Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

Generally wineries are open, but given the procedures to host, there are fewer spots, so make sure to call and book ahead. And when you go, please buy to your heart’s content - they need as much business as possible. Pity buying is highly encouraged.

When I connected with Eric Asimov about how to submit wines, he responded that NYT only reviews wines that they buy and any submission to Eric is for "his edification" only. Not entirely sure what that means. I did send them some wine, but have no idea if they will ever get reviewed or how it works...

The entire wine industry is pay-for-play. Since there's no magazine (remember those?) who is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly a critic around the world and buy hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars worth of product a year, every wine journalist depends on the very peopl...

I don’t think one can say what wines will become “cult” - otherwise, it can’t really be cult.

That’s like calling yourself cool.

Rich K0rz€nk0 wrote: ↑
June 26th, 2020, 7:31 pm
Tell them to run away like the room is on fire.

This x1000.

Honestly it seems like you are both taking it way too literally and, I don’t mean this as an insult but more as an observation of my own growth over 25+ years making wine where I am exposed to vineyards and the wines they produce EVERY DAY, don’t have a broad enough context to put this into. Terroi...

Why yes, I did say appreciation of terroir is subjective. What aspects of wine individuals treasure is subjective. You can get complexity, depth and so on from so many factors. All of which are identifiable. Some of which is from terroir. Maybe you just haven't had wines like I have that had that e...

I started off saying that it’s bullshit and faith. Jim, I respect your nuanced approach, that it may be there, but it’s not something objective and scientific. It may not be measurable, but that doesn't mean it's subjective or unscientific (in the sense that it's voodoo). There are lots of objectiv...

I started off saying that it’s bullshit and faith. Jim, I respect your nuanced approach, that it may be there, but it’s not something objective and scientific. Sorry, it is objective and scientific. Just because elements of terroir are hardly relevant or lost in the mix in most wines? Who gives a c...

I think a good and simple argument for terroir is you do not see Côte de beaune reds compete with Côte d’Or reds. I’m sure over time there has been examples however for the most part a Côte de beaune red just doesn’t get close. If they could there would be tons of them for $150-$1000 a bottle as wi...

Man, I tried to stay out of this. The concept of terroir is innately difficult to both define and to grasp, the smaller the scale that one attempts in which to define it can seem to disprove it and attempting to show it in specific tastings, as Mel notes above, is nigh well impossible. That does no...

I think a good and simple argument for terroir is you do not see Côte de beaune reds compete with Côte d’Or reds. I’m sure over time there has been examples however for the most part a Côte de beaune red just doesn’t get close. If they could there would be tons of them for $150-$1000 a bottle as wi...

It’s the “sense” part that I find bullshit. I’m not denying existence of places. This is one of those relapsing bullshit arguments where people feel compelled to choose a side when the answer is "both." Can you tell the difference between a cabernet made in the same manner by the same vintner in th...

It’s the “sense” part that I find bullshit. I’m not denying existence of places. Are you saying someone can't be familiar with key site derived signatures in a wine, then out of a continuum of double-blind tasting correctly identify a wine as being from that area, despite the wine being from a prod...

Matt Fleming wrote: ↑
June 10th, 2020, 11:21 am

Marc Hauser wrote: ↑
June 10th, 2020, 6:52 am

I agree that different plots/vineyards create different wines, but sense of place?

? What is a vineyard but a place?

It’s the “sense” part that I find bullshit. I’m not denying existence of places.

You can disagree with my opinion, and I can disagree with yours. But objectively “wrong”? Seems like this thread shows that’s a tough one to prove. It’s kinda like faith in a god. Tough to prove there is or isn’t a god, so there’s faith. That doesn’t make faith right or wrong - it’s a personal pers...

I always thought the concept of terroir was bullshit anyway. Well, on this you are wrong. But the tug of war between terroir, wine growing/making, vintage, and other factors, is real, and always present. You can disagree with my opinion, and I can disagree with yours. But objectively “wrong”? Seems...

I always thought the concept of terroir was bullshit anyway.

How cool - my good friends at Judd’s Hill make a Charbono sourced from Suisun Valley and it’s delicious in the way you describe. I’ll have to hunt out the Ridge, which the website says is sourced from up in Calistoga.

Adam Frisch wrote: ↑
April 26th, 2020, 3:07 pm
...
Compliance here in the states is a nightmare. I don't know how it got this bad.

It has always been bad.

What if you inject it with bleach?

The capsule is like the appendix. Serves no purpose and you might cut yourself trying to remove it.

What a weird claim.

