Speaking of new Pinot production, Michael Browne is back at it again after cashing out on Kosta Browne. This should be pretty good, but I'm not sure of price point yet.

http://www.cirq.com

One more new winery: Macdonald Vineyards.

These guys have been around for awhile not as winemakers, but as growers. Their vineyard sits in the Tokalon vineyard and they have always sold the fruit to Mondavi for the Tokalon and Reserve bottlings. The 2010 vintage should go on sale soon and it will be their first release. While not cheap, it's in line with Tokalon pricing, if not cheaper than some (~$150).

http://www.macdonaldvineyards.com

New to this thread.

Bsd - what's your cellartracker handle?

I'm texaswinelover. In San Antonio.

I don't keep a public cellartracker profile or post notes there. I just use it for inventory.

last call, as it sold out quickly last year. And I have two of these allocations available:

quote:

---

We are happy to offer you up to three 2-bottle boxes of this vintage. To place your order, please visit www.scarecrowwine.com and log on with your user ID & password printed below. Orders will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, as long as wine is available.

You are invited to purchase the 2011 M. Étain at the price of $125 per bottle. Orders will be taken from Noon Eastern on October 8th, 2013, until 11:59 pm on October 25th, 2013. Shipping for this release will begin October 28th, weather permitting.

---

No worries.

I have yet to find a better tool to track my cellar than CT.

I enjoy the reviews and tasting notes as well. Better overall than any of the pros IMO.

I passed on my Etain. $125 for a 2nd wine is hard to swallow.

It's good and I'd drink it still if I could, but since I don't drink much anymore, I'm sticking with the first bottling. There's only room for a few wines in my life and that didn't make the cut.

I've tried other inventory methods but Cellartracker knocks it out of the park.

Agree on both points.

No time for bad wine.

I actually stopped buying recently because I felt I already had enough to carry me to retirement.

Before I got sick, I cut back on buying too. I'm glad I did. Now at my current pace (and this is after selling a lot off...still have more to go), I have enough for 45 years. At my old pace, that would have been about 3 years!

Three half cases coming this month:

Mirror Howell Mountain (in the fancy schmancy wood box)

La Sirena purchased on our trip

Swanson purchased on our trip.

I know you love that Mirror, Cecil!

I ordered a bottle of 2010 Pierre Usseglio Châteauneuf-du-Pape for the table at Arro in Austin last night. Well, the sommelier recommended it and I've known him for a while so I didn't question his judgement. I tasted it and it was delicious. Nice fruits and a bit of pepper, east drinking. It's been a long time since I've had a Grenache. It makes me want to open the Priorats I've had in the cellar.

Do you see Priorat as a "just now getting discovered, but still a bargain" wine?

I haven't bought a Priorat in a few years but it wasn't cheap back then, at least not what we were buying. There are values to be had of course, but as a whole, I'd say it is a pricier region of Spain and was "discovered" long ago. That was before the recession so I'd be interested in seeing where prices are now.

2008 Sherwin Family Reserve Cabernet tonight. Dayumn!!!

I couldn't help myself. I just bought 3 bottles of the new MacDonald To Kalon Vineyard cabernet!

MacDonald email announcing the sale: 11:36AM

MacDonald email announcing the sellout: 12:10PM

I don't suppose you'd sell one?



[This message has been edited by cecil77 (edited 10/17/2013 4:42p).]

Actual order time: 11:34AM
Actual sellout time: 11:46AM

[This message has been edited by BSD (edited 10/17/2013 5:16p).]

I probably won't sell out of this release (interesting... autocorrect changed that to relapse!), as I got one for a buddy and want at least two for myself. One to drink at 5 years and another at 10.

But that isn't saying you can't drink it with me...

Hello
New to the topic, been reading as much as I can and learning a lot. Just got back from Sonoma and met Mr Bugay in Santa Rosa. I realize I may be late to the game with him, but wow, his wines blew me away. I learned that he no longer owns the vineyard and is investing in avocado farms.
Anyway, I bought the following from him after a 9 wine tasting/drunkfest:
2009 Cab Franc
2009 Cab Sauv 'The Empress'
2007 Cab Sauv 'InclineOneNine'

His bordeaux remind me of Opus One, but I like his better. Huge, manly wine. Good stuff.

Was given a bottle of empress for Christmas last year. Had it a few weeks ago- delish!

Generally distributed or on line only?

I'll look for some!

