For France definitely Cote du Rhone.

Also look at St Emilion Grand Cru Clase. Depending upon your definition of "value" there's quite a few. e.g. Chateau Fleur Cardinale which is about $50 at Total.

And, as always, the fun is in the finding. Find one no one here knows about and let us know!

BSD said:

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Agreed. Argiano and Il Poggione have been solid choices.

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For Italian full bodied I normally think Aglianico (Taurosi), which maybe you can find in a big store, but probably not, or a bulk style Amarone.


Also some Tuscan blends that can be pretty big and relatively lower cost.

Happy Thursday!

Chipotlemonger said:

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Nice cab franc out of Napa.

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I'll keep an eye out for that one. I have had several of their other wines and they've all been solid. I think I picked them all up from LastBottle or WTSO.

That William & Mary label is still one of my favorites. Great look.

so how was it holding up? color looks great!

bularry said:

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so how was it holding up? color looks great!

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Perfect condition

H-tine folk, anyone want these wine crates? I'll be honest, I'm not a fan so I bought some sturdier boxes. These may be fine for like 6-8 bottles each, though.

Any particular wine crate you'd recommend?

These fit well in my wine lockers. They are much sturdier and hold over a case each.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/choice-24-qt-gray-rectangular-milk-crate-18-3-4-x-13-x-11/407MC24GRY.html

Love me some Detert cab.

Big Detert fan as well. Great QPR, IMO.

Ags #1 said:

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Nice! How was it?

It's was great. Full bodied, hints of berries and some vanilla imo. Now just gotta find another one

Ags #1 said:

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It's was great. Full bodied, hints of berries and some vanilla imo. Now just gotta find another one

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Benchmark wines

Ok, thanks! Will check them out

Objective Aggie said:

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Unique and well done event. The Mascot hosted a wine dinner with Franklin BBQ.

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Got the email about that. Looked like an awesome event. Glad it lived up to it.

This was a LastBottle find. Second bottle. Nice. Not the overwhelming Napa cab but more smooth.

I have a few of the Nelcotte. Very surprising wines. I like them.

what temp controlled storage location do you use? I'm probably going to need a small space to stick some boxes in the coming months.

bularry said:

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what temp controlled storage location do you use? I'm probably going to need a small space to stick some boxes in the coming months.

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I use Morningstar at Voss near westheimer. No complaints, was cheapest I found when we looked. But have had a couple price increases since Morningstar took over.

Same here. I got a notice this week of a 25% price increase on one of my lockers. I told him that's a bold move considering your wine chiller has been broken for two weeks (only AC at 66dF). He said company policy is annual increases but he'd waive mine this year.

That said, yesterday I checked out Community Self Storage off S Rice by Microcenter. That was the company that used to own Morningstar. The lockers could work for me. I'm debating it this week.

BSD said:

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Same here. I got a notice this week of a 25% price increase on one of my lockers. I told him that's a bold move considering your wine chiller has been broken for two weeks (only AC at 66dF). He said company policy is annual increases but he'd waive mine this year.

That said, yesterday I checked out Community Self Storage off S Rice by Microcenter. That was the company that used to own Morningstar. The lockers could work for me. I'm debating it this week.

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Wow. I honestly had no idea the chiller was broken.

I half heartedly looked at new spaces after the last increase notice. Will have to do so more intently now.

I only knew because I went up there for a 8 hour reorg project (over two days). I took my flannel shirt and after a while I realized I didn't need it because I wasn't cold at all. Saw the thermostat on the wall and it said 66. I told the manager and he had an AC guy coming that day anyways. Saw them both talking about it but it sounded like it'll be this next week before it's fixed. I need to head up there and check again one day.

I looked at the Morningstar off Eldridge because I remember it being cheaper when I first looked. It seems a bit dirty in there so I crossed that one off. Community Self Storage on S Rice wasn't bad. Just not a lot of medium sized lockers. And the only entrance to the wine area is thru the office at business hours, so you'd have to plan ahead. There is no wine storage at Community Self Storage on Washington, which would have been a waste of a drive but I stopped by Gordy and Sons to check out new binoculars, so not all was lost.

Been struggling to find nearby places with corkage. Find a pretty good place that does and they forgot to charge me.

Me twenty years ago would have thought Silver Oak was the best you could get. But I still get them from business partners and haven't popped one in awhile. I have a new term for this one. Crowd pleaser. There wasn't anything to not like. Smooth. Enjoyable. Juice. In essence it was free (gift and no corkage) so maybe that helped.

Silver Oak was the first red wine I ever enjoyed… 1995 Alexander Valley. I have a great memory of going to pick up a case at the winery for my buddy's parents down in East Bay while I was visiting. The girl behind the counter asked me a few times if I wanted to a glass or two and I declined, saying I only enjoyed whites. She gave me the strangest look. The next night at dinner we went through 6 of those bottles. I loved it. So I went back to Silver Oak the next day to restock the quickly depleted inventory and get those free tastes. I was a broke college kid, after all. The same girl was there and said "so you changed your mind?" And I gave the affirmative nod.