Please use comments here to alert everyone to interesting wines you’ve seen at which stores, but which have not yet been reviewed. Please post any tasting notes in Guest Contributions, or as a comment on a main-page review, as comments here older than six weeks or so will be deleted.
You can check out what reviewers have at home to review at this sub-blog:
The magical world of wines from Grocery Outlet 
Went to a local store today. Sale starts Nov. 1. Saw many Portuguese wines. The Rioja Riserva from the winery starting with M and the black and gold label is back, still ten bucks. This is a sound wine worth more. The ordering system is still broken so heaven knows what will end up at your store. That said I see more of the de Martino papparedelle. [Ed. note: Viña Marichalar 2018 Rioja Reserva.]
Roza Ridge 2016 Syrah, Rattlesnake Hills, WA, 13.8% ABV, $8. On the first night, I didn’t like this wine much at all. It was red, acid, stemmy, but seemed to hold some promise in unresolved tannin in the finish. Several days later, I opened the saved 275ml screw-cap bottle. It started much the same way as the first part of the bottle, but with a couple hours in the glass developed some richness and fullness of fruit. However, the wine is still rather light, simple, red (although now also more purple-fruited), and acid, not tasting convincingly like Syrah.
Another label from Hyatt.
I can’t recall having wines from the Rattlesnake Hills AVA. From location and photos, it looks like a relatively warm and dry area in Washington state. These two Roza Ridge wines, this Syrah and the previous Petite Sirah, were fine but not especially exciting. To what extent should I judge the AVA by these two wines from an apparently pretty good producer? Are they just what showed up at GO, and other producers in other vintages do better? [Update: I tried to answer my own question, and found this much-appreciated Merlot.]
I’ve had very few Rattlesnake Ridge AVA wines lately, BW…mostly because it’s pretty low on my preferred WA state AVA list. A few of the wineries there were among the earliest producers in the Yakima Valley and they produced some very tasty wines. But they’ve been seriously overshadowed now by the many, many wineries that have opened statewide. We have 1100+ wineries in the state now…a far cry from the 6 that were here when I started in the industry in 1974. The Rattlesnake Hills wineries (in my opinion) just haven’t been consistently producing great or above average wines.
https://rattlesnakehills.org/
A Vivino acquaintance who lives in Yakima has visited most of, if not all of the wineries in Yakima Valley (includes Zillah/Sunnyside). He states most wineries there make just okay wines that are not to his taste. Exceptions are Sheridan, Côte Bonneville, which are excellent, he says.
Agreed…Sheridan and Cote Bonneville (DuBrul Vineyard) are indeed the cream of the crop. Have visited both a few years ago and have some Sheridan Cab Sauv and Chardonnay in my cellar still. Excellent wines all.
For those of you WA state locals who may have purchased the Keira wines, I opened another bottle of the 2015 Red Mountain Cab Sauv tonight (which was my favorite of the ones I tried and preferred over the 2017), my notes: Bottle neck had a fair amount of sludge; just slightly hazy deep garnet, but taking on a bit of brick tone around the rim; lots of green bell pepper with some tobacco in the nose; tobacco, cedar and espresso flavors with chewy tannins and decent acidity; could likely benefit from more cellaring…like 3-5 more years, but be cautious because it also shows some caramelly light oxidation signs. I like it and I don’t like it. So me, the guy who rarely decants, will likely decant the rest of this bottle to see what happens. I’m obviously not as enchanted with this bottle as I was with the first two, opened in October and December 2022.
Sounds like a drink it up wine, especially given your failure to mention any fruit.
Definitely more along the savory, herbaceous end of the spectrum, SB. Could well be a drink up now red…but the tannins and acidity indicate to me that holding it a bit longer could be O.K. (with the operative word being COULD). I have two left and likely won’t let them go for long…and may experiment with one.
Decanting of the above wine did nothing to help it along…so I now concur with Seedboy’s suggestion…drink up if you have any!
Pica-Pau 2020 Vinho Regional Lisboa (white), Portugal, 12.5% ABV, $4. Dry, crisp, minerally, medium-fruited with yellow melon, lemon, less ripe pineapple, hint of lime, mild bitterness, supporting oak. Similar overall in flavor and character to the recent Crasto Duoro Superior, not as complex, but a dollar less. I like it but, on its first day, I’m not as excited about it as I was about either of Crasto whites. On the second day, it has smoothed out a little, but is otherwise much the same: tasty and pleasant, good for $4.
A Pica-Pau is, apparently, a woodpecker (bird). However, if you look on Wikipedia for “pica-pau,” it returns a page for a Portuguese sandwich made with “woodpecker beef” served covered in a tomato-beer sauce. I did not try to track down any connection between the bird and the sandwich.
Hmmm…not familiar with a pica-pau sandwich, but it is a common petisco aka tapa in Portuguese bars, made with sauteed little strips of beef with pickled vegetables in a tasty mustardy wine sauce. Always served with toothpicks to spear the bits, hence the pun that you eat by ‘pecking’ with ‘wood.’
Probably not a good match for the wine in question, though. 🙂
Thanks for the amusing background info, flitcraft, connecting the bird and the beef dish, if not this wine. I guess in this metaphor, the strips of beef are trees or branches?
Terra Calda Primitivo 2021 from Puglia. I bought this Saturday at the Richmond store, think I paid $5. This is a very nice wine, good balance, fruity but not jammy, it was tasty even three days after opening. This will be nice with seasonal foods.
Oh, by the way, if any of you have the email address that is associated with my account, I have abandoned it. rseeds294 at gmail
I finally opened a bottle of this (Dominic Hentall 2021 “Terra Calda” Primitivo (Zinfandel) from Puglia, Italy) tonight and I agree it’s very good for $5. Had a little ripe syrupy texture, but balancing acid and earthiness. Went very well with cajun-seasoned catfish.
Forgive the aside from the GO wine review queue, but after our previous discussion about Cameron Hughes & CH Wine and de Negoce, I ordered a sampler case from each and am about half through them. Quick take, probably not going to reorder from either. Maybe the futures selections at dN are better than the bottle shop, but overall, they haven’t lived up to the hype – but at least were cheap. $129 shipped for a sample case = $10.75 each. The CH Wines were 1 by 1, list price minus a sale discount. Overall so far, I like them better than the dN, but only 1 enough to buy again, the Rebo, Imma sucker for oddball grapes, but it was interesting!
So back to our main purpose, it for me goes to show how well you can do at GO!
Quick notes:
de Negoce
2020
Lot
214 | Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir
$10.75
Pretty good
but still better deals at GO
de Negoce
2019
Lot
218 | Napa Valley Syrah
$10.75
Kinda thick
and simple, another disappointment
de Negoce
2021
Lot
377 | Collio Pinot Grigio
$10.75
party, tasted
in a juice glass, nice but nothing special
de Negoce
2020
San
Felo "Lampo" DOCG Morellino di Scansano
$10.75
SRP $16 (EU),
Viv 4.1, Falst 91 – party, tasted in a juice glass, nice but nothing special,
will give them the “ripeness” compared to Chianti
de Negoce
2018
Lot
244 | Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
$10.75
Disappointing
for the hype
de Negoce
2021
Lot
378 | Collio Sauvignon Blanc
$10.75
Tart, lean,
kinda funky – had some good qualities but loser overall
CH Wine
2018
Lot
741 | Walla Walla Valley (Rhone white blend)
$12.00
a bit
sweet-tart, perfumy, not bad, lot going on but not a rebuy
CH Wine
2017
Lot
745 | Walla Walla Valley (Rhone white blend)
$12.00
Better than
’18m richer, balanced
CH Wine
2017
Lot 782
| Tuscany (Rebo, Merlot x Teroldego)
$11.70
quite nice!
Rebuy on sale
CH Wine
2020
Lot 820
| Piemonte (Gavi)
$9.75
lame – thin,
tart, tasteless
CH Wine
2019
Lot 829 | Langhe
(Nebbiolo)
$9.75
disappointing
PnP, thin – better day 2, 3
CH Wine
2019
Lot
842 | Minervois (GS)
$9.10
Not bad,
solid GSM, better QPR at GO
CH Wine
2020
Lot 862 | Bordeaux
blanc
$8.45
Not bad,
solid Sem/SB but better QPR at GO
CH Wine
2020
Lot 874 |
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
$9.10
tutti fruity, zippy, not as savory & deep as some, OK+
DL, thanks for testing out both de Negoce and CH wines! I’ve had at least 2 wine industry Vivino pals w no economic involvement in either, urging me to try them out. Buying wines blindly purely on descriptors by others and vague hints of their wines’ possible provenance seemed an iffy gamble. You’ve confirmed my cautious declination as a sound choice considering I’m quite loss-averse, especially since retirement from nursing.
I’ve gotten too used to GO wine prices to part w my wine budget dollars easily.
I needed a rosé at short notice last week, so went for Charles Smith’s Band of Roses 2020 rosé here at the Pullman GO. I wasn’t expecting a lot for $6, but it delivered. It’s not the most sophisticated, but it keeps a good balance – not too sweet not too dry – despite copious notes of tropical fruit.
Paired with grilled salmon, asparagus, and orzo, it went down a treat. Apparently the varietal mix is unknown, but for me this mongrel blend is a perfect end of summer quaffer.
Wine.com says it’s 81% Pinot Gris, 13% Riesling, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, attributed to “winemaker notes”. Assuming that’s correct, for me, that’s not a “real” rose’. But if you like it, drink up! The Charles Smith website only references the 2017 and says it was 100% Pinot Gris.
Agreed. It’s more rosé-like. But a bit of a crowd-pleaser nonetheless!
Watt Ave store sent an email notification last night at 8pm ish that today (Sep 30) is their wine club discount day, buy 6 and get 10% off. They have this day randomly each month, and only notify the night before. I suppose that is because they don’t want to cannibalize all those juicy full price sales (compare at….) but I can’t see it really driving much incremental wine through the system given that its basically no notice. They had 3-4 decent wines there I suppose: Vireton PN, a couple French country reds (Gourmande, Pasquiers) and maybe some of those new semillion OZ wines.
I visited the Tacoma 6th Ave store today for the first time in ages and saw some wines that I didn’t see recently mentioned here. Several of the wines had higher pries than others have been paying.
2020 fresh vine (label is lowercase) Cabernet Sauvignon $4.99 ($22-30) California 13.5% Low calorie (103) Silver Medal by 2023 Sunset International Wine Competition, Vivino 4.0 https://freshvinewine.com/products/cabernet_sauvignon. Heavy bottle. Seems hip and trendy by the website, for “an active lifestyle” plus produced and bottled in Napa (which sounds impressive but means diddley).
2019 Simi “The Editors” Collection Cabernet Sauvignon – $10. Supposedly $46, perhaps the book club special bottling (or similar) mentioned earlier this month.
Crasto 2018 Duoro Superior Branco (white) $8.99 that has been discussed. I think others have been paying $5. I got a bottle and will see if it is good as others say (and easy stop for Lim13 if he crosses the bridge).
2018 Belle Fiore Pinot Noir Rogue Valley $9.99 ($27 – but average Vivino is $8.90 3.8)
RG, Public COLA Registry search reveals that Fresh Vine is a label by Fior di Sole, a wine factory located in an industrial park in Napa. FdiS has 33 “regular” brands listed on their website.
I’ve seen 10 FdiS brands in Pullman alone (Long Barn, Adulation, Ancient Gate, Anthony Rami, Craft Creamery, Four Star, Grandfather Clock, Harris Parker, ObscuRED, Pound Cake and Pra Vinera.)
Fresh Vine is a contracted wine for a customer of Fior di Sole.
2. SIMI wines are made by Constellation at their Woodbridge facility.
3. Belle Fiore is a small, independent winery in Ashland OR. Vines planted 2007. Wines made on site w their own grapes. 100% Estate Grown PN, 667,777, Pommard and 115 Clones, Rogue Valley, Ashland,OR.
I brought my second bottle of Belle Fiore 2018 Rogue Valley PN to a dinner party recently, people loved it.
I’m waiting for the wine sale to buy a half case more to bring my buy-in to a full case ($10 presale). I panic bought the first 6 bottles to hit Pullman, now 2 more cases came in.
4. Quinto do Crasto wines first imported by Broadbent Selections (Bartholemy MW, son of Michael) in 2014, now by R. Mondavi Folio Fine Wine Partners.
Also waiting til fall wine sale before buying a half case of Superiore.
If numbers of Crasto Superiore dwindle before the sale, I’ll buy, but I prefer to wait to save some money.
Thanks for thinking of me, rg2. I will be in Tacoma next weekend to visit friends and attend the annual Greek Festival, but doubt I’d be willing to spend nine bucks for the Crasto.
Well, I lied…and relented. When in Tacoma last Friday, I stopped in at the 6th Ave store and disgustedly bought one bottle of the 2018 Crasto Superior for $8.99. I just had to find out why it got so much press here on the blog.
First off, for Tacoma to charge $4 more than what everyone else is selling it for is an absolute crime. Not sure I’d ever buy anything else at that store. I’m glad I only bought the one bottle though because while it’s a sound wine, it’s too oaky for my taste…and the front label makes it clear that it’s “matured in oak”. For me, oak dominates the nose and the flavors too. Butterscotchy, toasty Chardonnay lovers would likely enjoy this white…not me. It has fairly good acidity and I suspect there’s decent citrus and pear fruit in there somewhere, but I’m having trouble finding it. Has a bitter almond finish, which I like, but definitely not a re-buy for me…especially for four dollars more than most of you paid. Nevertheless, thanks rgardner2 for letting me know where I could find it.