We stopped by to see Mike Smith of Myriad Wines at the custom crush facility , Envy. We started with the new Ancillary Pinot label. Of the two we tried, the Sangicomo was the best. It was a bit fuller bodied for a Pinot and more complex. The other was no slouch by any means but this was my favorite.





The rest of the wines were great as usual but I couldn't leave without a barrel sample of the 2012 Myriad Dr Crane cab so Mike took us to the back and poured is a glass. As you know, I am now just a taster but I just couldn't spit this out. So damn good!!!! Here is Mike going back to thief some out for us.

Jealous, jealous, jealous...

Anyone have any Sryah recommendations?

At French Laundry last night. I won't be having another drink til Christmas so I had two glasses. Don't tell my doc.



Back of Pott bottle...only 12 cases produced from a vineyard at his home up Mt. Veeder:






[This message has been edited by BSD (edited 10/24/2013 10:40p).]

Damn. Hope somebody else was paying for those!

If you got some of that special attention from the wife when you got home it was a perfect evening!

Let's just say it was a well deserved evening!

We didn't plan on tasting today but met up with our friend at Rivers Marie while our son played at the park in Yountville. He brought these two wines to taste and then sent them home with us. He's also having dinner with us so it will be interesting to see what bottle he beings. Too bad I'm just tasting, not drinking but my wife is happy as hell to be drinking the rest of these bottles.

damn, BSD does it right.

keep livin' the dream, man!!

Tasting at Boerne Wine Company tonight featuring Bonny Doon wines. Fun time. Not the highest quality wines, but pretty easy on the wallet. Worth a look...

I forgot to share this story from our trip. As we checked into our hotel, we had a gift waiting for us. Our favorite retail wine shop out here, who knows about my condition in which I can only drink on special occasions, left a special bottle for me along with a nice note. That right there is a lesson in customer service!!!!

Purchases that occurred this week:

Pott Wines (4 cabs including the Incubo which I drank in a previous post...and which beat Scarecrow by a long shot!)
Mascot Wines (younger vines of Harlan Estate...only $75 so worth a shot)

BSD,

would you mind telling us again how you store yoru wines? and if you use a unit, the brand and your impressions?

thanks. I have a modest collection and need to figure out good, long-term storage before I get much more.

Through a guy in Houston, I bought from these guys:

http://www.wcimpression.com

My house is too small to build an enclosed cellar (converted closet or home addition didn't work) so we went with a furniture piece. At the time we bought it we had about 150 bottles in a Transtherm so we went with a 500 bottle unit. It was full in less than a year! Oops.

I like this because it uses Breezaire units which I've read good things about in the past. My friends have Breezairs units in their cellars now and have had no issues either. If I could change one thing, I'd have top mounted vents as opposed to having it on the back. It would me much easier to clean the vents that way.

Had I not bought this, I would have gone for Eurocave, which has a great reputation. We actually just sold our 200 bottle Eurocave that we bought for overflow storage.

I know I'm a newbie here but I can't help but give advice or opinion regarding wine.

I've been collecting about 10-15 years and I store my bottles in a variety of ways. All depends on your goal, space and wallet.

I have a Eurocave that holds about 200 bottles that I love. Love the fact that it works without a compressor. Cost isn't cheap however. $3000 range. If I had more room in my house, I would have bought a 500-600 bottle unit.

I also have a couple of undercounter Vinotemps that hold 50-60 bottles. I was concerned when I first purchased these because I wasn't sure how long they were intended to store wine. I spoke with the company and they told me that storage in the undercounter units should be limited to 5 years. I've had bottles in mine for 10 years without any damage or cork issues. Temps very consistent with less than 4 degree variation. Inner bottle temps supposedly vary even less than air temp. I bought mine from Costco for $500-600.

I also have an undercounter Uline with similar capacity. It came with the house so it's probably 15 years old. Works well also.

Finally, if you live in a major city, there is almost certainly an offsite storage location with controlled temp and humidity. Nice bulk storage for bottles intended for aging or at least not for daily drinking since it's a pain in the butt to go get them. I'm in San Antonio and there is one place that's pretty reasonable. About $30-35/month for enough storage to fit 200 bottles.

Hope this helps. I have to agree with BSD. If you're truly interested in collecting wine, you'll fill your initial wine storage space FAST. I'd recommend you buy something at least twice the size you think you'll need. Wine builds up fast and doesn't stop until you run out of money or space. (Even then, I know people storing wine under their beds, etc)

I never thought I'd have more than 200 bottles. I have 800 now. It's a dangerous hobby.

Good luck to you.