️2020
💯87/100 🌟3.7
👁Light golden yellow
👃👅Dry, pear, citrus, very slt green element almost like gooseberry, juicy acidity, med long finish w hint of grapefruit zest, enjoyable crisp Italian white!
🍇Fiano
🌄Avellino, Campagnia
⛽13%ABV
💵$15-20 MSRP $7.99 GOBM
Agglomerated cork closure.
Would pair perfectly with salmon or roasted chicken.
I’ll probably buy a few more for summer!
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed it (and found a bottle to try)! I’m on antibiotics so my wine time is cut off for the moment (ugh) and I still have the chilled bottle I intended to open to share notes on, too. But from my memory (I’ve had at least 3 bottles of this with my family) I can definitely see the parallel to a non-tropical Sauvy B (which is probably why I like it a lot). Having consumed probably a case of Fiano from Starfield (which is definitely more complex and deep in flavor than the Lapellli) over the last couple summers, I can attest that it’s a very nice summer wine. I was very happy to find it at GrossOut — it’s become one of my favorite whites.
(“It” being the Fiano varietal, I mean, not specifically this one, though it is very good and most definitely a re-buy if I can find some more)
I picked up a bottle of Cantina di Solopaca Aglianico Beneventano IGP if that’s the other label that escapes you. $5.99 pre sale in San Diego
I think that might be it. So many photos on my phone that I can’t seem to find the snap I took when I originally grabbed some. It’s pretty widely available, though, at least locally (Oly had some for awhile, too, but I didn’t really have time on Monday to search for it).
Whichever label it was – it was good, but not as good as the Epicuro Aglianico I pretty religiously grab from TJs at the same price.
(Starfield also makes one, in addition to the Fiano, and it’s absolutely stellar!)
Is this the Pauly I think it is?
As in dancin’ Mongy? I just made that up…but you’ll chuckle and know what I mean…if this is who I think it is. Photographer, just back from Cali…
And if it’s not, then I must apologize!!
Yoga Janine here 😉
Hmmm. Perhaps?? I’m not sure I’m known for my dancing, but I did just come back from my bucket list photo trip to Yosemite 😀
I must go the apology route….I was able to see your photo a little clearer (you’re hidden behind the camera) and I don’t think you’re the photographing, traveling Paulie M. who I know here in Olympia!
You have a variety of doppelganger, we’ll say….
Yeah, I much prefer to be behind the camera than in front of it hahaha!
The lead singer of the Mighty Lemon Drops (one of my favorite bands) also shares my name. When I post on their Facebook page I have to remember to tag my posts “(The OTHER Paul)” 🤣
Funny…that just conjured up fond memories of my train trip across Canada with my buddy in 1973…$64 one way from Toronto to Vancouver and we could get on and off as much as we pleased (like Banff & Jasper NP’s). We then hitchhiked down the US west coast and back across country to our then home, Syracuse, NY. We stayed in Yosemite and my bud took some great photos of the Half Dome, one of which has been hanging in my living rooms for years. One of the best moments in my life. Try hitchhiking now…without fear!
What I picked up today at the Silverdale, WA GO (all prices prior to 20% discount): 2 more bottles of 2018 Double Canyon 3H Cab Sauv $16.99; 2 bottles of the 2018 Vina Marichalar Rioja $10.99; 2 bottles of 2020 Lapilli Fiano Di Avellino Italian white $6.99; 1 bottle of 2020 Bouchard Pinot Noir Rose’ $5.99 and 1 bottle of the 2021 Wilhelm Kraemer Riesling $5.99 which I’ve been harping about here for a week or more. Not much nose, but it tends toward the lightly off-dry style, has peach and Granny Smith apple fruit and has fairly decent acidity. For under five bucks you could do much worse.
A mostly sad day for the Pinots I was hoping to find, although the owner will hold a few bottles of the DeLoach 1950 for me…coming in tomorrow. No Divum. They have the Latitude 38, but it’s 2020 and I need to hear more before buying. They also have the RD & MM, but I wasn’t enthused with the reviews here. No Sebastapol Hills. So right now, it looks like I may return for more of the ones I bought…if I like them…but my Pinot and German Riesling search was less than exciting.
By the way, my reliable source tells me that if all goes well with the app in WA, everywhere else will get it in August.
I was sadly disappointed with the 2020 Bouchard Pinot Noir Rose’. I found it to be rather bland and tired, soft and uninteresting from a decent old producer. I’ve had older rose’s that have held up much better.
That could have been sitting on a warm sales floor for the last 18 mos, and deteriorated. I’m generally super skeptical about buying anything but the most recent, or prior release if I trust the storage. Usually there isn’t any dark glass, tannin, or acidic spine to preserve the pink stuff.