I’m glad you got to try it, Lim–scandalous price though it was!!
Thanks for posting in….
I think I mentioned that I liked the non-Superior Crasto better, but for me neither of them resembled too much the qualities you talked of, except for the bitter almond–which I liked too. That was my favorite quality. I think I would have found them more interesting had they had a bit more of that Chardonnay quality!
Didn’t really get the oak or buttery–they were really quite lean and light when I tried them (in my memory, that is ;-), but I think I have more stashed around somewhere….so this will inspire me to look and try again.
Let me know when you open another one, JJ. I don’t know how you can miss the oak, but then I’m seriously oak sensitive.
Hi Lim13. Glad you found one but sorry that it cost too much and that you didn’t even like it. I found the oak more supporting of the fruit than dominating, although I thought it did have a heading-toward-oxidation flavor that did not get worse over time. I liked it best on opening, when it seemed more fresh, and after it had been open for several days, when it developed a somewhat honeyed flavor. In the range of 2 – 4 days open, I can see what JJ and (I think) Flitcraft preferred about the non-Superior Crasto Duoro.
Hey, BW…ya’ win some and ya’ lose some. I’d have maybe felt better if I’d paid five or six bucks instead of nine, but at least I got to give it a shot. Just not my preferred flavor profile. Took me long enough to find it, so I expect I’ll never catch up to the non-superior version…though it sounds like that might have a better chance of being my favored wine of the two. Moving on.
For those of you in WA on the hunt for German Rieslings, two Mosel bottles showed up at the Olympia store:
2022 Kreuznacher Weinhaus Piesporter Michelsberg, $7.99
2022 St. Boniface Piesporter Michelsberg, $8.99
BW reviewed the 2021 Kreuznacher last June and the 2020 Boniface a year earlier, but I don’t know if either ever made it’s way up here.
I reviewed the ’22 Boniface at the end of June, purchased at Silverdale. Don’t care to try finding my GO post, so this is from my PC cellar notes: Brilliant pale straw; red apple and apricot nose; much better in the acidity level compared to the Kreuznacher that I didn’t like at all, but still a little softer than what I’d prefer; flavors of peach, apricot and honeysuckle; could use a bit more texture, but certainly serviceable. I’d still prefer to spend $15-$20 for a better quality “inexpensive” German Riesling…or $4 for the Columbia Valley Bloke that I just bought six more of.
And here are my notes on the ’22 Kreuznacher (also from Silverdale): Brilliant pale golden; more on the peachy/nectarine side of the spectrum with some lemon/lime, rather than green apple in the nose; definitely sweeter than the Bloke WA state Riesling and very soft in texture…bordering on flabby; needs more acidity to balance the sugars; I found it to be rather blah and uninteresting and completely lacking in complexity.
I believe I saw both these wines still on the shelf.
Looking for Les Violettes and Payoff in Pullman, no luck but did find Ryder Estate 2021 Pinot Noir Rosé ($4) California, made by our friends at Scheid in Greenfield CA.
This made #20 on Wine Enthusiast 100 Best Buys of 2022, scoring 91pts ($15). Bought 1 bottle to open tonight.
New: Calendar 2018 Red Blend Columbia Valley, $6. No cepáge on bottle.
Public COLA Registry 2000 to present reveal nothing, which was surprising. Perhaps they relabelled previous shiners/bottles already taxed? Phone number on back of bottle is the number of the tasting room at of Woodhouse Wine Estates in Woodinville WA, started 2004 by Bijal Shah. Labels include Kennedy Shah, Hudson Shah, Darighe, Maghee and Dussek.
Only 4 ratings on Vivino, ave 3.2 by relatively novice wine reviewers (few ratings per person, brief simple reviews). Vivino states SY,CS,ML & PV blend.
Sold online for $16 in past. Too many red flags. Pass.
I ran into doclager in the produce section, who used to post here. He recently re-wed this summer, offered my congrats and wished him well!
PS tried to start a new thread here yesterday twice w no success, switch mode to Full Site which places Leave a Reply at bottom of long scroll through. Third attempt
Hi WORN. Sorry the site is being so difficult to work with. I don’t think I have access to any settings that would improve it, but I will look.
Ryder Estate 2021 Pinot Rosé Monterey County $4
🕰2021
💯88/100 🌟3.8
👁Light salmon
👃👅Dry,strawberry, melon,citrus,raspberry,delightful acidity,med finish,light body, balanced.Very tasty quaffable rosé!
🍇%PN unknown
🌄Monterey Co, CA
🌄Scheid Family Wines, Greenfield CA
🕰gently pressed, 8 hrs skin contact, ferment to dry in stainless tanks at 50F
⛽13%ABV
💯???cases
🏅91 pt WE Best Buy Jim Gordon 10/1/22🏅
💵$17 website, $4 GOBM
🪟 DW 2022-thru 2023
Great crowd pleasing Rosé for Thanksgiving! 🦃
Hey WORN good to see you there the other day!
What’s up, doc? It was great seeing you again as well!
New (to me) at Richmond, CA yesterday:
Silver Spur Lake Co Sauvignon Blanc 2019 $6
– grabbed it based on a recollection of a favorable mention of the producer, Jamieson Ranch Vyds, on this forum. Screw cap, 13.8%, a riper style, some RS, decent ripe acidity – melon, pear, and fig, not yet into tropical. Middle-of-the-road style SB, perfectly fine for the price but not a rebuy.
Vinhas de Xisto Douro Tinto Reserva $9
40% Touriga Nacional, 30% Touriga Francesca, 20% Tinto Roriz (Tempranillo), 10% Sousau
14%, short agglomerated cork, good shape, heavy bottle
– Manager pick plus I’ve had and made blends of Touriga, the main Port grapes that also make fine dry reds, and intrigued by the Sousau, which I’ve not had AFAIK but was touted to us by Ron Silva, Alta Mesa grower of Portuguese heritage, with grapes to match, who we got the Tourigas from and also a fine Tannat a few years ago. He said Sousau is used as a seasoning blender, like pepper on a steak.
PnP, very dark, kind of subdued nose; maybe a tad of spice from the Sousau but more dark red fruit. Much lighter in the mouth than the color suggests, which is also noted for Sousau, but at 10%, maybe I’m projecting. It does have a pretty bright acidity, also noted for that grape, not at all a warm-climate fruit bomb. Aerated a glass and came back to it an hour later, opened up in a good way.
Magistrate Gem Series Spring Mt Napa Cab Sauvignon 2016 $15
– good reviews on CT, more mixed on Vivino, but harder to separate by vintage there (got not tried yet)
There’s another Douro Tinto there for $9, also Manager Pick IIRC, forgot to remember the name, something more Anglo-Saxon-sounding, seemed odd for Portuguese, full stack in a Bordeaux bottle.
My impressions of the Magistrate Cab here.
The other Duoro Tinto might be the Feuerheerd’s.
The Vinhas de Xisto is made and bottled by Monte da Ravasquiera, an Alentejo-based producer that we’ve seen before at GO–The Guarda Rios red blend and another I’m forgetting about. I haven’t seen Douro wines from them before.
Feuerheerd was an early 19th century port lodge, founded when Brits, the Dutch, and Germans were making fortified wines in Portugal to avoid importing French wines when doing so was politically impossible. It ceased existing as a port house somewhere in the early 20th century, and as has happened with other old port houses, its name was sold to other producers, as was Tuke Holdsworth, which we saw a lot of at GO some time back. Sort of ‘stolen valor’ in the Portuguese wine trade. Not sure if they are still making port under the Feuerheerd name; I believe Barao de Vilar is the name their aged tawny barrels now trade under. Anyway, tracing Portuguese wine producers’ products is a complicated matter–I don’t know whether they have a publicly accessible COLA registry…
Wow that’s quite the story. Kind of like how Broco/Franzia purchase broken down brands in bankruptcy court and then bottle up bulk wine under those names, relying on consumers fuzzy memories of good times long ago.
I’ve seen some Feurhard (sp?) tawny at various GO’s locally. I think it was the 10Y, and it was $15, which is a fair price, if its functional / good. The big British shippers that dominate mass market retail in my area generally are up up at the $18-$20 price points for their wines. We don’t use much Tawny around here at all though.
The 10 year Kirkland signature tawny is under 17 dollars still at Costco. It’s a very good 10 year tawny, made by Fonseca, though not with their estate grapes. I don’t know who is making the Feuerheerd label these days, though it might be van Zeller, who now makes some Port for the Buyer’s Own Bottle Ports sold by UK supermarkets under their own names. They had the label up to at least the mid 1990’s, but they sold off some labels at that time, including their premier label, Noval.
One reason the Port market is so convoluted is that the Institute of Port controls Port production, and under their beneficio system, vintners receive an annual license for how much they can produce. The only way to increase a maker’s production is to buy another label with their beneficio quota.
Roza Ridge 2020 Petite Sirah; Rattlesnake Hills, WA; Grown, Produced and Bottled by Roza Ridge, Zillah, WA; 13.7% ABV; screw cap; $8. I didn’t recall previously meeting a WA PS, and this one looked pretty good, so I got a bottle. It’s a bit lighter than most CA PS, but it’s very nice. It needed about 2.5 hours decanted to taste of tangy boysenberry / blackberry, medium-ripe blueberry, tar, a little light green stemminess, with a good but not overwhelming amount of the typical PS tannic finish. Probably would have gotten better if I had given it longer to air.
Two days later, the saved 375ml screw-cap bottle still needed about an hour in the glass for its grittiness to smooth out very nicely. Delicate and supple for a PS, flavors of boysenberry, blueberry, a little brown sugar, slight violets, with the usual PS acid and tannic finish. Tasty, but probably better first day.
There is also a Roza Ridge Syrah around, also $7. [Update: When I initially posted this, I thought the price was $7. I’m a little less enthused about it for $8.]
Bogle’s supermarket available PS is a good husky one, consistent year in/out, for anywhere between $6-10. Sometimes I’ll pick up a bottle when traveling, if I don’t have access to my own wine. One time we went out a weekend away, and I’d packed up a whole case of mixed wine from the cellar, along with stemware, and somehow it never got loaded in the car, which we realized upon arrival. And then to top it off, in the confusion of searching for it (not realizing it had been left behind) either a car door or the trunk deck lid got left ajar, so we woke up the next morning to a dead car battery. All of this was probably my fault, but I blamed it on the dog, who is the ritual scapegoat for all problems, especially mysterious unpleasant smells.
I’m just reading your comments now, and it brings me a smile. Many of us have done similar trip misses, so you have plenty of company. I love your recovery with Bogle, however. Y-to-Y quality to price can’t be beat for their portfolio of wines. Thank you for sharing a great memory (retrospectively that is)!
Love this, as the Bogle PS was our ‘gateway’ to everything WINE, in about ’84, in Anchorage, AK. We launched from Sutter Home White Zinfandel (I swore the ’82 was superior to the ’83, haha! 😂) to cases from ole Trader Jim’s of the ’83 Bogle PS, $1.99/bottle. We thought we were in the scene now….
As it turned out, we were. Years of gift and miracle followed, that place and that time and so much great wine.
It changed our lives forever, and it all started with the Bogle, with the
big pheasant on the label!
So fun to read your stories. Almost poetic for those of us that were desperate for a good wine off the beaten track. TY!
What I remember most about it, and well…was the taste of ‘salt and pepper’…not salty of course, just the strange and arid ‘taste’ of salt, and the peppery heaviness of that deep dark purple.
Not my cup of tea now–but then, a big first step out into RED WINE for we young’uns. 😉
Glad to hear it still pleases many….
BW, the Roza Ridge wines are the Estate Reserve label of Hyatt Vineyards winery, normally priced $26-$30.
Several vintages (2015,2016,2017) of Hyatt’s 3rd tier, Floating Rock CS & Syrah, showed up at GO Feb 2022.
Hyatt was “up for sale for some time”. In 2020/2021 seemed to be struggling more because of pandemic closing wineries to direct sales.
Caleb Foster was hired in early 2022 by Hyatt to help facilitate the future winery sale. (NW Wine Report, Sean Sullivan 4/22/2022)
Looks like he consolidated the winery to focus on 2 labels, as Floating Rock is no longer listed.
Founder Leland Hyatt died Jan 2023.
Hyatt website lists Roza Ridge 2016, 2018 and 2019 wines for sale at full price (ll-$30), but no 2020s.
Listed are v2021 and v2022 of the Hyatt (second tier $14-$20) wines for sale, so the website is up to date.
Hi WORN! Thanks as usual for your background research. There is nothing on the bottle indicating it’s made by Hyatt.
BW, the subterfuge wineries go through to mask the creator of their own few brands!
Maybe it’s a hedge against their wines popping up at discounters like Grocery Outlet and being bought up there instead of at the winery for full price. I sure as heck would rather pay $7 instead of $30.
Floating Rock wines also had on the back label that it was made by Floating Rock Winery. Those were also priced $7 at GO vs full price of $15 on Hyatt website (I bought a Floating Rock 2015 Syrah Feb 2022 from GO and did research).
I thank the stars daily for Public COLA Registry search. 🙏✨💻
Tried searching for the much earlier posts for Chateau Lavabre Pic Saint-Loup that a number of us seemed to enjoy (even at the GO price of $17.99), but got bored and never found them. Just wanted to say that I opened another bottle a few days ago and while I’ve never been a huge fan of red wine with chocolate, the last of our bottle was perfect with some 70% cacao chocolate. So if you still have some in your cellar, give that combo a try. And loved the wine with dinner too!
