p2002 wrote:it's Invino. decent sales site they've been referenced before on WW. No threat to WW, not the same community spirit, but fair value and some interesting wines. I actually bought some CH wine from them in the past. On a side note I was introduced to CH through WW via the Havens liquidation, seems they bought out all the black and blue.
The fact that I am spending this much time OT says something about this current wine offer. IMHO

What did you think of the CH/Havens Black and Blue?

It's still available on their website and I was thinking about ordering some (Lot 208 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet/Syrah - This was Havens Black & Blue), it's $15/bottle, but a 50/50 mix of Cab/Syrah sounds intriguing and the Havens Black & Blue got terrific reviews.

I hope WD coughs up something nice this week for us enduring the last couple of under-par WW offerings.

Funny thing about cheap wine. My Mom has been an accountant/office manager for wineries for the past 20+ years. She started out working for a little known old California winery called Weibel, at their beautiful Redwood Vally winery. For many years Weibel 's claim to fame was their $4/bottle "Green Hungarian." Most of their wines and sparkling wines were between $5-$10/bottle. Once a year they would have a big tasting event up there called "Taste of Redwood Valley", one of those deals where you buy an event branded wine glass, which is your ticket to taste at the participating wineries that weekend. This would also tend to be when the wineries would unload their excess inventory, and the "drink it now" wine. At Weibel a lot of the wine was getting blown out for $60 a case, and it was flying out the door. I doubt the winery made any $$ on it, but it's amazing that people will hoard cheap wine, even if they don't really love it.

I suspect that even though the current offering isn't up to par for a majority of the "in the know" WW crowd, and winery participation was a big zero, and the last JanKris offering was fairly unanimously viewed as plonk, that WW will still sell this stuff by the truck load.

bsevern wrote:I hope WD coughs up something nice this week for us enduring the last couple of under-par WW offerings.

Funny thing about cheap wine. My Mom has been an accountant/office manager for wineries for the past 20+ years. She started out working for a little known old California winery called Weibel, at their beautiful Redwood Vally winery. For many years Weibel 's claim to fame was their $4/bottle "Green Hungarian." Most of their wines and sparkling wines were between $5-$10/bottle. Once a year they would have a big tasting event up there called "Taste of Redwood Valley", one of those deals where you buy an event branded wine glass, which is your ticket to taste at the participating wineries that weekend. This would also tend to be when the wineries would unload their excess inventory, and the "drink it now" wine. At Weibel a lot of the wine was getting blown out for $60 a case, and it was flying out the door. I doubt the winery made any $$ on it, but it's amazing that people will hoard cheap wine, even if they don't really love it.

I suspect that even though the current offering isn't up to par for a majority of the "in the know" WW crowd, and winery participation was a big zero, and the last JanKris offering was fairly unanimously viewed as plonk, that WW will still sell this stuff by the truck load.

Weibel - that's a name I haven't heard in years. They made a lot of sparkling wine - if I remember correctly it wasn't really low end Charmat process stuff, but was Transfer Method. It was fermented in a bottle, but not true methode champagnoise. A step below the 'main' producers of '60s sparklers: Korbel and Kornell (this was before Schramsberg and Iron Horse even, and well before the French houses like Chandon, Mumm, and Roederer moved into California). I also remember their Green Hungarian - a white that was fairly popular in California at the time, and also made by Buena Vista. But $4 a bottle for it? It was closer to $1 when I first knew it. But, they were decent people, and made decent, widely distributed, sound wine.

rugrats2001 wrote:So... How much WAS the case at the tasting room?

It was $75 I believe. Obviously no shipping charges. Apparently the price went up a bit since then, according to a friend of mine who went back to get another case a few weeks later.

rpm wrote:Weibel - that's a name I haven't heard in years. They made a lot of sparkling wine - if I remember correctly it wasn't really low end Charmat process stuff, but was Transfer Method. It was fermented in a bottle, but not true methode champagnoise. A step below the 'main' producers of '60s sparklers: Korbel and Kornell (this was before Schramsberg and Iron Horse even, and well before the French houses like Chandon, Mumm, and Roederer moved into California). I also remember their Green Hungarian - a white that was fairly popular in California at the time, and also made by Buena Vista. But $4 a bottle for it? It was closer to $1 when I first knew it. But, they were decent people, and made decent, widely distributed, sound wine.