2022’s rose’s should be filtering into the market pretty soon.
Always a chance you take…especially at GO…although I’ve had some really tasty older rose’s at GO from WA state and South Africa. Have already seen a number of 2022’s at a local Seattle wine shop…and they’re constantly drifting in.
I bought two liquid dairy items in the last week that were both totally spoiled. It doesn’t happen often but there is definitely some stuff that GO and her vendors know is bad. Sure there’s a return policy, but keeping receipts, and remembering which store one picked it up from (there are 5 in my region) is a pain.
Lim, I cracked open a Viña Marichalar 2018 Rioja Reserva tonight before dinner.
Really enjoyed it! 😍
🕰️2018
💯89/100 🌟3.9
👁Ruby garnet
👃👅Dry, savory, red cherry, leather, clay pot, dried strawberries, oak, earthy like potting soil, vanilla, med acidity and matching tannins.
Very tasty Rioja, kept pouring a bit more!
🍇90%Tempranillo,10% Garnacha
🌄Navarre, Spain
🕰️18+ mo 70% French oak, 30% American,18 mo bottle aged
⛽ 13.5%ABV
🎖️92 pts JS 🧐
💵$11 GOBM (presale price)
All too gluggable Rioja!
Good alone or with food.
Running back for more!
🇪🇸🍇🍷🏃🏽♀️
Thanks for the report, WORN. I’m gonna text the owner to see if she can hold a few more for me.
Yeah! Another Spanish red fan on here! I bought 3 cases of mixed reds primarily of Spanish and Argentinian reds. I opened the 2020 Los Haroldos Estate blend of 60% Malbec, 25% Cab Sauv, 15 %PV. Altho light garnet in color, very shiny and glossy under the light. Aromas of ripened plum, violets, medicinal or unknown herb. Flavors of Blackberry, dark fruits, some type of herbal note too, cassis from the Cab came thru and a chalky powdery note hit the palate from the PV. And a nice candied plum finish. I enjoyed it altho I only bought one. Thought I’d try to taste the single purchases first to go back and buy more. $6.99 before discount. The label is a textured black label with gold Angel icon, white and silver text from Mendoza Argentina. Cheers
Popped a couple corks, one being the 2019 Fonte Reggia Reserve Chianti, 7.99 pre-sale. Double gold lined frame gold and black label. For a Reserve, disappointing at best with first notes being sour and bitter. Med Garnet in color, aromas of spice and white pepper. Flavors of bright early picked cherries, and chalky tannins. I’m a trooper and finished it within two days. I’ve tried worse.
Ca wine out of Copperopolis near Angels Camp and Murphy Ca. Krames family Vineyard 2011 Joshua blend of Mourvèdre, Syrah & Vio. Dead on arrival, Prune and Raisiny. This one got dumped down the drain. I failed to see the poor vintage year of 2011 as I got excited about Mvdre and Sy blend. $7.99 pre-sale. Black and Orange striped label. Orange lettering.
Cheers
I was looking in my Spanish wine guide (from Grupo Penin) for that property and could not find it, which is really strange, since it’s exhaustive of that nation’s wines (most of which are not found in the US). But some googling suggests its part of the Manzanos empire, of whose wines have been filtering into the US in recent years. They have a rep for medium weight traditional Rioja, but I have not tasted the one example I have.
These tend to be better drunk solo, rather than in comparison panels, which I suppose is how importers/distributors pick their portfolio.
I opened the first of four bottles of the 2018 Marichalar tonight and was slightly unimpressed. Clear, but poured on the brick/pale end of the ruby spectrum; cedar, black coffee nose with a touch of caramel; fairly high tart acidity with moderate tannins; chewy at mid palate through the finish; leather and oak with dried cherry fruit and a touch of black pepper; slightly astringent and mouth puckering. Maybe needs more time in the cellar? I’ve never found Suckling’s taste to approach mine, but I’m always willing to give it a go. I checked out reader reviews on Vivino, but most reviews are for the 2013 vintage.
Also wanted to check with you on something, WORN…even though it may be inconsequential. You showed the wine as being 90% Tempranillo and 10% Garnacha, but my bottle’s back label says it’s 85% Temp and 15% Garn. Just want to ensure there are not two different blends of the same vintage, which would worry me a bit. Plus, I don’t claim to know a lot about Spanish wine labeling laws, but thought it interesting that label also says it’s “bottled by”, not produced and bottled by. Spanish wine “experts” on the blog…please further educate me!
Lim, I just now rechecked the bottle. You are totally correct, its 85%T 15%G. I have no idea how I misread the numbers. I’m sorry this wine didn’t please you more! I haven’t been drinking much in the last 2 months due to back to back respiratory infections and being on meds, so maybe just too thrilled to be drinking wine again? (hence too easily impressed?) (I had another half glass while rechecking the ratio!)