Thanks for posting this. I bought a bottle of this wine just before the semi-annual 20% off sale, and went back for 3 6-btl. cases at the sale. Commented on it back in that day. I have 2 btls. left, have not tried one in several months.
Had a hard time keeping my hands off it when friends came over: “I have something you must try.”
Good to hear it is holding up okay. For me, this justified my perusal of importer on off shore wines at GO; hard to imagine that Michael Mondavi would have his name on the label of plonk.
Kind of strange backstory to this label but its related to the Clos du Pic property which has been well represented in the US for at least 10-20 years. Basically, something changed at the AOC/INAO rules and when the wine was made on site, they had to change the label name to the name of the property (Lavabre), so all the prior decades of branding were torched. And I think Michael Mondavi was a new distribution system; IIRC this is the part that is not part of the Robert Mondavi / Constellation empire.
I had the 2001 Clos du Pic a couple years back and it was excellent, and am cellaring either 2015 or 2016 as well. All these GSM blends from the best producers in this region are really more like Gigondas et al in their aging/complexity powers, than Cotes du Rhone level wines. But US consumers don’t know, nor pay much attention, to French ‘country’ wines.
I grabbed a couple of the Lavabre based on recos here and my friend jkaybay at GO Ethical Bargains, and I wondered if it was related to the Château Puech-Haut Pic St. Loup La Closerie du Pic I’d got from JJ Buckley, 2015, for I think $27, still drinking very well, haven’t opened a Lavabre yet, will dig one out, but I noticed the CT reviews for the ’17 Puech-Haut shows the Lavabre label. The 2015 I got have the gray label with the wolf howling over the moon.
Yup same same. I remember digging into this maybe a year ago, but can’t remember how/what/why the supporting info for that. Still a French country wine, at that price point, was not an easy sell for GO, despite the quality, and every now and then I’ll still see a bottle at some of the GO’s with better wine depts.
In a perfect world these are the types of wines I’d wish GO really would source more of – real bargains on real wines. Rather than getting some ‘sausage factory’ non vintage blend of leftover vats that get doctored up at the end to make something palatable, like some kind of UC Davis Frankenstein class project
…real bargains on real wines…(vs.)…‘sausage factory’ – tee-hee.
Those real bargains are what we all live & breathe for, eh? Fewer and farther between than they used to be it seems, but they do still pop up. And we try a lot of things in between, and some aren’t bad; there’s a spectrum, it’s not either/or. Had a $7 True Myth chard last night, hard to complain about that.
It’s always a gamble, and that’s part of the fun. And it’s cheap to gamble on an unknown oddball which I probably wouldn’t at full price. When I started there ~10 years ago, my ratio was probably 1 gem to 2 OK +/- to 1 drain pour/vinegar barrel. With internet research plus GO Wine blog, I’ve gotten my drain pours down to near zero, and OK+ or better to ~75%. So thanks to our dear departed founder GrossOutWine, BargainWhine, Lim13, and everyone.
Every bottle at GO has a story, we just don’t always know what it is, so reading some of the research discoveries and speculation here is also part of the fun. My favorite story was a batch at the University (Berkeley, CA) store many years ago with small labels saying “This product was salvaged from a railcar derailment”.
You are going through those bottles faster than I am. Eighteen to start and down to two. I stacked my half cases on each other and opened the hatch on a stack of them on an incline and out they slipped onto my concrete driveway due to the outer cardboard being covered with polished paper. Just a warning in case this situation arises with other purchases
I’m roasting some salmon, so felt like trying the garish PN bottling 2016 Phillip Leonard Pinot Noir [Sonoma Coast] which has been lingering in various GO locations for the last 6+ mos, since it aspires to the lofty $15 price point. If one is motivated use the google site search function, and dig up all the prior observations on this ill fated producer/brand/venture. Thanks to WORN and others for their digging on this.
As others have mentioned, it was bottled up at Keller, reputedly with Petaluma Gap grapes, with fancy French oak, German capsules, Portugese corks (is that really special?), and so on. I think the main thing that sticks out to me, is that in a global warming era, it’s a 2016 PN coming in at 13.8% abv, which feels low/polite/AFWE for our times. At age 7, I don’t detect any overwhelming wood/oak/vanilla, and the fruit is ‘nice’, sweet and balanced, more in the strawberry Sonoma style, than the cranberry Mendocino zone.
I didn’t think I would like it, but I do. Is it really worth $12-$15? Tougher call, since I don’t have lots of current panel tasting experience in this varietal, nor price point. I would totally ignore GO’s ‘compare at’ baloney. No one is buying an ugly label, with a weird name, of something like this at anything like what they are dreaming of. Costco sells tons of highly functional/serviceable PN’s from Precision or their own KS line for $7-$10 which have real winemakers and AVAs behind them, so to me, that’s what this up against – midweek, uncritically quaffed. lighter bodied (for California) wood inflected pinot.
Perhaps I will buy another bottle when the sale rolls around next month (presumably) and 2018 is on the shelf at multiple locations. $12 is an ‘ok’ price for what this is. I guess I would probably slot into the ‘B’ zone quality wise.
What are others’ thoughts on any of the Phillip Leonard pinots?
I weighed the empty Phillip Leonard bottle — 1 lb, 15 oz. Natural cork. Curiously, no UPC code on either front or back label, but there is a stickered one added later. Clearly was never intended for sale in normal retail environments; perhaps the dream was that everything would be at juicy margin DTC or in their ill fated wine bar / tasting room.
The 2016 was a nice, enjoyable wine for the $12-$15 one might pay for it but given that its an orphan producer, strangely named, and bearing an ugly monochromatic label, fairly priced, not really a wild deal worth loading up on. Although, in the context of the AVA, this price usually only gets a big producers blend. My measuring stick for this kind of finesse/elegant pinot would be ABC’s basic Santa Barbara blend PN, which runs approx $20, and despite the lowly ‘region’ is actually a bunch of their SVD mixed together, so good sites and grapes.
Anyways, try one and tell us what you think.
Aubergine, your cork question got me interested in Portugal and cork biz.
Portugal is home to 35% of the world’s cork forests in the Alentejo and Algarve regions, but makes 50% of the world’s cork products. Portugal has been making corks since the 1700s.
A cork tree (Quercus suber) has a lifespan of 270-300 years but only 6 harvests of cork from age 43 to 93 are thick enough to be made into solid corks for wine.
A tree must grow 25 years before first bark is hand harvested by manual peeling of the tree. Bark can only be harvested every 9 years. The first two harvests, the cork isn’t high quality or thick enough to be made into full length corks. The cork is ground up and used in agglomerate cork and other products.
The third harvest at tree age 43 is called “amadia” cork. The cork tree produces amadia cork for only 50 years, so 5 more harvests that are good enough for full length wine corks.
Cork bark harvest is from May to September by specially trained workers.
The peeled cork bark is examined for mold and insects. Bad bark is discarded.
The stripped cork bark sections are dried for 6 mo in the sun, boiled for an hour, flattened out.
Cork bark is sorted according to quality, ie degree of solidity and thickness of bark.
Lengths of cork bark deemed thick enough are fed into machines to be punched out into wine corks.
Lesser quality corks are infused w adhesive.
Italy buys the cheapest corks.
France is the biggest buyer of highest quality corks which cost several Euros per cork.
Hope you hung onto that $10 cork from the Phillip Leonard PN!
Cork is also made into insulation, furniture, flooring and accessories such as purses, shoes, phone cases.
Another red from Mercer Estates, this time at Richmond, CA, I think $7?
Robert Willis Homestead Collection 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills.
PnP, not bad, not great. Ripe fruit, soft tannin, low acid, but holds together decently. Not a lotta identifiable varietal character, IMO – which certainly does vary with time & place, but I look for the more black fruits, especially cassis, from a supposedly cooler-climate Cab S, not here.
I liked both the Mercer Red No. 1 and the Payoff much better.
Worn said 86 pts – I might go 84.
Decent middle of the week quaff but not a case buy. More like the 4th bottle at the party…
Here are my thoughts on this wine. Sounds like it’s gone downhill in the last year.
Witness Mark 2020 red blend, California, produced and bottled by Witness Mark Wines, Greenfield, CA, 13.5% ABV, $7. The label (of a pendulum clock release mechanism) has pretty low production value, and I typically ignore these sort of generic-looking CA red blends, but I got this because (1) it says “produced and bottled by,” not just “vinted” or “cellared” (2) at the Oakland store, there was also a Chardonnay and Cabernet that I thought were $6 each*, so I wondered what was special about the red blend, and (3) hey, maybe it was a sleeper hit? On the first day, it seemed promising, dry and reserved, with purple / red flavors of cherry, plum, simple raspberry, with some tight tannin in the finish. However, over the next two days, it softened but did not really develop more depth of fruit or complexity. So, it’s at least good and tasty and not too sweet and not made with crappy oak product, but there are probably other GO wines I’d be more excited about for the price.
*However, later at Richmond, I saw both the Chardonnay and the Cabernet also for $7 each, so maybe I was mistaken.
BW, Witness Mark is a label made by Scheid Family Winery in Greenfield CA.
In 2020, they released a Chardonnay, Sauv Blanc, Red Blend, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon under this label.
The brands on their website are: Sunny w a Chance of Flowers, District 7, Scheid Vineyards, VDR, Metz Road, Fog and Light, Ryder Estate, Stokes Ghost, Grandeur, HOXIE.
Their website states they “also produce many regionally distributed brands for specific clients and distributors”.
Scheid Family Wines were also the makers of Equoia 2021 Pinot Noir.
My guess is Witness Mark and Equoia were overstock that didn’t sell, filtered down to Grocery Outlet.
Pullman got a slew of these a month ago all at $7, I’m trying to avoid buying CA & WA 2020s.
I’ve mentioned before, but if you have BevMo nearby, take a walk through there and take a look at prices. There are lots of things that are priced quite low in store, that are priced at normal MSRP online. Coupons work in store too.
It’s nothing radiantly amazing, but I would say its basically the same value proposition as GO at the slightly higher price points. I notice that the 1percent blog has quite a few BevMo deals in his reviews.
Also, in some kind passive aggressive sales practice, they keep wines they are trying to discount in certain areas, away from where one might normally expect them to be (like by region, or varietal).
Grabbed the Mercer 2017 Red Blend No. 1 from Pinole on advice here, berry nice. Half open bottle different on day 2 but still good, darker, more black/blueberry. Soft tannins. Might like it better than the Payoff, would have to try side by side.
Random observations
* I’ve been getting emailed coupons from GO…which don’t work when I go to checkout even being fully compliant with all the T&C of the coupon. The manager at one store told me the ownership is ‘incompetent’ and sends out flawed coupons constantly. He would not honor it.
* There is some concerning info on reddit about GO’s app. Basically, some people who keep track of data privacy and that material say the app is collecting more personal info than 99% of apps out there. And a lot more than what would be needed by any other grocer, especially if its just an advertising/coupon/price check tool. Given that they can’t even do the basis like put price tags on shelves, or stock items, I’m not very supportive of fancy tech efforts.
* New items that have shown up in the 916 (and today is indeed 9/16 day!) include 2022 Little Leaf semillon/sauv blanc [Australia] $6. Not much semillion labeled varietal sold around here. I used to rarely buy Brokenwood or a few Bordelaise expressions. 2022 Everett Ridge Pinot Noir [Carneros/Napa] $15 This is wearing both AVA. Both of these were at the Folsom Blvd location, which rarely has any real deals, and is generally just a regular store for local CSU students, imo. The wine dept can be a shade better at times.
* 2022 Castillo de Liria ‘Viura Chardonnay’ [Utiel Requena] $5 This is a white blend from a large, respectable Spanish negociant Vincente Gandia, albeit from an obscure DO. 2022 Distant Cousins ‘Semillon Sauv Blanc’ $6. [Origin not obvious] Busy, strange label, and a screwcapper. I’m assuming its from OZ, but no info on the front label, and I forgot to take a picture of the back. These two were at the Watt location.
* I have been going to GO much less. Although there can be neat stuff, and great deals, there are so many constant operational glitches, that it really alters the value proposition. It’s like buying gas at most Costcos, one needs to bake in what 20 minutes of their time during the day is worth too, especially at points other than when it first opens. I do think the corporation is having some kind of deep rooted IT problem which is becoming more obvious to customers. It’s strange that emails and inventory are both screwed up at the same time; but might make sense if people quit (or were sacked) without a backup plan.
Aubergine, I mentioned both the Distant Cousins and Little Leaf wines in an earlier post.
Both Little Leaf and Distant Cousins are v2022, both l70%Semillon/30%SauvBlanc from Australia, both distributed by Wine World Estates in Australia and imported to US by Plume Ridge in Claremont CA.
Previous bottles of Distant Cousin originated from Marlborough, NZ. Not so the v2022 which popped up at GO.
I suspect Distant Cousins
and Little Leaf are the same wine packaged differently for 2 dif store chains in Australia. Why reinvent the wheel?
That makes sense. Weird to see that grape varietal here.
Magistrate 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon “Gem Series,” Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, vinted and bottled by Winepress Vintners, 14.8% ABV, $15. Notes for the 3rd day open: smoothly supple, elegant, complex Cabernet fruit of dark red cherry, blackberry / boysenberry, ripe black currant, brown sugar, ripe red currant, drying soft tannins on the finish. The first couple days this was quite dense and tight. Even on the 3rd day, it needed a few hours of air to become soft and dark.
