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

John S

Desert Island bottling for me. If I only bought 3 different wines a year this would be one of them.

John S

Yeah, all of us Frank. We all gotta do our part. It was Vincent wine here as well. My first try with those. Probably overkill but I let any package sit for a day or so just in case before I handle it more. Tomorrow looks to be our once a week trip to the grocery. Those trips are kindof depressing to...

John S

FWIW, I absolutely agree that this was not what I wanted nor how it was supposed to work. I assume anything not in my house has the virus and try to act accordingly.

John S

I got a FedEx wine delivery today and also had to sign on the drivers iphone. Far from ideal but immediate hand washing should do the trick.

John S

I have not been on a stairmaster in a while but always preferred the ones with real stairs that rotated. It was just like climbing endless stairs which is not unlike climbing a big peak. Remember when climbing you start slow and go slower. To me personally planning to do this in a day seems like ask...

John S

I remember the '01 vintage pretty well as I think Lee and I were at the Marche when those were sold/tasted? They were not fleshy wines at all, not what I would term lean but I can see how one that really wants fruit driven wines would use that term. Somewhere in between I guess. I have had pretty go...

John S

Hi Lee, FWIW, my bottles of the regular have been singing for about 5 years. I may have finished them all now since they were as good as I expected them to be. The Lancement has never opened back up for me (post tasting at Chex Ogier and the Marche aux Vins) so maybe it will someday or never. Hard t...

John S

As others have said have an inspector look for signs of condensation/mold. In dry climates I think it may be OK without, In humid environment I've seen cellars w.o. a vapor barrier that end up having rot and mold issues over time. There are lots of imperfect cellars out there. You don't mention if i...

John S

I kept find bottles of the 2001 Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett in my cellar over he last 5 years and man what a tasty drink. I think I finally exhausted whatever slipped into the cellar but this experience pretty much convinced me to just buy Prum. It is too easy to buy more German wines than I dr...

John S

Fine wine prices always soften when the financial markets take a bath. It is typically lagged in that it takes a while to see. It also is generally less that what many expect or want but it is certainly there. The very limited supply of some very high end wines means those prices after do not fall l...

John S

For interesting selections the afore mentioned Mondo Vino and Vineyards are good, small well selected shops. Applejacks is the classic grocery store sized place with large selection and is probably the most frequented shop on the Denver Airport -> Mtns route.While not my selections, Applejacks is mu...

John S

The answer here is subjective. If you are fine with say 5-10 degree swings up to the mid 60s then yeah it is gonna be fine. If not you’ll need to go active. You will get a different opinion on what swings or temps are fine from just about every person. Much depends on the wines you have and your goa...

John S

Sorry I'll miss this Nathan. Always like to learn and eat at Rue Cler.

John S

Sorry about your awful experience and thanks for posting in order to help others. Not that it helps you there have been many threads over many years on these guys. I ordered something once and finally got my money back and this was 20 years ago. Think it was called grapes wine of Norwalk and amazing...

John S

I think that '92 La Jota Anniversary cab was made by Helen Turley or Randy Dunn.

John S

I don't chase epiphanies but am certainly always hoping to find one. Mainly I look to learn about interesting wines. The latter is more my primary focus but both experiences are welcomed any day. Expectations of anything, including wine epiphanies, are fraught with disappointment. What has changed f...

John S

I am confused here. Is this a passive or active cellar?

John S

I have had some grass fed beef including thru finishing. Distinctly more gamey, tougher, and much less fat than grain finished beef. It was from a lady who raised her cattle next to us at 8,000ft and was sold as a half or full cow. We got a half. Not the best flavor for my tastes but still good and ...

John S

I bought this cuvée in the 98 vintage and tried a couple other vintages around that time including the 00. For me just a great example of where many CdPs back then went wrong with more oak and culling out a special cuvée. It always seems glossy and slick, neither are words I would often use for CdP....

John S

Cool, I may have drunk one of those eons ago at a Caymus vertical when I learned the first few vinatges were made by Randy. They were super good. Yes, we miss CO a ton. We move back West summer 2021 when our youngest kids graduate HS. I spend much of the winter at our ski place near Vail so I can't ...

John S

Hi Don,

Wasn't this made by Randy Dunn or was that just the next few vintages. Take care

John S

When I lived in Colorado, which is super dry, I always ran a humidifier. The kind with wicks is best as it does not leave white dust and does not add heat. Basically is a small evaporative cooler but the amt of cooling is trivial. Search for "evaporative humidifier" on Amazon. I had a Vornado. The w...

John S

FWIW I think any horizontal racking is not going to be very cost effective for the bottles stored. Plus if you do double deep on wall 1, you'll want that 30" open to wall 3 to work in. You won't want to be bumping up against those horizontal bottles all the time. 30" is enough space but really not t...