Don’t sell yourself short, WORN. Palates often don’t ride down the same road. Others on this blog enjoyed the wine, so I think I’m representing the minority. I’m just happy to hear our percentages match. Hope you’re feeling better every day. And remember…this is GO wine; my next bottle could be completely different! 😁
I wonder if we are not dealing with two different wines here. I am out of town or I would check the bottles I have for vintage and blend.
I somehow doubt that’s the case, SB. I suspect it’s either GO bottle variation or just “different strokes for different folks”. But if you feel otherwise when you get home, let us know.
I picked up 4 bottles of the 2018 vintage DeLoach Pinot Noir ($11.99 before discount) and a couple more of the 2018 Vina Marichalar Rioja ($10.99) at Silverdale. They got but two cases of the Pinot, so I expect it won’t be there for long. Nothing else new came in on the shipment today, so my shopping is likely over. Christina tells me they get one more delivery…on the last day of the sale (Tuesday the 11th). But she didn’t see anything particularly interesting on the order guide.
Today I was in the Newport Beach store. They had a case or two of the DeLoach and also some of the Stemmler Lawler Vineyard pinot from the last sale. Also one of the pricier Washington Cabs people have talked about. Not much else that got my attention.
Opened a bottle of the DeLoach 1950 Pinot. Brilliant pale ruby; showed black cherry and some savory mushroom/forest floor aromas along with a strange burnt rubber quality too…but that slowly blew off to show more typically varietal cherry; sweet cherry fruit on the front of the tongue with little of the earthiness I found initially in the nose, then full-on cherry flavors from mid-palate through the finish; great acidity and moderate tannins; to me it’s more similar to Oregon Pinots; I liked it more, the longer it sat in my glass. I’d love to try it with the season’s first Copper River salmon next month.
Lim, had a sample of the Deloach 2018 yesterday and liked it a lot!
My Vivino review:
“🕰️2018
💯87/100 🌟3.7
👁Ruby garnet
👃👅Dry, dark red raspberry, dried leaves, red cherry, forest floor, a bit of Red Twizzler candy, cinnamon-clove spicy finish, smooth fine grained tannins, med high acidity.
🍇%Pinot Noir undisclosed
🌄CA AVAs not disclosed
⛽ 13.5%ABV
💵$25 est MSRP?
Purportedly a private label designated for Legal Seafood chain, no tech sheet found anywhere.
Deloach established in 1975, declared Chapter 11 in 2003, same year sold to Jean-Charles Boisset who also owns Buena Vista and Raymond, among other labels in US and France.”
I did not get any of the burnt rubber aroma you described. After my recent viral infections, I noticed my olfactory system is not as sensitive to noxious odors which can be a blessing and a curse. I’m retraining my nose with my homemade “Nez de Vin” jars. I’ve also requested my husband to “fart in my general direction” lol Just kidding! 😂 Monty Python “Life of Brian” joke for all you youngsters out there reading!
JCB seems to dump a lot of stuff at GO. Are they involved with Michel Schlumberger too?
Aubergine, no connection btw Charles Boisset Collection (labels for wineries in USA plus French labels) and Michel-Schlumberger which is its own winery. MS is like Barowsky Disesa in that the label name is the surnames of both owners. Sorry for the late reply.
As moderator here, I say this shall not stand! That’s from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
That burnt rubber odor might be excessive toast of the barrel, but that doesn’t blow off like you noticed. Just a guess.
sometimes young, underripe syrah shows that when opened too young. it can be a problem in machine harvested french wines. a generation ago, when things were colder, i noticed it more. then i started being more mindful of what/where i was buying, and inching up in price points, and experienced it less.
Ok, I feel I need to weigh in here on the Latitude 2020 PN, because I’ve marginalized it in the past (loving so much more the 2017/18’s), but I have a new and better opinion to share.
I perhaps only had one, once, sometime back…and decided it didn’t measure up. But I had one in my cellar, and since such a dearth of Pinots in this sale, I felt the need to try the 2020 again–just in case.
It is indeed quite a different animal than the previous years…wouldn’t even recognize it as same winemaker. It’s a masculine style, and does have some strange aromas and flavors which need to blow off first. Closest I can describe it is like…yogurt, or a slightly sour milk. Which doesn’t sound good, I know.
Towards the end of the glass the first night, I started to notice something…..
It wasn’t until the second day I had another glass and I was enjoying an amazing nose with leather, cherry, sweet tobacco, a lovely perfume, and lots of it. Mouth is ripening…not as great as the nose, but a bit of pencil lead, cherry, more of that masculinity. Quite decent.
Holds up to food well (I was eating cod and it didn’t stick up its nose at all)
That early aroma/flavor now blown off completely–no sign of it.