I bought a couple bottles of the Magistrate 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon (“Gem Series,” Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley, vinted and bottled by Winepress Vintners, 14.8% ABV, $15) during the Fall 2023 wine sale, and opened the first one last night. Based on notes above, I was worried it wouldn’t be ready, but, decanted 3.5 hours, it was great. It had lots of ripe blackberry / dark cherry with body-thickening tannins. It’s yummy now, and doesn’t appear to be getting too old soon, either. My only criticism is that it does not have a well-delineated structure, i.e., the wine is sort of an undifferentiated mass, somewhat lacking an entry, middle, and finish.
Reata 2018 Pinot Noir “Three County,” 41% San Benito, 33% Monterey, 26% Sonoma, CA, vinted and bottled by Jamison Ranch Vineyards, 14.4% ABV, $10. This has nicely balanced pinot fruit of dark cherry and raspberry, with notes of orange and stem /earth. However, in the finish, it had bitter stemminess that was at first pronounced but became mild after it aired. This is good Pinot for $10, although I thought it was not as good or interesting as the previous Reata 2016 Pedregal Vineyard Pinot.
I concur. This is a tight mountain wine. It has good flavors. I will buy 3 or 4 and lose them for a few years.
Crasto 2018 Duoro DOC, Portugal, 40% Voisinho, 30% Gouveio, 30% Rabigato, 12% ABV, $4. Very similar to the Crasto Duoro Superior, but a little less acid and with slightly softer and maybe less intense fruit. Yellow grapefruit and melon, lemon and lime, dry and crisp with a little chalk in the finish. Although I think I slightly prefer the greater intensity and structure of the Superior, I like them both a lot for the prices.
Les Violettes 2019 Sauvignon Blanc, Haut-Poitou AOP, Loire, France, screw cap, 12.5% ABV, $5. Dry and crisply acid, with flavors of tart yellow grapefruit and lemon, gooseberry, with warmth a little creamy pear, light fresh herbs. This is spectacular for the price.
Has anyone seen this Les Violette SB up in Washington? Loved the squat little bottles of Les Violette a few years back…
I would guess this Les Violettes is unrelated to the previous one, which was in a squat bottle from the Rhone and made with Viognier and Roussanne. This one is in a regular Rhone- or Bourgogne-style bottle.
👍🏼Hope we get to try it up here. ..sounds delish.
nice, I’ll pick up that Les Violettes if I see it. There is a fancy Pomerol of a similar name, La Violet, that I had some decades ago.
Don’t see many of the obscure Loire AOC outside of the K&L’s of the world.
Correct on the paucity of Loires and I hope to try some, too. Can’t drink NZ SB’s all the time.
I imagine the GO did not get much of this. Any time in the last 10 years I have seen a Loire wine at GO, each store gets only 1 or 2 cases.
+1 on the Les Violettes, very nice. Digging the fruit + herbaceousness. Anyone ever made skillet apple or pear tarte tatin with sprigs of rosemary or thyme? It works!
Chateau St Jean 2018 Chardonnay, Sonoma County (note, not the “California” bottling, one of which Lim13 panned), CA, 14.1% ABV, $7. Shows nicely balanced flavors of ripe yellow apple (but not over-ripe or caramelized), medium-ripe lemon, green apple / hint of lime zest, moderate supporting oak. Like the Pinot, not especially distinctive, but very much what a basic CA Chardonnay should be. (My guess is it would still be a bit sweet for Lim13.) Seems like it has a little tiredness from age, but all flavors are good, not showing a tendency toward oxidation over the two days we drank it. Also like the Pinot, it struck me now and then as a little Russian River-ish, in its lemony chalkiness when it’s fridge-cold, although it becomes buttery as it warms.
All the Ch. St Jean I see in my sector are the base California blends. I’ve looked to see if any of the AVA demarced ones are there, to no avail.
Three Rivers Winery 2017 River’s Red Wine, Columbia Valley, WA, screw cap, heavy bottle, 13.5% ABV, $6. There’s not much about this online, but this is apparently mostly Malbec and Syrah, with some Merlot and Sangiovese.
This review by Gary Hayes in November, 2020, at SavorNW says, “On the nose, you’ll find aromas of blackberry jam, leather, sweet tobacco and a light dusting of baking spices. On the palate, it offers flavors of black cherry that are nicely balanced with earthy notes of coffee and dried herbs, finishing with nice acidity alluding to plum skin.” Sean P. Sullivan says, “Vibrant aromas of plum, blackberry and spice are followed by plush, plump, ripe fruit flavors. It brings a whole lot of immediate appeal.”
I did not find anything so corpulent. It appears the fruit has mostly fallen off this wine, but what remains still has appeal for anyone who likes reserved, elegant fruit (although not particularly complex), and nice smooth dusty / light brown stemmy tannic structure. I preferred the saved 375ml screw-cap bottle, especially decanted 2 – 3 hours, to the first night’s half.
BW, 2017 was a heavy forest fire year all over WA state, starting in May and lasting to October.
Wineries that decided to vinify their grapes had to use methods like reverse osmosis on the wine to decrease smoke taint but that also removes fruit esters.
This probably leads to fruit fading relatively quickly, so the wines don’t age well.
The wine you bought recently may have tasted a lot better 3 years ago in 2020.
(BTW Three Rivers Winery in Walla2 was bought by billionaire Fidelity founder William Foley in 2008 (Foley Family Wines). He also owns the NHL team, Las Vegas Golden Knights.
As an aside, I am finding it now impossible to log in from my phone for some reason.
There is no “Log in to leave a reply” option on the phone screen, just space to leave a reply but the “reply” button is shaded out.
When I try to log in from my phone into wordpress itself, it does not recognize my email or user name that I’ve been using for over a year now, and states to make a new account.
Any pointers you might have?
I acknowledge what you’re saying as it changed recently for me too. If you write a message in the box, the reply button does indeed stay shaded until you click on one of the blue circles to log in. Click the envelope, and that allows you to log in as ‘normal’, with name and email address. At least that has been working for me–most of the time–but once in awhile it doesn’t post, or is delayed, and then one is tempted to double post as it looks as tho it hasn’t gone thru.
Hope that helps!
I have found the same thing happening on my desktop version and JJ’s approach works. Whatever has happened, it just adds a step, the choice of which of the three blue circles you click, and the envelope makes it work just like the old days.
JJ&SB, Thanks for your replies regarding the inability to post comments on this website
Prior to 24 hrs ago, this site had been working on my phone without additional steps to post comments or reply. I had not changed any settings.
Unfortunately, the blue circle and blue envelope symbols did not appear below the “Comment” space, just the shaded over “Reply” square was present in the comment space.
I tried various steps to make the blue circle and envelope symbols appear, including changing pop up settings on my phone, to no avail.
Finally scrolled down the page to the very end where it states to “Show Full Site”.
That finally did the trick to make the envelope and circle appear in a separate section under the Comment area to log in. Whew!
I wonder if other would-be and past users run into this road block and eventually give up trying to post comments & reviews.
PS: Disappeared again, had to switch back to “Show Mobile Site” to get Log In window w symbols.
Hi WORN! Thank you for the background on the Three Rivers 2017 River’s Red! I do not know enough to say how plausible your speculation is, but something would seem needed to account for the difference in descriptions of the wine at different times.
Also, thanks JJ and Seedboy for chiming in with help about logging in. Nothing has changed in my desktop interface, and I never log in to here on my phone.
Just for clarity….the ‘reply’ mechanism changed on the laptop just as for the phone….I’m on my laptop now, and I must now take this new step of clicking on the blue circle to open the box which will let me sign in, which then allows the shaded ‘reply’ button to turn blue.
Thanks for that info on Washington. Their wines have always seemed too expensive to me, other than the mega Ch. St. Michelle output. Maybe they cost less up there. But I can typically get imports in the same category for less than the comparable WA equivalent.
I will grant that Leonetti and Quilceda Creek have some remarkable wines, but it’s been a long time since those have been in my cup.
I tasted a bunch of wines today. Here are the ones about which I have good things to say:
– First, let me join the chorus praising the Crasto 2018 Duoro Superior, $5. Very dry, crisp, good fruit but not too much, lemon and lime acid and slight balancing bitterness / minerality. After it has aired a good while, the acid may be a little strong for my taste, but not much so. I have not seen the regular (non-Superior) Duoro. Thanks, Flitcraft, for the info about Duoro Superior.
I tasted these three reds on their second day open:
– Chateau St Jean 2018 Pinot Noir, Sonoma County, CA, 14.1% ABV, $7. This is different than the ubiquitous California bottling. At first, this was pretty tough and tannic, but it opened to show typical Sonoma County, even Russian River-ish, flavors of dark purplish red cherry / plum, orange, earth / funk. It’s a pretty straightforward wine, not really any individual character, but nonetheless a good Pinot for $7.
– Payoff 2019 red blend, Alexander Valley, CA, vinted and bottled by Estate of the Art, 14.8% ABV, $6. Ripe and juicy CA red, to my taste Cabernet-based, although with the finish a little rough and stemmy tannic. As far as GO options go, better than Cathedral Creek Cab.
– Feuerheerd’s 2020 Reserva, Duoro DOC, Portugal, 14% ABV, $9. Super smooth, subtle complexity of cherry, raspberry, blueberry, with gentle tannic length. Very agreeable. The only thing is that it’s a little sweet for me. Handles lightly spicy food well.
Second in the A Valley Payoff – very good QPR, true to Alexander Valley Cab and decently made. Good midweek quaffer
+ 1 more on the Payoff Red, quite nice for the price.
BW, the Payoff 2019 Red Blend Alexander Valley was made by Sebastiani Winery (Foley Family Wines) in Sonoma (Public COLA Registry search).
I’d love to see bottles of that locally.
The only Sebastiani bottles here (Bourbon Barrel Aged 2020 CS IIRC) are $10 at our local GO.
Did the Sebastiani crew also make the Sauv. Blanc? A boatload of both wines just showed up in Redwood City so I grabbed one of each. Sauv. Blanc very nice @ $6, in the same class as the Badgerhound which, despite the crazy name, my family enjoyed. I have yet to try the red blend.
Is there any wine that isn’t in the Foley Portfolio? 😉
https://foleyfamilywines.com/wineries/
Foley purchased Sebastiani in 2008; I’ve had none of those wines and have seen none locally here in WA.
Have unfortunately never seen the oft mentioned Crasto wines either.
Lim, I just bought 8 of those Crasto a couple weeks ago…I can’t believe you didn’t get them up there.
Perhaps they did. They weren’t around when I was last in any nearby GO….but that was weeks ago. Slowing down my wine purchases again (TOO MUCH WINE!) and spent two weeks touring the 5 National Parks in southern Utah. Just returned last Sunday.
Just texted with the Silverdale store owner. Says she never got any Crasto.
No love lost, Lim….I’m sipping one now, it must warm up to reveal much of itself, and even then it’s a fairly plain Jane of a wine.
It will be much less crucial now that the temps are dipping!
Much appreciate your read on that wine, JJ. I’m feelin’ better already!
Lim, Pullman got at least 2 cases of both Crasto Branco and they are moving slowly.
Portuguese white wine is too much of a wild card for most here in Pullman.
Perhaps subconsciously the name “Crasto” is a turnoff,
ie “crass”
I bought a bottle of the Crasto Douro 2018 Branco Superior and for $4, it’s great. I like this better than the other Crasto made w 3 varietals. In retrospect, I think the other wine has less heft and will fade faster. This one reminds me of a Semillon. Vivino is selling it for $31.
I’ll try another glass tomorrow.
If it holds up, I’m buying a half case for Thanksgiving. 🦃
******************************
🕰2018
💯88/100 🌟3.8
👁Clear light gold
👃👅Dry,pear & unripe pineapple nose,palate yellow apple, minerality,lemon,slt creaminess, lemon zest finish,pleasing acidity,med long finish,medium body,balanced,really good!Reminds me of a Semillon.
🍇60%Viosinho, 40%Verdelho
22 yr old vines
🌄Douro Superior,Douro Valley, Portugal
🕰stainless ferment to oak ferment 45 days,aged 6 mo French oak barrels
⛽12.5%ABV
WM Manuel Lobos
🏅92pt WA,89pt WE🏅
💵$20-31 online
Hope you come across this soon, Lim!
Not sure which one JJ had, but she was less than impressed. JJ?? I’m kinda’ doubting that any Crasto is gonna’ show up here…but we’ll see. I’d buy one of each just to compare my preferences with what I’ve read here. And if not, I’ll live. 🙂 Lord knows I’ve got plenty of wine in the cellar.
Just to clarify….I had reviewed them both early on, and had preferred slightly the non-Superior (then some had that subsequent convo here about how ‘Superior’ didn’t mean ‘better’, just a different animal).
I thought they were both worth buying at their inexpensive pricing, as good dry summer quaffers–especially nice to have something from European soils.
But my recent note to you was more about putting these in perspective (and making you feel better ;-), particularly on this latest tasting,….and that you weren’t missing some fabulous wine or phenomenal deal.
The blog had spent an awful lot of space on them, heightening their cred!
Lim, Bill Foley’s gotta do something w his billions, why not a winery empire?
BTW, it was never my intention to make you feel you were missing out, just encouragement to buy the Crasto if you come across it.
I’m surprised we got both versions since so many wines discussed on here never show up in little ol’ Pullman.
None of the Rock Wall ever made it here, so many others as well, the list is very long.
The “heyday” for better wines seem to have occurred during COVID years 2020-2021.
