MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

Vincent Arroyo PS Port
Clayhouse Late Harvest PS
Laura Zahtila Laura's Theme Dessert Wine (PS/Zin)
David Fulton Sweet Petite (PS, Duh!)
Clos LaChance 2007 Late Harvest Semillon
Used Automobile Parts Dessert Wine
Nicolaysen Family Vineyards Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
Jana Angel Ice
Wellington Old Vines Port
Wellington White Port
Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel
J. Dusi Zin Port
BARRA Bella Dolce Dessert Wine
Kent Rasmussen Esoterica 2008 Vermelho Forte
Woot Cellars Vinito del Finito 2010 Late Harvest Zin
Meyer Family Port
Harvest Moon Estate & Winery Late Harvest Zin and Ice-Style Gewürz
Fonseca Port
Quinta do Vesuvio Port
RWC Historic Series Madeira
Prager PS Royal Escort Port
Prager White Port
and various other Ports & Madeiras.


Oh, and a set of Kent's 2004 Esoterica Ports.

Forget the rest of the family. I'm coming on my own. YUM!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

Vincent Arroyo PS Port
Clayhouse Late Harvest PS
Laura Zahtila Laura's Theme Dessert Wine (PS/Zin)
David Fulton Sweet Petite (PS, Duh!)
Clos LaChance 2007 Late Harvest Semillon
Used Automobile Parts Dessert Wine
Nicolaysen Family Vineyards Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
Jana Angel Ice
Wellington Old Vines Port
Wellington White Port
Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel
J. Dusi Zin Port
BARRA Bella Dolce Dessert Wine
Kent Rasmussen Esoterica 2008 Vermelho Forte
Woot Cellars Vinito del Finito 2010 Late Harvest Zin
Meyer Family Port
Harvest Moon Estate & Winery Late Harvest Zin and Ice-Style Gewürz
Fonseca Port
Quinta do Vesuvio Port
RWC Historic Series Madeira
Prager PS Royal Escort Port
Prager White Port
and various other Ports & Madeiras.


Oh, and a set of Kent's 2004 Esoterica Ports.

You are missing the most important one though, KR Late Harvest Viognier.

polarbear22 wrote:I suppose you all knew that wine is listed in the "1001 Wines to try before you die", or whatever the correct title is. Someone found a case in Newport, RI at original price that we snatched up.

Yes, this fact was discussed at Cathys's. She is out of the 750s, and has been for a while.

I tried to get in on that deal of the found case, but the bastards at the store took too long to respond to my email enquiry, and you bastards had already grabbed them.

Not that I'm bitter or anything....

MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

...Yum...


Oh, and a set of Kent's 2004 Esoterica Ports.

For this gathering I'd even bring a bottle of icewine!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

Vincent Arroyo PS Port
Clayhouse Late Harvest PS
Laura Zahtila Laura's Theme Dessert Wine (PS/Zin)
David Fulton Sweet Petite (PS, Duh!)
Clos LaChance 2007 Late Harvest Semillon
Used Automobile Parts Dessert Wine
Nicolaysen Family Vineyards Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
Jana Angel Ice
Wellington Old Vines Port
Wellington White Port
Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel
J. Dusi Zin Port
BARRA Bella Dolce Dessert Wine
Kent Rasmussen Esoterica 2008 Vermelho Forte
Woot Cellars Vinito del Finito 2010 Late Harvest Zin
Meyer Family Port
Harvest Moon Estate & Winery Late Harvest Zin and Ice-Style Gewürz
Fonseca Port
Quinta do Vesuvio Port
RWC Historic Series Madeira
Prager PS Royal Escort Port
Prager White Port
and various other Ports & Madeiras.


Oh, and a set of Kent's 2004 Esoterica Ports.

I had something like 1970 Warres or Dow in mind. Or, perhaps my last bottle of 1979 Quady Zinfandel Port (the last year they made it) ....

klezman wrote:For this gathering I'd even bring a bottle of icewine!

Rheingau Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein will do.

JOATMON wrote:Yes, this fact was discussed at Cathys's. She is out of the 750s, and has been for a while.

I tried to get in on that deal of the found case, but the bastards at the store took too long to respond to my email enquiry, and you bastards had already grabbed them.

Not that I'm bitter or anything....