Now, I feel that’s shaky enough that a second bottle would need tried to confirm anything…and with all the other stuff to be vetting, that’s a tough ask.
But I want Pinots!!
Lim, you’ve got to try one, and let me know what you think.
You’re my Roger Ebert of compatible wine drinking and I want your review!!
And I wish others would share their opinion on the Latitude 2020 too 🙂
Oh sure, JJ…encourage me to spend more $$$ on wine! We’ll see.
Would like to find some of that Haut-Domingue Entre-Deux-Mers that Doon just commented on, but haven’t seen it up north here.
Pleez!
I bought a bottle of the HDEDM here in Olympia…haven’t tried it yet.
You try that and let me know; I’ll get a bottle of the Latitude 2020 and do the same.
Deal.
Oh, fiddlesticks.
Now I’m confused…..
I opened the RD&MM PN, and am not far into it but find it’s about the closest thing to the old Latitudes I’ve had since then. the more feminine style, lighter, warm weather, cruciferous nose, warm spice, not quite as nice (yet) as the Latitude 17/18, but so close.
There’s a bit of a ‘play-dough-ish’ aroma, not strong….and I have a thought it will blow off.
I’ll leave this one open a couple days for sure, and report back if it changes.
The confusing part is now I’ve had the 2020 Latitude and this right near it, I’m not sure which I actually prefer. Something elegant about that Latitude after a day, more Burgundian, and something kinda….’flippant’ about the RD&MM.
Told you I was confused….’flippant’?!!
That’s just me, sorry to be working this out on the blog.
(I blame the SALE!)
Chalk it up to a difference in styles….maybe both can be acceptable.
There we go….there’s not just ONE kind of Pinot to love. 🙂
I think I need to watch the Pinot soliloquy in ‘Sideways’…that film is starting to make more sense all the time, and not just about Pinot.
(sigh)
Lim, if you can get the RD&MM, (but I think you said you can’t up there), pick one up with the Latitudes….I’d be curious.
I believe the Silverdale store still had the RD&MM…I’ll check. As a refresher, here are some notes by others from the “What’s” New page :
From RPR : I actually wrote my notes, for once, for the RD&MM. The nose and start on the palate made me think I was going to like it, but then the finish disappointed:
Nose – bright berry and oak
Start – tart berry (cranberry?) and cola berry
Middle – decent acidity, identifiably Pinot
Finish – ouch, the acidity turns green (stemmy?) and sour, perhaps accented by a little too much sharp oak
Not a bad wine by any means, some might like it, but for me the finish didn’t work.
From BW : RD&MM (or maybe “RD & MM”) 2020 Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County, CA, 14.6% ABV, $8. Delicious right away, holds on strong through 2.6 hours first night. Has that Central Coast syrupy ripe cherry, but nonetheless has subtlety and finesse of Pinot, is not heavy or jammy, with complexities of dried orange peel, root beer, stem. Second day, fruit is more full and dark, with plum / dark red raspberry. The label looks pretty ordinary, it is only “bottled by RD&MM,” and I am usually less fond of Central Coast Pinot, but I loved it.
From Doon : I thought the Pinot had a very nice strawberry nose that presaged silky fruit, in the mouth I agree on plum present, good weight on the palate, very pleasing. Good PQR, in my view on a par with Volk ’12 Steiner Creek Pinot, albeit different in style.
Then again from BW : Not long after posting this, I bought another bottle of the RD&MM Pinot Noir and let it sit on its side on my living room floor for a couple weeks. I opened it last night, and it’s distinctly not as good as my first bottle was. The fruit is a little heavily out of balance, the taste is not nicely delineated, and the finish is somewhat bitter and overly stemmy. It’s not awful by any means, but not lovely like my first bottle.
And finally, From Zoel : If it is the same RD (Napa-based and Viet-owned), I saw ridiculous quality issues in some past bottlings, to the point that I steer clear.
You might gather from this that this old retired night owl has too much time on his hands!
Okay, JJ…my wife and I did a side-by-side comparison of the Deloach 2018 Sonoma, Latitude 38 2020 Sonoma, and RD&MM 2020 Santa Barbara Pinots tonight. My impressions: First, the alcohol…DeLoach 13.5, Latitude 14.3, and RDMM 14.6 (pretty large for Pinot!). The DeLoach had the deeper color (though certainly not seriously dark), was most varietally true in character i.e. nose and flavors…tons of black cherry with moderate oak and well-balanced. The Latitude was seriously closed with less forward fruit and a bit candied at that, like WORN’s Twizzlers; rather indistinct for a youngish Pinot. The RDMM had a skunky nose and was clearly leaning toward the sweeter side of the spectrum with a plummy, jammy, cooked quality from very ripe fruit; it became cloying.