The second owner now focuses on under $10 category, most are $7-$8.
The GO wine ordering system is a mystery, does every franchise get an equal crack at bat for most stuff? My guess is no. Stores w bigger wine buys probably get dibs overall, but maybe I’m wrong.
Since DTC sales resumed, rarely do any SVD, or even AVA specific designates appear on shelves in Pullman, definitely not the ones from California.
Most stuff now on the shelves seems to be made by Fior di Sol, CalWine Trading Co, Bronco and E&J Gallo. Scheid, Foley, Precept and Mercer if we’re lucky.
The other nearest GOs are 40 and 80 miles away.
I will be pleasantly surprised and shocked if we ever get in Payoff or Les Violettes but not holding my breath.
The last really good red I bought was the Mercer Subsoil 2019 HHH Merlot for $6.
Panic bought the last 6 on the shelf over a month ago, fearing nothing better would pop up. Still looking, still waiting.
Spending two weeks in five national parks in Utah was a far more enjoyable use of your time!
I think the sweet spot is going to be wines produced within the state that one’s GO’s operates in. Once it crosses state lines, and needs another regulatory layer, it thins out the prospective shelves.
I suppose at a practical level, locals may be more familiar with the winery names anyways. I’d hardly expect to know WA wines, or folks up there to be familiar with Amador or Sierra Foothills microproducers.
The only contra caveat to the above might be if a producer reliant on tasting room sales didn’t want to tarnish their local brand / price reputation, and somehow figured out how to sell out their state for their excess. Which I seem to remember being a concern for some of the Arizona (!) wines which were seen in some years.
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GO’s in my region have been having massive inventory and operational problems, and perhaps to compensate, sent out an unrestricted $5 off $25 purchase valid this wknd only. Normally these are geographically delimited, to the crummier stores.
Richmond, CA last weekend, got some of the Crastos (quite nice, crisp and zingy – will keep an eye out for the “Inferior” 😉 and a bottle each of the Payoff Red and RR 2019 Chardonnay. Haven’t opened the red, the Chard is still in good shape, a bit fat, hot, and buttery, but a solid effort. Think it was also $6.
Saw two Livermore Petite Sirahs, Crooked Vine 2013 and Stony Ridge 2015, both $8, turns out both from the same winery, seems the Stony is the second label, it says “a lighter version” (of PS? what’s the point? Like I tease my mom for buying “low-fat half & half”). The CV ($144/case at the winery now) was in great shape, clean natural cork, healthy sediment, still inky and just really starting to open up, but the tannins have softened, the acidity and fruit are full and ripe, chocolaty blueberry, black raspberry. Drinking well now and could probably go another decade in a cool cellar. Reminds me to pull out some other old PS I stashed and forgot about.
New Rosé at Pullman:
*Empathy 2020 Rosé California ($3.99).
*Grapes (Grenache, Pinot Noir, White Zinfandel, Colombard, Muscat)
*Fruit sources: Clarksburg, Lodi (Bokisch & Mettler Family Vineyards), Lake County (Shannon Ranch Vineyards), and Mendocino.
*This v2020 Rosé and v2021 for sale currently on EmpathyWines.com website for $20, $16 for monthly subscribers.
*PCR search: Two bottlings of rosé by Empathy in 2020 & 2021.
*The bottles have a separate white sticker which Carlos informed me was a good sign indicating bottles were for sale at another retail venue other than GO.
*Constellation purchased Empathy Wine, a DTC brand from Gary Vaynerchuk early July 2020 after a year of business and only 15,OOO cases and 2,000 subscribers signed on.
That’s a shockingly low number of cases and subscribers IMO.
*Constellation was banking on increased DTC sales bc of ongoing COVID pandemic at the time, hedging bets pandemic would last a long time.
*Since excess v2020 Rosé showing up at GO, not such a great move in retrospect.
*Hyperbolically extolled as a “Bestseller!” on website.
I may buy one after all this research and let y’all know! 😂
So some 25-30 years ago I used to be in a tasting group where Gary V would occasionally join us. In that era he was running a family wine/liquor shop in NJ, and he had some ambitions for it, so was out building every connection he could. He also was developing a pretty decent fine wine program too.
He was highly promotional and excitable; his big innovation was cranking out just tons of video reviews, far before YouTube/TikTok or whatever was a popular thing. It also included interviews — his discussion with Nicolas Joly is a trip if one has 30 min to gawk.
Gary has of course gone to greater things, but it’s nice to hear his name again. A couple years off the run rose, that seems like an AVA dumpbucket (as dluber might refer to it) seems like a stretch though. Rose season is coming to an end (I think I finished my very last one this weekend) so there should be lots of decent 2022’s down the pike. People downvote me for this, but my feel is that unless its a Tavel (macerated Grenache) or a Bandol (anti oxidante mourvedre) or maybe some weird Lopez de Heredia rose, fresher is better and one should not buy old ones. 2021, and optimally, 2022 are the only ‘normal’ ones I would trust.
Aubergine, I was only mildly tempted out of sheer curiosity, but decided to forego buying the Empathy 2020 Rosé due to age. The owner of the store (who also chooses the wines) brought in scads of various rosés (3 cases of the 2020 Empathy) this summer, mostly 2020 & 2021, even a 2019. Nothing truly notable except the Belleruche 2021 CdR Rosé.
Yes, I thought 2021 Chapoutier ‘Belleruche’ was solid. I still see it on some local shelves for $4. The last 3 GO’s I’ve been in have massive inventory stockout problems, across all departments. It’s kind of strange, and I hear differing excuses from staffers about it. Pandemic era is long over so not sure why that would be so.
I was told there was a system wide ordering glitch so no ordering
I’ve not been able to see the weekly ad online, for over three weeks. Call my local GO and was told by a very kind, but very frustrated employee that, they’ve not been able to place their own orders for weeks. That what shows up, shows up – and that’s IT.
Then tonight when I went to hopefully check out the weekly ad, I was told be to download the app. Which I did. And I still can’t see the weekly ad!
Maybe it’s all related?
Beaver Creek non-vintage “Symphony” “red wine blend,” CCOF certified organic, vegan, unfiltered, no added sulfites, Lake County, CA, 14.5% ABV, $10. I recall being pretty fond of Beaver Creek wines we’ve seen at GO in years past, so I jumped on this one. However, on looking it up online, I was a bit wary. Apparently, its composition is 82% 2020 rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% 2021 Primitivo, and 7% 2019 Zinfandel. The fruit flavors in this unusual blend are not bad and about what you’d expect: a little light cherry dominated by briary black raspberry / boysenberry. This could have been a pleasant lighter-weight wine, but the amount of wood on it is more what I’d expect on a heavy red, making, for me, at least, for a rather unpleasant finish. Moreover, the woody flavor is one that is somewhat familiar from BC wines past, one I would now characterize as salted plum pit or crumbling wet wood. I would guess it’s the same flavor that DLuber characterized as “a strong mentholy medicinal note” in the 2008 Zinfandel. I didn’t mind this, or maybe even liked this, in a ripe, full-bodied, tangy-fruited red, but it really spoils this wine for me.
$10 sounds like a lot for a bit of an odd lots barrel blend, no?
In our winery, we refer to these as “spit-bucket” blends (not on the label though 😉 )
This label confused me because there is a Davis-created white grape called Symphony, then I noticed the wine is red, with no clue as to what grapes are in it. It does sound like an effort to use what was left over. Thanks for taking one for the team; I’ll pass.
Tonight I opened the saved screw-cap half bottle of the Beaver Creek non-vintage “Symphony.” It has a little residual sugar, so I thought it might be better slightly chilled. Chilled or not, it is better integrated and a little more full than when I first opened it. It now strikes me as resembling a $6 or $7 GO Zinfandel, except that it does still have that sharply woody finish. I think it is better lightly chilled. Anyway, it’s better tonight, but still not to my taste. Probably good for people who want CCOF certified organic, vegan, no sulfites, etc.
Tried two new Simi bottles (Chard & Cab), both labeled as a special bottling (Reese Book club, go figure). Both $7, I think.
Chard was ok, kinda I’ve-dimensional…Russian River fruit, well-made, med body but we wanted more fruit intensity. Better as it warmed up, but meh.
Cab also just ok, so a bit of a letdown. Again, solid winemaking with just okay fruit. Nice nose and entry, short middle and short finish. Meh again, neither a rebuy (found at Cloverdale store, might be a lone pallet)
I opened my last bottle of rose the last couple of nights, given that summer seems to be ending in our world. This was the 2021 Moulin de la Roque ‘Les Hauts du Vallon’ [Bandol] which is a 13% abv rose, fashioned out of 62% mourvedre, 22% grenache, and 16% cinsault. It’s more on the onion skin hue rather than ‘pink’ and its on the fine dry side. It’s the kind of rose I prefer, and it went well enough with fish and hashbrowns for supper. Most Bandol cost a touch more than other rose (comparable to how Tavel commands a premium) but this was only $6 or $7 and was French tax stamped ‘Jeff Wellburn’ selection, so it’s a little odd. Most of the time regular importers are not getting French tax stamped bottles, suggesting this was not intended for the US, but the back label is very much US oriented, and doesn’t look like an afterthough, so who knows what the story is.
But it’s showing some zip, fruity depth, and has a good AOC even if I’m not familiar with the producer/bottling, and the price is fair enough. Every once in a while a $10 Bandol rose will show up at Costco, and this is comparable. I think I picked this up during the spring wine sale at GOBM, but I have not seen it anywhere since. Although rose is very ‘on trend’ right now, the natural warm months are starting to change, so perhaps there will be a last blast of rose put on sale. I saw the Bouchard and Chapoutier get reloaded at my closed GO, fwiw.
Bottom line if one likes dry French rose, this Bandol is a good deal at $6 or $7.
Is this something you found at GO recently? I have not seen Bandol rosé at GO in years.
I think I picked it up in the Spring sale at the West Sacramento (Harbor) location. Only place I ever saw it. I forgot to mention that it was sealed with a Nomacorc, a good choice for this.
Poggio al Tufo 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Toscana IGT, Italy, part of Tommasi Family Estates, 13% ABV, $7. To me, and interesting and decently tasty Italian version of Cabernet. Generally, I prefer tangy and funky reds (Syrah, Pinot, Rhone, Italian) over Cabernet, so if you’re a Cabernet lover, this may not be your choice. Recently arrived, I thought it needed 4.5? 5? hours to fully air, at least as much as it would on the first day. Has classic CS flavors of Bing cherry, red currant, but has that Italian tanginess, plus a greenish stemmy finish. I taste a little orange, so I suspect some Sangiovese, since it is Tuscany, after all. Does not have much richness, but does develop a little softness in the glass. I would guess that the saved bottle will taste more ripe and soft.
About a week later, I decanted the saved 375ml bottle. Tangy purplish red cherry, red currant, rhubarb, slight orange made me suspect Sangiovese, but apparently 100% Cabernet, so just Italian?, celery?, stem / wood. After a few hours of being pretty good, it developed some soft richness, still with a lot of tanginess, but is far from being a CA Cab (or Bordeaux). I would probably never guess it was a Cab in a blind tasting, although that might say more about my ability as a taster. Ok, interesting to see what an Italian Cab might be like, and pretty tasty, good for $7. Won’t plan to get more though.
At the Poggio al Tufo web site, they write, “Deep ruby red in color, it has a broad, complex nose with aromas of blackberry preserve, black pepper, licorice, vanilla and balsamic herbs. On the palate it is mouth-filling, rich and full-bodied, with velvety tannins that are nicely integrated with a pleasing sensation of freshness.” This strikes me as rather generous.
I think I saw that at the Watt location the other day.
I stopped at the Marconi location of GO in Carmichael today and they had some new, weird spirits.
Gyori – a luxury Polish vodka in tall 1.75L (grey goose style) bottle $22
Untamed – rum from the West Indies $8
Trinity Bay – artisinal gin USA/CA made $18
Monopolowa – imported Austrian whiskey $19
Red Cup Rye – screwcapped Albertan whiskey $7
Charles Goodnight – Kentucky Bourbon $20
I asked the person stocking all the wine shelves about the, and he stated that what was on the shelf was all they had, so if I had interest, don’t dawdle. In response, I asked him to fix a few incorrect tags in the wine dept which have been flat out wrong for 3-6 months.
Spirits get consumed rather slowly in our household, with little natural consumption, so I’m loath to fill up the bar area with weird names. The Austrian one might the only one that is tempting if I was ever running low on that, but I’m not really sure what it is. All the European brown spirits are quite different, from Irish whiskey (sweet) to Scotch (smoky) to the wine derived (spanish or French brandies). It sounds like it would be more in the US model of some kind of grain based distillate.
FWIW, I thought the Monopolowa was pretty good for the price a couple years ago (IIRC, the price has actually gone down slightly since then), to my taste neither sweet nor smoky. I haven’t tried any of the others, as I also don’t drink much liquor.
Monopolowa has made a reasonably priced and very good potato vodka, a staple at Trader Joe’s, for years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopolowa
College students are back so Pullman’s GO is markedly busier.
Excited to see the Crasto Douro 2018 on the shelf, only $3.99, so took one home, chilled it, popped it open for dinner!
My Vivino review:
“Never had these grape varietals before so was interested in this bottle!
🕰2018
💯87/100 🌟3.7
👁Golden straw
👃👅Dry, crisp, lemon citrus, melon, lime zest, mineral, light body, balanced, zesty Portuguese white blend.