Rich Brown wrote: ↑
March 24th, 2020, 8:14 am

Marc Hauser wrote: ↑
March 23rd, 2020, 10:04 pm
Weird. Did you reach out to Bedrock?
Not doubting the picture (like you said, theres one on CT), but come on. The lengthy description of the wine included in the release is pretty clear. Sometimes you just gotta chalk it up to #UserError

Oh, I don’t disagree.

Weird. Did you reach out to Bedrock?

If you look on CT, there’s a label for this wine that indeed says “Cabernet Pfeffer” alone on the front, but the bottle itself has a label that replaces those words with “Red Wine”. Adam, maybe you saw the mockup label on CT?

This why I think the new world did the right thing by starting to put varietals on the label. That was an easy way to democratize wine and make it more accessible. The French, the Italians and the Spanish are still clouding their wines in this regard, and it makes it less accessible for non-experts...

Ah, WineBerserkers. Come for the debates over whether CA wines are overrated, stay for the pandemic policy opinions.

I’ve heard from friends here (Napa) that they’re seeing less traffic, large tasting groups are canceling, and hotels have unusual vacancy. Also, this reporting: https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.co ... oronavirus

Markus S wrote: ↑
March 7th, 2020, 2:16 pm
Difficult to spend real money on wines with ridiculous sounding names.

You’re referring to the Sine Qua Non wines, right?

2008 Sonoma County Pinot. Simply delightful and still running strong. Great balance, lots of fruit and acid.

He started doing RRV Pinot futures this year. I bit for a case.

Philip N. Jones wrote: ↑
February 11th, 2020, 10:21 pm
On this thread, I have twice asked for evidence of declining popularity of zin, or evidence that its popularity is cyclical. All I received in response has been silence.

This is a fair question. Someone ITB with access to Nielsen should be able to pull sales info.

Opened a 2016 OMV last night. Still on the young side, but coming into its own. Lots of mushroom on the nose for me. Impeccable balance, although it’s still on the early side for the fruit to explode. I’ve been buying a mixed case of zin futures for years now (easily the best deal in wine), and my s...

Other examples of boom/bust: There was a steep drop in Merlot sales pre- and post-“Sideways”. Carneros was the center of Pinot until it wasn’t. Australian Shiraz.

I’d agree with Jay that 99% (don’t trust that number) of zin sold isn’t of the style loved by WB (myself included).

Was *really* hoping to limit this to a few whites and roses due to space/budget limits in the wake of Carlisle, Rivers-Marie and Berserker Day, but I am unfortunately intrigued by the description of the “wedding” wine. Anybody know anything about that one? I will write about this at greater length ...

Lawrence, here is a list of my favorites and where I purchase my wines. All but two are in Sonoma. My purchases of Napa wines is rare these days. Will give a brief description of each and where they are located. In no particular order. You can bunch several of these together based on location and m...

In this regard, wine is a lot like playing the slots. Or fishing. Or discovering a new band. Or opening a pack of baseball cards. You wait to get that hit, and it succeeds or fails, and then you do it again, because it’s never quite perfect, but you always have in mind that chance of hitting the jac...

decant the mag into 2 750s Ah, a perfect illustration of tranching, to create economic value. One "AAA"-rated senior bottle and one non-rated equity bottle, from the same pool, leaving a nice corkage arbitrage. [wow.gif] It only gets interesting when we start selling corkage default swaps on those ...

What is the wine price off the mailing list currently?

Doesn't help that the US wine industry hasn't got any export whatsoever to ease the pain. US wine dies or soars with the US consumer. That’s not totally true. The US exported 41.7mm cases in 2018 https://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/pressroom/04082019 , which is probably about 10% of production ...

Tom, in contrast, I haven’t liked the Bedrock SBs, but find the Massican SBs very compelling. We agree on Dry Creek, though.....

Winds picking up in Napa today.

Evac advisory for Calistoga just issued.

Wine Berserkers. Come for the tasting notes. Stay for the zoning debates.

Thanks for the tip - bought a pile o’ stuff.

Marcu$ Stanley wrote: ↑
October 4th, 2019, 10:30 am
The Gallo-Constellation deal was for only $1.7 million? For 30 brands? So $50,000 a brand? Either that's an error or the wine business must be very low margin

Yeah, that’s a typo. It was $1.7 billion.

I predict nothing will change and this Board will be having the same conversation making the same predictions 18 months from now.

Not meant to be snarky, but did you contact the winery? I’d suspect they’d be excited that someone is interested in their history, particularly one like Caymus that’s been around a long time.

Glenn L e v i n e wrote: ↑
September 17th, 2019, 5:13 pm

H Wallace Jr wrote: ↑
September 17th, 2019, 12:50 pm
Order in. My daughter gets the '16s and my son will get the '18s.
Well done sir.

My child is not good enough for these wines...

50% chance of rain Monday morning here in Napa.

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