For us, the DeLoach was the most varietal and balanced of the three. That would be the only re-buy for me (if there’s any left when I get down to Silverdale again). I suspect the 2020 Latitude, which is so much inferior to the 2017 and 2018, is why I’m seeing so much of it still on the shelves.
Overall, as I see it, it was not a very good GO sale for Pinot Noir. Watch the really good ones show up after the sale ends! Right, flitcraft?
Thanks so much Lim, for both the reprint of others’ notes, and your own for the 3 Pinots and their characters. I look forward to trying the DeLoach which I have, but have not opened yet.
I’m left with the truth I always find about Pinots…that it’s a delicate grape with a fickle relationship not only to nature, but to its handler. And it’s not nearly as easy to create a cheaper varietal from, relative to Cab or Merlot or Syrah or so many other heartier varietals.
But it remains for me the red I want to open most nights of the week, for that lighter, sumptuously varied, and rich delicacy of its nature. I drink Darjeeling tea every day and not coffee (though love a good cup of Joe from time to time), and I think hat speaks to a similarity between it and Pinot…there’s such a yielding pf flowers and fruits, and flavors and elements of an often magical or alchemical quality which keep me reaching for more.
I’ll keep looking for my perfect six buck Pinot…and in the meantime probably settle for a few of these to get me by!
Lim, thanks for the side by side comparisons and concurring with my response on the Latitude 38 PN’s awhile back. I will try to find the Deloach and give it try.
You’re quite welcome, JJ & Darrell. And I’ll let you know if my opinion changes on the Latitude 38 and/or RD&MM after an overnight on the counter. Already consumed the entire DeLoach.
I wonder if those lactic / chemical smells are coming from smoke affected grapes.
i’ve listened to a few podcasts on smoke taint and the world leaders in dealing with it are actually in Australia. it’s not really a death knell if folded in judiciously into bigger blends that are intended for quick consumption. something about the esters in the wine get much worse over time.
Went to Everett and used my 20% off mobile coupon on what I think is one of the best value wines I see each year at some GO’s
Ribbon Cliff vineyards in Chelan, Wa. I know nothing about the winery, but their wines are normally $35-$45 and got them today for $6.99 before discount.
It was their 2019 estate reserve red blend, but have had older versions of their blend, cab franc, Sangiovese (GREAT PIZZA WINE) and Malbec. All are solid wines that I’ll continue to rebuy. Last year I had 2014 cab franc that was still drinking very well.
Curious to see what other versions of 2019 show up at different GO’s right now, sounds like Sangiovese is the other one so far.
I’m not sure what to make of Ribbon Cliff. I found descriptions of their wines on the website (all 2013 & 2014, which is odd), but couldn’t find anything for sale. But their Facebook page says they harvested grapes in 2022. Just seems strange to me that they don’t sell any of their wines from the website. I had never heard of them, but that’s not unusual…I can’t keep up with all the WA wineries anymore.
Hi Lim, I did background research on Ribbon Cliff a year ago. I had their Sangio which was decent but unremarkable, a Cab Franc which was corked.
“No tech sheet available.
Public COLA Registry lists address in Orondo WA on Columbia River north of Wenatchee, 11 acres.
Website has very little information, no wines for sale, no owner listed, no winemaker named, outdated medals.
Person owning the property also owns several fruit orchards and storage.Maybe thought why not make wine for additional income. Specialized in Barbera, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese and Malbec. Last vintage 2017 at this time. Winery listed for sale. Property last sold in 2005 for 570K”
This reminds me of another fruit orchard co in Prosser called Zirkle Fruit Co. Their wines popped up in our GO in 2022, HUE and other labels.
I think a lot of one-off producers will resort to GO, since they don’t have any brand equity/value that will be destroyed on a blowout sale. And having turned a big pile of money into a smaller one, via the life of a gentleman vintner, the wine probably leaves a bad taste in their eyes, looking at it in their storehouses.
For the vast majority of wine, it’s a commodity agricultural product which is deteriorating by the day. Sitting on it, at fantasy prices, is like burning money but slower.
Had a feeling I’d hear from you WORN…the COLA registry aficionado. Appreciate the additional info…and had just been wondering how you are since we hadn’t heard in a while. Now…if any of those wines show up here, will I try them? Hmmmmm.
Hi Lim! I haven’t purchased much from GO since before Xmas. Today I bought a Marichalar 2018 Rioja Reserva, Deloach 2018 PN 1850, and a couple more Double Canyon 2018 CS Horse Heaven Hills. The new(ish) owner Brad is having a wine tasting this Wednesday! He let me pick out some of the bottles to try out! (I’m gonna nerd it up and bring my own wineglass and spitbucket! 😂)
Jeez! Sounds like we were shopping together, WORN! I always kept a wine glass and spit cup in my car for tastings in Silverdale when my buddy Stan was working there.
