horse325es wrote:Im looking to get something for my wine drinking girlfriends bday. would anybody recommend this? or can anybody recommend a nice wine package for 75-150 bux?
i dont know ANYTHING about wine and any help in making the women happy would be greatly appreciated. email 1badeta@gmail.com

do you know if she likes red or white?



edit: Woot! Woot! 1000th post!

edthebedhead wrote:do you know if she likes red or white?



edit: Woot! Woot! 1000th post!

And top of the page.

Just gotta have it all, doncha ya?

horse325es wrote:Im looking to get something for my wine drinking girlfriends bday. would anybody recommend this? or can anybody recommend a nice wine package for 75-150 bux?
i dont know ANYTHING about wine and any help in making the women happy would be greatly appreciated. email 1badeta@gmail.com

buy her a bottle of 1999 Laurent Perrier Brut. It's ridiculously good, $49 at klwines.com. She'll love it

edthebedhead wrote:do you know if she likes red or white?



edit: Woot! Woot! 1000th post!

red i know this much llo

Loweeel and other PSycophants: The enemy site has Mockingbird Hill Petite Sirah currently. Just FYI.

horse325es wrote:
red i know this much llo!

By all reports the current offer would be a nice selection to get her. Or if you are into gift certificates, money into her PayPal account, assuming she has one, earmarked for Wine.Woot would be an option.

Gee, it's a Woot-Off. Who'd-a-guessed?

WineDavid, should we look for a detour? Roughly when, for us hard-working types?

timbyrd wrote:What'cha doing tonight? Wait, are you saying you just got the wootoff email, not a labrat bottle? Oh, never mind.

Actually, you and Sparky need to come over and give your impressions of the various varieties of Madeira for Joat's thread - preferably before I finish off the Verdelho.

-- T

Well funny you should ask. I was referring to the woot-off e-mail. But, as it turns out, I could have been referring to a lab rat bottle. For, as it turns out, I am the proud owner of, well now, a slightly used bottle of Stuart's '04 Cab Franc. I've been having my wine deliveries sent to my parent's house lately and my mom has gotten used to seeing boxes in my name come from both FedEx and UPS. She didn't even blink when she got one from FedEx today and didn't think about calling me when it got there. Luckily I went over for dinner and, as it turns out, there was a nice shiny (well brown and dull) box with a golden ticket, a bottle of wine, and another surprise inside. I would have shared the bottle with you and Sparky but I was already there with the rents and mom had made steaks. Seemed kind of rude not to open the bottle when I was getting free food.

I'll post my notes shortly if the damn site will stop crashing.

edthebedhead wrote:do you know if she likes red or white?



edit: Woot! Woot! 1000th post!

Congrats!!

kylemittskus wrote:Loweeel and other PSycophants: The enemy site has Mockingbird Hill Petite Sirah currently. Just FYI.

Ahhh yes! Very tempted ...

So as mentioned above, I was the lucky recipient of a Golden Ticket (my second one ever) and I got a bottle of Stuart Cellar's 2004 Cabernet Franc. I had a chance to try this one once before during a visit to Temecula wine country and remember really liking the wine but I didn't take any formal tasting notes.

I opened the box about 20 minutes before dinner was ready. The bottle wasn't warm but I thought I'd cool it down a bit so popped it into the freezer for that short amount of time. It was a nice temp when I popped the cork but dinner was ready so I didn't have time to let the wine get some air. I didn't decant the wine either. Poured some wine for myself and my parents and sat down to a nice dinner of steaks and baked potatoes.

First thing that surprised me was that the wine didn't need too much air time. It was the slightest bit tight at first sip but it was essentially ready to drink. It was all light and fruit at the beginning. No real nose to speak and an explosion of cherries. No alcohol coming through either (only 13.4% listed on the label). I swear I thought I was drinking a Sangiovese.

The description on the back of the bottle read "elegant rasberry and light cherry...accented with aromas of light oak and spice". The description continues with "notes of vanilla and black pepper...with balanced tannins". Well, I never found the rasberries but the cherries certainly were there. Didn't find the other stuff at first either.

Then after about an hour...bam...there was the light oak. Both on the nose and the palate. Nothing overpowering at all but nice. Then the pepper made an appearance. The tannins came and went soon after. The alcohol became a bit more pronounced on the nose after awhile but nothing that took away from the wine.

