Ask them to take back and replace. Every wine club I have belonged to has done that at one time or another.....but they have always made it right.

Yeah, I am sure they will fix it. I just hate to see good wine go to waste!

I always change my shipping to pick up at the UPS place so I know it's not rolling around all day or sitting on my porch.

I'd refuse it.

cecil77 said:

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I'd refuse it.

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I think that is what I am going to do.

I got the myriad shipping email a while back and replied to Leah saying wait until November. I think they had a slip up on shipping this year, normally they wait when you tell them to wait.

Same thing happened to me a couple years ago with alpha omega. I called and they happily agreed to replace it and didn't want the original bottles back. Just told me to dispose of them. Which I did by pouring them down my gullet.

Wasn't my intention to get a couple free bottles but it wasn't a bad outcome.

Honestly, modern wine is so stable they're likely just fine to drink now! Life will be shortened though.

Mike has told me on several occasions that a little heat isn't bad for wine.

That said, I don't take any chances at these prices. I've requested mine held til December if the weather looks good.

I emailed explaining what happened and asked for them to have UPS return it to them. Leah replied and initially said she looked at the weather here and saw that it was 73 degrees (at 10 PM) and would get down in the 50s tonight, so the wine was probably fine. I was going to reply and explain that it was actually 80-82 all afternoon and probably far hotter inside the UPS truck for the 8 or so hours the wine sat on it, but she replied again and said she'd send the same bottles on the correct ship date if I wanted. She wants to give me a call tomorrow to chat about it.

It is weird, her emails keep bringing up how shipping to IL is difficult as the cause of this issue, but ignores that they sent it on the wrong date. If the wine shipped a month from now like I asked, it is highly unlikely the temp will be north of 60. Given what jumper says above, I am wondering how many of these emails they got today!

BSD said:

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Mike has told me on several occasions that a little heat isn't bad for wine.

That said, I don't take any chances at these prices. I've requested mine held til December if the weather looks good.

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The funny thing is I am not too picky about storage temp. I keep my wine in my basement, which hovers around 70 degrees from May-September. Only effect I've noticed is that my wines develop a little faster than they would at a proper cellar temp of 55-65 degrees. That said, who knows whether and for how long wine can handle the inside a UPS truck when it is in the 80s and sunny, and I am not willing to risk several hundred dollars worth of wine to find out!

Agree with all the above. If was his Napa Cab I'd probably just keep it an drink it. But the single vineyard and Empyrean/Elysian stuff - nope.

I do think that Mike and Leah work a whole lot harder than we may realize. These aren't large operations with dozens of employees to help with things like orders and shipping. I would bet Leah does lots of it herself. If you consider the entire nation, it's a pretty narrow window where you can ship to everyone, and I doubt they really enjoy their shipping season being protracted over several months. That said, I ask for first week of November. And given that crush is probably underway (at least for the Semillon) Mike is pretty busy as well. Winemaking is far from glamorous, as those people Htown mentioned lighting millions of cash on fire soon learn!

You have mail sir.

And the Benovia email came today. Lucky for me, they sent me an offer code for free overnight shipping with a 3 or more bottle purchase. That means I ordered another bottle.

cecil77 said:

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Agree with all the above. If was his Napa Cab I'd probably just keep it an drink it. But the single vineyard and Empyrean/Elysian stuff - nope.

I do think that Mike and Leah work a whole lot harder than we may realize. These aren't large operations with dozens of employees to help with things like orders and shipping. I would bet Leah does lots of it herself. If you consider the entire nation, it's a pretty narrow window where you can ship to everyone, and I doubt they really enjoy their shipping season being protracted over several months. That said, I ask for first week of November. And given that crush is probably underway (at least for the Semillon) Mike is pretty busy as well. Winemaking is far from glamorous, as those people Htown mentioned lighting millions of cash on fire soon learn!

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She basically told me to test the wine out and let her know if there is a problem and they will deal with it. She was friendly enough, but I don't really want to open the wine for another year or two. I may test one out and ask her to send me a replacement for it regardless so I can cellar it as I'd planned to. The cork looks like it may be pushed on one of them, but it is hard to tell with the foil on. I am probably being paranoid.

Meanwhile, Pott shipped my order this week as well. Fed Ex said it spent all day yesterday either on a truck or in their facility in Pacheco CA, where it was 97 degrees yesterday. Two of the corks are sticking out a bit on those as well. Not sure why these people think now is the right time to ship wine...

BigAg95 said:

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cecil77 said:

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Agree with all the above. If was his Napa Cab I'd probably just keep it an drink it. But the single vineyard and Empyrean/Elysian stuff - nope.

I do think that Mike and Leah work a whole lot harder than we may realize. These aren't large operations with dozens of employees to help with things like orders and shipping. I would bet Leah does lots of it herself. If you consider the entire nation, it's a pretty narrow window where you can ship to everyone, and I doubt they really enjoy their shipping season being protracted over several months. That said, I ask for first week of November. And given that crush is probably underway (at least for the Semillon) Mike is pretty busy as well. Winemaking is far from glamorous, as those people Htown mentioned lighting millions of cash on fire soon learn!

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She basically told me to test the wine out and let her know if there is a problem and they will deal with it. She was friendly enough, but I don't really want to open the wine for another year or two. I may test one out and ask her to send me a replacement for it regardless so I can cellar it as I'd planned to. The cork looks like it may be pushed on one of them, but it is hard to tell with the foil on. I am probably being paranoid.