🍇40%Viosinho, 30%Gouveio, 30%Rabigato
🌄Douro, Portugal
🕰15% of juice was in neutral French oak barrels 3 months
⛽12%ABV
💯??cases
🏅89 pt WA, 87 pts WE🏅
💵$20 retail
🪟 DW 2019-2024
Drink now!
**********************
Fantastic QPR, probably will pick up a half dozen more to bring to friends and neighbors.
Pro review said this wine has some age ability, but I wouldn’t sit on these for long.
I bought both the 2018 Crasto Douro, and am sipping on the Superior ($4.99) which is 60% Viosinho, 40% Verdelho.
I did a little research….this comes from a well-established generational winery on a gorgeous hilltop above the Douro River, just downriver a scant few miles from where I spent many days in Pinhao, tromping the steep hills and villages, exploring old ruins, eating the most delicious farmed salmon I would never order in this country (from Norway–apparently the masters of salmon farming), wandering through ancient but intensely farmed & terraced vineyards, and chug-chugging up the river valley where every famous Porto house grows its grapes.
A pretty terrific and rural place, surprisingly unassuming and not boojied out.
Scuze the nostalgia….now, to the wine.
Bright and lemony….bold acidity (bordering on too much, at least to start–might age? It’s already five years old–very fresh).
I liked the subtle almond on the nose with a husky minerality.
Nothing fancy, simple and straightforward–needs to warm up a bit to reveal.
For the price a nice dry white Douro I’d drink more of and see what happens to it over a bit of time.
I’d love to see those Crasto wines (or any Kermit Lynch wines) show up in SLO, but the selection of new wines has been uninspiring lately. The only things I’ve picked up in recent weeks are the 2017 Yering Station Shiraz and two new single bottles which I haven’t tried yet: Gérard Bertrand Sphère Rosé (“Fines Bulles / Lightly Sparkling”) at $6 and 2022 La Vigne du Roy Côtes du Rhône at $7.
Remind me where SLO is?
Sorry if this is a double response, but I’m having a very hard time with this wordpress site all of a sudden. It’s requiring a new kind of sign-in, and at least half the time it’s not publishing my posts. It’s certainly annoying….and I’m wondering if anything changed from the moderator’s side of things, or whether this is just randomly happening on my end? Or happening to anyone else?
I had asked bretooks, but it didn’t seem to publish….
Please remind, where is SLO?
I got it twice. I’m not bretrooks, but I believe it’s San Luis Obispo.
Right…thx Lim.
I am bretrooks, and lim13 is correct 🙂
Nothing has changed with WordPress from my perspective, but (besides occasional comment moderation) I’m pretty much letting the site go on autopilot, not as involved in the nuts and bolts as I used to be.
I turned my nose up at the Sphère Rosé here, and Stephen McConnell works to find something nice to say about La Vigne du Roy here.
Pardon my “French”, but what a bunch of crap is that review by McConnell. And I’m not even talking about the wine. If I was a novice wine drinker, I’d immediately be freaked out reading it. I mean…I WAS freaked out. I’m somewhat certain of what he’s trying to say, but Holy Cow!
That is a rather tame example of Stephen’s style. I try to read his reviews, particularly of GO wines, because he and I have similar wine preferences. Based on this review I might buy a bottle to enjoy sometime after the equinox.
In another note I bought another bottle of Equoia. The first one made no impression on me. Maybe it was shocked by transport? In any event, I decanted half of the bottle, to give it some air, and found it to be a good example of the sort of Pinot we have been getting at GO in that price range. Pleasant, nothing to write home about.
Had little interest in the wine review, but you got me interested, Lim….so I read it.
What HOGwash, indeed!!
He literally eviscerates the wine, with grand superlative–as though it had personally offended him on every level–then says “rather drinkable, however….”
Aaach.
His Freudian slip makes perfect sense….
“Brash and driven my adolescent insecurity”.
Don’t have the time to wade through his reviews. It’s all I can do to read Grossout, especially of late. How observant to note “Brash and driven my adolescent insecurity” as a Freudian slip since “m” is two keys over from “b.”
Lim,Stephen McConnell is absolutely crazy for JLohr’s Wildflower Valdeguié (not a GO wine, $13 MSRP, $10-$12 online). Valdeguié was a grape mistakenly thought to be a Gamay until 1980. All his reviews for multiple bottles of Valdeguié (aka Gros Auxerrois in Languedoc-Roussillon) wax rhapsodic.
Coincidentally, I had the JLohr 2018 Wildflower Valdeguié years ago. 2018 was a great vintage year for both CA and WA IIRC.
First day, Valdeguié was fine, flavors of a Gamay/PN cross, juicy, easy drinking low tannin light red w a hint of mushroom and funk. Second day, fruit diminished and an off-flavor became prominent, making the wine unpleasant.
Stephen must drink the whole bottle w his partner first night. Not a rebuy for me as my husband doesn’t drink. I prefer to open a bottle that will stay drinkable for 2-3 days.
Funny, WORN…that really conjures up the distant past for me. In checking my computer cellar program, I found that the last Valdiguie that I had was a 1999 from Wild Horse in Paso Robles, when I was a club member. My notes from that wine: Clear medium ruby; a very grapey, fruity, floral lavender nose; soft, light and fruity in the mouth with flavors of tart, under ripe raspberries; simple and light with no tannin to speak of; a very unassuming, yet enjoyable quaff. And yes…very infrequently does an entire bottle get consumed in one night by my wife and I anymore.
That J Lohr Valdiguié is very very good. I bought one on his recommendation and really liked it. He is a fan of that winery, generally. I know his reviews are not everyone’s cup of tea but I appreciate his effort.
The Sphère Rosé sounded unexciting, but looking at the other rosé options in the SLO store, it still seemed like it might be better than the other options. We had just drank the last rosé in the fridge, so I figured we’d try it. I had missed the La Vigne du Roy note…I’ll definitely give that one some time before opening it in hopes that it calms down.
Stephen McConnell’s reviews are a bit high-intensity for my taste, but I do check in on them from time to time since he covers GO wines as well as some other off-the-beaten-path wineries I enjoy, and I have some alignment with his palate.
Given the house/negociant that is making the CdR in question, it seems to me that passing on it was ok. $7 CdR isn’t really anything special, that’s basically what Costco will blow out Louis Bernard or their own KS for. It’s several pages back but I had some prior commentary on the negociant that makes it, and other CNDP bottlings.
I don’t look at Stephen’s site all that much, but find it honest/refreshing.
I had occasion to chat over Zoom with a Portuguese colleague and pal and mentioned the Crasto wines. He knew the winery well–one of the first port houses to produce table wines back in the 70’s, and still one of the best at it. He knew both whites, but corrected me when I said that the Douro Superior was a “fancier” version of the Douro white, It refers to the limited Douro Superior region of Portugal, not to a ‘reserve’ wine. Actually, I think I prefer the Douro bottling over the Douro Superior version, myself, since that one is less oaked to my taste.
You’re reminding me that I never came back and reviewed the other Douro, the non-Superior, for lack of a better name.
I agree flitcraft….I enjoyed it more than the Superior, and found it had finer balance and acidity, qualities of soil and mineral, better fruit fullness and an all around higher quality to me….and it’s a dollar cheaper than the Superior.
At $3.99 quite a nice, dry little something-different, especially still in the warm weather. I’ve got to go see if there’s some left!
Vireton 2020 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, OR, produced and bottled by Archery Summit, 13.5% ABV, $15. Wine very recently arrived. Notes are after being open 4 hours (which it needed) on the 3rd day open. Black cherry / black plum, raspberry, orange, chocolate, something akin to roasted pork, stem / sage?. There is a lot to chew on in the finish; don’t feel like I’ve really covered it all. I can endorse the notes Vinotarian reproduced here.
This has shown up at the Watt Ave GO in Sacramento. $15. Wine dept has a little more care/TLC than one would expect here. They also seem to have a once per month sale day (10% off sale, min six bottles purchase) but they only announce it the night before via email. I can understand their desire to not cannibalize full price sales, but that doesn’t seem like a reasonable way to motivate what should be new incremental business, if their customers can’t actually respond in a timely fashion.
I opened a bottle of this recently. On the first day, it didn’t resemble my notes above very much, and seemed pretty closed, with tight red and blue fruits even after being decanted something like 5 hours. The saved screw-cap half bottle, opened over a week later, hadn’t changed that much, so I left a little in the screw-cap bottle for the next day. Today, it tasted a lot more like my notes above, but was also a little tired and acid. I also noted a little of the “hollowed” character of other 2020 Pinots I’ve tasted, but I don’t think it detracts from the wine much given its price. Anyway, I think I’ll put away my remaining bottles for another year.
Surprisingly, I still see some of the 2020 Vireton floating around at some locations. I have not opened my lone example, and probably would not reload in any case. It seems that the $15 price point motivates mild googling from customers, which usually will get some mention of 2020 issues.
It’s strange to me, but once GO slaps a price on a wine, it rarely seems to get adjusted, and can sit on the shelves for literally years, at what is clearly not a market clearing level. Some of those 2015 Chapoutier Shiraz’ are still floating around, and I could swear that I’ve seen them since the pandemic started.
Individual store owner / operators can choose to discount a product that’s not selling, but (1) that obviously means a loss for them alone, and (2), if they then sell out but there’s still more in corporate inventory, they can get forced more of the same product.
Last night I was sent an email stating that some local GO’s were having a 1 day wine sale (10% off a purchase of 6+ bottles). I had mild plans to check out a location, but a family member who was supposed to tag along, changed their mind.
So I ended up going to a totally different store, and there was a bunch of Kermit Lynch selections on sale. So for those of you on west coast, take a look at your local Raleys, Nob Hill, Bel Air. Some examples of stuff I picked up from KLWM portfolio: Kermit’s Cabrieres $3.5, Champalou sparkling vouvray $7, Tintero Langhe Nebbiolo $13. There were other importers too. I think I’d mentioned that KLWM Languedoc Cabrieres before here, although I might have conflated it with Corbieres, a different but nearby village, that KLWM also import.
These sale items feel like the last bits of Curtis Mann’s selections being flushed out from their shelves. He was a MW who used to run their wine / spirits / beer dept, and he left for bigger & better things. And this regional chain have devolved back to sad mass market, typical grocer’s selections, so my interest is much less there…..and dollars spent. The company’s president is a neighbor (sort of) and they used to make sure our closest location had a great wine dept, since that person used the store like a personal cellar. So I piggybacked off that happy situation for years, but its over now. 😦
When you say “west coast”, I’m assuming you mean west coast of CA. We frequently don’t see items you get down there up here in WA state…and vice versa.
I would be very interested in the sparkling Vouvray, saw no Kermit wines at Richmond today. I did see an Archery Summit Vireton Pinot Noir 2020 for $15. This is apparently the “value” bottling of an otherwise pricey Willamette producer. I did not buy one.
Seedboy…As you probably remember, 2020 was a fire-plagued vintage. That’s probably why Archery Summit added the PN to a line that – heretofore, if I didn’t miss something – merely consisted of their PG bottling. Here’s what their website says about the PN…”A bountiful wine, the Vireton bursts with familiar fragrances and lasting flavor. Abundant spice dominates the nose with lush, ripe raspberries and dark chocolate. On the palate, there are generous notes of earth, caramel, and chocolate. The wine is equally giving on the tail end, delivering juicy red fruit backed by a light but balancing acidity. It all combines to offer a lengthy, memorable finish.” I don’t think they’ll let the Oregon market have any of this wine, but I’d buy one bottle to see if it lives up to this blurb.
I’m with you, Vinotarian. I’d buy a bottle of the Archery Summit too, as that would be the only bottle of their wine I’ve ever been able to afford. I haven’t looked in years, but even their tasting room at the winery was at one time charging $50 to taste (by appointment only). I’d have never expected to see any of their wines at GO. The winery was founded by Gary Andrus of Pine Ridge in Napa. I always enjoyed the Pine Ridge relatively inexpensive Chenin-Viognier blend.
I did a drop by tasting there last summer on my way to the International Pinot Noir Celebration. $75 per person.
A few years ago the No Cal GO stores had that Pine Ridge wine. I bought a mess of it.
“I always enjoyed the Pine Ridge relatively inexpensive Chenin-Viognier blend.”
Oh that blend! I discovered it at the Burbank SoCa store and bought buckets of it. So tasty and such an incredible price! Oh to have that back again…
Like you, HB and SB too, I bought a bunch of it as well, at the Silverdale store for $4.99 in December of 2018, according to my wine cellar app.
I’m full jealous about all those Kermit Lynch wines casually showing up on the Golden shelves of California. I always have maintained she’s ‘god’s country’….
Are other northerners seeing ANY KL wines up Washington way?
I saw a 2017 Meyer-Fonne Edelzwicker at the Camas store. I don’t remember its price.
Checked Silverdale today. No Kermit Lynch, no Marsala, no Portuguese whites (just one red).
I also happened to check Olympia today. No Marsala, no Kermit 😦 …but found both Portuguese 2018 Crasto whites, Superior (4.99) and the other blend (3.99).
Cheap, so I bought both.
Interested to try for sure, but after traveling six weeks in Portugal and drinking plenty of their Douro whites I’d be surprised to find them standouts.
I’ll report back!
Sorry those KLWM blowouts were at Raleys/NobHill/BelAir, a 140 post regional grocer in CA/NV and maybe Oregon. Excellent store, but wine dept has deteriorated to a sad shell of what it used to be.