Indeed they did make a lot of sparkling wine, a lot of it wasn't half bad. They went on sparkling wine tangents few have probably explored, trying all kinds of varietals, stuff you'd never see outside their tasting room. If a grape existed at one of their vineyards, I'm sure at some point it turned into a sparkler

$1 for Hungarian Green, I won't ask what year that was IIRC my Mom worked there from the late 80's until the mid 90's when they ended up loosing many of their holdings in Mission San Jose and Redwood Valley due to risky real estate investments with variable interest rates that escalated beyond their ability to retain them. The sons inherited the business from their father, unfortunately the father was better versed in the business, and the sons were schooled in the school of hard knocks.

Having grown up in the area, the majority of my early wine explorations were from Weibel and the surrounding Redwood Valley and Lake County wineries.

According to my woot calendar I got from a Big o' Cosmos a short while back, today marks the day wine.woot first opened its doors to our wallets. Happy 5-year anniversary wine.woot!

Diary of a Failed LabRat!

my first, and probably last, chance to be a lab rat. received a bottle of JanKris' 2005 "Riatta" to review just as a major head cold was neutralizing my taste buds. with a desire for fairness, decided to wait before reviewing, and — with everything tasting between "blah" and "blech" — ask for a little help.

since the riatta is a blend of 50% sangiovese, 25% zinfandel and 25% cabernet sauvignon, it should be right up my alley, and consistent with some of my other favorite woot offerings. and the holy grail, for me at least, is finding wine that tastes far better than its cost would suggest.

set up to disappoint, right? exactly! to me, the riatta tastes thin. there's fruit there, just not enough of it. while you can taste the tannins, the wine isn't tight at all. rather than tasting too young, it seems past its prime.

i wish i could attribute this reaction to my cold, but my companion felt pretty much the same way. given the price for a case, and assuming the other wines are consistent, this offering may be a good deal, but doesn't seem like a great value.

What? No clue?

We just got back from Paso and a weekend of wine tasting and partying. Yesterday, Saturday, we were on a mission to visit at least four wineries in Paso who sell on woot. The four we chose (in order of visitation) were: Ortman, Castoro, JanKris, and Donati. Since JanKris was on sale this weekend, we were especially lucky to taste every wine in the mixed case. They were great! This is a super deal--all great wines, ready to drink and will also hold for another couple of years or so. Of course, all the other wineries were just as good. One note: the Donati reds had a little more tannins than I prefer, but that only means that I can hold on to them longer, so they can mellow out.

"Funny thing about cheap wine. My Mom has been an accountant/office manager for wineries for the past 20+ years. She started out working for a little known old California winery called Weibel, at their beautiful Redwood Vally winery. For many years Weibel 's claim to fame was their $4/bottle "Green Hungarian."

I think I lost my virginity on Green Hungarian. But before your mother worked there. As far as cheap wine goes I love cheap wine, its bad wine I can't stand.

Winedavid39 wrote:5 years.. amazing (official launch in October)

love this place.

Clue?

Vineyard same as classical composer.

Mendelson Wines?

Winedavid39 wrote:5 years.. amazing (official launch in October)

love this place.

Clue?

Vineyard same as classical composer.

Handel misspelled Handal eh?

Lab rat reporting in... albeit LATE! Thank you Fedex for leaving a note that you missed me and not returning until today.

For all you wooters out there I apologize.

I received the 2006 Cabernet and upon opening smelled the bouquet of earth/ dust with a hint of currant. Basically what I would expect. Took a sip and was uninspired. I think it needed to breathe, so I waited. After an hour or so the wine did open up and I tasted hints of blackberry with some tannin. Not too harsh. There was also a hint of oak. I waited another half hour or so and the wine did smooth out even more. Very drinkable but not complex. Definitely blackberry and currant.

Again, apologies for the tardy rat report. Thanks woot for giving me the opportunity. Maybe Fedex will be better the next go round.

Has anyone received their order yet, or at least a tracking number? My account/receipt page says orders typically ship within 5 business days, but I ordered on Sunday, and here it is the following Saturday with no shipping update yet. Is this typical for wine purchases?

I'm a long-time Wooter (shirt-dot and otherwise) and I purchased a wine rack from WW once before, but this was my first actual alcohol purchase from here.

I can be patient if this is standard...I'm just used to getting a tracking number for my other woot purchases very quickly. Should I be concerned?

