bhodilee wrote:Bison is my favorite meat on the planet. I ate SO much of it in SD two weeks ago. I would move there just for the Bison, but I'd have to get a WY wootlegger.

Edit: That's really not that bad a price, Bison around here goes for damn near ten bucks a pound, which is why I never eat it around here. I dont' know what the mark up on Kosher food usually is, but considering it's probably the only place on the planet to have Kosher Bison I'm impressed.

The price is def not cheap, but it's well worth it... actually, they just raised the prices about 10-15% just since the last time I purchased, which was a couple months ago. The kicker is that they only do 2 day shipping, which can add another 30%, depending on weight!

OK, here goes my first real-time review of the 2002, there will probably be a couple more as the evening progresses.

It was a little warm after the FedEx trip, the short office stay and the trip home. It was probably around room temperature, but when room temperature is 80 degrees it is too warm. Still, I was full with anticipation as I opened the wine to try an initial taste.

The color is a dark muddy plumb color and it is easy to see that there is a decent amount of residual sugar which leads to a very smooth mouth feel. On first sniff, I detected a high note of some sort which I couldn't place until I went back and read the prior posting regarding coconut, which is close but maybe a little more tropical. This transformed after a while into something darker, more like figs with a little bit of chocolate and characteristic gaminess.

The wine tasted well balanced with just the right amount of tannins for my taste. Bright but not distracting. There was a touch of tartness which reminded me of currents with some spiciness which evolved to to a nuttiness in the finish, probably from the oak.

It was, however, too warm so I have banished it to the cellar for now and will emerge later for dinner. Where i can see how it will work with food.

I have some mushroom/truffle spread which I may start out with and I think may go well with the earthiness and the nuttiness. I am also grilling a leg of lamb and may try a wine/raspberry reduction to go with that may work well with the up front fruit, we'll see. I have a friend coming over to lend her opinion so we will both chime in later.

So far I am enjoying it and expect it will improve with time and temperature.

minor sidetrack...

So after caving on the woot.off, I decided it was time reduce my stock of CS by 1. "Hey I've got 4 bottles of Ty Caton CS & the Merlot & Tytanium were sure tasty." Well, turns out that when the foil came off this Cab, the cork was just sticking out about an 1/8 of an inch. Hmmmmm, wish I'd noticed that when I unpacked it. Opened it... tasted it... sigh..... cooked.

So I made a red wine reduction sauce. Yummy!

You got lemons... make lemonade.

The good news is that a more extensive inspection shows that all of the other bottles appear to be okay.

Did Ohio recently fall from the list of 'ship to' states. I was using an Ohio address since Pennsylvania doesn't allow for alchohol shipments. Did Ohio law change too? Darn!

klswoot wrote:Did Ohio recently fall from the list of 'ship to' states. I was using an Ohio address since Pennsylvania doesn't allow for alchohol shipments. Did Ohio law change too? Darn!

I think just because it's from a distributor (GN Shiraz is from AUS), and not from the actual winery, that's why Ohio dropped for the Greg Norman Shiraz. They had some posts on it at the beginning, and they may have a link with the other links on page one.


Edit: Yup. DonaldWilliams had posted this on Missing States and they linked it on page one.

Is this a good summer wine?

hershelk wrote:OK, here goes my first real-time review of the 2002, there will probably be a couple more as the evening progresses.

It was a little warm after the FedEx trip, the short office stay and the trip home. It was probably around room temperature, but when room temperature is 80 degrees it is too warm. Still, I was full with anticipation as I opened the wine to try an initial taste.

The color is a dark muddy plumb color and it is easy to see that there is a decent amount of residual sugar which leads to a very smooth mouth feel. On first sniff, I detected a high note of some sort which I couldn't place until I went back and read the prior posting regarding coconut, which is close but maybe a little more tropical. This transformed after a while into something darker, more like figs with a little bit of chocolate and characteristic gaminess.

The wine tasted well balanced with just the right amount of tannins for my taste. Bright but not distracting. There was a touch of tartness which reminded me of currents with some spiciness which evolved to to a nuttiness in the finish, probably from the oak.

It was, however, too warm so I have banished it to the cellar for now and will emerge later for dinner. Where i can see how it will work with food.

I have some mushroom/truffle spread which I may start out with and I think may go well with the earthiness and the nuttiness. I am also grilling a leg of lamb and may try a wine/raspberry reduction to go with that may work well with the up front fruit, we'll see. I have a friend coming over to lend her opinion so we will both chime in later.

So far I am enjoying it and expect it will improve with time and temperature.

Good job!

per orders you are hereby notified that you have been packed. Along with LabROUS / SonomaBouliste

I am now back for part two of the review after it had been cellared for a couple of hours and served with dinner. Joining me in this discussion is my friend Debb.

