javadrinker wrote:The honeymoon will be over soon enough...not with the site or the community...but with buying every offer. We all hit that wall eventually. Usually due to space issues or the "stink eye" from spouses/significant others/co-workers/UPS drivers/etc.

While that's true, the two times I didn't pull the trigger in time, it was the description of the wine-that-got-away which gave me the spousal look of disapproval. That'll teach me!

ladyofwine wrote:First, about the wine. Yes, it's made in the style of a port. The 2004 is a blend of PS from the Dry Creek Valley vineyard where I buy my Zin grapes and my own estate zinfandel fruit. It's about 8% residual sugar and right on the money at 18% alc. by volume. I added 5 year old grape brandy. It's NOT a rum raisiny port, loves to be drunk alone or with something in the chocolate family (baked fruit works too). The 2005 is 100% PS, sourced from the same grower. Just about the same technical notes. This one is inky. Very inky. Did I say inky? And up and coming, the 2006 and 2007 vintages are also blends (I like the blended 2004 the best). 2008 will be a challenge because I am changing DC growers and the new guy doesn't have any PS - I'm on the hunt!

Laura's Theme started out in 2003 as Laura's Port. Unfortuately for my incredibly bad timing, my federal label approval occured about 6 weeks after the "grandfather" deadline of March 31, 2006. When the US and the EU signed agreements to protect place names, Oporto was included. So, I was ready to bottle up my 2004 and the law changed. We had to design a new label with a new name since 'port' was off the table. I held a contest and one of my wine club members offered "Laura's Theme" as a possibility. Since I was named (not by spelling!) for that song from Dr. Zhivago, it seemed like a good fit. By the time the whole thing was decided, printed and ready to go, so was the 2005 - hence the two releases. Whew, that was a long story, wasn't it?

I saw 3T of Dry Creek PS listed on winerysite.com - you might check if it's still available, sounds like a good eastern bench location.

SonomaBouliste wrote:I saw 3T of Dry Creek PS listed on winerysite.com - you might check if it's still available, sounds like a good eastern bench location.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

NYSteve wrote:While that's true, the two times I didn't pull the trigger in time, it was the description of the wine-that-got-away which gave me the spousal look of disapproval. That'll teach me!

Teach you what? To not let any of them get away, or not to discuss your woot purchasing habits with your spouse?

SonomaBouliste wrote:I saw 3T of Dry Creek PS listed on winerysite.com - you might check if it's still available, sounds like a good eastern bench location.

ladyofwine wrote:Thanks, I'll check it out.

Hmmm ... grapes.woot?

jwhite6114 wrote:Hmmm ... grapes.woot?

llo - that would be sweet. I can only imagine WD approaching growers to heavily discount their grapes - yeah, right!!! He'd end up strung up some where, or fermenting in a vat, not of his own accord!

ladyofwine wrote:llo - that would be sweet. I can only imagine WD approaching growers to heavily discount their grapes - yeah, right!!! He'd end up strung up some where, or fermenting in a vat, not of his own accord!

The next woot cellars blend, eh?

ladyofwine wrote:Thanks, I'll check it out.

You may have read my earlier post about what a class guy Peter Wellington is. Here's more proof. In case you didn't realize it, SB is his nom de plume.

jwhite6114 wrote:Teach you what? To not let any of them get away, or not to discuss your woot purchasing habits with your spouse?

I was thinking the same thing. You don't suppose we all spent so much time together on that trip that we're even thinking alike?

ddeuddeg wrote:You may have read my earlier post about what a class guy Peter Wellington is. Here's more proof. In case you didn't realize it, SB is his nom de plume.

Stop! You're making me blush. I'm just trying to get to 1000 posts. I remember when (I think) Corrado was the first one to reach that plateau; now jwhite and tmr and several others have three and four thousand posts. This is too much.

ddeuddeg wrote:You may have read my earlier post about what a class guy Peter Wellington is. Here's more proof. In case you didn't realize it, SB is his nom de plume.

Got it now, had a feeling SB was in my neck of the woods but didn't put it together.

Here's a random, kind o/t (sorry:\) question for you guys. Has wine.woot ever offered port before? Would it ever be possible or is that more heavily regulated?

