Ummmmm......No.

To steal the recently coined term... Cork-blocked by the winery. Guess they made my decision easy. No shipping to NH, no trying or sharing their wines for me.

rpm wrote:Truth to tell, Gallo Hearty Burgundy...

Wow, that was what our family always had on hand when I was growing up. I really developed a liking for it when I was around 12-18 years old. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

IS THIS THE LOWEST EVER (PRICE PER BOTTLE)W.W OFFER?

mandoo500 wrote:IS THIS THE LOWEST EVER (PRICE PER BOTTLE)W.W OFFER?

no...during the woot off i got a case of the kaleidoscope for $84.98, including shipping.

All's quiet on the wine.woot front... Too quiet.

I guess the rats were all poisoned.

jplamb wrote:I guess the rats were all poisoned.

That's awesome. Almost lost my coffee on that remark.

pandasetebamboo wrote:I'm not saying this isn't a good deal but the older 2004 crossfire only sells for $9.99 each anyways. So we aren't talking high end to begin with. http://www.superwinesearch.com/search/JanKris+crossfire+2004/

Well, according to the winery website, each of the 4 reds is priced at $18. Even without shipping, $90/216 = a 58% discount so this is a good deal.

The fact that these may be lower priced wines doesn't mean they're not a good value. We'll see what the 'rats have to say.

Reading all this, Im happy i bought my pedroncelli case last month for 10 bucks more. and its very tasty!

rpm wrote:I will be curious to see if there are any 'rats with experienced palates whose opinions I trust.

Although, look at the mixed feedback received on the Gazzi offering . . . ugh.

Seriously, I know that rats are quiet.... where ARE they?

The Gazzi was interesting and I had very high hopes, but the Chard was perplexing. Everyone that had some in our group had different comments. The Pinot was green IMHO, the 2007 especially. All were a tad harsh. Even after some time they didn't go where they should have gone for age, area, etc.

vjmc3 wrote:Seriously, I know that rats are quiet.... where ARE they?

It is odd. Did they get the wines? Or do none of them want to be the first out of the gate?

mother wrote:Fair enough. I just felt really uneasy about the fact that I was a cheerleader during that previous offering, and then it got fed to the sink...

Mother, PM for you.

EddyGurge wrote:It is odd. Did they get the wines? Or do none of them want to be the first out of the gate?

Aren't they scheduled for fedex delivery on Fridays? If that's the case then a lot of people won't even have them yet.

FedEx normally visits us at 1030am but they arrived today at noon and sometimes we don't get wine packages until 230pm (central).

There are the whole temperature and tasting opportunity issues...

Let's pump the brakes a bit. You have all weekend to deliberate, so give it some time. I'd rather a thorough report than a rushed one anyways.

I ordered the Jancris 5 pack sampler in the fall of 2009 and it was pretty bad stuff. I let a couple of the bottles cellar, but that also did not help.

Although it didn't get poured down the sink, it was consumed with friends after a few other bottles of higher quality wine had been drunk that evening.

I would have to say, after purchasing many Woot wines, this was definetely the worst offering I have purchased. Proceed with caution!

vjmc3 wrote:Seriously, I know that rats are quiet.... where ARE they?

Dude, I was a rat last Friday - wines arrived about 1:30 Friday afternoon, Pacific Coast time and I was the first rat to squeak . . .

trife86 wrote:Reading all this, Im happy i bought my pedroncelli case last month for 10 bucks more. and its very tasty!

Agreed... seems like too much bad press on this deal. I wish the winery would contribute to the discussion.

divadrabnud wrote:Dude, I was a rat last Friday - wines arrived about 1:30 Friday afternoon, Pacific Coast time and I was the first rat to squeak . . .

Ah, that makes sense. When I was a rat, it arrived on the day before... they must have changed the timing of things, or I just had great mail service! It is 5 o'clock somewhere!

vjmc3 wrote:It is 5 o'clock somewhere!

Actually, funny you say that right at this time. during this hour the time of 5 o'clock actually falls out in the middle of the ocean somewhere I believe. So there are some lucky people on a transatlantic cruise ship. Also, I think Praia, Cape Verde it may be the 5 o'clock hour right now, but that is because they do not have daylight savings.....

We need our rats tonight! The world is going to end tomorrow! I'll probably still be here, but I imagine at least half the rats will be raptured and won't be able to report!

I live 30min from the winery and have been several times. We purchased this case from the tasting room a few months ago (little cheaper, but hey...). All were very good. We especially enjoyed the Picaro. It is high quality wine they are trying to move to make room for their newer stuff. No quality lost and a bargain for us.

too bad they spelled Riatta wrong

jhkey wrote:We need our rats tonight! The world is going to end tomorrow! I'll probably still be here, but I imagine at least half the rats will be raptured and won't be able to report!

Don't you mean "ratured"??

(sorry...it's been a long week!)

Maybe all the Rats are planning for the end of the world tomorrow. Actually, if that were the case, I would be pounding down the wine right now. "Drinking window is today and tomorrow...then wine goes bad because of the fire and flames we are all facing..."

mandoo500 wrote:IS THIS THE LOWEST EVER (PRICE PER BOTTLE)W.W OFFER?

1/7/11 - 6 White Oak Sauv B. for $34.99, less than $6/bottle.

It is quite nice tasting, too!

reamorama wrote:I live 30min from the winery and have been several times. We purchased this case from the tasting room a few months ago (little cheaper, but hey...). All were very good. We especially enjoyed the Picaro. It is high quality wine they are trying to move to make room for their newer stuff. No quality lost and a bargain for us.

