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

Fall '18 arrived today, so I decided to pop a OVZ to get a feel for the vintage. In short... flirtysmile 2018 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Old Vine - USA, California (10/19/2019) Nose is vibrant, showing lush blackberry jam, a hint of incense, and clods of freshly turned earth. On the palate, it’s sur...

I’d go for a dolcetto or a barbera from a good producer like Vajra or Vietti. Fresh and young, with a bit of earthy bitterness works nicely. Also, Lambrusco can be an inspired pairing!

Many current and older vintages are still available at retail, e.g. https://www.klwines.com/Products?searchText=bedrock You can have it both ways... buy a few bottles with age and pop them to see what they blossom into, and then decide if you want to hold or drink... with the bonus that you can buy ...

Does anyone know how much of a presence Napa wine has in mainland China? Not that much, I would have thought, but I have no statistics to hand. https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/industrynews/wineindustry/8733194-181/wine-exports-china-first-half-2018 Total U.S. wine exports to China for all o...

Nice write-up Blake! I’ve had mixed results with the ‘70s, but an Ardanza I had last year was still going strong. Have a few in store for a birthday next year, including the Faustino V so thanks for the note!

Did you happen to ask Monica about upcoming production of the Rosado?

Alan Eden wrote: ↑
June 28th, 2019, 9:46 am
Have the 17 Chuy Chard for tonight, what should i expect ? Cali butter/oak bomb or more Chablis style

It’s not a butter bomb, but it’s definitely Oaked and it’s definitely CA chard. Perhaps my least favorite Bedrock.

Hate hate hate that he uses oak on the Chenin. Needs another year or two to burn off the oak. I had one in March/April. I totally agree. Had a 2014 tonight and I found the oak overpowered all the things I love about chenin. My first thought was maybe I’m overly sensitive to oak in whites, but the f...

Otto, thanks for that summary. Can you recommend Rioja made with french oak barrels? I like some LdH, and feel like I would like more Tempranillo based wines if there was less oak, especially American oak. Artadi El Pison is one of the big Rioja names made with 100% French Oak, and while the oak tr...

That's the way to rose all day. Killer wines. Have not had the Chateau Simone and will have to keep an eye out for that one. Thanks for posting!!

You may want to check out K&L - they're more casual as far as auctions go, but they have a few advantages... - $5 listing fee + 0% seller commission (if you take K&L store credit) - low threshold on what qualifies (several bottles of SQN should definitely qualify) - you can see what prices bottles h...

Thanks Tom for the notes! I've had a couple bottles of the Schmiedt Rd and will say they're probably my least favorite bedrock. I think I said "blueberry pie on hot asphalt" in my TN.

Martin Zwick wrote: ↑
June 19th, 2019, 1:58 am

IMG_0382.jpg
Roter Hang/Nierstein

yep, that's pretty red

Kelly, trust me, all the 2016 are singing now and its the same with Calon Ségur. Needs also not necessarily decanting. Open a bottle and find out for yourself. in vino veritas Thanks Martin... will plan to open one when I manage to pick mine up. Kind of dreading it as I have no room for the 3 cases...

Perhaps that 2013 just needs to be paired with some Zithromax

Thanks David. How was the oak? I had a 2006 last year, and it was a block of tannins and unintegrated oak.

Is there any wine region in the world that offers the value Bordeaux still does in the $35-50 range? You can still get excellent classed growths like Branaire Ducru or various Margaux in that range, or new right bank up and comers like Tour Christophe Rioja. You can pick up a 12-15 year old Reserva...

Anton D wrote: ↑
May 29th, 2019, 5:35 pm
Sure, Scott pulls the mainstream media fake news definition.

It means, "To enjoy a joint by oneself."

FIFY

I suspect whoever at Total was responsible for updating their futures was out on vacation for the long weekend.

They now have Canon, Rauzan-Segla, Chevalier, GPL, Leo-Barton, etc. As a bonus, except for Canon, all of these are available in 375ml as well.

Yeah, they’re offering far fewer things in 375. I picked up some branaire-ducru but everything I else was only available in 750.

Older btls at retailers who do auctions. I'm 63 and love finding random btl from 1996 and back from retailers and Envoyer. Unless, you buying the top 5-10 producers like LaMish, there are amazing 15yr old+nearly ready to fully ready to drink values to be had often for less than release of the big n...

+1. Their 1er crus are superb value as well. K&L stocks them regularly as well.

K&L actually has a useful tool that shows historical auction prices of wines on their site: https://www.klwines.com/Auction/Information/AuctionPastLotsList.aspx Obviously, there's going to be variance and some people will get better deals than others. But you can see (for example) Allemand Reynard u...

Mmm have 3 of the Huets left. Maybe will pop one soon. And have a 1970 Bodegas Bilbainas Pomal teed up for a 49th bday on Thursday. Hope it shows well!

Claus Jeppesen wrote: ↑
May 13th, 2019, 12:16 pm

Chris T. wrote: ↑
May 12th, 2019, 4:50 pm
I still have two. Unsure if I should sell them or just drink them or trade them
Is it that expensive?

Both 2008 and 2009 have been selling at auction for $250-300 per.

Congrats on 5-0, Buzz. I turned 42 this weekend and also had a Heitz birthday wine. These old bottles of Heitz really stand up to the test of time! 1977 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Bella Oaks - USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford (5/12/2019) Mid shoulder fill, corroded capsule. Cork crumble...