Have any lab rats surfaced yet? I'm trying to decide between 1 and 2: I've got lots of reds, but my friend likes whites, especially in summer, and I'm wondering if this is a good white stocker for the cellar.

olabner wrote:Ok...so I promised a quasi-LabRat report on this wine. Here you go.

Enjoyed this wine with a blackened chicken mozzarella dish my wife makes quite well. Laura, thanks for the tips no dishes, but I'm allergic to shrimp (I know, the horror...), and we didn't have everything on hand for the chicken dish we recommended. That said, the blackened chicken was a nice alternative. On to the wine...

Everything about this wine reminds me more of a Sauvignon Blanc than a Chardonnay.

The color is quite light; the look is very crisp and clean.

Nose: It is a bold nose, but again, not your typical Chardonnay. I was thinking Savignon Blanc right away (and really throughout this wine drinking experience). It's quite fruity. Notes of green apple, and, to me, loads of citrus. Perhaps grapefruit? Way, way, way (and I mean WAY) in the back, I almost caught a hint of pineapple, and then it was gone.

Taste: Lots of sharp citrus here, and again with the green apple. A bit of vanilla here, but not a hint of butter or oak (and maybe I'm odd, but I like butter and oak in my Chardonnay). The only thing about this wine that seemed more in the Chardonnay vein than the Sauvignon Blanc style was the mouth feel. This Chardonnay coats your mouth nicely and lingers. It definitely has a staying power that lighter Saugnon Blancs often seem to lack.

My conclusion: Not a typical Chardonnay. Chardonnay is my favorite white varietal (though I am red man), but I prefer my Chardonnay with a bit more butter and oak. This, however, is a very nice wine. Pairs well with food. You could, however, drink this wine and alone and it would perform admirably that way as well.

The only word of caution here is this: I found this wine very easy to drink. Maybe it's the heat, but I could easily have guzzled this wine before the alcohol caught up to me.

Final word: At about $15 per bottle shipped to your door, this wine is a steal. Don't walk, RUN to the big yellow button.

~Fin~

Here's a psuedo one because he already had it in his hands when the offer went up. I know I'm selfishly pubbing myself out, but that's what you pay me the big bucks for, right?

ddeuddeg wrote:I was thinking the same thing. You don't suppose we all spent so much time together on that trip that we're even thinking alike?

Did I miss something while I was in the mountains? Is ddeuddeg the alter ego of a "tourist"?

SonomaBouliste wrote:Did I miss something while I was in the mountains? Is ddeuddeg the alter ego of a "tourist"?

I've sent you a PM that will clear that up for you.

crisangel wrote:Here's a random, kind o/t (sorry:\) question for you guys. Has wine.woot ever offered port before? Would it ever be possible or is that more heavily regulated?

Yes, at least one port offering.

ladyofwine wrote:First, about the wine. Yes, it's made in the style of a port. The 2004 is a blend of PS from the Dry Creek Valley vineyard where I buy my Zin grapes and my own estate zinfandel fruit. It's about 8% residual sugar and right on the money at 18% alc. by volume. I added 5 year old grape brandy. It's NOT a rum raisiny port, loves to be drunk alone or with something in the chocolate family (baked fruit works too). The 2005 is 100% PS, sourced from the same grower. Just about the same technical notes. This one is inky. Very inky. Did I say inky? And up and coming, the 2006 and 2007 vintages are also blends (I like the blended 2004 the best). 2008 will be a challenge because I am changing DC growers and the new guy doesn't have any PS - I'm on the hunt!

Laura's Theme started out in 2003 as Laura's Port. Unfortuately for my incredibly bad timing, my federal label approval occured about 6 weeks after the "grandfather" deadline of March 31, 2006. When the US and the EU signed agreements to protect place names, Oporto was included. So, I was ready to bottle up my 2004 and the law changed. We had to design a new label with a new name since 'port' was off the table. I held a contest and one of my wine club members offered "Laura's Theme" as a possibility. Since I was named (not by spelling!) for that song from Dr. Zhivago, it seemed like a good fit. By the time the whole thing was decided, printed and ready to go, so was the 2005 - hence the two releases. Whew, that was a long story, wasn't it?

Hi Laura

Each of your stories intrigue me. I have wanted to do what you did by leaving the industrial world for the world of farming and wine making, but alas I did not have any stock options. Noe did I live in California.I congratulate you & can't wait to try your wines.