If you make it to MN, I'll open a bottle. If I have 2 left, I would consider a trade as well.

The Wellington stop made me happy. Along with darn near a case of other Wellington wines, I was able to add a bottle of 2006 Wellington Old Vine Estate Port to my cellar which already includes Peter's 2001-2005 Old Vine Estate Ports A 2001-2006 would be a heck of a vertical to taste through.

Looks like I'll be able to get another bottle or two of that incredible 1986 Kenwood Johannisberg Late Harvest Riesling I brought to WineDavids dinner party last week too. If I can acquire two bottles, I'd be happy to bring one to the next woot gathering.

JOATMON wrote:Has anybody else looked closely at their Dry Creek receipt? Their discount percentages are really weird

We were commenting on that on the bus afterwards and decided that the Heritage Zinfandel was charged thusly: There was a standard sale of 20% off going on. Wine club members received an additional 10% off to get to the 30% that the dude was talking about. However, he also promised us a flat out 20% off everything. What happened was that the system already had the standard 20% off sale in place - we got an additional 20% off the discounted price (for an overall discount of 36%). The math worked out that way anyway.

But yeah the sales tax there was very wonky.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

Just make sure you have a genie on hand. That cave tends to collapse on itself when the monkeys disobey.

rpm wrote:Rheingau Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein will do.

Prior to today I'd have no idea what that was, but just got a delivery of Anselmann 2003 Silvaner Trockenbeerenauslese from a friend returning from Germany. An Eiswein too, 2002 Max Muller I Franken Silvaner Eiswein.
I know absolutely nothing about either of them...
but the labels and bottles are pretty, and they both say something about a goldener preis.

rpm wrote:Rheingau Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein will do.

Niagara Cab Franc icewine? Or is that just silly new world swill?

I actually prefer the Niagara style of icewine, probably largely due to my upbringing, but there tend to be fewer raisiny flavours in the Niagara version. That excepts icewine made form the Vidal grape - most of that is nowhere near acidic enough to balance the sugar. Tastes like candy in the not-so-good way. For that kind of flavour might as well just stick with Moscato d'Asti.

bsevern wrote:The Wellington stop made me happy. Along with darn near a case of other Wellington wines, I was able to add a bottle of 2006 Wellington Old Vine Estate Port to my cellar which already includes Peter's 2001-2005 Old Vine Estate Ports A 2001-2006 would be a heck of a vertical to taste through.

Looks like I'll be able to get another bottle or two of that incredible 1986 Kenwood Johannisberg Late Harvest Riesling I brought to WineDavids dinner party last week too. If I can acquire two bottles, I'd be happy to bring one to the next woot gathering.

Agree with you about the Wellington stop. By the way, I plan on going up to visit Wellington sometime in the fall to pick up a case of the Duke. We should plan on a mini winery tour that day or something.

Also, once hubby and I move to Palo Alto, someone should plan on doing a silicon valley woot gathering. I would really love to host, but we would have a tiny tiny place so I'm pretty sure we're out. But maybe I can ask the hubby really really nicely.

CAGrl wrote:Agree with you about the Wellington stop. By the way, I plan on going up to visit Wellington sometime in the fall to pick up a case of the Duke. We should plan on a mini winery tour that day or something.

Also, once hubby and I move to Palo Alto, someone should plan on doing a silicon valley woot gathering. I would really love to host, but we would have a tiny tiny place so I'm pretty sure we're out. But maybe I can ask the hubby really really nicely.

I'm in for the mini tour (if I drink down my Wellington a bit first) and I could possibly host a small gathering at my 1 bedroom apt... Not as good as the house I used to share but enough for 10 ppl to gather.

North316 wrote:You are missing the most important one though, KR Late Harvest Viognier.

Oh, I have that one too. Just went back so far in my purchases.

cmaldoon wrote:I'm in for the mini tour (if I drink down my Wellington a bit first) and I could possibly host a small gathering at my 1 bedroom apt... Not as good as the house I used to share but enough for 10 ppl to gather.

Well, you first. I can maybe host once we get settled in and I get my lovely car situation figured out.

Well, Peter said the Duke doesn't usually sell out until November so as long as we go by early November, I'm good. :D

Edit: The place we're about to rent has a good bbq area so maybe we can host a daytime/early evening thing once things get settled and do a bbq/wine tasting. That might work out okay for us. :D

CAGrl wrote:Well, you first. I can maybe host once we get settled in and I get my lovely car situation figured out.

