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

Brent C l a y t o n

I wasn’t a huge fan of the 97 Chave hermitage I opened last year. What does that mean? I recall the 97 northern Rhones being a little on the lean side, especially when you compared them to the generally great to outstanding trio of 98-99-00. I don't see David chiming in here yet so I'll be the cont...

Brent C l a y t o n

MSG is fine.

Brent C l a y t o n

Like everything else, sold out, but...

Brent C l a y t o n

Release price is $26/bot. That’s pretty reasonable. The shipping is a beast though, $44 for a six pack. I guess this is pretty standard these days.

Brent C l a y t o n

Get your wok on...
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/dini ... HLbzyANqbz

Brent C l a y t o n

I'm sad that Todd, Chuck and Georgie were all too busy to check in with the little people.

Brent C l a y t o n

Where is everyone?

Brent C l a y t o n

If I still have my faculties at 9pm Eastern I will tune in.

Brent C l a y t o n

Yeah 90k is nuttin.

Brent C l a y t o n

Hey all, Longtime lurker, first time poster. Glad to be a part of the community. In the coming months we're making a move from Los Angeles to Raleigh, NC - where, based on my initial research, I can't seem to find a dedicated wine-storage facility. Even if we choose to build a cellar in our new pla...

Brent C l a y t o n

JM is great too!

Diamond Reserve is from El Dorado, it's their entry level well rum. Perfectly fine.

Overproofs are trickier to work with, you might want to stick with something more standard. I think JM is closer to 90pf, El Dorado is 80pf.

Brent C l a y t o n

Jay, Yes, there is a difference. What flavors do you like? Jamaican pot still or Rhum Agricole will give you richer texture and more of that gassy note. Basic stuff will be, well, basic. Don Q is solid for a basic one that you can find. Diplomatico Planas is a big step up but not quite to the pot st...

Brent C l a y t o n

Skurnik is the distributor of record in NY. I'm fairly confident the facts line up as discussed. Almost zero restaurants can afford to take these wines right now. Morrell is a sensible place to go to with this kind of wine, I'd guess they were offered a decent quantity just so Skurnik can clear it o...

Brent C l a y t o n

I've been getting claws for $7-10/lb. Just steam and eat!

There was a great Jonah crab dish I used to get from a now closed restaurant in Hell's Kitchen that served the crabmeat warm with some pea shoots and kohlrabi and a drizzle of olive oil with a little yuzu. It was great!

Brent C l a y t o n

Welcome!

Don't overthink it. Buy some stuff. Have some meals. You'll figure it out.

Brent C l a y t o n

For additional context: Aldo Conterno’s top wine is the Granbussia, and this year’s release *would* line up with the 2013 vintage, which was meh and Granbussia was not produced. So this was the most expensive wine in the container. You can all go back and forth with your subjective opinions of the w...

Brent C l a y t o n

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS!!! There were 120 bottles allocated to the US market. An enterprising thief broke in to our shipping container, unpacked all the bottles, and repacked the empty wood cases on to the pallet. We found out the wine was gone when they went to break down the pallet here in t...

Brent C l a y t o n

Marc, I haven't asked about the price point in private and it's not on the website so I guess we will find out when the offer goes live. I also can't say for certain it is not a single vineyard wine, but I agree they are playing a little loose with the term if the varieties are all sourced from diff...

Brent C l a y t o n

Mark,

Interesting feedback. I think that's a generational thing.

Marc,
I guess this is another reason to get myself into that show, which I have not watched!

Brent C l a y t o n

You will always have a little sludge with French Press, but grind is definitely the issue if you have too much. Lots of good tips here already to tweak your method.

Brent C l a y t o n

A little plug for a new project. The group includes Rande Feldman and Aaron Cherny who do Source & Sink wines, which my company Massanois, sells. This is a commercial list and I have no affiliation with Six Figures. The first wine is a 2019 field blend that includes 46% Sangiacomo Merlot. Six barrel...

Brent C l a y t o n

Crazy Kids are destroying poor Uncle Victor's summer habitat.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/17/ ... ntentQuery

Brent C l a y t o n

Also, they do a good job on their private barrel program, those are the bottles you should look for. Any of the cask strength 10yr or custom pick barrel finish 12yr offerings.

Brent C l a y t o n

The whiskey is great, but I think they have been too aggressive with pricing. I used to sell it and when the 10yr was $60-70 I thought it was fair. Not at $85-90 which is what the 12yr used to cost. The last two offerings of Boss Hog have sat on the shelves because people won’t pull the trigger at $...