Today I finally had an excuse to go to the Raley’s nearest me in the Bay Area. I saw some Kermit Lynch-imported wines, but the only one on sale was the KL-selected 2020 Languedoc Cabrières you mentioned. Although this was $9.5 instead of $3.5, it claimed to be 50% off, and was probably a decent deal, so I got the last bottle on the shelf. In general, I don’t think I’ll be shopping for wine there, as I’m too used to GO prices.
I’ve bought other vintages up in the teens prices, and not been dissatisfied. It is, broadly, a category of wine I have a lot of though (French GSM and other affiliated grapes) so I don’t want to add more to the ‘drinking backlog’, unless its at silly prices.
A friend shops at Raley’s and has recently had success with wines discounted to $20 a bottle that are placed in a grocery cart in the wine section. For those discounted wines they honor the 30% off for 6 or more bottles that is their general policy, allowing him to buy some nice red and white burgundy for $14 a bottle.
Interesting. I did not see any such bargain bin at the San Pablo store yesterday.
sounds like a good deal…what producers did they find?
Laflaive, Jadot, Mischief & Mayhem (a Volnay) are a partial list.
Very nice. M&M sounds like the next sequel to a 101 Dalmatians movie.
I’m not sure this sweet wine is still in the system, but I had a glass of the Cantine Intorcia ‘sweet’ [Marsala] all by itself tonight. I have only been using this 1L bottle for cooking (chicken Marsala, unsurprisingly, perhaps every 6 weeks) but this DOC offering is decent and merits a standing higher than ‘seasoning’. I can’t really think of situations where modern households drink sweet Marsala, sweet sherry etc. but if one wanted to try something in that category that can function beyond a sauce, this is ‘ok’. There’s a touch more here than the alcoholic brown sugar water that is typical of Harvey’s and other tired brands. The nose is spirity and hot, but at these high abv levels, I think that is to be expected. Caramel,
These were cheap, perhaps $7ish?, and I recall seeing them in multiple Trader Joes, so I suspect that is their real frontline price for this region. But it might have been a one time import or dump by some agent. I’d expect it to be a slow seller though; no one is really consuming quantities of this niche. An apertif of this with a biscotti might be a nice late afternoon welcome home treat for a spouse/family member.
I never have Marsala around, and think of it now and then when I have a hankering to make James Beard’s famous Onion-Butter Pasta, which uses it to cut the richness of an absurd amount of butter. Might check Trader Joes, since I haven’t seen it in any of our GOs.
Flit, do you have other rancio type wines ( Malaga, Madeira, drier sherries and even tawny ports that is diluted with a dry sherry ) around? They could sub for Marsala and just last night my son-in-law made a Beef Wellington for his birthday and he used sherry and if he had said Madeira, I would have believed him. He’s a fireman and they tend to be good cooks, but I think he is better than the average firehouse chef. Drinking these rancio type wines is another matter though.
I think you hit the nail on the head, our modern world doesn’t ‘drink’ these. They are used as seasoning. Even I was surprised to pour a small glass of the Intorcia. It’s ‘ok’ and price considered, even better.
I always have Marsala around…but dry, not sweet…for making chicken or pork Marsala (don’t eat veal).
I don’t even see veal at normal supermarkets anymore. Have to go to the ethnic halal markets, or specialty butcher Corti Bros, to find it now. It’s basically ‘byproduct’ from the dairy industry, and once they got very good at artificially inseminating the dairy herd to almost only have females (90% hit rate) there just isn’t much male calves anymore, to get marketed as veal.
This ‘modern household’ loves me a nice little glass of sherry from time to time! (Amontillado most preferred, but I’ll do Cream…and fino for cooking).
But I admit I always feel a little British, like I’m in some West End parlor play.
Less familiar, but will also enjoy a Marsala if it’s nice.
Anyone see the Cantine Intorcia up in WA?
Yes, veal is rather expensive to eat. I sub antelope when I have it and that’s even more expensive. Venison is just too strong for the sauce. I do use pork and chicken, too, for Marsala sauce because that is less expensive.
Saw two red blends from Mercer (Horse Heaven Hills, WA) today at the Pinole, CA store – both $8 but didn’t bite. A Mercer Family 2017 red blend No 1 and a Subsoil 2019 red blend, looks like both are mostly Syrah, with Merlot, Malbec, Mourvedre, and the No 1 has Cab Sauv, looks slightly more upscale. Tried to find reviews, but they have too many bottlings…seems generally like a quality operation.
Drinking the 2019 Marques del Atrio Rioja now, pretty darn good on PnP, seems like it can take some air and/or age. Will try the recorked bottle next couple days.
Had the 2020 Antiquus Rosé yesterday, quite nice; cut from similar cloth as the Chapoutier Belleruche but fleshier, less dry, less acidic, more gulpable. 4.0 on Vivino, $30 at BevMo, really $15 with the “5 Cent Sale” (BOGOF). I forget the GO price.
My comments on my two bottles of the Mercer 2017 Red blend No.1 are here.
WORN’s praise for the Subsoil 2019 Merlot is here. I also liked this Merlot, and I recall both its price and that of the Subsoil red blend to be $6. Haven’t tried the red blend, though.
My comments on the Antiquus 2020 rosé are here. GO price was $4, 1.5 years ago.
I picked up a few of the Mercer Subsoil Merlots at Silverdale yesterday based on BW and WORN’s reviews. Was more interested in the 2020 Antiquus Rosé, but none to be found. We’ve had a ton of hot weather up here, so my wife and I have been going through a lot of rose. Would like to replenish with some reasonably decent ones. Picked up a few more of the Chapoutier.
I wanted to reload on the Antiquus too but not seen it around here (Richmond, Pinole, San Pablo, CA stores).
Lim13, DLuber, I think the Anitquus was only around 1.5 years ago. Haven’t seen it since.
Thanks, BW…I gathered that from something you or someone else mentioned recently. But “hope springs eternal”. 😄
Sorry, Anitquus was me, I just pulled it out probably because it was older but forgot when I got it.
Crasto Douro Superior White, 2018, 12.5% ABV, 60% Viosinho, 40% Verdelho, 12.5 % ABV. $4.99.
I bought a bottle for experimental purposes. Ordinarily a 2018 white would be, warning, stay well back…but I have had Portuguese whites in the past that aged gracefully, so I decided to take a chance. Also, the pedigree for the wine helped make the decision for me: Quinta do Crasto is better known as a Port producer, but it has been making white and red table wines now for some time. Verdelho is best known for being one of the grapes used to make Madeira. I’ve not had it as a white table wine grape on its own. However, I have had a Viosinho made by Douro producer Portal, and it was refreshing with some minerality to suggest that it isn’t a simple quaffer.
I’ll report back as soon as I have tried it…
We tried it last night before and with dinner. Popped and poured, it has a bright lemony palate, along with some noticeable oak and a minerality reminding me of better-quality Soave, and a slight bitter note on the finish. Little nose at all right out of the fridge–my bad for not taking it out before opening. Definitely a food wine, as we liked it better with the shrimp and vegetable salad than as a pre-dinner drink. (Although that may have been that it opened up a bit more as it warmed a bit. Or it might have opened up a bit.)
This wine wouldn’t be for everyone, I think. I note that it is selling elsewhere in the 20 dollar plus category, and the Wine Enthusiast thinks it has aging potential, so perhaps 2018 isn’t too old. I didn’t observe any oxidization with it. We’ll probably pick up another bottle or two.
Went to Lake City to pick up another bottle of the Crasto Superior White, noting that they started with a couple of cases and were down to three left. Then I noticed that they also carried the Crasto Douro White, same year, same price at 4.99. But it isn’t the same wine as the Superior. 40% Viosinho, and the rest Gouveia and Rabigato. I didn’t buy it, so cannot vouch for it.
3.8 Vivino, 87 WE, $18 at Wine dot com, oddball grapes from a real producer, I’d bite for $5. Their reds get good reviews too. Hope it shows up here.
Hilariously, Google’s now showing me ads for Crasto wines, some denominated in €, so they haven’t considered location.
The 2019 white got “89+” from Parker’s
https://wholesome-harvest.com/crasto-white-doc-2019-white-wine-750-ml
I could swear I posted a review of the 2020 Lapilli Fiano Di Avellino ($6.99) back in the Spring, but I grew weary of searching for it. I opened another bottle of it tonight. My notes: Brilliant medium golden; nose is still rather tight, but eventually shows spiced pear and lemon/grapefruit citrus; once again shows roasted grain on the palate, but the fruit…mainly pear and grapefruit is far more pronounced; gives an almost sweet impression on the front of the tongue and has excellent texture and acidity; long finish; considerably better than my first bottle in April. [Ed. note: that review is here.]
I had a glass of the 2020 Sunce ‘Sweet Zora Zinfandel’ Foppianno Vyd [RRV] which is a dessert wine in a 500ml bottle. I think it’s a late harvest zin, and the label specifies 18% abv, 8% RS (!), with harvest taking place at 29 brix. I’m not sure how that brix level can turn into 18+8 without some intervention/fortification, but I’ll leave that aside for now. This was $8 and I can’t remember exactly when or which GO it was picked up at. It has a lot of bright brambly zippiness for a sweet wine. I’m not used to this style as I normally have either Sauternes, Ports, or (less frequently) sweet German/Loire acid driven stickies. The back label bizarrely suggests having it with chocolate or green olives, neither of which seem suitable to me. 20 barrels of this were made, and clearly it was a tough/weird sell, explaining how it ended up at GO. Dessert wines are a kind of labor of love, and our modern consumption style (in aggregrate) doesn’t really include them. It’s cheap enough for someone to buy/try especially if they have family/friends who only like ‘sweet’ wines, and this could sort of fill that need. But for me, it’s a pass.
I still see some other Sunce wines at other GO’s; at some point there was cab franc and sangiovese monovarietal bottlings floating around, at the relatively high (for GO) prices of $15. I’d take a shot on the sangio actually.
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I saw that some western Raleys/Nob Hill/Bel Air are discounting Kermit Lynch’s 2020 Languedoc Red, which is wearing a Corbieres AOC flag. $9 for one, and perhaps discountable if six wines are purchased, maybe getting it down to $6. I’ve had prior vintages before and it’s solid to good. I wouldn’t age these though as Corbieres/carignan can get sweaty/leathery in an unsavory kind of way if too much aging happpens.
I thought the Sunce Sangiovese was very good.
“with harvest taking place at 29 brix. I’m not sure how that brix level can turn into 18+8 without some intervention/fortification,” is as you surmise would require intervention. With a rough calculation of % alcohol from 29 degrees Brix, it would come out just short of 16%. with no sugar and also assumes the yeast can keep fermenting at near 16%. Yeast really slow down at 15%, I believe.
My tries with the bevvy of oddball and promising-looking (appellation/single-vineyard) Suncé wines in the past couple of years has been hit or miss, and searching reviews here, I’m not alone. I mentioned liking one of the 3 Viognier vintages a lot, one not bad, one terrible. Other favorites were a zinfandel rosé and a late-harvest/fortified Viognier in half bottles, liked well enough to get a couple more, haven’t reopened em yet. Also picked up a Tannat but haven’t tried it.
They tend be on the slightly pricier end of the GO bargain bin, so caveat emptor.
Aubergine – To answer your question regarding the RS + Booze from a winemaking perspective…. Often, wines like that are “stuck” at the amount of sugar by adding back in the high proof ethanol to stop the ferment when it hits 8% RS. It would be at roughly 12.6% alcohol at that point. That way, you get natural flavors from the actual grapes used vs having to add something back in.
Another way to do it is to keep a bunch of unfermented juice in a cooler, ferment the other base to completely dry, add your alcohol and do a trial blend back with the leftover juice. That leftover juice can be filtered, along with the final combined wine+alcohol, then all combined and bottled. That way, everything is sterile and you don’t have to worry about it refermenting, keeping the essence but ensuring everything goes correctly through the whole process.
I’ve had a port/dessert styled wine in the past that was stopped at 6-8% sugar with high proof and the yeast still managed to ferment the wine to dry. The yeast chosen was meant to die at high alcohol but it didn’t comply. Wonderful natural life at work.
I thought the whole sus reserve kind of method tended to make wines that cracked up young? Presumably one would expect a late harvest dessert zin to be kept a while, if only because they can.
At the end, I would say that Sunce was ok, fair enough at the price, but I would not repurchase at $8 +/- something.
iPrandi 2019 Chardonnay, Tre Venezie, Italy, 13.0% ABV, $6. I liked the 2018 vintage a lot, so I quickly picked up the 2019. I like this one less, however. The flavors are similar, but this vintage is more simple (yellow apple and pear, a little green apple), lighter weight, less acid, less minerally, with a flavor something like dried pineapple that indicates a tendency toward oxidation. There’s nothing wrong with it and it’s still very pleasant, but it’s not what the 2018 was. 2nd day: still very similar, does not taste oxidized, kind of sweet and fruity, although without the weight of CA Chardonnay.
I have forgotten to add: To my surprise, on the third and fourth days the iPrandi 2019 Chardonnay was around, it developed more weight and juicy acid, becoming actually pretty tasty. The hint of oxidation in the finish was a little more definite, but still quite weak. Still didn’t like it as well as the 2018, but it was significantly improved.
This apparently isn’t new, but I am not sure Seattle area folks are aware of it:
Lake City, which currently has the best wine selection of the Seattle GOs, offers 10% off any mixed case of wine on Wednesdays. I know that a few years ago, under an earlier ownership, they did this, but candidly it would have been tough to find 12 bottles of anything there that I would have wanted to buy. I assumed that the policy did not survive the ownership changes, since the banners announcing it have long since disappeared. So, if I were buying in bulk, I would definitely do it there.
