chefjess wrote:deaconbluez-I tried to order as well and the state (in my address) popped up as California. Check your order.

I checked the winery website and they ship to Missouri. Was that mistakenly left off this list?

Damn! I just checked my receipt; it shows the shipping address as California. I didn't bother to check the state when I placed the order, just looked to make sure the street address was correct.

Well, the newbie to reds took Trents advice from the last post and went ahead and ordered this. Looking forward to hearing everyone's comments.

curkendall wrote:Would I be a bad person if I were to cook with this wine? I would be curious to hear from any vintners what they think about people cooking with their wines.

I don't know what the vintners would think but if you haven't had Merlot poached figs, you are truly missing out.

PS, ready for my 1st labrat experience. I'll drink it, not cook it.

Life is good! First the Chard and now a Merlot that drinks like Cab...whoo-hoo!!! Trap is set

After ordering the Chardonnay Trio I figured Merlot would be a nice addition to my wine stash, which seems to be decreasing at an alarming rate. Since "variety is the spice" and all that....guess this is one gal that likes a little variety so my order is in. If my delivery guy raises his eyebrows at my multiple orders, I am not responsible for my actions!!!!!

How about cellaring these Trent? Can we? Should we? For how long? Want to build me a cellar? Etc.

Winedavid39 wrote:very confident in this one that we doubled up on the Chard rats and included a Merlot in their package AND will have 3 more rats. Want this one to be widely tasted. I will let Trent go into more detail, but i have heard about this deal from very early on.

It almost became a woot cellars til i got cold feet about a pure Merlot play and Trent sold like 2,000 cases after winning a blind taste contest with Stanford Alumni association (oops, was i not suppose to divulge?).

If you look at the timing, the wine was secured during the hey day of the "Sideway's witch trials". Some very good Merlot floating around for rediculous per gallon pricing.

OK, so I was sitting here thinking I'm not going to order any wine for a while because my coworkers are starting to suspect a serious alcohol problem...but dude, how can I not go in? Cheap merlot from the Sideways witch trials, a former candidate for Woot Cellars? I hate (love) you guys.

kylemittskus wrote:You said yesterday that your merlot (I assume this one) drinks like a cab. Can you explain that comment a bit more for me?

Also, is this a bordeaux style or a fruit-forward style merlot?

I'm loving the price point.

Good Morning everyone - kind of fun to have back to back wines. Thank you Kyle for noticing the Merlot comment yesterday. It is the merlot I was talking about, what I meant is that this isn’t a fruity style of merlot; it drinks more like a Cabernet. It has good tannin structure with deep fruit that I think leans more to the black fruit and dried fruit. The balance on this wine is exceptional and it will stay open for 2-3 days and still drink really well. I’ve had huge success with this wine. Normally I bottle between 400 and 800 cases for C&T at a time. When I found this bottle ready merlot, I bought 10,432 gallons, which equals around 4,300 cases. In one purchase I over doubled my entire C&T Cellars production. I believe in this wine that much and the deal was just too good to be true. I didn’t bottle all this under C&T Cellars, a lot of it has been sold for private labels. We did a little advance Rat work with the merlot, so some of those who received the Chard also received the merlot so we can get comments out quickly. I know sideways was a long time ago, but it still has some effect on the merlot market. Those that purchase this woot will be very happy and probably find their new Napa Valley house wine at a crazy good price.

yumitori wrote:So does the Merlot source from different appellations, or is the Merlot from one and the Cabernet Sauvignon from the other?

The Merlot came from ST. Helena and Oak Knoll, the Cabernet was from St. Helena.

jwink wrote:Trent, congrats on the chard sellout. Can you share the "story behind the story" for what appears to be two or three wines blended for this final product. Maybe a good story about the "deal" you made to make it happen as well?

PS-Geography (distance) will make it difficult to be on the same golf course...how did round two go?

The beginning of this deal started in line at the bank to make a deposit. I ran into a winemaker friend just before harvest and he was all upset that they had to sell this awesome merlot. It turns out that the winery's production size was being determined by the marketing and sales team and they were falling behind on Merlot. Harvest was so close that it had to happen fast so I drove from the bank to the winery, offered him 25% more money then the other guy (who he didn't want to sell to) and picked up the wine 3 days later. When I got home, still in a little shock from what I had just done and told my wife, we both kind of freaked out! This was so much wine and I had no clue what I was going to do with it all. Thank God I bought it; it has saved my life over the last year with this economy. I have glass pours all over country and I lot of people that are really happy with me for passing along a great deal.

Golf was great - 5 birdies yesterday to finish tied for 5th - Pretty fun.

gcdyersb wrote:Trent-

Could you comment on the oak regimen for the components in this wine? Age of barrels, time in barrels, cooperage, etc. roughly estimating where needed. I'd like to know if the aromatics and flavors are more heavily oak influenced or if it's more about the fruit expression.

Are there any chemistry numbers you can provide (pH, ABV, TA)?

How do Oak Knoll and St. Helena differ? Are they cool, hot, or somewhere in-between?