Brent C l a y t o n

Passed on the Chenin for the first time. The style just isn’t for me.

Brent C l a y t o n

Robert, Dinesh, and all-- This is a bit of thread drift, but since the topic came up here, I thought I'd mention that Steve Plotnicki posted this article on Facebook yesterday and started an interesting conversation about the term 'ethnic' in relation to restaurant descriptions. https://www.nrn.com/...

Brent C l a y t o n

Better to shop directly with the stores than via Drizly, Minibar, et al. You'll end up paying much more on Drizly (most stores tend to just raise their prices by 10-12% two cover the Drizly fees). Skip the middle man and support a local business directly, not Drizly's VC backers or the Wine & Spiri...

Brent C l a y t o n

Yeah, well you can buy a lot more DRC when you chisel restaurants to waive that $30 corkage fee, right Andrew?

Brent C l a y t o n

As a related but separate issue, I started buying a lot of singles in order to curb not only spending, but just to limit the sheer number of wines I'm buying, and I'm a fan of the strategy. The more singles you have and open, the less "anxiety" you have about opening a bottle just because it's the ...

Brent C l a y t o n

Another problem is that we don't have many European members any more so most of the recommendations will be American, shipping costs are certainly going to skew the prices for you.

Also, you might want to do a search and check out the existing coffee threads.

Brent C l a y t o n

Matt, I believe she is in New Mexico.

Brent C l a y t o n

There are some Boston peeps who check in here on occasion, but most of the OG crew has migrated off the board and even social media.

Brent C l a y t o n

If you are in MA you should be buying from George Howell. Forget about the bricks. They will (reluctantly) grind whole beans for you.

Brent C l a y t o n

I'll make sure to forward this to Lyle so he can tune in.

Brent C l a y t o n

Search and ye shall find.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=138895&p=2768438&h ... l#p2768438

Brent C l a y t o n

I don't have stats, but the local crafts in NYC seem to be chugging along just fine. They've pivoted to canning more beer since on-premise business is a fraction of what it was, but Other Half still can sell out of limited releases within hours or a day. Some releases that used to last only a day or...

Brent C l a y t o n

Brent C l a y t o n

Have I posted this recently?

Brent C l a y t o n

Sorry if someone has already mentioned this but if you like these wines or any other expensive wines there is great benefit to joining a tasting group so you can pool your expensive stuff and get a chance to taste a nice cross section of wines a few times a year. That is, assuming we eventually get ...

Brent C l a y t o n

Abreu and Araujo-era Eisele wines are worth the tariff. Do you think Araujo's style changed since the takeover? They aren't Araujo, since that family kept their name. Chateau Latour took it over and it's very much their style. They sell more of it in France than the U.S. Very classic, structured, a...

Brent C l a y t o n

MikeL238 wrote: ↑
July 6th, 2020, 5:07 pm

Brent C l a y t o n wrote: ↑
July 6th, 2020, 2:31 pm
Abreu and Araujo-era Eisele wines are worth the tariff.
Do you think Araujo's style changed since the takeover?

Mike,
I don't swim in those waters any more. My general experience with Eisele is the older the better, love the old Phelps bottlings. I drank my stash way too soon.

Brent C l a y t o n

Abreu and Araujo-era Eisele wines are worth the tariff.

Brent C l a y t o n

macdonald does not belong in that grouping Nor Piper. I am not sure who else is on the cult list in order to discuss further. Spottswoode is great, is it a cult wine? I wouldn't call it a cult wine. While some of these 'cult' wineries now have a track record going on 30 years, I wouldn't classify a...

Brent C l a y t o n

They all suck don't waste your money.

Brent C l a y t o n

Did Maureen Downey check it?

Brent C l a y t o n

Brent C l a y t o n

I have not been to the lower levels but I assume they use the same heavy duty industrial racking that they have installed on the main floor.

Brent C l a y t o n

You would have to drop a bomb on VWW to even have a chance of your collection being impacted. It's a former supermarket warehouse. Reinforced concrete. Of course they have temp control but it stays naturally cool most of the year. The only scenario as Michael probably described to you is accidental ...

Brent C l a y t o n

If you bought this on futures it was something like $8. A friend who had bought some 2000 told me he opened one a couple years ago and it was falling apart. Nice to hear a positive note.

Brent C l a y t o n

Agreed that consuming outside is no issue right now. In the same sense, you are a special kind of *sshole if you BYO at a restaurant that serves alcohol. Just get take out. Don’t monopolize one of the few tables they have if you’re not going to buy booze too. These people are hurting. At least get a...

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