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

-- T

I agree timbyrd. There's so many different threads on WW that a newcomer might get lost. Maybe someone should start an "east to get to" newbie thread... and if there is one, I haven't seen it?? I've learned a lot here, but there's a lot more to learn.

Great review by Javadrinker... just that 1 labrat report(along with others' recommendations of Stuart wines) was enough for me to pull the trigger.
~And I got wine comin' tomorrow~
*smiles

Any "predictions" on what type of wine will be offered at midnight?

boaz38 wrote:Any "predictions" on what type of wine will be offered at midnight?

I predict dairy.

boaz38 wrote:Any "predictions" on what type of wine will be offered at midnight?

No wine - cheese probably, or chocolate - something that goes with wine (per the rat)

merbill wrote:No wine - cheese probably, or chocolate - something that goes with wine (per the rat)

thank you all.........

I was waiting on more labrats to chime in, but after missing out on the Iron Horse, I decided I couldn't let another cab franc pass me by.

I am pretty disappointed that more rats didn't chime in tho...

If anyone wants to come off a bottle of the CF....PM me.....otherwise I may have to bite the bullet and order some from the winery. CF and PV are my two new favorites but I cant bring myself to Woot on this even though their last offering was tasty.

nmsoonergirl wrote:I was waiting on more labrats to chime in, but after missing out on the Iron Horse, I decided I couldn't let another cab franc pass me by.

I am pretty disappointed that more rats didn't chime in tho...

Same story here. CF is a pure green light for me, but I needed some rattage on the other two wines.

Plus I was hoping to get some additional winemaker discussion on the CF and Tatria since I'm not familiar with the Temecula appellation. He commented on the Zin since there were some questions, but hasn't added anything else.

I'm not necessarily disappointed, but I was looking for that extra push to buy.

... and still no new rats reporting in Would have been nice to here some feedback, but I may cave in anyway with 90 minutes left

gcdyersb wrote:Same story here. CF is a pure green light for me, but I needed some rattage on the other two wines.

Plus I was hoping to get some additional winemaker discussion on the CF and Tatria since I'm not familiar with the Temecula appellation. He commented on the Zin since there were some questions, but hasn't added anything else.

I'm not necessarily disappointed, but I was looking for that extra push to buy.

Tatria has always been one of our most popular wines with the general public and with our wine club members. I know that comment might not help you, but I can assure you that many people really love it.

As far as our Cabernet Franc, my wife Susan has long stated it is her favorite varietal. Again, not too many people do a 100% CF in California (less than 20), and I am very proud to say that I am one of them.

Thank you again for your interest,

Marshall Stuart

nmsoonergirl wrote:I was waiting on more labrats to chime in, but after missing out on the Iron Horse, I decided I couldn't let another cab franc pass me by.

I am pretty disappointed that more rats didn't chime in tho...

My thoughts exactly, but I'm going in anyway. The winemaker was fine, the wine has been vouched for, and the set has what I like - variety. I also want to show some love to the 'Mec. Its a fun place to go and spend some time.

Sometimes its just a slow week...who knows why.

StuartCellarsWine wrote:Tatria has always been one of our most popular wines with the general public and with our wine club members. I know that comment might not help you, but I can assure you that many people really love it.

As far as our Cabernet Franc, my wife Susan has long stated it is her favorite varietal. Again, not too many people do a 100% CF in California (less than 20), and I am very proud to say that I am one of them.

Thank you again for your interest,

Marshall Stuart

Marshall, Thanks for being a good sport here! I'm looking forward to my wine.

StuartCellarsWine wrote:Tatria has always been one of our most popular wines with the general public and with our wine club members. I know that comment might not help you, but I can assure you that many people really love it.

As far as our Cabernet Franc, my wife Susan has long stated it is her favorite varietal. Again, not too many people do a 100% CF in California (less than 20), and I am very proud to say that I am one of them.

Thank you again for your interest,

Marshall Stuart

Echoing the thanks from others; and looking forward to a visit next month! Will call ahead...

I have to apologize. I was the Tatria lab rat. I was in PAsadena and not home until last night and missed the three Fed Ex attempts to deliver (Tuesday thru Thursday). I went up to the office to pick it up and they tried to not give me the unknown box of wine to me saying it was prepped to return. I told them their system told me I could pick it up anytime today, so after about 20 minutes of futzing around they gave me the box.

Once in the car I opened it and found the Tatria and the Three Sisters Senita cheese. What great surprise! I feel bad that my trip to Pasadena prevented an earlier report. Anyway, here is the late wine report.

I opened the bottle, decanted it and sampled it immediately. A distinct toast and coffee nose and flavors on top of the traditional meritage flavors and that good Temecula cab franc set of flavors, too. Big tannins that need a little time.

After 15 minutes the tannins started to soften but it was not ready yet. After 30 minutes some distinct softening occured and the wine rounded out somewhat into an even bigger mouth feel. After 60 minutes it was fully ready and now over an hour and a half into it I find it still superb.