WORN – Zirkle is also “Four Feathers Wine Services” in Prosser. They are quietly huge and contract make a lot of bulk wine for small and large producers in the state. They’ve also moved into the custom crush realm. I’m guessing you’ll see them show up more as a winery for GO and others when supply is high. Huge vineyard holdings in the H3 AVA. (I tasted through their stuff a bunch of years ago while working in Walla Walla. They were just building everything out). Their winemaker David was at Hogue for 20 years prior to WA
I’ve known David Forsythe, the once winemaker for Hogue and Four Feathers custom facility since the 90’s when we both attended the same wine conferences. I met him when he was at Hogue. When I was over in Prosser visiting my friends at Thurston Wolfe Winery a few years ago, I stopped by to see the Four Feathers facility. David gave me a bottle of the Four Feathers Cab, which I’ve yet to open. Took a bunch of photos of their large concrete eggs for fermentation. That place is huge. I believe David may be gone from there now. Recently, in the annual wine issue of the Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine, there was an article about women in wine in WA state and they discussed the new woman winemaker at Four Feathers. I know David had started his own family winery around then, but have seen nothing of late.
Hi and welcome back Winejosh! Thanks for the knowledge! Appreciate information from someone in the wine business.
Here’s the rest of what I picked up last night, at Renton WA, prices before discount. Haven’t tasted any aside from the two I wrote about last night. Darrell, thanks for setting me straight about the screw tops.
Cheers guys!
Cal Fresco PN 2021 $6.99
Whitman Express Conductor Red Blend 2017 $8.99
Castillo de Eneriz Crianza 2016 (WE 92) $6.99
Guarda Rios Red Blend 2020 $6.99
Orinda Hayes Red Blend 2020 $6.99
Vina Marichalar Reserva Tempranillo Gamache blend 2018 (JS 92pts) $10.99
Mendoza Malbec 2018 (WE 91) $5.99
Navarra Castillo de Olite Reserva 2016 (93pt Decanter) $7.99
Qss Rare Vinho regional Lisboa Red 2019 (WE best buy) $6.99
Ribbon Cliff Vineyards Columbia Vly Sangiovese 2019 $6.99
Caracol Serrano Jumilla Red Blend 2016 (WE 90, top 100 best buys) $5.99
Bit Wicked Red Blend 2018 $6.99
Roblar 2019 Windmill Red Blend $6.99
Did some preliminary scouting at my local GO and the main one that caught my eye was the Orinda Hayes Red Blend. It seems well reviewed online (V4.1) but that was an older vintage. Anyone tried this bottle yet?
I dropped by the Tacoma 6th Ave and Lakewood stores today using the early access coupon. I bought the following with listed prices after 20% off and ratings from Vivino and Cellartracker. No German Rieslings (yet?).
2021 Aime Roquesante Côtes de Provence Cuvée Sélectionnée Rosé Blend $3.99 V4.0
2017 Battle Creek Cellars Pinot Noir Unconditional Battle Creek Willamette Valley $4.00 erratic reviews
2020 Gérard Bertrand Vin de Pays d’Oc Gris Blanc Grenache Gris, Grenache $6.00 CT88, V4.0
2016 Castillo de Enériz Navarra Crianza Red Blend (750ml) $7.99 WE92, V4.0
2021 Helenental Kellerei Grüner Veltliner #GVLTAT Niederösterreich (1.0L) $7.19 CT3.8
2013 Bodegas Manzanos Rioja Voché Reserva Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo $7.19 CT 87.5 V4.1, Suckling 93
2021 Rock Point Pinot Noir Rosé Oregon $7.19
2018 Scatena Bros. Zinfandel Sonoma County $6.39 CT88, V4.1 (different vintage than before)
2017 Springtree Cabernet Sauvignon Yakima Valley $5.59 shuttered winery
2018 Bodega Virgen de la Sierra Calatayud OGV Old Garnacha Vines $5.59 CT87, V3.8
2021 Vita Bella Tuscany Toscana IGT Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese $6.39 V4.5
Bought previously and liked
2018 Double Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon Double Canyon Vineyard Horse Heaven Hills $13.59
2017 Château Lavabre Pic St. Loup La Closerie Red Rhone Blend $14.39
RG, quite the assortment!
I spotted Springtree 2017 CS today and thought for $5.59, why not? That’s less than a glass of house red anywhere.
Springtree, Airfield Estates and Lone Birch are inhouse labels made by Airport Ranch Estates in Yakima WA. They also do custom crush and white label bottlings for others.