Meanwhile, Pott shipped my order this week as well. Fed Ex said it spent all day yesterday either on a truck or in their facility in Pacheco CA, where it was 97 degrees yesterday. Two of the corks are sticking out a bit on those as well. Not sure why these people think now is the right time to ship wine...

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Odd on Pott. Claire Pott e-mailed me when I ordered and asked me if I wanted them to hold it until it cooled off (they are holding).

The email I got said they would be shipping all wine in late September, unless it was still too hot in which case they would wait.

Quote:

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It is weird, her emails keep bringing up how shipping to IL is difficult as the cause of this issue, but ignores that they sent it on the wrong date.

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I know I'm painting with a broad brush, but I've noticed a lack of attention to detail from the N. California wine clubs I'm in. I don't know if they are stretched thin or it's just the personality that kind of job attracts. Any change to the routine almost seems destined for some problem. But at the prices they charge, you have a reasonable expectation for things to be right.

Agree. Same experience.

I think Cecil hit the nail on the head with his earlier post. These smaller outfits are often husband and wife or family operations, and they are spread thin. Any help they get during these busy times likely comes from unpaid or poorly paid interns or kids, and in some cases there is one person trying to handle it all herself. That doesn't make it OK, particularly at Napa prices, but it is what it is.

So, between how many people here buy it and the glowing reviews on berserkers, just took a flyer on 2016 William & Mary. Looking forward to trying it.

JCA1 said:

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So, between how many people here buy it and the glowing reviews on berserkers, just took a flyer on 2016 William & Mary. Looking forward to trying it.

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Same here, and some La Pelle. Hopefully both will be great

It will be interesting to compare notes!

Is it just me, or are a lot of these cult Napa wines starting to taste the same? I mean, I like the wines a lot. But with some of these wines, if you put six of them in a flight, I doubt I could tell them apart, and I like to think I've got a fairly good palate. Case in point: Saturday, I started with drinking a 2015 Clos du Val Estate cab, and it was nice. Had some fruit, some structure, some acid, really nice for $45. Then I had three glasses of wine that were handed to me that I thought were all out of the same bottle. They were OnDa, Shrader, and Futo. They certainly didn't suck, but they tasted the same.

No. No you are not. We were just discussing this at the winery after work yesterday during our "research" time.

Our theory is that Napa allows their fruit to get so ripe that varietal characteristics are lost. Well, not "lost" so much as equalized. I think of a music analogy. Imagine if you just max out your equalizer on all frequencies until the amp starts clipping. At some point it just becomes noise. I think that phenolic development (ripeness) can do something similar. If you get your grapes SO phenolically ripe, i.e. pushing the concentrations to the limit, it effectively "clips" the "flavor curve" - if you get what I am so poorly trying to say.

One other thing that I've not seen discussed much is optical sorting. Is it possible that you can make every grape too perfect? Do a few (i.e. a correct proportion) of grapes of various ripeness levels (and their individual polyphenols and pyrazines) actually add to the flavor of a wine? I liken it to salt in a sugar cookie recipe. Salt shouldn't belong, and indeed too much ruins the cookie, but just the right amount of salt makes a much better cookie than no salt at all. I wonder if wine made from when all grapes are at enhanced phenolic levels of ripeness makes wine missing essential ingredients, like that salt in the cookie?

Has anyone tried the Dry Farm Wines? https://www.dryfarmwines.com

The wife and I are thinking about getting a shipment. I listened to a podcast with the founder and it was really interesting.

cecil77 said:

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Saturday was the 7th birthday of this thread.

Unbelievable.

I want to take a moment and thank every single poster that contributes. For me personally it's been quite a wine journey, and the friends made on this thread have been an important part of that!

This is just a great wine community. Here's to the next seven years!!

Cecil

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I spend more time reading this thread than any other thread on this site .... it is interesting what people like to drink. Every once in a while I will get a good recommendation.

As a side note, I am not sure that I should be posting about wine at 9:00 in the morning..... Might be a little early to pull the cork and celebrate.

I'm late to this party, but thanks to Cecil for starting it and to everyone that's contributed to it. Wine is seriously becoming a hobby for me (although I definitely can't put in the money some of you do) and it's nice to have a place to come to learn more.

This is my favorite thread on TA. Cheers to all that contribute!

Is that some Realm label?

cecil77 said:

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Is that some Realm label?

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Yessir. 2015 To Kalon.

I am now out of Realm. I suck at collecting wine. I drink it all.

How was it?

And yeah, we have a tough time out buying our consumption as well!

cecil77 said:

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How was it?

And yeah, we have a tough time out buying our consumption as well!

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It was excellent, wonderful full cab body but it didn't smack you in the mouth with any kind of acidity at all. I am really not good at describing wines, but what I tend to like seems to be fairly refined.

The only thing I am disappointed in is I have no real recollection of the taste of the Austin Hope. It was recommended to us at Total Wine and I think we liked it a lot, but I can't fully remember the profile. It also could have been that I had been drinking for 5 hours straight and that was the 4th bottle... whatever.

Realm BTK is my wife's favorite wine, let it lay down for a few years and it's one of the best expressions of the vineyard. Carter makes our other favorite BTK wine.

Tacos, how long did you decant?