My parents don't feel completely comfortable in using wine-speak yet but my dad definitely found the pepper and oak after awhile. My mom actually used the phrase "concentrated fruit" near the end...only it was in Spanish. Still, kudos mom, kudos aplenty.

So all in all, personally I really liked this one. It was much lighter and fruitier than I expected or remembered but it was just as good. It probably wasn't the best pairing with the steaks but it wasn't a bad choice either. This is another great wine from Marshall. If I didn't already have almost 200 bottles sitting around in less than ideal storage conditions I would probably consider upping my order.

Oh...and there was one more surprise in the box. It went quite nicely with the wine. Thanks WD.

javadrinker wrote:Oh...and there was one more surprise in the box. It went quite nicely with the wine. Thanks WD.

I wanna know what the surprise was!!! It's okay if you can't tell us... yet.

javadrinker wrote:Well funny you should ask.

Harumph!

See if I invite you over to break my wine glasses anytime soon.

Or was it Sparky who breaks the glasses and you concentrate on shattering bottles - while there is still wine inside!?!?

-- T
p.s Is Thursday still on?

timbyrd wrote:Harumph!

See if I invite you over to break my wine glasses anytime soon.

Or was it Sparky who breaks the glasses and you concentrate on shattering bottles - while there is still wine inside!?!?

-- T
p.s Is Thursday still on?

You got it. I break the old (bad) glasses and Java breaks the bottles with wine still in them ......

And as far as I know, Thursday is still on. River of Skulls is here, and I'm hoping the PoiZin and AntiDote arrive by Thursday too.

I just enjoyed the Stuart Tatia, 2002 last night. It was the last remaining Stuart in my collection. It was wonderful. How does the 2004 compare?

I'm not waiting on all the labrats, so I'm in.
(now off to work... late)

First sucker: MaskedMarvel
Speed to first woot: 1m 29.407s

Last wooter to woot: psmurf

OK, having gone in early on for 2 of the current offering and with thread traffic a bit slow, I thought this would be a good time for Newcomer Stupid Questions.

Does a woot-off ever occur here at winewoot?

When someone who should know (i.e., the winemaker) says a wine will "cellar for 10 years" with no other qualifiers, are they referring to 10 years from the vintage date or 10 years from today's date?

Is it just me or does it seem odd that a winery would have a current offering on it's website with a "best to drink before 2008" description?

I do keep a running tally of the wine I've bought, and when I get around to drinking I do write down my impressions. Am I a heathen if my "written impressions" are caveman drawings compared to the eloquent descriptions I see posted elsewhere? I mean, I have a personal rating of 1 to 10 and it's pretty much "I would not drink this again" at the low end and "where can I buy a case at the lowest price" at the high end.

Do you "gift out" wines you do not care for or wines you love?

Is it unusual to try say 20+ different Pinot Noirs and really, really only love one or two?

What goes into your decisions on what wine to have with dinner tonight in terms of "I've had that bottle for months and never tried it" to "I have three cases of my favorite wine and my wife is strongly intonating I should probably drink it before I die"?

I have plenty more, that's it for now though. Thanks.

laxdad wrote:OK, having gone in early on for 2 of the current offering and with thread traffic a bit slow, I thought this would be a good time for Newcomer Stupid Questions.

Does a woot-off ever occur here at winewoot?

When someone who should know (i.e., the winemaker) says a wine will "cellar for 10 years" with no other qualifiers, are they referring to 10 years from the vintage date or 10 years from today's date?

Is it just me or does it seem odd that a wnery would have a current offering on it's website with a "best to drink before 2008" description?

I do keep a running tally of the wine I've bought, and when I get around to drinking I do write down my impressions. Am I a heathen if my "written impressions" are caveman drawings compared to the eloquent descriptions I see posted elsewhere? I mean, I have a personal rating of 1 to 10 and it's pretty much "I would not drink this again" at the low end and "where can I buy a case at the lowest price" at the high end.

Do you "gift out" wines you do not care for or wines you love?

Is it unusual to try say 20+ different Pinot Noirs and really, really only love one or two?

What goes into your decisions on what wine to have with dinner tonight in terms of "I've had that bottle for months and never tried it" to "I have three cases of my favorite wine and my wife is strongly intonating I should probably drink it before I die"?

I have plenty more, that's it for now though. Thanks.

Lax, it'd probably be better to take this sort of question (in part because it's very good) to the side forums. If you click the 'community tab' and go to world of wine woot, it might bemore appropriate.