I’ve had wines from both Airfield Estates and Lone Birch, Airfield is their “A” game, an Airfield Estates tasting room in Woodinville, possibly elsewhere. Lone Birch sold in upscale local grocery store. Springtree is a lighter bottle, shallow punt, screwtop so perhaps made for restaurant service.
Let us know what you think of this CS and all your selections!
Airfield’s main tasting room is right off I-82 in Prosser at Vintners’ Village…home to a number of wineries, including Thurston Wolfe, Millbrandt, Smasne and others.
Sunset in Renton WA was decently stocked, for having a relatively small wine department. The coupon worked in the app, which was a big shockeroo. I picked up a real mixed bag of reds. So far just trying the Bit Wicked proprietary red blend from Livermore Valley, it’s from 2018 in a screw top bottle with 14.5% alcohol, $6.99 before the discount. Keeping in mind that I don’t know much about wine, I’ll say this isn’t bad, and isn’t anything to shout about either which means I’m happy enough with it for the price. Also trying the Mendoza Vineyards (Argentina) 2018 Malbec, not a screw top, do people really care if it’s a screw top? I don’t know, I’m new here. 14% alcohol, $5.99, 91pts from WE, 90 pts from Vinous. It’s in the same range, not bad, not great, no sweetness whatsoever which is kind of nice. Malbec isn’t my usual thing and I think I like it. I’m happy with this wine, which is nice because I got 3 of them. I was super hoping to find the Silent Oak red blend, but alas (do I dare say that bird has turned its head all the way around and flown?). That’s it for tonight, I can’t have too many open or my counter turns into a vinegar factory because I’m the only wine drinker in the house.
Schmamey, screw tops are amazingly good at preventing oxidation which is great for whites. I do prefer a bit of micro-oxidation for my reds through the cork, though.
Wow! Two cases of 2010 Opus One showed up at the East Wallahoosie, WA GO for ten bucks a bottle!
Yeah happy April Fools lim haha
“Google Maps can’t find East Wallahoosie
Make sure your search is spelled correctly. Try adding a city, state, or zip code.
Try Google Search instead
Should this place be on Google Maps?”
Yuk, Yuk, Lim, you got me going.
April Fools’ indeed! Many years ago when BW, dluber and me were the main contributors to this blog and posted label/bottle photos with our reviews, we had a few years when we’d post a fabricated review on April Fools’ Day just to see if our readers were awake and/or gullible. I miss those days, so decided to relive the past for a moment. dluber was an “expert” at this; only wish I could recall the one he did one year. Anyway, let me know if you see the Opus One in YOUR store!
Here’s a couple:
Thanks for walking me down Memory Lane, BW. Man! Nobody could create a fantasy wine world like dluber.
Well, thanks for the accolades, but now I feel I’ve let you down by slouching on the job. But there’s no challenge, when even bots can do it better. I’m sure I’ve mentioned the famous article and computer-generated Wine Bullshit review On Wine Bullshit: Some New Software? (Quandt 2012) here, which I could have sworn was open access, but it’s now behind a paywall. They did some word mining of real reviews and combined them at random to make new ones, then gave you 3 reviews and asked you spot the fake one. But that’s child’s play for modern software, just ask ChatGPT to do a real one!
Me –> Chat GPT:
Write a review of “Dorwinion Old Winyards SR 1296 Red Wine” in the style of an epic poem from The Lord of the Rings.
ChatGPGT:
In days of old, when Middle-earth was young,
There grew a wine of which the bards have sung.
Its grapes were grown by the Sea of Rhûn,
In Dorwinion, where the sun shines at noon.
The vines were tended by the wise and fair,
Whose ancient knowledge filled the air.
They harvested the fruit at summer’s end,
And pressed it into wine with a skill that would transcend.
Thus came to be the Old Winyards SR 1296,
A wine so rich, so red, and so nigh to heaven.
Its aroma carried the scent of the east,
Where spices and fruits in abundance feast.
And when at last the wine was tasted,
Its flavor proved no less than it was fabled.
It danced upon the tongue like a maiden’s smile,
And warmed the heart like a hearth’s gentle pile.
The taster could not help but close their eyes,
And dream of lands beyond the skies.
Of ancient realms and long-lost kings,
And heroes’ deeds, and other wondrous things.
So raise a glass, and let us sing,
Of this wine, this gift of the elven kin.
For in its depths, we find the lore,
Of Middle-earth, forevermore.
Stephen Colbert would love that verse, DL.
Just a gentle reminder to all that when the sale actually begins on Monday, please post your notes about what you found in your local GO’s, what you liked, what you didn’t etc. on this page, specific to the sale. You can find it by clicking on the “home” tab at the top.
Received this in my email this morning…
https://t.e2ma.net/message/r0rykmc/npg7tj8
As previously discussed…in WA state only…for those locals who want to download the app…NOT me.
