My club is hosting a wine dinner with Revana next month. It is a small batch Cab producer in St. Helena made by Thomas Rivers Brown. Anyone have any experience with this one? Appears to be on a waiting list.

Go. Their wines are very good.

Just ordered the 2012 Maybach cabs, including 2 of the 375ml bottles, which are perfect for me to share!

I can't hang with Maybach, but I did just order my allocation of Syrah from Quivet, which is a Mike Smith wine.

Don't think I've asked you guys but forgive me if I did,...

Heading to Barcelona in a few weeks for meetings. May have a whopping ONE day to kill. Any recs for nearby wineries or wine bars. Elizabeth Schneider, the Somm behind "Wine For Normal People" (very good podcasts and Twitter/Facebook follow) suggested Monvinic. It gets good reviews from what I've seen, at least for the wine and tapas.

Any other thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks as always.

TP

If you want to get "crazy", rent a car and drive out to Priorat. We did that for a day and a half and had a blast. The wineries were great, we met new people, experienced new cultures, and saw some beautiful scenery. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Otherwise I bet you can find some great shops and bars. I cant remember where all we went in the city . We did find some good ones in l'Eixample.

Also, there are some Cava wineries a bit closer. You might be able to arrange someone to take you there. I'm not a huge fan of Cava so I'd probably go to Priorat or find wine bars in the city.

Thanks, BSD. Shoulda known,...

When I get back to town and can check my email folders, I can give you the name of a guy in Porerra who can show you his winery and introduce you to his friends...if you want. We got about 4 wineries in that day.

That would be great. No idea if i can pull it off but I'm willing to take a shot, work be damned!

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I can't hang with Maybach, but I did just order my allocation of Syrah from Quivet, which is a Mike Smith wine.

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Cecil if you could post a thought when you try one of them I would appreciate it, I have the Quivet Syrah on my wish list

I am not a big syrah drinker but I always bought Mike's Myriad syrahs. He does a damn good job on them and they won't break the bank.

Rookie to the thread but a long time lurker...went to specs in houston and the expert was really pushing Aduro to his customers. Anyone have any previous experience with this maker?

Cecil,

Got an email this morning that I thought might interest you, the owner of Mirror Wine is going to be at the Bunkerhill HEB in Houston on Saturday from 11-1pm doing a tasting and signing. I know you were a big fan a while back. Also of note, the owner is Rick Mirer, yes that Rick Mirer. You probably already knew that, but I didn't. Just passing this along.

Wish I could get to Houston for that. And he's a better winery owner than he was a quarterback!

Wow, 'ol Rick is pretty proud of his reds. $75, $95.

The Napa Valley Cab is in the mid to low 60's at HEB, so on sale is closer to $50. And I find it worth it.

The Howell Mountain is quite good as well. It's not distributed at all (I think) - allocation only. I missed this year's but got the previous two.

Those prices I quoted were from their web site. Can't say I'm familiar with them or even seen them at Spec's or HEB.

HEB is their largest distributor. I found this out because Boerne Wine Company did a tasting of their wines three years ago, where I first bought some. Then found it at HEB. From the tasting their rep/salesman called trying to sell me some. I told him I could buy it for less at my grocery store. He laughed and informed me that "we don't distribute". I then said check out HEB in Texas. He sheepishly called the next day and said that HEB is by far their largest buyer. And that I could buy it cheaper than he could!

The Howell Mountain stuff is a splurge. Half case comes in a nice wooden box.

That's a pretty embarrassing story for that guy. He probably felt a knife in his back a bit.

cabransf,

those Spec's guys are salesmen, very few are anything close to an "expert". They push wines that pay them the most commission, generally. Take all their advice with a grain of salt.

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Just ordered the 2012 Maybach cabs, including 2 of the 375ml bottles, which are perfect for me to share!

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Scooped up three bottles of 2010 Caravan cab for $27 each at the Twin Liquors $1 sale. They should arrest me for theft at that price.

Does anyone have a lot of experience with Arizona wines? I want to explore a little when I go home for Christmas, but don't want to waste my time.

Scarecrow drops this week. If anyone wants a bottle, let me know. I'll have one extra that I can part with.

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Does anyone have a lot of experience with Arizona wines? I want to explore a little when I go home for Christmas, but don't want to waste my time.

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I haven't heard great things about them but I'd certainly try Maynard's wine (frontman for Tool for the non 90's rock types)

Re Arizona wines;

Go to San Fran Chronicle site and look for Jon Bonne's article about his "winemakers to watch" he did recently. He highlighted one winery from Arizona, so I would guess it would be worth checking out.

I looked it up, winery named Dos Cabezas. vineyards they are using were established by Erath of Oregon winery renown. Might be some good stuff.

BSD, what is pricing on the Scarecrow after you pay for their shipping; I think it was $285/bottle plus S&H? I emailed the winery and was told that even with my Tin Man purchases, I'm still one year away from a 3 pack allocation. I'd be interested in your extra bottle.

Last year it was $250/btl and with shipping and tax it came to $292 each. If it's $15 more this year then it'll break the $300 mark. I guess I'm second wave because I haven't got my email yet.

You guys are simply in a different stratosphere than me,...and I think I'm okay with that.

I'd be interested in a bottle if you get offered a 3 pack.

BSD and you other guys who are spending almost $300 for a bottle of wine:

I'm honestly curious and not being a smartass, but are you willing to spend that much because the wine's taste is just THAT good or are there other reasons (prestige, investment, etc.)?

I've had what I thought were some really good (maybe even amazing to my palate) bottles of wine in my wine-drinking life and just can't imagine actually spending that much on a bottle and really appreciating the ROI compared to those other really outstanding pours I've had.

Maybe I'm just showing what a neophyte I really am,...

Art, comic books, baseball cards, wine. Collectbility is tough to articulate. Would your wife ever buy a fine crystal vase for $300? If so, why? Typically wine like that is possessed for a decade or more prior to consumption. The very act of possession carries value.

Ok, I get that concept but,... I'll leave it there.

My rule on wine is that if its so expensive that I'm going to be uncomfortable purchasing and opening it, I don't buy it. My most expensive bottle is $110, with the vast majority of it being between $25-$60, and it is roughly half Pinot Noir. When I bring bottles to share, everyone is impressed by what I bring, because I find a lot of small producers that aren't widely known and don't have that expensive name branding. My everyday wine is sub-$20.

For example, I brought a 2010 Benovia La Pommeraie Pinot Noir to dinner with another couple last night. The husband has a good collection, including some Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. He told me this wine is approaching DRC quality, and I paid $45 for it. He thought it was a wine that if you put it in blind with a bunch of premier Cru Burgundy, it would fool a lot of people.

My point is drink and collect what you like, and don't worry about anything else.

I'm considering a long weekend in Napa/Sonoma in late August. I usually go in the spring, and I've never been this late in the year. Is there anything I need to know or plan on doing differently in August as opposed to what we'd normally do in March/April?