Well, Peter said the Duke doesn't usually sell out until November so as long as we go by early November, I'm good. :D

Edit: The place we're about to rent has a good bbq area so maybe we can host a daytime/early evening thing once things get settled and do a bbq/wine tasting. That might work out okay for us. :D

Ooooh...do it when I'm in town! Moving to PA means it'll be relatively easy to see you when I'm up there! Yay! Hopefully cmaldoon also moved closer to PA...

klezman wrote:Ooooh...do it when I'm in town! Moving to PA means it'll be relatively easy to see you when I'm up there! Yay! Hopefully cmaldoon also moved closer to PA...

Hahaha. The apt we're looking at currently is right off of Oregon Expressway and 101. Hoping to finalize everything by tomorrow, but that might require me getting an offer of employment as well. Who knew PA was so expensive. Stupid FB!

Edit: Where does molarchae live?

CAGrl wrote:Agree with you about the Wellington stop. By the way, I plan on going up to visit Wellington sometime in the fall to pick up a case of the Duke. We should plan on a mini winery tour that day or something.

Also, once hubby and I move to Palo Alto, someone should plan on doing a silicon valley woot gathering. I would really love to host, but we would have a tiny tiny place so I'm pretty sure we're out. But maybe I can ask the hubby really really nicely.

That sounds like a plan!

Ty isn't too far away from Peter

Would love to try his Duke, and see what dusty bottles he has stashed away. Would definitely be fun with a smaller group then last week.

This 1996 Buena Vista cab is darn good (amazing considering it wasn't a high end cab). I'm on my third glass, my bad

bsevern wrote:That sounds like a plan!

Ty isn't too far away from Peter

Would love to try his Duke, and see what dusty bottles he has stashed away. Would definitely be fun with a smaller group then last week.

This 1996 Buena Vista cab is darn good (amazing considering it wasn't a high end cab). I'm on my third glass, my bad

Well, since I'm on my 4.5 glass of white, you're doing fine.

By the way, we can definitely plan for a fun weekend with Wellington and others. It'd be fun. If you want, just pm me your email address and we can take this off the boards.

CAGrl wrote:Edit: Where does molarchae live?

SF proper.

Yeah, PA is expensive. That's why I recommended the part of Menlo Park I used to live in

klezman wrote:SF proper.

Yeah, PA is expensive. That's why I recommended the part of Menlo Park I used to live in

I know. But I have a dog and apparently some places don't let my amazing 14 pound cavalier king charles spaniel live. The humanity of it all.

Apparently the entire PA and MP area has gotten 3-5 hundred more expensive because of FB. Stupidity but I'm drunk now so I might be wrong on the stupidity of it all. =D

I'm kind of regretting not picking up a case of The Duchess. Didn't it come out to something like $7.50 a bottle with the discount Peter was offering that day?

If we had visited Wellington on Day 1, I can almost guarantee I would have walked out with a case of it, but by Day 3, I was trying to keep the purchase #s down.

CAGrl wrote:
Apparently the entire PA and MP area has gotten 3-5 hundred more expensive because of FB. Stupidity but I'm drunk now so I might be wrong on the stupidity of it all. =D

I'd be surprised if there was any place left on the Peninsula that could be considered cheap these days. Even Redwood City has cleaned up its act since when I lived out there.

My friends used to rent one side (3 bedrooms) of a beautiful duplex in MP for $1200 a month and that was a steal back then.

redwinefan wrote:I'm kind of regretting not picking up a case of The Duchess. Didn't it come out to something like $7.50 a bottle with the discount Peter was offering that day?

If we had visited Wellington on Day 1, I can almost guarantee I would have walked out with a case of it, but by Day 3, I was trying to keep the purchase #s down.

Everyone is fawning over the Dutchess. There were 2-3 other cheap whites on the trip that both I and the +1 agreed we liked significantly better. Were they $7.50? no, but they were $9-$12. I love several of Wellingtons wines and really like quite a few more but that one isn't for me.