MaxAlex wrote:Hi Laura

Each of your stories intrigue me. I have wanted to do what you did by leaving the industrial world for the world of farming and wine making, but alas I did not have any stock options. Noe did I live in California.I congratulate you & can't wait to try your wines.

I am the poster child for "Be careful what you wish for!" I love where I am, I love what I'm doing, but it wasn't the best laid plan in the world and I (sometimes) wish I had been able to keep my day job and the winery all at the same time. I appreciate your comments, my stock options are long, long gone. Today's challenge is continuing to build inventory at a rate that can be financed by the sale of existing inventory. I wish Cisco had taught me all about future inventory finance mechanisms instead of just-in-time inventory - would have made my life a lot easier. But, I don't miss the fast paced, cometition driven sales environment. I pick heirloom tomatoes, basi and fava beans this morning. I sat in my office most of the day doing stuff, including a whole lot of fun blog, and the sunset is about to be spectacular. I didn't get in the car, I frumpled the dog a bunch of times, I walked the vineyard to check out verasion and I wrote my next newsletter - worked with WD to make sure all your wine is going to ship smoothly and am sitting here have a glass of LZV Oat Hill Estate Zin. Life is GOOD!

JOATMON wrote:Have any lab rats surfaced yet? I'm trying to decide between 1 and 2: I've got lots of reds, but my friend likes whites, especially in summer, and I'm wondering if this is a good white stocker for the cellar.

No "offical" labrats so far. Maybe WD did not send any out?

Hey, WD, should we be expecting any labrat reports?

ladyofwine wrote:I am the poster child for "Be careful what you wish for!" I love where I am, I love what I'm doing, but it wasn't the best laid plan in the world and I (sometimes) wish I had been able to keep my day job and the winery all at the same time. I appreciate your comments, my stock options are long, long gone. Today's challenge is continuing to build inventory at a rate that can be financed by the sale of existing inventory. I wish Cisco had taught me all about future inventory finance mechanisms instead of just-in-time inventory - would have made my life a lot easier. But, I don't miss the fast paced, cometition driven sales environment. I pick heirloom tomatoes, basi and fava beans this morning. I sat in my office most of the day doing stuff, including a whole lot of fun blog, and the sunset is about to be spectacular. I didn't get in the car, I frumpled the dog a bunch of times, I walked the vineyard to check out verasion and I wrote my next newsletter - worked with WD to make sure all your wine is going to ship smoothly and am sitting here have a glass of LZV Oat Hill Estate Zin. Life is GOOD!

Stop! You are speaking of th eworld that I have always hoped for. I wish that I could apply my 30 years of wine study to the real world. Knoa anyone out there who is looking for a strong financial person who has a passion for the fruit of the vine? It;s funnt you mention Verasion; we are enjoying a 2003 Verasion Synchrony as we watch the Olympic opening ceremonies this evening.

MaxAlex wrote:Stop! You are speaking of th eworld that I have always hoped for. I wish that I could apply my 30 years of wine study to the real world. Knoa anyone out there who is looking for a strong financial person who has a passion for the fruit of the vine? It;s funnt you mention Verasion; we are enjoying a 2003 Verasion Synchrony as we watch the Olympic opening ceremonies this evening.

Well you can, just don't expect hi-tech wages to go with that love of wine story! There are a hundred wineries that would love you to work for them, you just better be able to afford the lifestyle with all that hard earned money from 30 years. I've got to get downstairs and watch the ceremonies...the websites don't do it justice. Enjoy your wine - I'll be back soon.

ladyofwine wrote:Well you can, just don't expect hi-tech wages to go with that love of wine story! There are a hundred wineries that would love you to work for them, you just better be able to afford the lifestyle with all that hard earned money from 30 years. I've got to get downstairs and watch the ceremonies...the websites don't do it justice. Enjoy your wine - I'll be back soon.

Thanks for your insights. The ceremonies have been great. Enjoy!
By the way, I can live on less. Just need some direction on who to speak to.

speedoo wrote:Yes, at least one port offering.

Chateau Souverain Syrah Port was offered Christmas of 2006. I don't think there have been any others.

That does sound like the life ... and I'm only 22, wanting to become detached from this world's efficient, fast-paced rat race ... I've lost faith in friends and the world in general, so it would be nice to talk with the grapes for a bit. A dog also sounds like a good start.

speedoo wrote:No "offical" labrats so far. Maybe WD did not send any out?

