Decant it for 6-8 hours if you want to try it now. If you've never had a bottle definitely try one before next year's order. Houyi is Nine Suns' vineyard I think, near Ovid and Continuum all on Prichard Hill. You will like the wine but need to decide if it's worth the price. Lots of other great wines at or below that price point.

GarlandAg2012 said:

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Austintm said:

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GarlandAg2012 said:

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Been reading/hearing mention of Realm for a while and have been on their list but never bought until this year. I put in a wish for one bottle each of what was left and got it fulfilled. Have a bottle of 2016 Houyi and 2016 Moonracer shipping in a couple weeks. I'm assuming based on the price these will be quite good, but because they're still left are probably not the most desirable wines they make? Can anyone give me a quick rundown of what to try to get if I get an allocation eventually?

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Drank a 2010 Realm Beckstoffer Dr. Crane on Saturday
Awesome.

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So I should just plan to sit on it for 5+ years?

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Not sure you need to wait that long. I think there are a lot of younger Napa cabs that are fine to drink after a decant. I generally try to let wines get a few years, but also hav found younger wines are fine. Try one of your bottles now, and cellar the other

Thanks folks

The Houyi (Nine Suns) received the lowest score from Wine Advocate, and Moonracer was the most expensive one of the recent release at $250 and also a blend, so lower demand in this cab dominated label. Realm is one of the last few bargain price elite wines in the valley IMO. I would add Schrader, but not sure about the new owner. Although I did buy my first allocation of Schrader today (2017). Finally made Scarecrow's allocation last year and will buy all they offer me. Still waitlisted on Macdonald and a few others. Harlan shipment arrived today (2015), VHR next week and Realm/Fairchild (mags of Stones 1, 2 and 3) the week following

Given prices in the valley I'm trying to branch out into more economical areas/varietals.

That's why we started buying from Paso Robles.

I am a little partial but Lake County has it all... North Coast, Volcanic Soils, High Elevations... Most of the CS goes into high end Napa and Sonoma wines to make it better but still labeled Napa or Sonoma.

Hell Beckstoffer has over 1000 acres plated here and compares to it Napa 35 years ago.

Check out the following:
Brassfield Estate Winery
Obsidian Ridge
Steele

I'm an Obsidian Ridge wine member. Great stuff, even better value.

Had the opportunity to taste Tom's wines once (Detert). I would buy if given the opportunity. Right now our wine clubs list is too high for my wife's liking so I'm sticking to where we are at for now.

2017 Field Recordings Cabernet Franc Paso Robles

One of those wines where it's not too complex, but you can't stop drinking it. Fruitier than Pinot Noir (will remind some of a Gamay), but less tannin than Merlot. Nominal oak influence, so this is a straight up Cab Franc. $20 at Whole Foods. Not much of this makes it to Texas.

Anyone have an opinion on Nice Wines in houston?

Cool thanks for posting. Was wanting to try some more wine from Paso Robles, will try to find this.

Is anyone wants to share my SQN Eleven Confessions allocation (both Syrah and Grenache), hit me up sooner rather than later.

My wife went to some event and joined their club a while back. Some of their stuff is decent.

BSD said:

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Is anyone wants to share my SQN Eleven Confessions allocation (both Syrah and Grenache), hit me up sooner rather than later.

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I went ahead and bought. One bottle of each Grenache and Syrah is still available. Prefer to sell both together at cost: $562 ($281 each).

Sorry, I got a little light headed thinking about $281 Grenache...

Does anyone here think it's common for wineries to basically bottle reserve wine in non reserve bottles and then use that wine in the tasting? Basically offer for tasting the best bottles they have and then you get the wine club membership and your bottles arent as good?

No, I don't think so. That would be a whole lot more trouble than it would be worth, I think. Not to mention massively unethical. And getting caught would put you out of business.

Having experienced it on both sides of the counter, I think what happens is that the wine "tastes better" at the winery. Why? Because environment, emotion and circumstance are a huge part of the experience that is tasting wine. Visits to a winery are normally part of a pleasant experience and a memorable day, and at that time the wine really does taste better.

I agree with this. I'd also say shipping is hard on wine. While it may not make a wine necessarily go bad, it may not be as good after shipping as at the winery......

That's certainly true, but I've experienced the wine "just not being as good" once I got back to home and real life. More of a subjective thing...

cecil77 said:

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No, I don't think so. That would be a whole lot more trouble than it would be worth, I think. Not to mention massively unethical. And getting caught would put you out of business.

Having experienced it on both sides of the counter, I think what happens is that the wine "tastes better" at the winery. Why? Because environment, emotion and circumstance are a huge part of the experience that is tasting wine. Visits to a winery are normally part of a pleasant experience and a memorable day, and at that time the wine really does taste better.

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I agree.

