Grape juice porn:

Really jealous. That '07 is on my wish list...one day.

...sigh...

Crikey!

Unfortunately I may never be able to drink the '09s. I bought those for my son for birthdays waaaaaaaay down the road. But that '07 is for me at some point in my life...well me and some friends.

can we be friends?

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can we be friends?

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If we are both around in 30 years or so I'll invite you to the '07 Yquem party. The '09s are for my boy for his 50th, 60th, 70th. Whatever he want after 70, he's on his own, dammit.



On another note, I just scored a ton of Pott. I knew I'd be loading up on 2013 but bought about 8 more bottles that I planned on buying.

since I bought too much Pott, I think I may sell off a few of my Napa cabs to make room, including some 2011's! remember that discussion? These are from good producers, though. There's also some 07-12 and some mixed older BDX. Anyways, if anyone has an interest, my email is in my profile. I'm giving you guys first dibs before I blast it out at work.

Roy Piper Video Blog

I find these videos very interesting...

Oldest at the bottom.

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Roy Piper Video Blog

I find these videos very interesting...

Oldest at the bottom.

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I love them! Learned a lot. His sorting machine blew my mind.

Just got my Hourglass Blueline fall allocation email, very excited, as I would prob say thie cab is my favorite wine. My exposure to $100+ wines is limited though. Anybody tried any Blueline since Anthony Biagi took over? I have only had the 2006, which was Thomas Brown

I'm a few weeks behind on those...need to catch up. On a side note, I punched down the '12s for him. Well, it was a one time punch down. And my wife did most of the work while I drank...but whatever. I punched down a few grapes so it counted.

Nice guy.

I emailed him to thank him for the videos, I only got on their mailing list a few weeks ago. Never bought any.

He immediately emailed back:

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So glad you like them! Thanks for letting me know. I bumped you up to Group A for the 2013 release in Feb. so you are now guaranteed an allocation. =)

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Oh, he's a a great guy. I've had all three of his released vintages and they've all been great. A good man and a good price makes buying his wine an easy decision.

How much are his wines?

damn, i meant to say good product. A good man and a good product makes buying his wine an easy decision. His wines are about $120.

Crap, I was hoping your typo was correct. Though, if my work keeps going like it is, those wines may become a regular feature in my cellar.

BSD, do you know what style Roy's wines are?

Bold Cabernets that are really well made. Tannic upon bottling/release so it could use some air or time in the bottle but balanced and layered. It's the style of wine that I really enjoy and Roy does it well.

Y'all ever hear of this place?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile%C8%99tii_Mici_%28winery%29

In the small European country, Moldova.

So this post is a little delayed. We were out in Napa a couple weeks ago, but I'm just really getting a free minute to post. Went straight from Napa to Wyoming for work, then College Station for the USC game.

First day in Napa was a long day, though we knew it would be. My wife had a conference in San Francisco and I was able to add a layover to my flight to Salt Lake, so we basically had a free couple days to spend in Napa and wanted to take advantage of it.

We started with a tasting at Realm, really enjoyed this one. We tried The Tempest, The Bard, and The Farella Vineyard Cab. My favorite was the Farella Cab, my wife's The Bard. We ended up buying a few more bottles to add to what we picked up from BSD. The barrel tasting was probably my favorite part of this tasting. It was interesting to see how much the wines change from year to year. Also, one of the barrels was a new varietal for 2017. It was from their Weitz vineyard, so looking forward to it.

We then headed to Alpha Omega. I was surprised by this one. We thought it was a great tasting for how large scale it was. We just hung out at the tasting room bar, didn't do a tour or anything. But we really enjoyed our "guide"/bartender. We ended up joining their wine club as well as purchasing a few bottles of their Stagecoach Cab. I was pretty bummed, as most of their higher end Cabs were sold out, including the To Kalone. We'll be making sure to visit this one again but earlier in the year so they'll hopefully have more available.

For dinner we did Bouchon. We enjoyed it, but were not overly impressed. Granted, we know that is probably because we were just worn out from our day (woke up at 4 am Houston time, had two tastings that afternoon, and our reservation wasn't until 9 pm Napa time). So we'll definitely be revisiting Bouchon, but this time with a little better scheduling.

The next day we started at Cakebread. We knew it's pretty commercial going into it, to be honest, that's why the wife wanted to do this one. But overall, this was one of our least favorite tastings. The fee was pretty high, and didn't go towards a wine purchase. I enjoyed a couple of the wines, but didn't think they were worth the prices, though my wife liked a couple. She ended up purchasing a bottle of their Syrah, we probably would have bought a couple more had the tasting fee been applied to them, though.

Next we headed to a small vineyard that our Realm guide recommended, Elyse. Haven't really seen this one posted on here, but we were impressed by it. We enjoyed pretty much everything they poured us, especially considering their prices, so we joined their wine club as well. It's a tiny family owned place, the labels are actually named after the son and daughter (Elyse and Jacob Franklin). Most of their wines are $20-$30 and their cabs are $50-$60. Also, all their wines are pretty much ready to drink, which is a plus for us since we are very new in the wine scene and don't have a library of aged wines ready to drink.