Hey, WD, should we be expecting any labrat reports?

yea, we sent out 3... checking to see what's up..


WD

javadrinker wrote:The honeymoon will be over soon enough...not with the site or the community...but with buying every offer. We all hit that wall eventually. Usually due to space issues or the "stink eye" from spouses/significant others/co-workers/UPS drivers/etc.

or from me =P

winefarm wrote:yea, we sent out 3... checking to see what's up..


WD

We all know Loweeel was dying to try this one (like he is with every chard that comes up), but you know he's out of town, right?

winefarm wrote:yea, we sent out 3... checking to see what's up..


WD

Ah, well I'm happy to be a participant in The Week Of Botched Lab Rat Reports. AKA The WOBLRR.

{Runs into room, panting} Sorry I’m late!

The planets seemed to alternately align and misalign for this labrat to get his report up in a timely fashion. We were travelling out of town this weekend, and having been labratted fairly recently, I never anticipated the possibility that my name would come up again. Work duties called much later than anticipated Friday morning, meaning I couldn’t get out of the office until noon. As I was opening the door to leave, there was the building manager who told me she had to “sign for some wine” and wanted to make sure it got into the office instead of the front waiting room. I was expecting my Clif Bar Winery woot to arrive Friday, so wasn’t terribly surprised… but wait, that’s a FedEx label - that’s not right.

Yes, through some curious twist of fate, or more likely some fortuitous computer glitch, I was a labrat again! But how to taste, with the 4 hour drive from Vermont to Cape Cod on the agenda? My wife was more than happy to agree that we’d taste upon our arrival at the hotel before we went out for a dinner reservation; we’d have 2 hours or so, plenty of time to sample and post. Unfortunately, that didn’t account for summer vacation spot traffic which turned the 4 hour drive into a 6 hour one, eliminating check-in to the hotel before dinner.

Being creative people, we thought “No problem, we’ll just have the wine with dinner at the restaurant and pay a corkage fee, then post the comments when we get back to the room.” We arrived at the restaurant and explained that it was a long story, but we had a bottle of wine that had to be drunk tonight, would the let us have it with dinner. Response: no, we don’t do that, even with a corkage charge. Harrumph. Dinner was lovely, but accompanied by a martini and a lovely bottle of Meursault resulting in two “tasters” whose comments about the wine wouldn’t have been terribly insightful or useful by the time the tipsy couple returned to the room at 10:30. Time to move to “plan D”…

We finally got to sample the 2006 Laura Zahtila Vineyards Chardonnay at lunchtime today. The tasting panel consisted of me, my wife and my parents. My folks tend to be less picky about wine but were enthused about participating. A smattering of impressions follows:

Appearance: pale straw-gold with faint greenish tinge.

Nose: Fairly subtle chardonnay fruit at first, opens up to a fuller expression with time. One of the accompaniments to the tasting was pizza (yes, I know, hardly typical chardonnay fare) which brought out come subtle clove in the nose, but that might have been more the food than the wine.

Tasting: medium body, bright acidity, a silky creaminess in the mid-palate. Minimal to no malo-lactic butteriness. Slight oak that was there, but as a background player rather than in your face that was nicely balanced and definitely didn’t detract from the fruit. Medium long, pleasant finish. Oh, and a hint of vanilla.

One of the tasters who’s not as familiar with wine terminology liked it because it wasn’t “vinegary”. 

Overall, the tasters felt this closer to Chablis style than the typical California chard butter-oak bomb. All agreed that this was a very good thing! This is chardonnay for those who don’t typically like chardonnay. At the price point (or even a bit higher!), especially in this season, it was strong “buy” all around the table.

Once again, thanks to WD and to whatever planetary alignment, code monkey fluke or act of God allowed me a repeat labrat performance. And my apologies again for my tardiness…

docpw wrote:Once again, thanks to WD and to whatever planetary alignment, code monkey fluke or act of God allowed me a repeat labrat performance. And my apologies again for my tardiness…

Quite the week for labrats!! Indeed!

You've been packed (though we'll have to wait for Cheron to return to put up all of the links and stuff.