Woot off- Sometimes there is w.w participation but there has never been a wine-woot-off, where multiple offerings are given in succession.

cellaring- all impressions of cellaring are ephemeral. I would guess, with no reference point, that the person should be guessing from the vintage date. But if it is released in '04 and they say 'cellar for 7-10', they would not expect the wine to be dead 10 from release or 10 from vintage.

your notes are your own, what ever helps you enjoy wine is sufficient and more complete than most wine drinkers bother to do. discussing the flavor profiles helps convey why you like wines to other people and is important when convincing them to purchase something. Your "I like this wine" may not be sufficient unless they understand what type of wines you enjoy.

Many people, and don't moderate me for this, gift for themselves to get more than 3 sets of something they really enjoy. There may also be the occasional gifting, as in sending a gift to someone else. Who knows what reasons that person has?

Pinot noir is one grumble and/or bemoan fate of a grape to get right.

You never need an excuse to open a bottle of wine. It probably works the other way. You should have an excuse not to open something. Otherwise it's drink up.

canonizer wrote:Woot off- Sometimes there is w.w participation but there has never been a wine-woot-off, where multiple offerings are given in succession.

I dunno, we came pretty darn close to that for the last woot-off when we had the Titus, Chase, Penfolds, and Saddleback over the course of 4 days, culminating in the Toothstejnn as the new offering...

javadrinker wrote:So as mentioned above, I was the lucky recipient of a Golden Ticket

It's about time! You're packed. Over there somewhere.

Any news on how many detours (0-2) and when we can expect them?

Loweeel wrote:Any news on how many detours (0-2) and when we can expect them?

We're so greedy...

Finally went in for 2, the rat review of the CF pushed me over.

Its weird we've only had one Rat so far....should have seen 2 more by now....

So just because I was mad and am ADD about getting things working I finally am happy to announce my woot off checker is back in the ALIVE category. Keep this between us winos.
http://www.pengu1n.com/woot3/woot_checker_client.php

*** Thread hijack ***



Trying again in OHIO tasting tread. Save the date: Oct., 25, 7:00 p.m., at Visible Voice Books (and wine bar) in Cleveland. Stop on by!

skrist01, Luci444, Daystar, squeaks321

Please check your PM's

*** End thread hijack ***

canonizer wrote:Lax, it'd probably be better to take this sort of question (in part because it's very good) to the side forums.

cellaring- all impressions of cellaring are ephemeral. I would guess, with no reference point, that the person should be guessing from the vintage date. But if it is released in '04 and they say 'cellar for 7-10', they would not expect the wine to be dead 10 from release or 10 from vintage.

I agree with everything you posted, but I'm highlighting these to emphasize:
1. This is a very good set of questions.
2. This time, the winemaker actually specified that your guess is correct. Cellar time is from vintage date.

kylemittskus wrote:Loweeel and other PSycophants: The enemy site has Mockingbird Hill Petite Sirah currently. Just FYI.

how about a lead on this source...xxxx@aol.com Thanx

pengu1n wrote:So just because I was mad and am ADD about getting things working I finally am happy to announce my woot off checker is back in the ALIVE category. Keep this between us winos.
http://www.pengu1n.com/woot3/woot_checker_client.php

looks great, peng. thank you

javadrinker wrote:So as mentioned above, I was the lucky recipient of a Golden Ticket (my second one ever) and I got a bottle of Stuart Cellar's 2004 Cabernet Franc. I had a chance to try this one once before during a visit to Temecula wine country and remember really liking the wine but I didn't take any formal tasting notes.

I opened the box about 20 minutes before dinner was ready. The bottle wasn't warm but I thought I'd cool it down a bit so popped it into the freezer for that short amount of time. It was a nice temp when I popped the cork but dinner was ready so I didn't have time to let the wine get some air. I didn't decant the wine either. Poured some wine for myself and my parents and sat down to a nice dinner of steaks and baked potatoes.

First thing that surprised me was that the wine didn't need too much air time. It was the slightest bit tight at first sip but it was essentially ready to drink. It was all light and fruit at the beginning. No real nose to speak and an explosion of cherries. No alcohol coming through either (only 13.4% listed on the label). I swear I thought I was drinking a Sangiovese.

The description on the back of the bottle read "elegant rasberry and light cherry...accented with aromas of light oak and spice". The description continues with "notes of vanilla and black pepper...with balanced tannins". Well, I never found the rasberries but the cherries certainly were there. Didn't find the other stuff at first either.

