bularry said:

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BSD said:

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bularry said:

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Looking forward to BSD updated list for sale......

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Probably going to be extras of Cali wines: Myriad, Piper, Detert, SQN, etc. Nothing crazy.

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Hmmm, no Bdx or Burg?

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Nope. I can buy those as singles, whereas Napa makes you buy three at a time. I share my allocations with my buddy but he just takes one so I always end up with an extra. That's fine for MacDonald but I really don't need the rest since I don't drink that much.

I apologize if this is the wrong place to post, but my wife just asked me to pick up 6 bottles of white wine and 6 bottles of red wine for a elementary school social we are hosting. Any thoughts or ideas on bottles that I can easily pick up at TotalWine and are close to about $15 a bottle. TIA.

Honestly, at that price point it doesn't really matter.

The Cupcake, Barefoot wines are quite sweet and seem to be popular.

You could try to find a Cote du Rhone in that pricepoint that might be a bit more interesting to anyone there that drinks wine.

You can actually find halfway decent Spanish or Portuguese wine at that price point, but that's not going to be a typical party pleaser.

Under $20 a bottle is hard

Some of the cab blends out of Paso Robles are within that price point. They're not great, but they're cheap, and won't offend people. For whites, stick to Portugal for vinho verde or Italy for pinot grigio (aka teacher diesel).

I don't know, I mean they're not Earth shattering but you can get decent wines for under $20, IMO.

Whites: Australian Sauvignon Blanc, Gruner Veltliner, German Riesling, Spain Albarino are all easy to find under $15.

Reds: As said, Rhone Blends, Beaujolais Villages, some Paso Robles blends are good in that $15-20 range.

In general, if you look outside the US, plenty of good wines for under $20.

[snob warning] Most people at that price point won't really know any difference anyway. The sweeter stuff will please them, and if they're any wine drinkers there, nothing you do will really matter to them [/snob warning]

cecil77 said:

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[snob warning] Most people at that price point won't really know any difference anyway. The sweeter stuff will please them, and if they're any wine drinkers there, nothing you do will really matter to them [/snob warning]

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I kind of disagree. I agree that most people will want sweeter stuff and won't know the difference in any of the wines I mentioned. They'll want a californian blend with added sugar.

I disagree about the wine drinkers comment, though. In general, if I'm at some kind of even and they're pouring wine, I skip it. Because I know it'll be the cheap domestic stuff loaded with sugar. But if I saw a Rhone blend or Australian Sauvignon Blanc, I'd prefer that to beer, even if it was a cheap bottle.

I guess that's what kind of makes it difficult. Which group are you trying to appease? Because if it's mainly the people who load up on Barefoot they probably aren't going to like a dry, tart Australian white. Which, now that I think about it, was probably your point. lol

Get one better white and red to intrigue a guest or two as mentioned by htxag then get the rest whatever to drink that is cheap and higher RS.

Sorry for the gigantic pictures. You can find these at most decent H-E-B's or Kroger's. Under $20

St. Cosme Cote Du Rhone


E. Guigal. Cote Du Rhone



Juan Gil Silver Jumilla, Spain Monastrell



Evodia Spain Garnarcha



Filon. Spain Garnarcha




Mone Antico. Tuscany. IGT

The Juan Gil and Evodia are excellent buys and will be well liked.

HTownAg98 said:

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The Juan Gil and Evodia are excellent buys and will be well liked.

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agree... big wines, but appeal to a wide range


whites is a bit tougher. You can find interesting french loire and alsace wines under $20 quite good, but probably not at TotalWine. a little tougher to locate.

For the white, I'd probably go with a Cremant. Decent ones can be had for under $20, and most people would probably just assume it's champagne.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I have a great list to work with.

Question:

For long term storage (think 10-20 years), would storing in a styrofoam or cardboard box be detrimental to a bottle? Could flavors/smells get thru the space in the cork on the molecular level to change the wine?

The French have been storing wines in dusty caves for centuries without a problem. I think you're ok.

HTownAg98 said:

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The French have been storing wines in dusty caves for centuries without a problem. I think you're ok.

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This. The caves below St Emilion are rank with grime, mold and lord knows what else.

Keeping it low-key for pre-birthday dinner. Served with escargot with snail butter, picanha, flattened new potatoes, and steamed green beans.

Napa just getting laughable at this point

Quote:

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We are thrilled to offer you an extremely rare opportunity to acquire the highly coveted Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 from our Winemaking Library. Our critically-acclaimed Becktoffer Dr. Crane offering flirts with perfection. Considered by many to be one of Napa's true Grand Cru sites and one of the most coveted vineyards in all of Napa Valley, the wine's lushness and density make it one of our most desired Cabernet Sauvignons. We've made only 20 cases available from our Winemaking Library and expect this offering to be sold out in less than a week.


Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena 2018
Retail Price - $885 per 3-pack

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Edit: Didn't realize it wasn't in the email. This was from Alpha Omega

Agreed.

When something like Insignia is now north of three hundred bucks...

When will it stop? Never, I guess...

With no 2020 to speak of, and the last two vintages being excellent, I expect to see more and more "library offerings" coming, along with "library prices."

I don't view these as library prices.

Rather they are just the increasing price creep. Realm was just a forerunner. $300 bottles are increasingly common. Unsure when or if the market will slow it down. I'm out at $300 as are most of my wine buying friends.

Too much great old wine (20+ year old) available for less.

Agreed. That's why I threw it in quotes. It was probably unsold inventory and then the 2020 fires happened so they held back some to sell later. Now they have a reason to bump it up to that level. And once prices go up, you rarely see them come down.

I went to a tasting from a small boutique Napa winemaker in Houston last week and their 2nd label wines were 333 a bottle and premium wines were $700-900 depending on the vintage.

they have a prime location and planted their vineyard to get small yields, so I get the pricing to a point, but damn, that's some pricey juice

bularry said:

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I went to a tasting from a small boutique Napa winemaker in Houston last week and their 2nd label wines were 333 a bottle and premium wines were $700-900 depending on the vintage.

they have a prime location and planted their vineyard to get small yields, so I get the pricing to a point, but damn, that's some pricey juice

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Can you say who?

100 acres actually goes down to one cluster per vine. There's more of that around the world than I'd realized.

Speaking of price increases…geez, Champagne.

My last few vintages of Dom:

2008 - $141 (H-E-B)
2009 - $137 (H-E-B)
2010 - $141 (H-E-B)
2012 - $220 (Zachy's)

Wtf? I even got a deal on the 2012 as they were the "luminous" bottles that were on sale for the same price as what regular bottles were going for at H-E-B with the bulk discount.

Salon was crazy to begin with but it's gone up about 50-60% for the early bottles of 2012 that have made it over.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm going to stick with "value" BDX this year and see what I can find.

BSD said:

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Speaking of price increases…geez, Champagne.

My last few vintages of Dom:

2008 - $141 (H-E-B)
2009 - $137 (H-E-B)
2010 - $141 (H-E-B)
2012 - $220 (Zachy's)

Wtf? I even got a deal on the 2012 as they were the "luminous" bottles that were on sale for the same price as what regular bottles were going for at H-E-B with the bulk discount.

Salon was crazy to begin with but it's gone up about 50-60% for the early bottles of 2012 that have made it over.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I'm going to stick with "value" BDX this year and see what I can find.

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Salon '12 just hitting the shores, right? shipping delays and I've heard packaging slowness, too.

cecil77 said:

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bularry said:

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I went to a tasting from a small boutique Napa winemaker in Houston last week and their 2nd label wines were 333 a bottle and premium wines were $700-900 depending on the vintage.

they have a prime location and planted their vineyard to get small yields, so I get the pricing to a point, but damn, that's some pricey juice

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Can you say who?

100 acres actually goes down to one cluster per vine. There's more of that around the world than I'd realized.

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sure, Levy & McClellan

bularry said:

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Salon '12 just hitting the shores, right? shipping delays and I've heard packaging slowness, too.

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I've only seen one online retailer with it. $1200. I almost bought a mag of 2007 for that. Shoulda coulda woulda….

Glass is the current production bottleneck.

13 Celsius has an event next week with Salon. $225 per person to go. I'd assume you'd be able to order some there closer to release price

Looks like the event is sold out. We did a similar event a few years ago with the 2006/2007s and it ended up being an all you can drink Salon fest. I was limited but my wife and her friend probably had a bottle or more…each!

I'm afraid the new release price will be well above the last vintages. I wouldn't surprised to see it at $1k+.

This was an awesome wine. 100% Chardonnay from the Bien Nacido vineyard. Heavy oak, which I don't usually love on a chard, but this had the fruit and acid to hold up to it. Went great with blue cheese gnocchi.

i liked it so much I just opened their 2017 100% Pinot noir from the John Sebastiano vineyard for bottle number 2!

Need pics of that blue cheese gnocchi too!

I've never bought a Sanguis Pinot, as I usually spend my money on their bigger reds. I haven't had a red that I haven't liked, but they do take some time to calm down and evolve. A good friend of mine opened a 2015 1/1 Syrah magnum last weekend and put it in front of me and said "happy birthday." That was a damn good present.