I'm reading a book called What Makes a Wine Worth Drinking? that gets very philosophical at times, and he talks about this subject, and the "objective v. subjective"-ness of wine tasting and wine ratings. He basically pooh-poohs wine ratings as trying to put an objective number on a subjective experience. The same this applies to tasting in the winery v. at home, just as Cecil says. It's not just about the "taste" of the wine but the experience surrounding it.

The book is by Terry Theise. He's an importer as well as author and leans heavily toward smaller family-owned wineries (which fits most Texas wineries, right?) as opposed to the big corporate places.

Just ordered. Thanks!

Also, whomever recommended "I Taste Red" (many pages back) - thanks again! Currently rereading (third time I think) and it's just phenomenal if you're into the "science-y" (science-ish?) aspect taste, flavor and wine.

Edit: It was bularry - Thanks one more time!

https://texags.com/forums/67/topics/1933033/replies/49323122

Italics Winegrowers

Taylor '07 is on texags! It would be fun to have him hang around this thread some...

This is a bargain for twenty bucks and should be a lot of fun! 11 AM each Saturday through the spring


Inwood Estates Vineyards
Round Table Discussion
with WineMaker,
Dan Gatlin
Fredericksburg Location

Join us for a 1 hour Discussion/Tasting of controversial and wide-ranging wine topics with one of Texas' most iconic winemakers.
Dan Gatlin, now in his 39th year of Texas grape growing, leads a free-wheeling discussion group in a limited series of events each Saturday at Inwood Estates Winery in Fredericksburg,
11:00 am sharp, through the Spring.
Reservations Required.
830-997-2304



Insightful topics include: Does soil and climate really have anything to do with flavor in wine? (You think 'yes', not so fast...) What exactly is flavor in wine? How does it form? What about plant physiology? Do genetics matter? How do you select varieties? What about leaf to fruit ratios? Does berry size and skin thickness matter? What about trellis system architecture? Does irrigation help or hurt? What role does technology play in the winery? Why do some wines age so much longer than others? How would a consumer know if a wine is high in antioxidants or low in antioxidants? What role do tannins play and what are they anyway? Why is there so much bad information in wine literature and in the wine industry? Why is there so much variation in Texas wines? Can Texas compete with Napa Valley? Bordeaux? And many, many, many more topics that you will not find discussed anywhere else.

Participants enjoy a $10 discount on the first bottle of any additional purchases.

Fee: $20 per person, tasting or not, no shared tastings allowed.

Number of wines and which wines tasted will be selected at the winemaker's sole discretion and may be pertinent to the discussion as it proceeds.

Seating for 10, standing room for 10.
Participation limited to 20, reservations required.
No refunds for absences or late-comers.
Note that these events begin 11am sharp.

My Scarecrow allocation is tomorrow. If anyone wants bottles, let me know ASAP. I'm getting a $600/btl secondary bid already! Will let go at cost to you guys, of course.

Also, two bottles of SQN are still available at cost.

Drinking a 2012 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel blend that I picked up tonight at the Twin $1 sale. It's showing some age, but since their wines can handle it, the fruit is showing really well right now along with some earthy characteristics. Don't let it go any longer. I may go to another store and see if they have any left.

Their wines age really nicely. I had a 1993 Ridge Geyserville a few months back and couldn't believe how fresh it tasted. Showed age, but never would have guessed it was over 25 years old if I had been tasting it blind. Still had lots of freshness and structure to take it many more years in the cellar. I'm not someone who usually drinks a lot of California wines, but after that bottle I've definitely been on the hunt for more from Ridge.

Tonight's wine.

I had a bottle of 8 Years in the Desert tonight from orin Swift. Thought it was good.

We had a 2013 Angwin Kissing Tree. Top of Howell Mountain, 2 acres of Clone 169 CabSauv. It's their second label. If you like your cab with a little more spice, a little less fruit forward, well integrated tannins and not super high ABV, this is a very nice wine at $70.

We visited Linne Calado last fall. Great place!

cecil77 said:

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That's certainly true, but I've experienced the wine "just not being as good" once I got back to home and real life. More of a subjective thing...

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Jim Laube wrote an article last year listing his wine truisms, the one that stuck out to me the most was, "Wine always tastes best at the winery"

Once I accepted this fact, buying fine wine became fun again.

big-ag said:

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We visited Linne Calado last fall. Great place!

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My only problem is waiting for them to mature. We went to Taste in the Alley every night we were there, and on the last night Larry had gotten in some 2009 Linne Calodo (I think it was a Problem Child). Holy balls it was good. I ended up bringing one home, and wish I'd bought all of it.

Arkenstone Spring allocation went live today. Was able to get a 3-pack of Coliseum Block (this year and next year's release will be the last for a while due to the fires in 2017) and a mag of NVD.