The tannins have opened to a now softer level of firm intensity. The wine fills the mouth with coffee, toast, bell pepper, cassis, dark fruit with a little heat, and a sort of vanilla/caramel hint. The flavors linger on the tongue and palate. The wine is super, about 90 points I would venture.

There is a hint of orange to the color of this wine, reminding me of an aged bordeaux. While not aged a lot and still appearing to be a cherry light purple red in color, the sunlight coming in the front windows going through the wine gave it that orange aged glow. I'd wager this wine has 5-7 or more years of life in it. It is not a big bordeaux to lay down for the ages but it is a super wine that is made to drink now and for the next few years. I am glad I bought this and will be back at the winery later this year or early next year.

I apologize again for the late review, but Wine David caught me away from the mothership with his gift. I'll sample the cheese later! Thanks again!

subinsignia wrote:I have to apologize. I was the Tatria lab rat.

Thanks sub. I talked myself into two when it came back after the detour, but was still feeling iffy about it (especially after organizing my wine last night...too much in house). This calms me down quite a bit. I'm looking forward to the new year when I'm drinking through my collection again to give this a shot.

spdrcr05 wrote:

WD, I'd point out that Mom is in town again in hopes of weedling rat status... but the reason she's in town is that I'm flying out today and I need someone to prevent the teenager from having a party with all the other juice I've purchased.

And I'll apologize as well... I returned from my trip last night to find that Mom had accepted shipment of a FedEx box with a bottle of the Zin and a wedge of Serena cheese. Probably much too late to have any influence on peoples buying decisions. And while Mom did tell me about my Esoterica ... she failed to mention the FedEx box... otherwise I've have made her an newbie labrat / WW member.

8 days after purchase, and still no tracking number -- is this common?

It might be time to bring back those labrat emails, WD.

spdrcr05 wrote:And I'll apologize as well... I returned from my trip last night to find that Mom had accepted shipment of a FedEx box with a bottle of the Zin and a wedge of Serena cheese. Probably much too late to have any influence on peoples buying decisions. And while Mom did tell me about my Esoterica ... she failed to mention the FedEx box... otherwise I've have made her an newbie labrat / WW member.

Post your labrat notes anyway, and Cheron will add to the labrat thread for future knowledge!

sjgilbert4 wrote:8 days after purchase, and still no tracking number -- is this common?

No. No tracking number either yet. Sometimes it will just show up without the tracking info, so you could still get it this week.

subinsignia wrote:Anyway, here is the late wine report.

Good belated report Sub. Too bad we weren't able to hook up this go around during your So Cal visit. Let us know next time you come out and we'll set something up with you, me, Sparky, T-byrd and anyone else we can pull away from the computer.

sjgilbert4 wrote:8 days after purchase, and still no tracking number -- is this common?

Just received the wine. No tracking number yet.

Okay... in the interest of being complete.. here is my VERY late labrat report. To be fair to me... I posted when I purchased that I was leaving town and couldn't rat. There, I'll stop whinging and start writing.

So, The Divine Miss Wendy and are just back (i.e. we landed late last night) from my work trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico. TDMW came out for the last 5 days of a 10 day jaunt to see the beautiful desert southwest where I had lived for a period in the mid-90's. So we are fairly up to speed on our spicy food quotient... which didn't stop us from getting take-out thai from our favorite place, Thai Basil in Chantilly, VA.

With dinner secured (pad thai for TDMW & extra spicy Thai fried rice with Chicken for me) I then committed a cardinal sin... I simply popped and poured. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake as we both noted that this wine was a tad hot on the nose and initial taste. I immediately noticed the bright red cherry color and some extremely long legs. The initial flavor was even with a strong tannic bite but balanced by some very big ripe fruit flavors, however it was lacking in what I can only call integration. My initial impression was that I was drinking a most excellent zin... but WAY too soon. As I go through the thread, I see that Marshall himself says the window for this wine is 5-7 years from vintage ... which means 2011 at the earliest. I'd say that I most heartily concur with this assessment. I'm truly grateful for the labrat bottle as now I don't have to open one of my purchases to discover this.

TDMW comments were as follows, "it's smooth.. it has a strong alcohol smell, like it needs to sit for awhile. A very nice finish though"

We let the rest of the wine sit for an hour or so and as dinner progressed it began to open up very nicely. The tannins became even more pronounced and the fruit more forward without the heat from our initial taste... however still very distinct tastes in very distinct and abrupt transitions. Boom fruit... tongue curling tannin... long finish.

So to summarize... a very good Zin... well on par with anything else I've had, just not ready to drink without at least an hour or more (I'd start with 2 if I was going to open one of my purchased bottles) in the decanter. I think I'm going to sit on mine for at least a year and more likely 2 before I open one.

spdrcr05 wrote:Okay... in the interest of being complete.. here is my VERY late labrat report. To be fair to me... I posted when I purchased that I was leaving town and couldn't rat. There, I'll stop whinging and start writing.

