cool, thanks

Does anyone have a rec for a company in Beaune that would ship wine back for us? I'm hoping to avoid lugging our wine check on a train.

Most of the shops and wineries will ship for you. The only drawback is that you'll have to wait until it's cooler for them to ship. Be forewarned that shipping from France is damn expensive, so you may be better off lugging it with you. For the flight back, I'd recommend buying an AirTag or similar device to find your wine if it's lost.

Speaking of Beaune, we opened a Premier Cru Beaune-Greves "Baby Jesus" wine. It's a monopole from a specific plot within Les Greves.

Having a white Rhone blend from Sixteen 600 out of Sonoma, very nice and a lot of character. Enjoyed the unique tasting room a lot when I went there last year, recommend it if you're in Sonoma for a different kind of tasting room and winery visit than normal.

Twin dollar sale is this weekend. I picked up a Coudolet de Beaucastel 2011 (not the best vintage, but a good producer) and a 2019 Le Volte dell'Orenellaia, both for $21 each.

Any recs for Santa Barbara, i.e. wineries, places to stay, things to do? Trying to figure out what to do after a conference in LA for an extended weekend?

Sanguis should be on your list to visit. They're in an industrial part of Santa Barbara, so it's not pretty. But the wines are excellent. Margerum would be another solid recommendation.

Last call for recs near Colmar. We head out next Friday. I'm booked for a tasting and lunch at Mongeard and a tasting at Maison Champy in Beaune.

Also slightly off topic, but any recs for a good Armagnac that is hard to find stateside?

Will vouch for both of these. Most of the tasting rooms in the Funk Zone are not great/bachelorette party crowds. Melville wines aren't bad, I like Stolpmann but can't recall if they have a tasting facility in town.

There is or at least used to be a great little European wine bar next to the Helena Ave Bakery, near The Lark and a couple of the other hot spot restaurants.

Loquita - Spanish tapas + paella - is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere. The Public Market is a cool food hall lunch spot downtown.

Love SB - our favorite place to visit.

HTownAg98 said:

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Sanguis should be on your list to visit. They're in an industrial part of Santa Barbara, so it's not pretty. But the wines are excellent. Margerum would be another solid recommendation.

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That's awesome - how did it drink? I have a 2011 bottle that I'm thinking is about ready.

If you're talking about the Codoulet, I haven't opened it yet.

GBMont3 said:

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Will vouch for both of these. Most of the tasting rooms in the Funk Zone are not great/bachelorette party crowds. Melville wines aren't bad, I like Stolpmann but can't recall if they have a tasting facility in town.

There is or at least used to be a great little European wine bar next to the Helena Ave Bakery, near The Lark and a couple of the other hot spot restaurants.

Loquita - Spanish tapas + paella - is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere. The Public Market is a cool food hall lunch spot downtown.

Love SB - our favorite place to visit.

HTownAg98 said:

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Sanguis should be on your list to visit. They're in an industrial part of Santa Barbara, so it's not pretty. But the wines are excellent. Margerum would be another solid recommendation.

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Stolpman is in Los Olivos if you want to make the drive up the coast. Fair warning as I'm sure most of y'all are aware of Los Olivos can be a **** show on the weekends.

I was talking about the Enfant Jesus.

gam 15 said:

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I was talking about the Enfant Jesus.

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It's drinking well now, but I'd serve it with food. There's still a good amount of acid and tannin, and some of the tertiary flavors (mushroom, truffle, forest floor, etc.) are just beginning to show up. Depends on how you like it.

I haven't had that in forever. How was it?

HTownAg98 said:

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I haven't had that in forever. How was it?

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Truthfully, it was stellar. I don't buy wine over $50 for home very often (sometimes get gifts or when on a work dinner and someone buys nice stuff, etc). But this was exceptional. Balanced.

Vivino consistently has this at 4.4 or 4.5. I saw Suckling had it at 99. I don't place infinite stock on reviews but they are a data point.