Debb says: She liked it quite a bit and thought that for a Shiraz it was not too heavy like some can be (This is a friend who just returned from an extensive tour of Australia and should know). As opposed to many a young Shiraz sampled on the trip, this one did not require an electric toothbrush afterwards. Also we both agreed that it seemed to get better the longer it sat. My initial thought was not to decant the wine, but on reflection it might benefit from decanting about an hour before. Mellow some of the tannins (a good indication that it could last a couple years in the cellar).

The wine actually paired very well with the food that I prepared. The mushroom/truffle spread helped bring out the earthiness of the wine. I grilled lamb and made a raspberry wine reduction that seemed to pair well with the fruitiness. We were tasting some sour cherry notes that went well with the lamb and sauce. Also, as the wine breathed we began to get a hint of licorice, Delightfully changing character over time.

I would recommend and I look forward to receiving my Woot order.

Had to throw it out to my wine woot bretheran that I laughed and laughed looking at the last items for sale on the wootoff. The condoms were the best and caught me off guard.
-Pengu1n

I generally only read the "quality posts" section to get an idea on the current wine offers. This time I was sadly disappointed when I saw 7 pages of posts and only 5 quality posts (which said nothing of the wine taste).




edit: i was delighted to find at least one post (only 2 above mine) which appeased me a bit.

vixro wrote:I generally only read the "quality posts" section to get an idea on the current wine offers. This time I was sadly disappointed when I saw 7 pages of posts and only 5 quality posts (which said nothing of the wine taste).




edit: i was delighted to find at least one post (only 2 above mine) which appeased me a bit.

Over in the world of wine.woot forums, there is a Labrat thread with all the tasting notes compiled in one thread. If you follow this link This week's LaBrat reports you'll find them all compiled in one place.

Thanks to cheron and yathink for keeping this up!

hershelk wrote:I am now back for part two of the review after it had been cellared for a couple of hours and served with dinner. Joining me in this discussion is my friend Debb.

Debb says: She liked it quite a bit and thought that for a Shiraz it was not too heavy like some can be (This is a friend who just returned from an extensive tour of Australia and should know). As opposed to many a young Shiraz sampled on the trip, this one did not require an electric toothbrush afterwards. Also we both agreed that it seemed to get better the longer it sat. My initial thought was not to decant the wine, but on reflection it might benefit from decanting about an hour before. Mellow some of the tannins (a good indication that it could last a couple years in the cellar).

The wine actually paired very well with the food that I prepared. The mushroom/truffle spread helped bring out the earthiness of the wine. I grilled lamb and made a raspberry wine reduction that seemed to pair well with the fruitiness. We were tasting some sour cherry notes that went well with the lamb and sauce. Also, as the wine breathed we began to get a hint of licorice, Delightfully changing character over time.

I would recommend and I look forward to receiving my Woot order.

post 2 has been packed. Thanks, alot! I am getting closer and closer to that big gold button!

Imagine4vr wrote:Over in the world of wine.woot forums, there is a Labrat thread with all the tasting notes compiled in one thread. If you follow this link This week's LaBrat reports you'll find them all compiled in one place.

Thanks to cheron and yathink for keeping this up!

GO CUBS!

Sorry for the temporary hijack, but ....

WD's Fresno State is playing North Carolina today at 3 pm PT for the Bracket 2 finals. If they win today, they play in the Championship on Monday. Double Elimination, so if they happen to .... well, you know .... they play again tomorrow (Sunday). Don't think they will need it, since they beat NC once already.

Oh, Stanford is playing Georgia in the first bracket. So an All-California College World Series????

Bracket info, and if you click on the In-Progress tab, you can open GameTracker, which will let you follow the game via the Internet (if it's not on TV).


WD, by the way, perhaps you should post a clue about Monday's vino in the main thread tonight if your Bulldogs should happen to, well, you know, today.

GO BULLDOGS!!!


And now back to the regularly scheduled mid-week whine ... I mean wine.

vixro wrote:I generally only read the "quality posts" section to get an idea on the current wine offers. This time I was sadly disappointed when I saw 7 pages of posts and only 5 quality posts (which said nothing of the wine taste).




edit: i was delighted to find at least one post (only 2 above mine) which appeased me a bit.

The reason is for the limited "quality" posts is that Mumm was offered on Monday, and this was a planned mid-week offer that started on Thursday Midnight. And then it was interrupted by the Corison Woot-Off offering (which sold out) on Friday. So there really wasn't a lot of labrats (or time) to post.

spdrcr05 wrote:minor sidetrack...