So, The Divine Miss Wendy and are just back (i.e. we landed late last night) from my work trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico. TDMW came out for the last 5 days of a 10 day jaunt to see the beautiful desert southwest where I had lived for a period in the mid-90's. So we are fairly up to speed on our spicy food quotient... which didn't stop us from getting take-out thai from our favorite place, Thai Basil in Chantilly, VA.

With dinner secured (pad thai for TDMW & extra spicy Thai fried rice with Chicken for me) I then committed a cardinal sin... I simply popped and poured. In retrospect, that was probably a mistake as we both noted that this wine was a tad hot on the nose and initial taste. I immediately noticed the bright red cherry color and some extremely long legs. The initial flavor was even with a strong tannic bite but balanced by some very big ripe fruit flavors, however it was lacking in what I can only call integration. My initial impression was that I was drinking a most excellent zin... but WAY too soon. As I go through the thread, I see that Marshall himself says the window for this wine is 5-7 years from vintage ... which means 2011 at the earliest. I'd say that I most heartily concur with this assessment. I'm truly grateful for the labrat bottle as now I don't have to open one of my purchases to discover this.

TDMW comments were as follows, "it's smooth.. it has a strong alcohol smell, like it needs to sit for awhile. A very nice finish though"

We let the rest of the wine sit for an hour or so and as dinner progressed it began to open up very nicely. The tannins became even more pronounced and the fruit more forward without the heat from our initial taste... however still very distinct tastes in very distinct and abrupt transitions. Boom fruit... tongue curling tannin... long finish.

So to summarize... a very good Zin... well on par with anything else I've had, just not ready to drink without at least an hour or more (I'd start with 2 if I was going to open one of my purchased bottles) in the decanter. I think I'm going to sit on mine for at least a year and more likely 2 before I open one.

Thanks! And you did state you would not be able to labrat.

I still think there needs to be a labrat box on the buy page for us to indicate that we would be available to labrat. Would help WD to avoid shipping to someone who will be out of town or unable to labrat.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Thanks! And you did state you would not be able to labrat.

I still think there needs to be a labrat box on the buy page for us to indicate that we would be available to labrat. Would help WD to avoid shipping to someone who will be out of town or unable to labrat.

Oy.

Okay I mushed you guys in with java's report in the interest of keeping the offerings together

spdrcr - you gonna post stuff about the serena in the cheesy thread?

cheron98 wrote:Oy.

Okay I mushed you guys in with java's report in the interest of keeping the offerings together

spdrcr - you gonna post stuff about the serena in the cheesy thread?

Yes I will, tomorrow when I eat some... although I made a mini post from the sample we had at NoVa/DC #7 when the cheese offering went up.... of course I didn't know I had some waiting at home, silly boy that I am.

Stuart order showed up today. Still no shipping notification from woot. Just an FYI to all.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Stuart order showed up today. Still no shipping notification from woot. Just an FYI to all.

Picked up from UPS last night.
Can't wait for the weekend to begin!

Opened the ZIn and the CF. Both are awful, I think they have permanently damaged my palate. The CF tasted like it had zero sugar. Obviously it's not supposed to be a sweet wine, but this was tart to the point where it really tastes like something is wrong. Thinking the Zin might save the order, I popped the cork and found it was actually WORSE! It tastes very chemically, almost like there's windex in it.

UNDRINKABLE!!!

Don't know what they guy above me had, but I had a wonderful meal this evening and enjoyed the marritage and the cab franc. I wish I had purchased 10 of this offering; AND I bought originally for the zin, which is still in the bottle. Both wines were excellent, and among the best I've purchased from wine.woot. BTW, Muscatel has plenty of Cn(H2O)n, if that's your thang.

kblais wrote:Don't know what they guy above me had, but I had a wonderful meal this evening and enjoyed the marritage and the cab franc. I wish I had purchased 10 of this offering; AND I bought originally for the zin, which is still in the bottle. Both wines were excellent, and among the best I've purchased from wine.woot. BTW, Muscatel has plenty of Cn(H2O)n, if that's your thang.

Just chiming in - DW and I opened the Tatria on Halloween, drinking it by candle light as we answered the door to the little ghouls and goblins making their rounds. What an "interesting" hue on this one as it sat in front of one of the candles... blood red...
Sorry I didn't go in for 3.
Happy we'll be visiting Stuart Cellars in a little over a week!!!

eh270 wrote:Opened the ZIn and the CF. Both are awful, I think they have permanently damaged my palate. The CF tasted like it had zero sugar. Obviously it's not supposed to be a sweet wine, but this was tart to the point where it really tastes like something is wrong. Thinking the Zin might save the order, I popped the cork and found it was actually WORSE! It tastes very chemically, almost like there's windex in it.

UNDRINKABLE!!!

What sort of wine do you like? I've had all three at the winery and home and they are one of Temecula's best.