kylemittskus wrote:Aside from PB's advice that is quoted in RPM's signature, I highly suggest you read this forum daily, ask lots and lots of questions, and read this thread (A Cat Died In My Mouth).

I'm truly enjoying reading everyone's comments, and Mr. Wellington's comments interest me quite a bit. I haven't even gotten to thinking about the "vintage", but now it makes sense. What makes one vintage particularly good? I feel like I'm learning a lot (while also nothing at all sometimes) just by reading the stray comments.

Thank you for the referral to the other thread, I will read it when I get home!

p2002 wrote:Yes that answer does make my question seem, well, geeky. But good basis for further reading, though most likely it would be work beyond my ability to truly comprehend these nuances. Maybe a branch to a new discussion thread? Specifically, and far less geek worthy, I was wondering if you use indigenous yeasts for fermentation.
FWIW I got my Purple Square today buying PW's Red Blend!

We do not add (fresh from the package) yeast to all our fermentations. Zinfandel and Pinot Noir are the best candidates for successful fermentation without large yeast additions. Indigenous yeast is a much better term than native yeast or wild yeast. When you don't intentionally add yeast the predominant source of yeast is winery equipment.

Stupoopy wrote:I'm truly enjoying reading everyone's comments, and Mr. Wellington's comments interest me quite a bit. I haven't even gotten to thinking about the "vintage", but now it makes sense. What makes one vintage particularly good? I feel like I'm learning a lot (while also nothing at all sometimes) just by reading the stray comments.

Thank you for the referral to the other thread, I will read it when I get home!

What makes vintages different from one another is weather.

SonomaBouliste wrote:I don't have time to do a thorough comparison, but there are some similarities. 2001 started earlier, and had a longer period of near perfect weather during the final ripening stages. We do again (as in '01) have lots of fully ripe flavors at lower sugar + higher acid levels - always a positive in my opinion. The hardest thing to assess about wines very early on is intensity / concentration. On one hand, yields are higher this year (tends toward less intensity). On the other hand, berry size is small (big clusters, but with high berry counts) and color in reds is great.

Thank you, Peter! I understand you are busy with crush. I do appreciate the information and it sounds very promising. I guess I would not be especially concerned about somewhat higher yield if you've pruned according to your plan and have got small berries with excellent color, appropriate sugars and which taste 'right' to pick. Just to remind you what you already remember: 1970 combined truly exceptional quality (one of top 2 of the post-Repeal 20th century) with high yield. It's uncommon, but it happens. There were literally oceans of unbelievably good generics in addition to the amazing top Cabernets, the best of which still live in refined old age.

kylemittskus wrote:Aside from PB's advice that is quoted in RPM's signature, I highly suggest you read this forum daily, ask lots and lots of questions, and read this thread (A Cat Died In My Mouth).

Thanks for this link, Kyle. It's not easy to go back and find really informative threads on your own (at least not for me). This kind of stuff, along with just reading the daily threads, are very helpful to a novice like me. Thanks everyone!

The country's largest liquor store (their claim) is just down the road from me. They have weekly wine tastings which I have not yet attended, but plan to start frequenting to further my education.

bolligra wrote:Thanks for this link, Kyle. It's not easy to go back and find really informative threads on your own (at least not for me). This kind of stuff, along with just reading the daily threads, are very helpful to a novice like me. Thanks everyone!

The country's largest liquor store (their claim) is just down the road from me. They have weekly wine tastings which I have not yet attended, but plan to start frequenting to further my education.

One taste is worth 1000 words.

And btw, turkeys most definitely can fly. They take off at a ridiculously steep angle for such large birds. Very powerful wings.

SonomaBouliste wrote:It's hard work (and I'm not being facetious), but somebody has to do it. Actually, blending the Victory is my favorite series of tastings because we have a lot to work with, and the wine keeps getting better as we hone in on the final blend. It's very rewarding when we settle on a final blend.