So after caving on the woot.off, I decided it was time reduce my stock of CS by 1. "Hey I've got 4 bottles of Ty Caton CS & the Merlot & Tytanium were sure tasty." Well, turns out that when the foil came off this Cab, the cork was just sticking out about an 1/8 of an inch. Hmmmmm, wish I'd noticed that when I unpacked it. Opened it... tasted it... sigh..... cooked.

So I made a red wine reduction sauce. Yummy!

You got lemons... make lemonade.

The good news is that a more extensive inspection shows that all of the other bottles appear to be okay.

I would let them know through more official channels that the wine did not survive the traveling.

I wonder if there will be any more la'Brats. Does FedEx deliver on Saturday?

yathink2 wrote:I wonder if there will be any more la'Brats. Does FedEx deliver on Saturday?

fedex can deliver in metropolitan areas on saturdays, if you check the box.

MarkDaSpark wrote:I think just because it's from a distributor (GN Shiraz is from AUS), and not from the actual winery, that's why Ohio dropped for the Greg Norman Shiraz. They had some posts on it at the beginning, and they may have a link with the other links on page one.


Edit: Yup. DonaldWilliams had posted this on Missing States and they linked it on page one.

Thanks Mark. I'll check it out! I noticed that the Mumm Indepence Set didn't have Ohio as a ship to state either. Hopefully the next one will work for us.

THanks again for the quick reply!

klswoot wrote:Thanks Mark. I'll check it out! I noticed that the Mumm Indepence Set didn't have Ohio as a ship to state either. Hopefully the next one will work for us.

THanks again for the quick reply!

IIRC, in Ohio there is a limit on quantity of wine produced by the winery that may prohibit shipments to that state from some of the larger wineries, which would include Mumm, but not some of the smaller ones we've seen on this site. In NY, we've only been shut out on the Aussie ones, because of the non-domestic aspect of those.

blusky558 wrote:[quote postid="2351098" user="bhodilee"]Bison is my favorite meat on the planet. I ate SO much of it in SD two weeks ago. I would move there just for the Bison, but I'd have to get a WY wootlegger.

I'd be your WY wootlegger, but thought I'd let you know that there is a bison ranch just outside of town here that ships meat just about anywhere. There used to be a winery out there as well, I would sometimes help with wine tastings when they got really busy during summer months. Got paid a few $$ plus a bottle or two to take home. The winery closed due to bad feelings between the partners, but the winemaker is still here in town doing tastings for one of the local wine shops.

Whats the name of the ranch?

woopdedoo wrote:BTW: Although I cannot rule out that Greg Norman himself will show up for the RPM Wine Tour - his winery will not be one of our stops.

So are you telling me to buy this now? I bought the Corison before learning IT was on the tour, so is it a wash?

bhodilee wrote:Whats the name of the ranch?

Terry Bison Ranch, www.terrybisonranch.com. It's right off of I-25 at the Wyoming/Colorado border.

The winery was Terry Ranch Cellars. The cellars and tasting room were an old meat cutting room built into the hillside as the ranch slopes into the valley. They bought grapes from around the front range area, but also made fruit wines like huckleberry and other, they also had a mead. My favorite wine was a merlot blend they called "Mirage". Great everyday wine that almost everyone liked.

Hey WD,

How about some early hints, since you'll be busy after 4:00 pm PT cheering on your Bulldogs?

Hey Ma. Hey Pa. Looky here. I done gone and got my name in lights. It shore is purdy.

Quality posts:
(12:01 AM) Corrado faithfully links up CellarTracker
(12:11 AM) cooneym11 provides a review of the Padthaway Reserve
(12:15 AM) Bezalel wonders, "Why do Australians use the name Shiraz?"
(12:21 AM) Scrooby explains why Aussies call it Shiraz.
(7:15 AM) DonaldWilliams recalls why this wine cannot be shipped to NY (and some of the other regular states).

Scrooby wrote:Hey Ma. Hey Pa. Looky here. I done gone and got my name in lights. It shore is purdy.

Quality posts:
(12:01 AM) Corrado faithfully links up CellarTracker
(12:11 AM) cooneym11 provides a review of the Padthaway Reserve
(12:15 AM) Bezalel wonders, "Why do Australians use the name Shiraz?"
(12:21 AM) Scrooby explains why Aussies call it Shiraz.
(7:15 AM) DonaldWilliams recalls why this wine cannot be shipped to NY (and some of the other regular states).

NICE!!!

In regards to the Mumm Napa offering from earlier this week, do you think there's any hope of getting this in New York by next Saturday? I usually get mine delivered in Texas, but gifted it to a friend in NYC who's celebrating a birthday next weekend.