Great questions: The oak was a mixture of French and American, the percentages of new wood I’m not sure of, but knowing the winery I would say probably 45 to 50%. The oak integrates really well in this wine, it doesn’t come off as oaky at all. As for the Appellations, Oak Knoll is definitely cooler then St. Helena and has more clay in the soil which Merlot can handle. Down the street is Black Bird that sells an $85 bottle of merlot, so they have no problem with the soil or climate. I have no chem stats – sorry.

CTmasterblender wrote:The beginning of this deal started in line at the bank to make a deposit. I ran into a winemaker friend just before harvest and he was all upset that they had to sell this awesome merlot. It turns out that the winery's production size was being determined by the marketing and sales team and they were falling behind on Merlot. Harvest was so close that it had to happen fast so I drove from the bank to the winery, offered him 25% more money then the other guy (who he didn't want to sell to) and picked up the wine 3 days later. When I got home, still in a little shock from what I had just done and told my wife, we both kind of freaked out! This was so much wine and I had no clue what I was going to do with it all. Thank God I bought it; it has saved my life over the last year with this economy. I have glass pours all over country and I lot of people that are really happy with me for passing along a great deal.

Golf was great - 5 birdies yesterday to finish tied for 5th - Pretty fun.

Wow, what a fantastic story for the day in the life of the negociant. Maybe this is a question for the other q&a but do you intend to keep your case production up to its currently augmented levels or is this a case of taking the find when it comes?

I'm overflowing in wine right now, waiting for tasters, but my willpower hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

Riesling18 wrote:Ok, I've bought the cab from the Woot Off, the Russian River Chard, and now one of this merlot. Ok, CT, you'd better be great, as I've tasted none of your wines yet and am going off your sight and comments. Sigh.... Love the fruit forward reds, and drinks like a cab implies full, rich, possibly oaky flavor, instead of watered down red that merlots can seem to be after drinking reds over time. Shame on you, Woot, for enabling my addiction! ;}

Thank you, I think you will be very pleased.

curkendall wrote:Would I be a bad person if I were to cook with this wine? I would be curious to hear from any vintners what they think about people cooking with their wines.

I cook with my wine all the time, the better the ingredients the better the food.

deaconbluez wrote:Last wooter to woot: deaconbluez

Missouri is not on the list? Missouri is always on the list! I'm hoping that is a mistake, since woot took my order without a glitch and I wanted to get in on this in time to have a chance to be a lab ROUS.

I don't care what Miles thinks, Merlot done well is a beautiful thing!

I will look into our license and get back to you.

kylemittskus wrote:How about cellaring these Trent? Can we? Should we? For how long? Want to build me a cellar? Etc.

Well it's already an '05, but it stays open so well for a couple days that I would say it still has a few years or more. I'm kind of a drink now guy with most merlots. I sure wish Robert Pecota still made theirs, it was the best aging merlot in California that I ever ran across.

canonizer wrote:Wow, what a fantastic story for the day in the life of the negociant. Maybe this is a question for the other q&a but do you intend to keep your case production up to its currently augmented levels or is this a case of taking the find when it comes?

I'm overflowing in wine right now, waiting for tasters, but my willpower hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

This deal showed me that I have the ability to handle more then I thought. It would have to be a great deal again, but I have bumped my average bottling size.

I'm heading out for a 4-5 hours, thanks for all the questions and comments.

RATS - where are you? I think we should have a few posting tonight or tomorrow.

CTmasterblender wrote:I will look into our license and get back to you.

I also notice AZ on your site's ship to list but not available for this offer. Any chance of ordering this?

Thanks!

CTmasterblender wrote:Harvest was so close that it had to happen fast so I drove from the bank to the winery, offered him 25% more money than the other guy (who he didn't want to sell to) and picked up the wine 3 days later.

I wonder if the other guy's initials are CH.

(I am projecting just enough space in my cooler for this, but am waiting on the early rats. I need red that I can drink now without a lot of time in the decanter beforehand.)

CTmasterblender wrote:I will look into our license and get back to you.

Thanks. I'd really like to be "in" on this one.

Does anyone have a take on the value of this offering? Tempted, but may have too much Merlot in the fridge already...

Also, on the style, it sounds like this is more similar to a Bordeaux than new world Merlot - is that fair?

[quote postid="3235801" user="CTmasterblender"]The beginning of this deal started in line at the bank to make a deposit. I ran into a winemaker friend just before harvest and he was all upset that they had to sell this awesome merlot. It turns out that the winery's production size was being determined by the marketing and sales team and they were falling behind on Merlot. Harvest was so close that it had to happen fast so I drove from the bank to the winery, offered him 25% more money then the other guy (who he didn't want to sell to) and picked up the wine 3 days later. When I got home, still in a little shock from what I had just done and told my wife, we both kind of freaked out! This was so much wine and I had no clue what I was going to do with it all. Thank God I bought it; it has saved my life over the last year with this economy. I have glass pours all over country and I lot of people that are really happy with me for passing along a great deal.