Went to Kenmore tonight, they look all stocked for the sale, but nothing noteworthy that I haven’t seen at GO before.
Fwiw I mainly look for good Washington wines, as I know the most about them so I could’ve missed other intriguing wines.
If it is any consolation, for the last sale it seemed like most Seattle area GOs didn’t stock much of anything special or noteworthy, but just after the sale, some of the wines touted here appeared anyway. Annoying, of course, to pay full price for them, but still bargains in the greater scheme of things. Maybe this will be the case again. I will keep an eye out during the lead up to the sale, during the sale, and afterwards as well.
Have to concur, the Fall sale was disappointing. The only wine I ended up truly loving was the PB Hein Trailblazer. Doubt we’ll see its like again during the upcoming sale, but that was an amazing bottle.
well traditionally, the typical retailer sales in spring/fall were to clear *old* stock to make way for the new vintages. so its always been kind of weird when new fresh inventory would have been discounted immediately upon arrival. i don’t see it often but some stores that run seasonal sales will have category exclusions (sale doesn’t apply to current release Bordeaux for example, or thin margin items like grand marque Champagne)
I’m all geared up for the wine sale, looking for something similar to the 2017 Latitude 38 Pinot Noir I picked up last spring sale (only 5 bottles left, so sad). I have seen the 2020 vintage, have any of you tried it and found it worthwhile? I like to keep things under $8, so a bit challenging at times. We had a lot of Croft Vineyards 2014 River Run organic PN from Willamette Valley, Oregon in my Pacific Northwest Grocery Outlets during the Fall sale, and I grabbed a case and have been happy. My experience with wine is limited, so me thinking it is good and it actually tasting good to someone with more knowledge may be at odds with one another. I like Grandfather Clock and the 2016 (I think) Garnet, and we recently enjoyed Silent Oak red, and I don’t know the vintage. Also enjoyed the 2019 Elegido Tempranillo and picked up more whenever I saw it. Glad I found you guys!
Schmamey, since the 2017 Latitude PN, I have tried subsequent vintages and thus far the 2017 is the best with 2018 close. I don’t recommend the 2020. If you find something you like, buy more and don’t worry too much about the ageing. Just stumbled on a 1980 PN from a San Luis Obispo appellation and it was just fine, much to my surprise. The cork was crumbly to boot. BTW, how is your name pronounced?
Naw, I’m not concerned with aging; just with enjoying the wine myself and having something everyone will like if I take 2 or 3 bottles to a family event. I lucked out on the 2017 Lat last spring when I bought one bottle before the sale and went there first thing on sale day 1 to pickup a case. Thanks for the info on subsequent years, it’s very helpful. I got burned by a few single bottle “try it and see” experiments at last year’s fall sale, enough to have realized I could have purchased substantially more of a few better researched bottles and been ahead of the game. It is a game after all, driving to different stores and being ridiculously excited over a $4 bottle of wine. I love it. Also I have grown to like the screw top caps instead of corks. I think that’s been discussed here before from reading the archives. Schmamey, rhymes with Mamie.
Schmamey, it is a game as you say and I do get excited over a great QPR wine. After driving around to all those stores, that will add to the cost of your wine. So any help from contributors eliminating possibles, helps a bunch. If you pick a good PN, you probably needn’t worry about it if you bought too much for instance. Some of those favorites tend to accumulate since you bought more than you can drink or entertain with and gets piled on with those other favorites and that bottom case isn’t going to be gotten due to sloth or old age. Yeah, it’ll keep, I hope. When first stockpiling GO wines, I found your $4/btl., mibbe $3/ on the sale, a NZ SB from 2003 in screw top and it’s still fine.
Ladies and gentlemen….
In fevered anticipation,
start un corking/screwing/boxing
and give it a swirl!
Thanks for letting us know
I have found wonderful options through your posts, and it’s become a huge part of our routines to find hidden treasures and wait for these sales. You make it so easy to stay on top of sales with these updates. Gratitude!
I think you meant to say “semi-annual” instead of “biannual”. The sales event is held every 6 months.
“Semi-annual” works, too.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biannual
1. Occurring twice a year; semiannual.
You may be thinking of https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biennial
oops….I was thinking biennial (every two years)
How do you begin a new thread? The 2022 latest discussion appears on top of comments. The 2023 discussion are listed below upon scrolling past all previous discussions. Any way to swap that? And add new comment section? Thanks in advance!
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and write in the box where it says, “Leave a reply.” I don’t quite understand what you are saying about comment order. The most recent subject-starting comments are at the top, and replies to those comments appear under them, so in that way it might appear that newer comments are farther down the page. However, if you go to the bottom of this page and start a new comment thread in “Leave a reply,” it will appear at the top of this page.