Worse case scenario, she'll happily drink it belated, but I've got my fingers crossed that it will arrive in time.

crisangel wrote:In regards to the Mumm Napa offering from earlier this week, do you think there's any hope of getting this in New York by next Saturday? I usually get mine delivered in Texas, but gifted it to a friend in NYC who's celebrating a birthday next weekend.

Worse case scenario, she'll happily drink it belated, but I've got my fingers crossed that it will arrive in time.

Are they really crossed or are you messing with my head?

bigfrank wrote:How can you not ship this to a big state like NY, there goes about a 1,000 cases

You were going to make 4000 accounts and buy 3?

Seriously though, alcoholic beverages in the US have to go through a 3 tier system (producer, wholesaler, retailer). Not shipping to NY has nothing to do with its size, but rather with the legalities in shipping alcoholic beverages. New york laws are a little crazy, for example, if you order a wine gift basket, the non-alcohol portion will arrive separately from the wine, since you can't ship alcohol and food together (tax issue maybe?).

bhodilee wrote:Are they really crossed or are you messing with my head?

Yes.

Time for a clue?

JOATMON wrote:Time for a clue?

You'd think so, especially with WD's beloved Bulldogs playing to get into the College World Series at 4:00 PM PT.

I thought he would've posted a clue by now.

canonizer wrote:I would let them know through more official channels that the wine did not survive the traveling.

Question for WD -- for those of us who are not in the habit of popping open a bottle right after it reaches our house (i still have some of the Columbia Winery Washington Quartet from Dec. '06 in my cellar), what would be the expected window for reporting a corked or cooked bottle? I imagine there is some time limit beyond which you may not be able to vouch for the wine; that would only be reasonable. So just trying to set my expectations should I ever run into a bad bottle (though I have not yet).

Edit: Still no clue? Maybe that is the clue. Is there an "absent" winery? AWOL vineyards? Some winemaker who notoriously sneaks off to a ball game on a Sunday afternoon when thousands are waiting for just a short, simple statement?

iB? You're good at digging these things up. What say you?

MarkDaSpark wrote:You'd think so, especially with WD's beloved Bulldogs playing to get into the College World Series at 4:00 PM PT.

I thought he would've posted a clue by now.

I seem to have lost track--the 'net says that they are in the 2nd inning--I guess another rain delay.

But is anyone broadcasting it?

And, ahem--Go Heels!

inkwench wrote:I seem to have lost track--the 'net says that they are in the 2nd inning--I guess another rain delay.

But is anyone broadcasting it?

And, ahem--Go Heels!

No rain, it's gorgeous here today. If they make the finals I just might go.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Sorry for the temporary hijack, but ....

WD's Fresno State is playing North Carolina today at 3 pm PT for the Bracket 2 finals. If they win today, they play in the Championship on Monday. Double Elimination, so if they happen to .... well, you know .... they play again tomorrow (Sunday). Don't think they will need it, since they beat NC once already.

Bracket info, and if you click on the In-Progress tab, you can open GameTracker, which will let you follow the game via the Internet (if it's not on TV).


WD, by the way, perhaps you should post a clue about Monday's vino in the main thread tonight if your Bulldogs should happen to, well, you know, today.

GO BULLDOGS!!!


And now back to the regularly scheduled mid-week whine ... I mean wine.

And more baseball--it's on ESPN Classic. Also on is the rare Durham Bulls broadcast game, but it is raining, so....

Go Heels!

inkwench wrote:I seem to have lost track--the 'net says that they are in the 2nd inning--I guess another rain delay.

But is anyone broadcasting it?

And, ahem--Go Heels!

Bottom of the 4th, Fresno is ahead 2-1.

inkwench wrote:And more baseball--it's on ESPN Classic. Also on is the rare Durham Bulls broadcast game, but it is raining, so....

Go Heels!

You do realize WD is a Fresno State alumni, who played for them in a College World Series?

No more wine for you!!!


Edit: WOOT! Post 2,500

Only 700 or so more to catch up to jwhite ... riiiight

MarkDaSpark wrote:You do realize WD is a Fresno State alumni, who played for them in a College World Series?

No more wine for you!!!


Edit: WOOT! Post 2,500

Only 700 or so more to catch up to jwhite ... riiiight

Hmmm ... still shows 2,499 ... still having problems with pre-mature ... ummm ... celebration?

jwhite6114 wrote:Hmmm ... still shows 2,499 ... still having problems with pre-mature ... ummm ... celebration?

It was at 2499 at the previous post, so when I posted that one, it should have been 2500, which it was for a short time, and then it dropped back down to 2499. Not sure if they deleted a post, or if they recalibrated the postid from an edit (seems like sometimes the post count goes up when you do an edit on a post). So it really wasn't premature. It did state 2500 for a short time.