We then headed up to Callistoga and had a tasting with Envy. I was a little disappointed in this one as they didn't have any Myriad wines available. But we still enjoyed the tasting overall. Got a bottle of their estate cab as well as their Tofanelli Petite Syrah. Also picked up a bottle of the Carter Weitz Vineyard Cab. Even though we were disappointed, we will be revisiting this one. But I'll be making sure that they have some Myriad available for tasting.

From here we did a quick stop at Opus One to kill some time. We both enjoyed the wine, but it was not worth the asking price, in our opinions. Would be a bottle I'd pick up if I find a good deal, though. The "tasting" is just buying an overpriced glass, but we enjoyed the perfect weather on their rooftop deck.

We then had our last stop at Hall. This was definitely a more commercial/large scale and a less personal vineyard. Which, to be honest, was fine with us after our full couple days. Plus, I was a little checked out during this tasting as I was watching the A&M vs. Ole Miss gametracker. We did like their Ellie's and Jack's Masterpiece Cabs, though.

Sorry I didn't go in more detail. Been a hectic couple weeks. Next order of business, get a wine cooler and pronto. Have a lot of wine to find a place for!

glad you liked the Elyse. I'm new to their wines, myself, great small producer. even though approachable those wines will hold up over time, too.

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We then headed to Alpha Omega. I was surprised by this one. We thought it was a great tasting for how large scale it was. We just hung out at the tasting room bar, didn't do a tour or anything. But we really enjoyed our "guide"/bartender. We ended up joining their wine club as well as purchasing a few bottles of their Stagecoach Cab. I was pretty bummed, as most of their higher end Cabs were sold out, including the To Kalone. We'll be making sure to visit this one again but earlier in the year so they'll hopefully have more available.

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Nice writeup. I'm pretty jealous. I didn't realize Realm was adding another vineyard to the lineup (other than Houyi on Pritchard Hill). Sounds like more coin falling out of my pocket.

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We then headed to Alpha Omega. I was surprised by this one.

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. Why surprised? I've always spoken highly of them and it's always my first recommendation for a stop-in visit.

Not to make this political, but Hall just hosted a big fundraiser for a presidential candidate that I despise so even if I could drink, I'd never step foot in that place. And I actually like one of their wines.

On a brighter note, Elyse was my first ever "true" Napa experience back in '99. I was told by somebody at some winery to go check out Elyse and ended up getting there a little late and they were closing the tasting room. But no worries. The guy was cool. He invited us into his house and poured wine while he drank beer.

Whenever visiting Envy, always set up the tasting thru Myriad. They won't pour his wines unless he is either there or has someone there for him.

But back to Alpha Omega... the winemaker there, Jean, just released 2012 "The Debate" which consists of three Beckstoffer vineyard designate wines: Missouri Hopper, Dr. Crane, and To Kalon. All in its $570 for the three bottles but they look like they've been well received (at least from Parker). www.thedebatewine.com

Like I said, I'm jealous. Sounds like a great time.

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Nice writeup. I'm pretty jealous. I didn't realize Realm was adding another vineyard to the lineup (other than Houyi on Pritchard Hill). Sounds like more coin falling out of my pocket.

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Don't hold me to this as it was a long couple days and our guide had a very thick French accent. But my wife and I were both pretty sure it was weitz when looking back.

Today I received a second delay on my Futo due to warm weather, and very little wine trickling in the past two weeks other than some La Sirena I had overnighted.

I want my allocations! I am spending an absolute fortune on shipping from Napa to Houston. Is there a better way??

Let 'em hold the wine. Free storage and no overheating risk!

We just booked our annual February trip to Napa...but in January. There won't be much drinking, but I do plan on tasting a lot!

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Don't hold me to this as it was a long couple days and our guide had a very thick French accent. But my wife and I were both pretty sure it was weitz when looking back.

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Who led your tasting? I'm emailing Renee soon to get ours set up. Also, did you taste any of Benoit's Fait Main wines while you were there?

We need more wine marketers like this:

Australia Wine Ad

Looking at northern Sonoma (staying in Windsor most likely) in March or April. Any recs in that area? I'm sure we'll make a day trip over to Napa, but I'm really looking for good wineries in the northern Sonoma county and/or the Russian River Valley.

BSD, when are you heading out to Napa in January? The fiance and I are planning a trip Jan 13-16.

Spottswoode and Cardinale arrived today...

Don't recall his name, actually don't know if I ever fully caught it. He was from France, though. Had a thick accent which made it difficult to understand some of what he said. But overall, we really liked him. And no we didn't, do they have his own label there at chateau Boswell as well?

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BSD, when are you heading out to Napa in January? The fiance and I are planning a trip Jan 13-16.

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Weren't you guys just other there?

We will be there that weekend and then head south to see some friends.

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Don't recall his name, actually don't know if I ever fully caught it. He was from France, though. Had a thick accent which made it difficult to understand some of what he said. But overall, we really liked him. And no we didn't, do they have his own label there at chateau Boswell as well?

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I always figured Renee handled the tastings. Maybe they have two people now. I haven't been there since 2010 and they've changed ownership so I'm not sure how they have it structured these days.

Yes, I believe Benoit makes his wine at Boswell and has an office in downtown St Helena where he does some tastings, too. I believe him and Roy Piper have an office in the same building.