So just to confirm, Trent is not the actual winemaker but rather sources the already made wine from a wine producer and then puts his label on them and sells? Sorry I am a little confused at the relationship..

Druesaft wrote:Also, on the style, it sounds like this is more similar to a Bordeaux than new world Merlot - is that fair?

Weird, because I was getting the exact opposite vibe. Maybe I can't read though.

I'm not a fan of Cali style fruity merlot (or cab either) But Bordeaux, and Bordeaux style Merlots and Merlot based blends rank among some of my very favorite wine.

Druesaft wrote:Does anyone have a take on the value of this offering? Tempted, but may have too much Merlot in the fridge already...

Also, on the style, it sounds like this is more similar to a Bordeaux than new world Merlot - is that fair?

I am also getting the sense that this is going to be undeniably from California.

I'm on the fence until a rodent confirms those magic words that take summer time fruit bombs to the next level for me: coffee and chocolate.

kurtswa wrote:
So just to confirm, Trent is not the actual winemaker but rather sources the already made wine from a wine producer and then puts his label on them and sells? Sorry I am a little confused at the relationship..

Start reading here.

saxwizerd45 wrote:I am also getting the sense that this is going to be undeniably from California.

Me too, but I rather enjoy CA merlot.

kylemittskus wrote:How about cellaring these Trent? Can we? Should we? For how long? Want to build me a cellar? Etc.

Why celler a $13 bottle of Merlot? That is for drinking, apparently on the front porch! Hmmm....2 or 3...

I am not drinking any baking merlot.

Wait, I guess I am:

Last wooter to woot: andyduncan

I need this to train my palate before the next Wellington Mystery Wine Contest.

SmilingBoognish wrote:Me too, but I rather enjoy CA merlot.

I think this from the negociant confused me some: "this isn’t a fruity style of merlot; it drinks more like a Cabernet. It has good tannin structure with deep fruit that I think leans more to the black fruit and dried fruit." Still CA I guess but wrong grape

CTmasterblender wrote:I cook with my wine all the time, the better the ingredients the better the food.

Well said.

Trent or Winedavid:

Is it possible to give a ballpark figure of what this wine would retail for if it had the label of the winery it was sourced from on it?

kurtswa wrote:[quote postid="3235801" user="CTmasterblender"]The beginning of this deal started in line at the bank to make a deposit. I ran into a winemaker friend just before harvest and he was all upset that they had to sell this awesome merlot. It turns out that the winery's production size was being determined by the marketing and sales team and they were falling behind on Merlot. Harvest was so close that it had to happen fast so I drove from the bank to the winery, offered him 25% more money then the other guy (who he didn't want to sell to) and picked up the wine 3 days later. When I got home, still in a little shock from what I had just done and told my wife, we both kind of freaked out! This was so much wine and I had no clue what I was going to do with it all. Thank God I bought it; it has saved my life over the last year with this economy. I have glass pours all over country and I lot of people that are really happy with me for passing along a great deal.

So just to confirm, Trent is not the actual winemaker but rather sources the already made wine from a wine producer and then puts his label on them and sells? Sorry I am a little confused at the relationship..

With this label and my Gauge Wines label I am what you call a Negociant - read the blog to your right for a defination and any other questions you may have about Negociants. I make wine under my Moffett Vineyards label - www.moffettvineyards.com

paryb wrote:Weird, because I was getting the exact opposite vibe. Maybe I can't read though.

I'm not a fan of Cali style fruity merlot (or cab either) But Bordeaux, and Bordeaux style Merlots and Merlot based blends rank among some of my very favorite wine.

This is not a red fruit juice bomb; it has a lot of complexity. It’s best to wait for the rats if you’re on the fence. I can talk and shape the wine, but it's best to get it from them.

openfood wrote:Trent or Winedavid:

Is it possible to give a ballpark figure of what this wine would retail for if it had the label of the winery it was sourced from on it?

$28 to $38 - can't be more specific to protect my source.

CTmasterblender wrote:With this label and my Gauge Wines label I am what you call a Negociant - read the blog to your right for a defination and any other questions you may have about Negociants. I make wine under my Moffett Vineyards label - www.moffettvineyards.com

thank you.
I just checked your Moffett label wines. That Syrah sounds nice.

I agree with Trent..where are the rats?

We're members of Chehalem and have some Ribbon Ridge Pinot in the fridge, but have not opened it yet. We joined in 2007 after purchasing their Inox chardonnay at a local market. I've had a lot more of their whites, and only a bottle or two of their pinot. The interesting whites are what keep us signed up for their club, but the pinot I've had is also very good if a bit expensive. My recollection is that it was a nicely textured wine, with lots of the typical "pretty" aromas many pinot noirs get without much earthiness. Of course, this was not from the same vineyard or vintage, so your Ribbon Ridge could be something completely different. Suffice to say, I personally like the winemakers style.

kurtswa wrote:thank you.
I just checked your Moffett label wines. That Syrah sounds nice.

It's a great vineyard that we have been working with for 16 years now. Probably my favorite vineyard I work with.