This time of year, when the half-yearly sale is still a ways off, I would often find myself hoping that one of the pricier GO wines might still be around for the sale, and more often than not, I was disappointed. I realize that 10% is not 20%, but still, it is a discount not to be sneezed at.
Nothing new on wine shelves, but at check out, a sinewy white haired man late 70s was purchasing THREE cases of reds, Callaway California CS (black label) (ASV Wines-a bulk wine factory), United Ink 2019 Red Blend and CS Columbia Valley (Four Feathers in Prosser) and Urgency 2020 CS California (Shannon Ridge Wines). He was literally dropping the bottles into the wine boxes, blithely slamming them in. The checker and I were apprehensive he’d crack one. Very odd behavior. From the bottles he purchased I surmised he doesn’t read this blog!
LOL….you’re awesome
Del and Aubergine, the checker mentioned she noticed no white wines in his selection. The man said he had a surplus of chardonnays but wanted a supply of reds and didn’t want to wait for the next Wine Sale which is coming up in mid November. So approx 90 days divided by 36 bottles is 2.5 days per bottle. I’m pretty sure it’s for his personal consumption, (along w friends who are alive 😉) His bill came to $290+ w tax, he spent on average $7 a bottle pre-tax. I’m always analyzing what people buy there! PS he also bought a couple of prepackaged tomatoes! 🍷 🍅 💸😂
Maybe there was a wake he had to stock up for.
The last couple times I went to the Oakland, CA, store, they had a Minervois from Fortant for $10. I like Minervois in general, but stuff I’ve tried from Fortant has been mixed, so I haven’t gotten one. Has anyone tried one of these?
No, it has been there for ages and that is more than I want to pay for a Rhonish blend.
Fortant is a big coop or negociant as I recall. I tried a few of their wines in the 90’s and they were functional, but not something to buy at regular prices. I think if a restaurant is really insistent upon pouring a French wine or something that must be their niche.
I wonder if JC Boisset distributes their portfolio out here, explaining why the stragglers end up in GO.
Sphère lightly sparkling rosé from Gérard Bertrand, Pays D’Oc IGP, France, 11% ABV, $6. For a French rosé, fairly soft-fruited but not heavy, with some acid from the mild carbonation. Tastes like rosé but not especially interesting. Good as a basic quaffer, to my taste. [Correction: I initially listed the price as $5.]
Thanks for all those responses to my trivia questions. I have yet to see Cline Viognier in GO, but keeping fingers crossed.
One of my family members picked up some 2020 The Champion, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, with an appealing kaleidoscope horse label. $7 I think at GO. They advised it was on the ‘zippy’ side. SB is about the only thing they buy, preferring Joel Gott, Matua, Nobilo and all the good mega production easily available brands. Right now our local markets have Gott’s on sale for $9, which I think is consistent, and tends to do well in Wine Spectator’s blind panels.
“local markets” in the above context meant western Raleys, Bel Air, Nob Hill etc. Regional privately owned grocer of some 140 locations or so. Once upon a time they had a startlingly good wine dept, but personnel changes have torched that.
New to Pullman:
*Ivory & Burt 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lodi CA ($7) made by Langetwins Winery in Acampo, CA. v2019 scored 87 by Wine Enthusiast. Langetwins other labels sell for $30s range, the MSRP for Ivory & Burt is $15. Raves on casemates, saying better than Josh CS. Casemates sold Ivory/Burt 2020 CS for $9/bottle (case price) last November.
found their 2019 Caricature cab in Novato, CA, as well for same price…had it quite a few years back…maybe 2013 vintage??…was decent…red blend was better
Trivia questions:
Has anyone tried / willing to comment on
Cline Viognier
Giesen Pinot Noir (NZ producer)
Merlo Family
If I saw the Giesen I’d buy a bottle, prior vintages have been good. The Merlo Family I tried a couple of vintages ago, it was not a repeat purchase but I should try it again. I’ll let someone else take a chance on the Cline, to me most Viognier from California tastes like canned fruit cocktail. I wish most California V were budded over to Vermentino or Grenache Blanc
Ouch! I’m a Viognier fan, but admittedly, it’s an unpopular varietal. So your wish is coming true. After nearly going extinct in its home, the Rhône, its fortunes have been mixed here. We used to get excellent grapes [ed. note: DLuber has been making his own wine for many years now.] from Suisun from our local wine/beer makers’ shop, but they quit carrying it. I asked the owner if he’d give me the grower’s contact info, he did, I wrote them, they replied: “We’d had multiple gold-medal winning wines made from those grapes but every year had trouble finding a buyer.” They switched to chardonnay.
Viognier is finicky; if it’s not ripe enough it misses the magic aromatics, but over-ripe, it rapidly gets fat, hot, & flabby. So the key is perfect ripeness while retaining acidity and minerality. But I always try them when they’re at GO. Where’s the Cline?
I can enjoy them on a narrow spectrum from leaner to fatter; recent good examples were Sterling (leaner), Aridus (fatter) and Sunce (2019 right on the sweet spot, 2020 leaner but not bad, 2017 undrinkable, both overblown and oxidized).
IIRC, “canned fruit cocktail” was what Robert Parker years ago said about most CA chenin blanc, which is again not a genetic issue of the grape itself, more the care and respect it gets from growers and vintners. They’re mostly mass-market, cheap, semi-sweet, and flabby. But amazing wines are made from chenin in France. There are a few rare CA examples, but you’re more likely to find S. African CB, aka Steen, at GO. Can’t recall any good ones, though.
True of any grape; there are oceans of crap chardonnay and cab sauvignon, but they can reach great heights in the right location and hands.
Ahhh, Chenin Blanc.
One of my absolute faves on being blinded, as I’ve been fooled more by she, than any other. Loire CB’s can be so very delightful, and make me think they’re (most often) great Chardonnay (Chablis), or sometimes Sauv. Blanc or Riesling or I’ll guess the gamut before I get round to the wily Chenin Blanc, once more having realized she did it again.
🙂
L’Ecole No. 41 winery in the Walla Walla Valley has been making excellent Chenin Blanc since their inception in the 80’s. Used to be called Walla Voila, but then they got fancy and started calling it only by its varietal name. But there aren’t many other producers here in WA. Also used to be a big seller for Ch Ste Michelle in the 80’s and 90’s. Made well, I like ’em. Lately I’ve been buying the inexpensive Spier South African CB at Total Wine and I always keep some Vouvray in the cellar.
Andrew Will used to make a stunning Chenin Blanc, but they couldn’t sell it without taking a loss, so tore out the vines. Precept had some old vine Chenin Blanc that they let Paul Gregutt take a crack at producing a wine from. He made two of them, both great; both ended up at GO for 3.99 a bottle some time back…
Seedboy and I praised a (probably previous) vintage of the Giesen Pinot here.
Zoel called the Merlo Family Chardonnay a “good every day Chardonnay” in 2020, so probably vintage prior to what you’d find now. My recollection of MFC I tasted a few years ago was that the first day, it was pretty blah, but to my surprise really freshened up the next day and became quite tasty. I have not tried more recent vintages.
Re:Merlo – not a repurchase- winemaker tends to a heavy hand with Chard, slightly chemical finish … consistent last several vintages.
Re: Giesen – usually reputable SB vintner, would consider at right $$
They opened a new GO in our region – North Highlands – so I stopped in there for 30 min while helping a family member out. I used to think Watt was the most ghetto GO…nope…this location takes the prize for hard scrabble uncomfortable. It’s a rough area, around an air base that shut down, and turned into an industrial park, and for whatever reasons either the city/town/county has decided not to enforce certain laws in this area. So it’s just a super trashy area. Keep that in mind if visiting the area.
But on the bright side, it’s a big space, new and larger than the typical GO, but with an annoying habit of having center aisle sales displays. That makes it hard to maneuver around especially if others are there with carts/kids etc. The wine department is large in floor space allocated, and seems to have far more than the typical SKUs, with actual wines of interest/desirability. It’s not just the usual dumpster dreck that one sees. Some examples of interesting items I saw in a very cursory walkaround: Picpoul de Pinets $6, more 2016 Bibi Graetz Cassamatta Toscana $6, 2016 Milliasso Barbaresco $17, Rockwall ‘Papa Syrah’ $13, many vintages of the Phil Leonard PN $15, 2018 Monterey Vyd PN Monterey Cty $7, Lots of that Stemmler PN, and so on. I wonder if this story got an unusually large spectrum of SKUs for their initial stocking, and will see what local customers like, and adjust over time to quick movers? Or perhaps because it’s a tough area, there may not be much competition for wine retail, so they can take a chance. One other interesting thing this store seems to do, more akin to higher priced, luxury grocers: they stock interesting bottles in all kinds of nooks and crannies in the store to perhaps gather an impulse sale from someone who might not normally wander into the wine corner. I like when stores do that, but can acknowledge that it makes inventorying harder, as well as sales/tagging etc. more confusing. We’ll see how it works, since this location seems to do far more of this than other GOs.
Anyways, as/if/when sales come around this might be a location to explore. It’s not much farther than my usual ones….but because it’s a vexing thoroughfare to get there, the extra 3-4 miles feels much longer. It’s not really accessible by our main N-S or E-W highways, so needs surface streets.
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K&L has some write up on the Sisters Ridge PN btw, and is selling it for $15. That’s probably a good endorsement for it. A few GOs have a Vin du Pay Vaucluse from a producer whose name escapes me; price was $6 and both K&L and MacArthurs/Bassins (high end DC wine store) are also carrying it for at least double. Also a good endorsement.
That Barbaresco mentioned above seems to have been a WTSO offer at the same price a couple of years ago. Presumably since that included some shipping, GO must have fat margin on this one. 2016 is a good vintage for the region, but it sounds like a negociant concoction and there doesn’t seem to be any information I can find (on Google) about this.
Hi aubergine. Is the Vaucluse perhaps this one, or a newer vintage of it?
Yes that is the one. I think I saw it for $14 or so at K&L a couple of weeks ago. Not often there is cross over between what they carry, and GO. If I didn’t already have an ocean of ready to drink Rhones I’d give it a shot.
Cesari Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2019. Usually a reliable producer for a pretty simple but reliable wine. Cesari is known more for Amarone; I expect pinot grigio production just feeds the revenue stream.
However, 3 or 4 bottles of my purchased bottles show mouse – it’s one of the few wine flaws more evident on the palate than the nose. Literally gives the impression of dead mouse.
Yuk. Don’t buy this one to save yourself an unpleasant experience, though it’s an interesting academic exercise if you’ve never encountered mouse. [Ed. note: I had never heard of “mouse” or “mousiness,” but I have not tried to learn to recognize all the various wine flaws / faults. Here and here are a couple links.]
What did you pay for that Cesari PG, Glenn P.? Just in case I decide to engage in an “academic exercise” if I can find it up here at my local GO in WA. In my 50 years of wine love (31 in the business), I too never heard the term.
Lim, I had a mousey wine over a year ago, pretty awful. Once you recognize it, it’s unforgettable. Alice Fairing had a very informative essay on mouse taint as well, on “The Feiring Line”.
I can’t recall the wine, but I certainly remember “the mouse” 🐭🐁
Lim, I meant Alice Feir, of course, not Alice Fairing. Darn autocorrect on this phone.
Reminds me why I should always type on Note, then copy/paste rather than winging it.
I’m guessing you mean Alice Feiring rather than Feir. Did autocorrect chime in again? 😁
Lim, my Cliff notes on mouse taint.
1. Most common in natural wines that do not have sulphur oxide added in the wine making process.
2. Microbial source not precisely known, lactic bacteria, Brettanomyces, Dekkera or combo.
3. Undetectable by odor until pH is elevated by contact with saliva, 2-acetylpyradines perceived retronasally, an aftertaste technically an aroma.
May take 30 seconds to develop.
4. Described as caged mouse, dead mouse, puppy breath, doggie halitosis.
5. Estimated 30% of winemakers unable to detect the fault (worrisome for those who can)
An individual’s taste interpretation can vary (ie some taste cilantro as “soapy”)
6. Also known as “Mäuseln” in Germany, “La gout de souris” (France)
The Feiring Line articles are no longer accessible without a subscription.
Here is a link to another article.
https://themorningclaret.com/2017/are-natural-winemakers-in-denial-about-mousiness/
Thanks so much for your research, WORN…and for contributing to the further wine education of this old codger. Appreciated the article and now I’m wondering how many mousey wines I’ve consumed unknowingly. 30% of winemakers can’t detect it?? Now that’s scary! Not sure I’ve spent a enough time smelling a dead mouse, but volunteering at our local animal shelter for the last 32 years, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what doggie halitosis smells like.
$4.99, I think. The regular retail is c. $10 – 12. Also, be aware that previous purchases over time did not show mouse, but I don’t know what those vintages were.
might explain how/why those ended up at GO.
just dealt with a mouse infestation in a closet and after a few hours of dealing with steel wool, caulk, 5 ply boards, and peppermint essence/oil to keep them out, it’s a super strong distinctive smell that can not be forgotten.
i’m super sensitive to that smell/taint/flaw
Talked myself into trying a bottle for educational edification, but alas! I found none in Silverdale. What a shame.
Maybe just as well. If you didn’t detect anything, you’d wonder if you couldn’t detect the fault (30% chance, supposedly (or maybe only 9% chance if neither you nor your wife could detect it)) or you actually got a good bottle (>50% chance, I would hope).
I like your thought process, BW! 😁