Then after about an hour...bam...there was the light oak. Both on the nose and the palate. Nothing overpowering at all but nice. Then the pepper made an appearance. The tannins came and went soon after. The alcohol became a bit more pronounced on the nose after awhile but nothing that took away from the wine.

My parents don't feel completely comfortable in using wine-speak yet but my dad definitely found the pepper and oak after awhile. My mom actually used the phrase "concentrated fruit" near the end...only it was in Spanish. Still, kudos mom, kudos aplenty.

So all in all, personally I really liked this one. It was much lighter and fruitier than I expected or remembered but it was just as good. It probably wasn't the best pairing with the steaks but it wasn't a bad choice either. This is another great wine from Marshall. If I didn't already have almost 200 bottles sitting around in less than ideal storage conditions I would probably consider upping my order.

Oh...and there was one more surprise in the box. It went quite nicely with the wine. Thanks WD.

Dood! Most Excellent report!

Sorry I missed you when you called to ask me to post that you were a labrat. I've got it set to vibrate AND ring, and still missed your call. DOH!

boatman72 wrote:how about a lead on this source...xxxx@aol.com Thanx

It's long since gone. We talk about other sites in the cyberpub. Most of us consider it bad form to discuss unrelated other offers in the main thread, as it's the winemaker's place to make his case.

smartheart wrote:Geez...what did that consist of? I'm a big fan of SH thanks to wine.woot and have bought it here numerous times and also elsewhere.

Can you tell us what the deal was?

Also, Scott, please chime in !

Been real busy finishing up harvest and just got on to see Marshal's wines being offered. They are great. My style of wine making with pH levels that will hold the fruit into agibility and go well with food. I called my buddy Don Galleano of Galleano Winery in Cucamonga and he says Marshal's wines are great as well. It seems the fruit to produce the Cucamonga Zinfandel is the same fruit I used in the new bottling of the 2006 InZinerator with the Femknight label. We had just a few cases of the 2004 InZinerator left over from the woot offering and we thought we would do a special offer to the woot comunity since we sold out on the woot offering. It is also a great time to introduce the new 2006 Femnight, so the offer consist of the three 2004 labels with one of the new 2006 Femnights. In appreciation of Wine Woot's wonderful support of our wines we sent out a post card offering. It is so much more fun selling wine through wine woot rather than the old distributor three tier system. Wine woot is diffently the future.

ScottHarveyWines wrote:Been real busy finishing up harvest and just got on to see Marshal's wines being offered. They are great. My style of wine making with pH levels that will hold the fruit into agibility and go well with food. I called my buddy Don Galleano of Galleano Winery in Cucamonga and he says Marshal's wines are great as well. It seems the fruit to produce the Cucamonga Zinfandel is the same fruit I used in the new bottling of the 2006 InZinerator with the Femknight label. We had just a few cases of the 2004 InZinerator left over from the woot offering and we thought we would do a special offer to the woot comunity since we sold out on the woot offering. It is also a great time to introduce the new 2006 Femnight, so the offer consist of the three 2004 labels with one of the new 2006 Femnights. In appreciation of Wine Woot's wonderful support of our wines we sent out a post card offering. It is so much more fun selling wine through wine woot rather than the old distributor three tier system. Wine woot is diffently the future.

And North Carolinians cry a collective tear of disappointment...

ScottHarveyWines wrote:Been real busy finishing up harvest and just got on to see Marshal's wines being offered. They are great. My style of wine making with pH levels that will hold the fruit into agibility and go well with food. I called my buddy Don Galleano of Galleano Winery in Cucamonga and he says Marshal's wines are great as well. It seems the fruit to produce the Cucamonga Zinfandel is the same fruit I used in the new bottling of the 2006 InZinerator with the Femknight label. We had just a few cases of the 2004 InZinerator left over from the woot offering and we thought we would do a special offer to the woot comunity since we sold out on the woot offering. It is also a great time to introduce the new 2006 Femnight, so the offer consist of the three 2004 labels with one of the new 2006 Femnights. In appreciation of Wine Woot's wonderful support of our wines we sent out a post card offering. It is so much more fun selling wine through wine woot rather than the old distributor three tier system. Wine woot is diffently the future.

Thanks for the input on the Stuart, Scott. That and the Wooter reports, new and old, will push me over into the "buy" column.