One wonderful thing about wine, everyone has a different take :-)

cmaldoon wrote:Everyone is fawning over the Dutchess. There were 2-3 other cheap whites on the trip that both I and the +1 agreed we liked significantly better. Were they $7.50? no, but they were $9-$12. I love several of Wellingtons wines and really like quite a few more but that one isn't for me.

One wonderful thing about wine, everyone has a different take :-)

I honestly don't remember The Duchess, since I didn't walk away with any, so I guess that tells me I must not have been a huge fan. I'm just kicking myself since I figure it must've been a great deal.

The miss-capped SB bottles at Foppiano were also $7.50 I think.

Dry Creek Vineyards still wins my award on best white and red QPR of the trip. Of course, this could change after I drink through all our purchases

CAGrl wrote:Well, since I'm on my 4.5 glass of white, you're doing fine.

By the way, we can definitely plan for a fun weekend with Wellington and others. It'd be fun. If you want, just pm me your email address and we can take this off the boards.

Why would you leave half a glass in the bottle?

MarkDaSpark wrote:Or when you three (or four by that time) show up in SoCal, I can open some of the various Ports, Madeiras, and Dessert Wines in the Cave of Wonders (as I will henceforth refer to my Irvine Wine Lockers as).

Vincent Arroyo PS Port
Clayhouse Late Harvest PS
Laura Zahtila Laura's Theme Dessert Wine (PS/Zin)
David Fulton Sweet Petite (PS, Duh!)
Clos LaChance 2007 Late Harvest Semillon
Used Automobile Parts Dessert Wine
Nicolaysen Family Vineyards Late Harvest Pinot Blanc
Jana Angel Ice
Wellington Old Vines Port
Wellington White Port
Harvest Moon Late Harvest Zinfandel
J. Dusi Zin Port
BARRA Bella Dolce Dessert Wine
Kent Rasmussen Esoterica 2008 Vermelho Forte
Woot Cellars Vinito del Finito 2010 Late Harvest Zin
Meyer Family Port
Harvest Moon Estate & Winery Late Harvest Zin and Ice-Style Gewürz
Fonseca Port
Quinta do Vesuvio Port
RWC Historic Series Madeira
Prager PS Royal Escort Port
Prager White Port
and various other Ports & Madeiras.


Oh, and a set of Kent's 2004 Esoterica Ports.

Haha, thanks to you I've tried almost all of those already

redwinefan wrote:I honestly don't remember The Duchess, since I didn't walk away with any, so I guess that tells me I must not have been a huge fan. I'm just kicking myself since I figure it must've been a great deal.

The miss-capped SB bottles at Foppiano were also $7.50 I think.

Dry Creek Vineyards still wins my award on best white and red QPR of the trip. Of course, this could change after I drink through all our purchases

I wanted to like the Foppiano SB, especially for the price, but I'm not crazy about grapefruit/grass bomb style SB's, but I know a lot of people enjoy that style (same reason I don't go for the cheap Auzzie/NZ ones).

Now the ones at Dry Creek Vineyards, those I thought were really good for the price. More tropical fruit and lemon oils, yum.

bsevern wrote:I wanted to like the Foppiano SB, especially for the price, but I'm not crazy about grapefruit/grass bomb style SB's, but I know a lot of people enjoy that style (same reason I don't go for the cheap Auzzie/NZ ones).

Now the ones at Dry Creek Vineyards, those I thought were really good for the price. More tropical fruit and lemon oils, yum.

Fopp SB definitely seemed to be going for the NZ style. I think we got a bottle of it, so I'll revisit it later. For me, I like the NZ style occasionally if it leans more grapefruit and less grassy. There is definitely a grassy line that can (but shouldn't) be crossed IMHO.

bsevern wrote:I wanted to like the Foppiano SB, especially for the price, but I'm not crazy about grapefruit/grass bomb style SB's, but I know a lot of people enjoy that style (same reason I don't go for the cheap Auzzie/NZ ones).

Now the ones at Dry Creek Vineyards, those I thought were really good for the price. More tropical fruit and lemon oils, yum.

The Foppiano SBs were ok, not great but still good QPR. I agree that the Dry Creek Whites were very good. I got some at both places.

redwinefan wrote:Fopp SB definitely seemed to be going for the NZ style. I think we got a bottle of it, so I'll revisit it later. For me, I like the NZ style occasionally if it leans more grapefruit and less grassy. There is definitely a grassy line that can (but shouldn't) be crossed IMHO.