Bought some Pott yesterday

2020 Napa (actually his Mt Veeder property that didn't make the cut for single bottlings, and hopefully doesn't have smoke taint)
2021 Pinot (new for him)
2012 Colheitas (I have some '13s so picked these up to go along with them)

Are you planning to lay down that 2020 Mt. Veeder much at all? Would be curious when you open it what it's showing. I don't see how it would have been good unless they picked pretty early
There has been a lot of debate about the 20 vintage. Heidi Barrett left Kenzo after not agreeing to release their 2020 wine.

The same reasons that I shouldn't have bought 2020 are the same reasons I won't lay them down. A normal Mt Veeder wine would be aged, but the 2020s will be drunk young. Just in case.

They said they didn't notice smoke taint. Being on the west side of the valley and being high up was their reasoning for lack of taint. But will it be noticeable down the road? I don't know.

BSD said:

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They said they didn't notice smoke taint. Being on the west side of the valley and being high up was their reasoning for lack of taint. But will it be noticeable down the road? I don't know.

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And that's why so many not producing a 2020. You spend years creating value for a label and could lose it quickly.

When I was in Napa last October I asked everyone what they were going to do for 2020. Most producers said they weren't planning to bottle their cabernet but would bottle whites that were harvested before the fires. One producer said they definitely wouldn't bottle their flagship label but didn't know about other labels yet, and one producer was non-committal and seemed to hint they would likely still bottle.

The one who indicated they would likely still bottle is a well known high volume (relatively speaking) producer that retails for over $300/bottle.

I expect to say any number of "we can't tell you who the producer is (of some obscure label) but it's an incredible value!" offers for 2020 vintage.

FTAco07 said:

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Most producers said they weren't planning to bottle their cabernet but would bottle whites that were harvested before the fires. One producer said they definitely wouldn't bottle their flagship label but didn't know about other labels yet, and one producer was non-committal and seemed to hint they would likely still bottle.

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Most producers I know are not bottling 2020. They either bulked it out or dumped it. Pott's wine is from his estate vineyards but he is selling them as "Napa" bottlings (not estate pricing).

JCA1 said:

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Inglenook is offering 50% off all wines again. Today only.

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Anyone have experience?

How good is the Rubicon? The others?

Stocked up their last 50% sale. The Napa cab I found a poor value. Rubicon is really good, especially at 50% off.

BSD said:

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The same reasons that I shouldn't have bought 2020 are the same reasons I won't lay them down. A normal Mt Veeder wine would be aged, but the 2020s will be drunk young. Just in case.

They said they didn't notice smoke taint. Being on the west side of the valley and being high up was their reasoning for lack of taint. But will it be noticeable down the road? I don't know.

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His email pitch was a little weird. "We felt none of the wines were up to snuff to release under our estate labels, but we didn't notice any smoke taint so we just blended it all together and now we are offering it you for the low low price of $80/bottle."

Everything I've heard/read says smoke taint is internal and can take 3+ years to show.

cecil77 said:

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Everything I've heard/read says smoke taint is internal and can take 3+ years to show.

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I've read the same. These will be drunk within a year.

FYI, Benchmark is having their annual BIN sale. It's a PITA to navigate/search if you are looking for something in particular, but if you just want to browse for random bottles and/or older vintage stuff at certain price points it's the least offensive their pricing is going to be all year.

Question for y'all. And I'm sorry that it's probably been handled here before, but does anyone buy off Last Bottle? I've found some really fun stuff that I hadn't tried before. Just curious the board's take as I slowly get into the higher end stuff ($50+/bottle). Still have some palate refinement before I truly get the the $300+, but excited to head to Heitz's Le Paulee dinner tomorrow night after the Ags get their first notch of the year.

I've bought a few wines from Last Bottle. Fun for exploration. I've seen more compelling stuff generally on some of their "marathon" events, but there have been other wines that have caught the eye or that I knew were good and at a good value. Used to be better about checking them out more frequently.

Do you have any questions about them?

No specific questions, just curious other's experiences. Much to your point I've found it a fun way to explore regions at a lower price point. I've found some vineyards that I've really enjoyed (Luna especially) and it's let me explore some Old World wines. We're a year or two off from truly expanding out wine storage into a 200+ capacity, so for now I'm just trying to taste as much as I can. So I guess one question would be are there similar ways (besides my local bottle shops) to find wholesale prices on various wine that's been curated?