Look forward to still more of your good Zins and Barbera for wooters!

laxdad wrote:OK, having gone in early on for 2 of the current offering and with thread traffic a bit slow, I thought this would be a good time for Newcomer Stupid Questions.

laxdad, those are some good questions. I believe that many people - especially newcomers - only read the main thread, so why not here?

Here's my take on a couple of them.

Does a woot-off ever occur here at winewoot?

Not yet, thank heaven! The fiscal impact of that on the wine.woot community would completely dwarf the minor economic hiccup the US is currently experiencing!

When someone who should know (i.e., the winemaker) says a wine will "cellar for 10 years" with no other qualifiers, are they referring to 10 years from the vintage date or 10 years from today's date?

I would have guessed that if the conversation is dated - e.g. a forum post - it would be from the time of the post, while if it was not dated - e.g. a statement on the winemaker's site - it would be from the vintage date.

Is it just me or does it seem odd that a winery would have a current offering on it's website with a "best to drink before 2008" description?

Not just you. Perhaps it would be kind to give them a clue that they need to update their site.

I do keep a running tally of the wine I've bought, and when I get around to drinking I do write down my impressions. Am I a heathen if my "written impressions" are caveman drawings compared to the eloquent descriptions I see posted elsewhere? I mean, I have a personal rating of 1 to 10 and it's pretty much "I would not drink this again" at the low end and "where can I buy a case at the lowest price" at the high end.

It's all good. (I'm happier being a wine-Neanderthal and being aware of the fact, than I would being a ridiculous snob and being unaware of that.) If you want to get anal about organizing your cellar and have a place to put your notes, you might want to take a peek at cellartracker.

Do you "gift out" wines you do not care for or wines you love?

I have tried a number of Pinot Noirs, and have only found a couple that don't smell like nail polish remover to me. Some of those were well made wines that other people really enjoyed. It just makes sense to me to find those wines homes where they can be properly appreciated. Also as I learn more, and become more confident in my tastes, I try to buy fewer things that I don't like, though that often loses out to my urges for novelty and experimentation. (And again, if I know a person particularly likes something, then my opinion is largely irrelevant when it comes to giving gifts.)

Is it unusual to try say 20+ different Pinot Noirs and really, really only love one or two?

See above.

What goes into your decisions on what wine to have with dinner tonight in terms of "I've had that bottle for months and never tried it" to "I have three cases of my favorite wine and my wife is strongly intonating I should probably drink it before I die"?

I do some of both, though currently - from being on wine.woot for far, far too long - I am paying a bit more attention to drinking windows.

-- T

we're back!

javadrinker wrote:The bottle wasn't warm but I thought I'd cool it down a bit so popped it into the freezer for that short amount of time. It was a nice temp when I popped the cork but dinner was ready so I didn't have time to let the wine get some air.
...
No real nose to speak and an explosion of cherries. No alcohol coming through either (only 13.4% listed on the label). I swear I thought I was drinking a Sangiovese.
...
Then after about an hour...bam...there was the light oak. Both on the nose and the palate. Nothing overpowering at all but nice. Then the pepper made an appearance. The tannins came and went soon after. The alcohol became a bit more pronounced on the nose after awhile but nothing that took away from the wine.

Great review!

I quoted a little bit of your review that makes me think perhaps the wine not only opened up/evolved with exposure to air, but perhaps also warmed up a bit. Am I reading too much into it?

Still just one labrat! What unnatural things are happening to the golden tickets?

SmilingBoognish wrote:Great review!

I quoted a little bit of your review that makes me think perhaps the wine not only opened up/evolved with exposure to air, but perhaps also warmed up a bit. Am I reading too much into it?

It may have been a combination of the two but I think the air had much more influence than the temp. The brief stint in the freezer didn't really drop the temp down too much. Probably not much below room temp. Overall I think a little cellaring may help but not much. It's ready now.

Hmmmm...like others, I'm wondering what happened to the rest of the rats. I was really curious about that Zin.

javadrinker wrote:It may have been a combination of the two but I think the air had much more influence than the temp. The brief stint in the freezer didn't really drop the temp down too much. Probably not much below room temp. Overall I think a little cellaring may help but not much. It's ready now.

Thanks!
I keep forgetting that it's not still summer everywhere. We've been having temps about 20-25 degrees farenheit over normal. We very often put the red wine in the fridge during dinner for 10-15 minutes so it doesn't overheat. Soon old man winter will be here, though!