Peter, I'm trying to picture this. Do you sit around the barrels just mixing small amounts into a glass or pitcher, or is it on a larger scale? Does it take days or weeks, or a few hours?

BTW, a while back you admonished me to invest in a corkscrew, because I wrote I had bought several of your Woot offerings, but had yet to try any. I have since opened two bottles of your CS and really liked them, as did my company. I appreciate your verbal spanking, but now it's going to be even harder to leave them alone to develop into the future! So, I just have to keep buying, I guess.

Last wooter to woot:bolligra

SonomaBouliste wrote:One taste is worth 1000 words.

And btw, turkeys most definitely can fly. They take off at a ridiculously steep angle for such large birds. Very powerful wings.

They can't, however, fly when tossed from a helicopter!

bolligra wrote:They can't, however, fly when tossed from a helicopter!

bolligra wrote:Peter, I'm trying to picture this. Do you sit around the barrels just mixing small amounts into a glass or pitcher, or is it on a larger scale? Does it take days or weeks, or a few hours?

BTW, a while back you admonished me to invest I a corkscrew, because I wrote I had bought several of your Woot offerings, but had yet to try any. I have since opened two bottles of your CS and really liked them, as did my company. I appreciate your verbal spanking, but now it's going to be even harder to leave them alone to develop into the future! So, I just have to keep buying, I guess.

Last wooter to woot:bolligra

We draw samples of the various components and make blends in 375ml bottles. Then we taste blind - usually three, sometimes four different wines. We rank them, discuss them, then unveil them. We discuss the pros and cons of each and decide what we want to try next. Typically we keep the consensus favorite (if there is one) in the next go round. Sometimes we taste on successive days, but the whole process ussually takes seven to ten tastings spread out over more than a month.

SonomaBouliste wrote:No, thank you! We are having a fantastic f#28ing harvest. The fruit has been impeccable - very clean, great flavor and very uniform maturity. Yields are pretty good too. This is a very welcome vintage after the last two.

If only there were more of the Finito del Vinito on the way.

Your Finito was one of the most masterful late harvests I've ever tasted. It captured the body and undertones of a dry Zin and yet was a late harvest that was sweet but not icky.

I think what really amazed me was that it seemed to be a dry wine blended with a sweet wine, but it wasn't as if one tempered the other. They separated on the palette into two complementary wines at once.

Probably the best wine that I've ever seen that could walk simultaneously in the land of the dry wine and the land of the sweet dessert wine.

Based on all the comments and the winemaker, it was impossible for me to not go in for 1. In fact, I actually clicked the yellow button twice, once was for a gift.

Thanks for all the information from everyone, including Peter.

Just got back from Brandini's shop in Rancho Mirage, what an impressive place, makes everything on site, they were poping popcorn for the WW yesterday, they had hundreds of bags stracked up. They LOVE Wine Woot, bought a few bags of the toppers and popcoren all 20% off.
BTW the free shakes were da Bomb.

Winedavid39 wrote:We consistently get inquiries about the vinito del finito (and D'ontspille for that matter).

Well in that case, what's the drinking window on the vinito del finito.

Hey, What happened to NH, I was all ready to click through, and no dice, or in this case no wine!

Winedavid39 wrote:We consistently get inquiries about the vinito del finito (and D'ontspille for that matter).

The D'ontspille was my first wine order from woot, and also what turned me onto ww and wines in general. Still hanging on for dear life to my last bottle.

Stupoopy wrote:I've been following winewoot for some time now, and I was hoping I could get some guidance in general! I've just started drinking wine (and I am still relatively young), so when I drink wine I think "Oh, ah, yes, this tastes...of wine". Clearly this is too expensive for me at this point in time.

How should I go about looking for wine? I mean, just try everything until I figure out what I like/I can discern different tastes? I always get discouraged by wine.woot because everything seems so expensive!

Thanks all :D

Reading the other comments, I'm tempted to buy this and just store it until I'm ready to drink it. Seems like people LOVE these bottles.