Foppiano's winemaker said she used to make wine in NZ so it's not surprising that the SB is made in the Alsatian style.

I did find it to be similar to KR's Esoterica SB. I asked her between the tasting/buying if she used grapes that weren't quite ripe to help accomplish that style and she confirmed that she had, much like Kent.

Personally, I preferred the grapefruit bomb SB at St. Supery.

chipgreen wrote:Foppiano's winemaker said she used to make wine in NZ so it's not surprising that the SB is made in the Alsatian style.

I did find it to be similar to KR's Esoterica SB. I asked her between the tasting/buying if she used grapes that weren't quite ripe to help accomplish that style and she confirmed that she had, much like Kent.

Personally, I preferred the grapefruit bomb SB at St. Supery.

I recall Natalie saying that she blended SB grapes from two vineyards, one that had very NZ style grapes (grapefruit), and one that had a more Dry Creek Valley profile (tropical fruit). The NZ grapes definitely muscled their way through and took charge on that wine.

I didn't think it was awful or anything, but the market is flooded with NZ style SB, so it's easy to find, but not my preference. I've heard it said that the NZ style SB is a more food oriented SB vs a stand alone sipper.

I found it very interesting that she said before she came onboard, they weren't making any whites....that's a surprise considering the RRV is chard country.

bsevern wrote:I recall Natalie saying that she blended SB grapes from two vineyards, one that had very NZ style grapes (grapefruit), and one that had a more Dry Creek Valley profile (tropical fruit). The NZ grapes definitely muscled their way through and took charge on that wine.

I didn't think it was awful or anything, but the market is flooded with NZ style SB, so it's easy to find, but not my preference. I've heard it said that the NZ style SB is a more food oriented SB vs a stand alone sipper.

I found it very interesting that she said before she came onboard, they weren't making any whites....that's a surprise considering the RRV is chard country.

Foppiano is a very long time primarily red wine house. I think they used to have a few whites back when everyone had to have a bunch of stuff, but I don't ever recall them as of particular interest. Their reds were always very well made and good, often excellent QPR.

bsevern wrote:I recall Natalie saying that she blended SB grapes from two vineyards, one that had very NZ style grapes (grapefruit), and one that had a more Dry Creek Valley profile (tropical fruit). The NZ grapes definitely muscled their way through and took charge on that wine.

I didn't think it was awful or anything, but the market is flooded with NZ style SB, so it's easy to find, but not my preference. I've heard it said that the NZ style SB is a more food oriented SB vs a stand alone sipper.

I found it very interesting that she said before she came onboard, they weren't making any whites....that's a surprise considering the RRV is chard country.

Didn't Natalie say that she WANTED to make a more food oriented wine?

rpm wrote:Foppiano is a very long time primarily red wine house. I think they used to have a few whites back when everyone had to have a bunch of stuff, but I don't ever recall them as of particular interest. Their reds were always very well made and good, often excellent QPR.

These days whites, specifically SB and chard, tend to pay the bills. For these smaller wineries it's a lost revenue opportunity if they don't produce them.

I'm definitely looking forward to uncorking those 1990's Petite Sirah's. Probably sooner then later, as I'd like to get some more if it's really good

rpm wrote:Rheingau Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein will do.

Gesundheit.

tzarinaz wrote:Gesundheit.

Please don't sneeze out those wonderful wines!

Just a quick reminder for those using CellarTracker ... don't forget to put in the retail cost for your personal value. Otherwise CT uses your cost in calculating the community average value. Which lowers the average value of your wine.

After adding your purchase, just click on the Edit next to "Community average value" to put in the retail cost.


Oh, and also make sure you use the right bottle size when adding. Wellington Ports are 500ml, not 375ml. I almost forgot that.


Edit: Now have 2003 to 2006 of Wellington Old Vine Port, with 2001 just added too. I guess I should try to find his 2002 ...

Edit2: Basically double check your bottle sizes on Ports & Dessert Wines especially. They can be 375ml or 500ml (Wellington & Pedroncelli are both 500ml IIRC).

CAGrl wrote:By the way, I plan on going up to visit Wellington sometime in the fall to pick up a case of the Duke.

Don't wait too long. The Duke tends to sell out.