Some comments about the 2006 JanKris Cabernet Sauvignon... let it breathe for a while. It needs some time and/or air to wake up. Just like me. Very good nose, but a bit of a funky finish - a bit of a bite, on the acidic/alcoholic side. Maybe if it was set down for a while it would be better. It does have an interesting flavor. Excellent with steak. Good with earthy flavors such as cooked mushrooms. Its not a big cab - relatively light. But again, it has an overall good flavor, very drinkable. Not sure what the indivual price is, but assuming it was in the $8 range, then it is a good value. I would not pay more than $10-12.

mobyhack wrote:Has anyone received their order yet, or at least a tracking number? My account/receipt page says orders typically ship within 5 business days, but I ordered on Sunday, and here it is the following Saturday with no shipping update yet. Is this typical for wine purchases?

I'm a long-time Wooter (shirt-dot and otherwise) and I purchased a wine rack from WW once before, but this was my first actual alcohol purchase from here.

I can be patient if this is standard...I'm just used to getting a tracking number for my other woot purchases very quickly. Should I be concerned?

It's pretty typical. They watch the weather (especially this time of year) to make sure the wine arrives without being boiled, and preferably without sitting on a FedEx truck over the weekend.

Cocontom wrote:It's pretty typical. They watch the weather (especially this time of year) to make sure the wine arrives without being boiled, and preferably without sitting on a FedEx truck over the weekend.

Today is Memorial Day and I haven't received a shipping confirmation yet. Good thing, actually, since I'm not home to receive the case. I was counting on the super-slow shipping!

i ordered this 12 days ago and still have no shipping date.... whats up with that

This is my first time ordering wine. I haven't received my order yet either. I was worried but seeing no one has received their wine. I feel a little better.

Order the wine and wait an eternity for it to arrive!

Order MIA? Based on the order date, FedEx predicted the delivery TODAY. Unfortunately, the tracking number they supplied shows that it hasn't even been picked up yet.

What's the story? JanKris just really slow or is there a problem?

my2cents4u2c wrote:Order MIA? Based on the order date, FedEx predicted the delivery TODAY. Unfortunately, the tracking number they supplied shows that it hasn't even been picked up yet.

What's the story? JanKris just really slow or is there a problem?

Ditto for me. I just called fedex to verify the online tracking system was working, she told me that fedex hasn't even gained possession of it yet, and I should contact the shipper. I need to know if I have to leave work after my meeting this morning or not...

mobyhack wrote:Ditto for me. I just called fedex to verify the online tracking system was working, she told me that fedex hasn't even gained possession of it yet, and I should contact the shipper. I need to know if I have to leave work after my meeting this morning or not...

I contacted woot customer service, regarding my FedEx tracking number "estimated delivery" of today. Here is woot's reply:

The tracking label was pre-printed and assigned to your order. Please keep checking the tracking status. Wine and wine related orders such as cheese, desserts, spices, oils, culinary products & games may take up to 3 - 4 weeks for delivery. Please be advised that extra precautions are taken during shipping and anything perishable will be packaged carefully and refrigerated if needed.

Please refer to the Wine “What is Woot” FAQ: How long is shipping going to take?

http://wine.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx#qw14

mobyhack wrote:I contacted woot customer service, regarding my FedEx tracking number "estimated delivery" of today. Here is woot's reply:

The tracking label was pre-printed and assigned to your order. Please keep checking the tracking status. Wine and wine related orders such as cheese, desserts, spices, oils, culinary products & games may take up to 3 - 4 weeks for delivery. Please be advised that extra precautions are taken during shipping and anything perishable will be packaged carefully and refrigerated if needed.

Please refer to the Wine “What is Woot” FAQ: How long is shipping going to take?

http://wine.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx#qw14

Coincidentally, within a few hours of contacting woot, FedEx updated that it has now been picked up -- new estimated delivery date is June 10.

I would have been completely patient with a long shipping time, or even a delay in shipping. What bugged me was that I got an email a week ago saying "your order has shipped" with an estimated delivery date.

Now that I know how it works, I can anticipate this kind of thing with future orders, but it really should go in the FAQ that "your order has shipped" actually means "your order has been assigned a tracking number with a currently-meaningless estimated delivery date."

Looks like they've all hit the road. Mine too is suddenly en route. No weekend layovers predicted...but it's 100 degrees here today!

We received ours on Friday, lucky I was home to sign for it. (came late morning) Our first wine.woot! purchase.

mrsbill came home from work Friday early afternoon really needing a glass of wine and opened a bottle of the Cab. I told her some of the comments said to let it breathe a while, but she really needed a glass of wine. She let it breathe about 5 minutes or so and tried it. She loved it.
She tried a glass of the Riatta on Sunday evening and said that one needed to breathe a little longer, but was just as good.

Thanks wine.woot!