In for 2..
Just wish it had been offered earlier in the summer!

ladyofwine wrote:First, about the wine. Yes, it's made in the style of a port. The 2004 is a blend of PS from the Dry Creek Valley vineyard where I buy my Zin grapes and my own estate zinfandel fruit. It's about 8% residual sugar and right on the money at 18% alc. by volume. I added 5 year old grape brandy. It's NOT a rum raisiny port, loves to be drunk alone or with something in the chocolate family (baked fruit works too). The 2005 is 100% PS, sourced from the same grower. Just about the same technical notes. This one is inky. Very inky. Did I say inky? And up and coming, the 2006 and 2007 vintages are also blends (I like the blended 2004 the best). 2008 will be a challenge because I am changing DC growers and the new guy doesn't have any PS - I'm on the hunt!

Laura's Theme started out in 2003 as Laura's Port. Unfortuately for my incredibly bad timing, my federal label approval occured about 6 weeks after the "grandfather" deadline of March 31, 2006. When the US and the EU signed agreements to protect place names, Oporto was included. So, I was ready to bottle up my 2004 and the law changed. We had to design a new label with a new name since 'port' was off the table. I held a contest and one of my wine club members offered "Laura's Theme" as a possibility. Since I was named (not by spelling!) for that song from Dr. Zhivago, it seemed like a good fit. By the time the whole thing was decided, printed and ready to go, so was the 2005 - hence the two releases. Whew, that was a long story, wasn't it?

Laura - Sorry about the late reply. Thanks so much for the info and sharing the story about 'Laura's Theme'. The 2004 sounds wonderful.

I think it is time for another port offering on wine.woot!

From the reports, this sounds like a nice wine. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this is approaching the end of it's drinking window?

uhoerhold wrote:From the reports, this sounds like a nice wine. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this is approaching the end of it's drinking window?

Answered here already on the second page.

IMO, I suspect that people ask questions that have already been answered in the Wine.Woot wine thread do so for one of four reasons:

1) They aren't used to Wine.Woot wine threads, where the winemaker/winery/etc. usually participate very well, and do not anticipate that someone else has asked the question already.

2) They did scan the thread, but quickly and missed the question already asked and answered.

3) They saw there are a lot of pages (more than 10) in the thread, and are overwhelmed by the number of pages.

4) They are too lazy to look, and know someone will do it for them.


I think one of my biggest pet peeves are people who don't read the thread before they ask a question, especially when there are only a small amount of pages and it is a question that almost always gets asked.

WD,

Any hints on the new offering tonight?

MarkDaSpark wrote:Answered here already on the second page.

IMO, I suspect that people ask questions that have already been answered in the Wine.Woot wine thread do so for one of four reasons:

1) They aren't used to Wine.Woot wine threads, where the winemaker/winery/etc. usually participate very well, and do not anticipate that someone else has asked the question already.

2) They did scan the thread, but quickly and missed the question already asked and answered.

3) They saw there are a lot of pages (more than 10) in the thread, and are overwhelmed by the number of pages.

4) They are too lazy to look, and know someone will do it for them.


I think one of my biggest pet peeves are people who don't read the thread before they ask a question, especially when there are only a small amount of pages and it is a question that almost always gets asked.

or

5) They're not just looking for the winemakers comments, but from anyone who may have tried the wine, as indicated by the question "Does anyone have any thoughts...".

uhoerhold wrote:or

5) They're not just looking for the winemakers comments, but from anyone who may have tried the wine, as indicated by the question "Does anyone have any thoughts...".

True. Forgot that one ......... Sorry. :hangs head in shame:

MarkDaSpark wrote:WD,

Any hints on the new offering tonight?

If I know WD, he's probably watching the USA / China basketball game, to be foollowed by other sports, so it's a mystery. Too bad I'm not at post # 1000 yet, because maybe then he'd let me give a clue.

MaxAlex wrote:Thanks for your insights. The ceremonies have been great. Enjoy!
By the way, I can live on less. Just need some direction on who to speak to.

There are a couple of websites for job opportunities - winecountryjobs.com is one of the better ones. You'd be amazed how open wine industry folks are to discussing things...besides me, which I don't have a CFO, or rather I do, but she looks exactly like me in a mirror and she's not really CFO trained, do you have any contacts with a bigger winery who has an executive staff? If you want to PM me can chat offline about this. Best of Luck!