I started about a year and a half ago, mostly because i started making fruit wines and wanted to refine my tastes for the process. The way I jumped in was by watching the forums and being thrifty/picky; I currently have a full wine cellar with wines I quite like to love, almost none of which cost more than $25/bottle, and with and average per bottle price of around $15...

My advice is to keep checking back here, and when things pop up that are priced at a level you're comfortable spending, read the threads, get opinions, and if it seems worth it, go for it. Have fun and try not to spend your rent!

klezman wrote:Now that I've thought about this more, I think this is a fundamentally dishonest marketing method. However, I do think it also provides valuable information when making a purchase. Here's my proposal: include both the actual winery price and and the shipped price. Then we have full transparency, which is what woot has always been about.

"Always"? No offense intended, but hasn't the winery price only been included since the redesign? I seem to recall before that, the forum was where we'd get price comparisons...

In for 3. Have never tried them so looking forward to drinking one early and holding the rest.

OK Peter, in for one. I have to check my stock of your wines (of which I have quite a few) to see how these fit in to the vintage line. But you are one of THE "go to guys." And as has been brought up earlier, a reappearance of the Roussane would be lovely. I have a memory of my Mom and I doing our "garden walk" with a glass of that a couple years ago and enjoying it greatly! As always, it is always wonderful to read your comments and advice.
Cheers!
Cynthy

Last Wooter to Woot:cynthylee Last Purchase:a few seconds ago

greyday wrote:"Always"? No offense intended, but hasn't the winery price only been included since the redesign? I seem to recall before that, the forum was where we'd get price comparisons...

Yes, the "list price" has only been included starting with The Troubles, then a couple weeks ago was changed to its current format. I was meaning more that woot's business model has rested on transparency combined with humour. They tell you exactly what you are getting, down to the crappy aspects. This approach to "list price" is less than transparent, but it provides the benefit of a more fair comparison post-shipping at the expense of transparency of the list price of the bottles (which are usually fantasy to begin with, Peter's wines excluded). That's why I think a good change would be to include both actual retail price and the "delivered" price.

klezman wrote:Now that I've thought about this more, I think this is a fundamentally dishonest marketing method. However, I do think it also provides valuable information when making a purchase. Here's my proposal: include both the actual winery price and and the shipped price. Then we have full transparency, which is what woot has always been about.

I would tend to agree with klezman

Even though I am a club member, this is an autobuy. In for two, but wish I could go the max. Thanks Peter for all of your input so far because I know the harvest is keeping you busy.

Z

Well, it looks pretty quiet so I'm off to bed. We picked and crushed 120 year old vine Zin and some Syrah today, along with pressing Malbec, barreling down yesterday's Cabernet press, punching down and pumping over. Tomorrow is our last really huge day of crush. We'll barrel down the Malbec, press two tanks of Zin, do all the punchdowns and pumpovers plus crush Petit Verdot, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet. We'll bring in about 10% of the year's grapes tomorrow, leaving less than 10% still on the vine.

In for two!

Hope is good... last min buy.

Wow! Just got my delivery yesterday and opened a bottle that I'm currently enjoying! Really wonderful and smooth. I've never gotten a Wellington Victory before, and I'm sad I didn't jump on sooner! It's very smooth, fruity on the nose, and to taste. I went in for two, thinking to gift two bottles. Now I wish I went in for three! If these come up again, I'm going in for 3 for sure.

publicart wrote:Wow! Just got my delivery yesterday and opened a bottle that I'm currently enjoying! Really wonderful and smooth. I've never gotten a Wellington Victory before, and I'm sad I didn't jump on sooner! It's very smooth, fruity on the nose, and to taste. I went in for two, thinking to gift two bottles. Now I wish I went in for three! If these come up again, I'm going in for 3 for sure.

I agree. I went in for two this time, but after trying it, I'll go in for three if these come up again.