I made brunch (2 types of yeasted waffles, one sweet, one savory) for my mother-in-law and sis-in-law but we didn't have any alcohol. It was also my birthday, however, so I popped a 1977 Heitz Bella Oaks at dinner, which was just lovely.

Nice work sourcing one Dale. How would you describe the color of the wine? Hard to tell from your pic, but it looks a bit more cherry red than previous vintages, which I'd describe as closer to salmon or orangish even.

Panos has a nice, thoughtful write up:
https://wine-chronicles.com/blog/bdx18- ... hedonists/

I was a bit dispirited by Calon Segur prices... at $105 I may go in for a few, but it's not quite the deal that '16 was ($85 en primeur). If spending $100 is too much for any wine, I get it. FWIW 18 Calon Segur is better than 16, it’s probably the best wine in the history of the estate. For that le...

I was a bit dispirited by Calon Segur prices... at $105 I may go in for a few, but it's not quite the deal that '16 was ($85 en primeur). May also go in for Rauzan Segla (especially if it comes out at <$100), Meyney, Branaire-Ducru, Carmes HB, Chevalier, and Laroque. Many of the Pomerols sound lovel...

83 Climens
01 Yquem
09 VCC
09 Meyney
06 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Auslese
01 Williams Selyem Vista Verde late harvest Gewurz
77 Taylor Port

Hmm that's a lot of sweet stuff.

Lafite and Mouton each produce 15-20k cases of wine a year. Except for Opus One, you could probably fit every other mentioned vineyard into Lafite and then some. Even Petrus makes 2500 cases per year... multiple times the production of most Napa cult cabs.

Not a Champagne per se, but I had a really interesting bubbly from England this past weekened. Definitely worth trying if you're looking for something off the beaten path. I only gave it an 89, but I keep thinking about it so perhaps it merits an upgrade: NV Ridgeview Fitzrovia Rosé - United Kingdom...

FWIW, I had a completely different wine also grown on Kimmeridgian clay, a NV Fitzrovia Rose English bubbly, grown in West Sussex... and intensely salty is an apt descriptor.

Georgian wines are interesting - try a Mtsvane or a rkatsiteli skin-on fermented white, or a red made from sapaveri

Bedrock question for the experts here: I’ve recently signed up for the mailing list based on my enjoyment of Carlisle (an apparent kindred spirit) and the raves on this board. I found a few 17s at retail to try to see if these are for me. Between the OVZ, Evangelho Heritage and Bedrock Heritage, wh...

how about the entire appellation of CdP? Word. CdP seemed like it was in such a race to go big and unctuous to satisfy the Parker palate as he aged that it overshot consumer preferences by about 3 or 4 standard deviations of bigness. I'm hoping there is an aggressive style correction over the next ...

Would you be a buyer of 2016 Montrose at $134? I don’t know who “you” is, but were I under 45, I’d buy it all day long. Ditto. I picked up 6 at $149 en primeur, and W-S shows most retailers now selling in the $190-200 range, so $134 at retail is a great deal. There seemed to be a lot of winners in ...

What are Liv-Ex's criteria for "value" wines? The exact survey question is "List in order of preference your top five value wines from 2018 (value wines are wines with an expected release price of less than £600 per case)" I suppose the respondents can interpret that how they want. Survey summary h...

If Rauzan Segla comes in under $80, that might be one of the better QPRs of the vintage. Won't be even close. The Liv-Ex survey had Rauzan Segla as the poll's #3 value wine, with Brainaire-Ducru taking the top spot. They also noted that GPL had the top spot for 8 years running before this year. liv...

1979 Blandy's Verdelho
2014 Rieussec (so young, but so good)
2008 Quivet Syrah Hulda Block Las Madras Vineyard

Sounds like an awesome night! Thanks for posting! And I definitely agree that the whites show best with a few years on them.

Champagne is an easy go-to. But the other thing I gift with frequency is Sauternes. I find few people buy Sauternes for themselves... but every time I open something like a 2001 Tour Blanche or Suduiraut at a dinner party, it's guaranteed to get people ooh-ing and aah-ing, whether they're big wine d...

I’ve also not loved their Chards - and my notes were aligned with yours Dan. I think it’s their basic Pinot and Syrah are great values though... especially the 2015 Syrah. Wish I had picked up a couple cases when I had the chance.

1970 was a good year in Rioja and many are still in good shape. Had a '70 Ardanza and Taylor-Fladgate last year for my partner's bday, and both showed well. Have a couple more Rioja's teed up for this year's bday (CVNE Imperial Reserva + Franco-Espanolas Cosecha Especial). And then '70 Mouton, Montr...

Nice story! Two randomly tangentially-related personal notes: 1) When I first lived in Berkeley 20 years ago, I rented the house of a woman who had just died, and it turned out she had been one of the women who worked on ENIAC. I vividly recall leafing through her math textbooks in the basement wit...

Nice story! Two randomly tangentially-related personal notes: 1) When I first lived in Berkeley 20 years ago, I rented the house of a woman who had just died, and it turned out she had been one of the women who worked on ENIAC. I vividly recall leafing through her math textbooks in the basement with...

Cotat, Dagueneau, and Loire silex wines in general.

'89 was a great year for Loire reds... i loved the C&P Perrieres and Raffault Picasses. Another great '89 is the Joel Taluau St-Nic-de-Bourgeuil, which K&L had been selling for for the ridiculous price of $35 a few years back.

As much as I love the Evangelho story, it's never been my favorite Bedrock... I popped a '17 back in November shortly after they arrived, and I enjoyed it but it didn't quite deliver the same energy and charisma as the Dolinsek right out of the gate.

Search found 456 matches