So... How much WAS the case at the tasting room?

cheron98 wrote:Oh super. That should keep me busy later tonight when I should be doing other things like getting ready for the Detroit wine.woot gathering tomorrow!

Ah, you'll be in rapture for the Rapture!

divadrabnud wrote:Although, look at the mixed feedback received on the Gazzi offering . . . ugh.

Seemed to me that the lions share of the Gazzi griping was due to the "wine diamonds" that were quite thick on the bottom of the corks of the older vintage Chard. Freaked some folks out, but the wine (Pinots & Chard) was superb QPR.

gregorylane wrote:Seemed to me that the lions share of the Gazzi griping was due to the "wine diamonds" that were quite thick on the bottom of the corks of the older vintage Chard. Freaked some folks out, but the wine (Pinots & Chard) was superb QPR.

I don't know about "lion's share" but I do know griping when I hear it, and quite a bit of it had nothing to with tartrate crystals. Personally, I couldn't convince myself that buying 4 bottles of 5-year old Chard was a wise move, even for "table wine". The offering had numerous red flags (even if Scott H. was a supporter).

Labrat reporting in...

First, thank-you for the golden ticket honors, I just opened the Picaro 2005. Was happy to receive this selection as I enjoy zins alot and this one is 50% zin (+25% merlot and 25% cab sav - sounds like a good combination to me).

I plan to drink this at various intervals tonight... hubby has food poisoning from eating out last night so he won't be chiming in but may have a couple of friends stop in. On initial opening and pour it seems to have a pretty mild nose. I smell some oak (toasted marshmallow as I like to refer to it) buts pretty muted and fades quickly. So far it seems pretty light and not too complex in my opinion still fairly smooth and I imagine it would go well with a light pasta dish or other light food.

Will report again later, cheers!

PS - how do I post an image of the wine?


Continued here

divadrabnud wrote:I don't know about "lion's share" but I do know griping when I hear it, and quite a bit of it had nothing to with tartrate crystals. Personally, I couldn't convince myself that buying 4 bottles of 5-year old Chard was a wise move, even for "table wine". The offering had numerous red flags (even if Scott H. was a supporter).

I suspect there were a few cases of bad Chard that got out, but if I could get another case as good as the case I received, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat!

bsevern wrote:I suspect there were a few cases of bad Chard that got out, but if I could get another one as good as the one I got, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat!

Granted, that's always a risk with older whites, and especially with those that may or may not have been warehoused well.

Looking forward to how the rat'ing turn out on this.

jveauthier wrote: PS - how do I post an image of the wine?

To post an image, it needs to be hosted elsewhere, then take the link to the image and put [ img ] before the link and [ /img ] after the link, like:

[ img ]http://MYPICTURE.COM/NAKEDGRAPES.JPG [ /img ]

Remove spaces inside the brackets (done here so the forum software doesn't try to post a non-existent image

jveauthier wrote:
Labrat reporting in...

First, thank-you for the golden ticket honors, I just opened the Picaro 2005. Was happy to receive this selection as I enjoy zins alot and this one is 50% zin (+25% merlot and 25% cab sav - sounds like a good combination to me).

I plan to drink this at various intervals tonight... hubby has food poisoning from eating out last night so he won't be chiming in but may have a couple of friends stop in. On initial opening and pour it seems to have a pretty mild nose. I smell some oak (toasted marshmallow as I like to refer to it) buts pretty muted and fades quickly. So far it seems pretty light and not too complex in my opinion still fairly smooth and I imagine it would go well with a light pasta dish or other light food.

Will report again later, cheers!

PS - how do I post an image of the wine?

(6:30 mountain time)
OK... its been open a few hours and the Picaro has definitely changed some, it definitely has more fruit (strawberry) on the palette and is a little richer, definitely more flavor than when I first opened it, not a bad wine for sure.

Continued here

divadrabnud wrote:I don't know about "lion's share" but I do know griping when I hear it, and quite a bit of it had nothing to with tartrate crystals. Personally, I couldn't convince myself that buying 4 bottles of 5-year old Chard was a wise move, even for "table wine". The offering had numerous red flags (even if Scott H. was a supporter).

I feel strongly that the Gazzi offering was outstanding, I would buy three more cases if it were available again.

divadrabnud wrote:I don't know about "lion's share" but I do know griping when I hear it, and quite a bit of it had nothing to with tartrate crystals. Personally, I couldn't convince myself that buying 4 bottles of 5-year old Chard was a wise move, even for "table wine". The offering had numerous red flags (even if Scott H. was a supporter).

I'm going to chime in with the other Gazzi supporters (seems like we've highjacked a few threads recently) but most of the Gazzi complainers mentioned the crystals, which makes me not trust their opinion. Harsh, I know, but sensible I think. Both the pinot noirs and chardonnay werent' typical for the varietals, but I thought they were all excellent.

If more Gazzi shows up on here, I'm in for the most I can buy -- it's an excellent value for a very very good wine. Some certainly received bad bottles, but mine were universally great (for the cost).

jbfowlertx wrote:I'm going to chime in with the other Gazzi supporters (seems like we've highjacked a few threads recently) but most of the Gazzi complainers mentioned the crystals, which makes me not trust their opinion. Harsh, I know, but sensible I think. Both the pinot noirs and chardonnay werent' typical for the varietals, but I thought they were all excellent.

If more Gazzi shows up on here, I'm in for the most I can buy -- it's an excellent value for a very very good wine. Some certainly received bad bottles, but mine were universally great (for the cost).

I had the Chard tonight with grilled Salmon and it was a very good pairing. Just a little citrus and oak to go with the sweetness and charring of the fish. I had one of the Pinots a month ago and was also pleased with it. I concur that is a very good QPR.