John S

Your max capacity (with good functionality) is to simply rack all of wall 1 with double deep racking. Leave the other walls open. You will have approx 30" of space between rack and opposite wall which is OK to work with (I try for 36" but 30" is fine) so you can get that double deep racking in. If y...

John S

If it were me I'd just do the entire wall across from the door in single bottle (champagne sized) double deep racking. That way you get lots of storage (i.e. the double deep part) and with it all champagne sized you don't have to worry about will this 750ml bottle fit here. I also organize by region...

John S

Pine, as I recall, can warp and worse yet mold and be weak over time. It does not last as along. Most people use redwood since in a cellar environment (humid) the material works great and last a super long time. It needs no finish and none of mine have discolored. Search engine and google are your f...

John S

If you are going custom, I have purchased clear heart racking from these guys 4 different times. Always great to work with and reasonable pricing. No affiliation. They have no website as I think they largely contract to cellar install pros. They ship vertical ladders of racking and you need a finish...

John S

If you rack everything for champagne sized bottles it will accommodate pretty much any 750ml sized bottle. FYI, Krug does not fit in that. You will loose some maximum capacity but gain a lot of flexibility. Yes I always go double deep.

John S

Nice to see this note. Drank all mine probably 20 years ago. The same vintage Cuvee Centennaire was flat out fantastic for a long time. Been a while since I had one of those as well but it was best for my tastes at under 20 years old.

John S

Enjoy Phish. I will be there as well and have never been to Charleston so look fwd to that.

John S

I have done the day trip snowmobile excursion into Yellowstone. It has been ages but it was super fun and well worth missing a “regular” day of skiing. They supply the gear including the one piece suits and yes it will be cold but honestly with the warm hand grips etc I was never real cold. Super fu...

John S

I had never heard of this outfit and just tried the 2016 mokelumne Syrah. I have never even heard of the area where the grapes seems to originate, mokelumne river which is kind of close to Sacramento, I think. It was a recommended by a wine guy at Cortis in Sacramento and is quite good. Well made, c...

John S

Pass. I've had about 3 bottles and every one was corked or bad leaker. Used to be many notes with the same experience.

John S

On that note, I would grab anything that would taste good that night to share with whoever I was staying with.

John S

Had to evacuate while living in CO three times. Never grabbed any wine. Pictures, hard drives etc.

John S

As John K mentions I always simply put myself in the Somm’s hands there. I have been going since they soft opened many moons ago and never even open the wine list. The wine folks there generally know my palate but if there is someone someone I do not know I just say I would like something with chara...

John S

That is a great story Tom. I'll share one as well. We used to live in the foothills above Boulder CO at 8,000ft elevation. We bordered National Forest on two sides on the property and had lots of "wild" wildlife in that the critters that came around were generally not very used to humans. Anyhow at ...

John S

Not familiar with LAX but anytime I brought in cheese or similar food items I had to go thru that secondary line. I'd always assume that is the case when travelling with that stuff thru US customs. I got where I would not bring it back as it was a PITA to wait that extra time but I am not the most p...

John S

They are strikingly beautiful and majestic creatures to see in person. Super rare to see them in person and I've been in the right place and time 3 times in my life and always consider myself amazingly lucky. I keep it quiet for fear someone will try to find them and kill them. And yeah, they may be...

John S

On the temps noted above you will get differing opinions. But if me and I had a good slug of expensive wine I would not want them to get that hot over 10/20/30 years. That's why I went active even though I had pretty good year round conditions in that cellar at 8k elevation. A cost effective solutio...

John S

Mold in my experience does not start until the relative humidity is 75% and higher. I would target 70% in COand never any mold. Here in NC I have seen a bit but the cellar has gotten over 80% occasionally in the summer. So bingo. And of course mold poses no issues for the wine, just labels and resal...

John S

Mark, an evaporative humidifier does not add heat and actually cools a tiny bit. Just like a swamp cooler in principle. But I just assume no added heat in a passive cellar. If active any style humidifier is fine. Keep 8n mind adding moisture is not generally needed. In NC I need to remove humidity.

John S

I had a passive cellar at 8k elevation in CO for many years. It was well insulated (batting not foamed) and with a proper vapor barrier. It reached the lower 60s in peak summer heat. So that is probably a little better than one can do down in the flatlands with a perfect setup. I did eventually put ...

John S

Welcome.

The track record of the same wine/producer over history is the best gauge. This plays into all the points mentioned above.

John S

It has been a while since I have done this. Simple answer it is complicated especially if just a case or few bottles. If so it is really not worth it unless you carry them with you on a plane. There are quite a few US importers who do this and bring wines to the East and West Coast of the US from a ...

John S

Maybe too simple but is there any chance OP is tasting wines at a cooler temp from the wine fridge and warmer from the store? While this would not explain any vinegar flavors I'm just tossing out a super basic thing that would make a dramatic tasting difference.

John S

The Monopol the easily the best. Most others are pretty poor and priced accordingly.

John S

Seems like I have a contrary opinion in that we used to have a dual fuel 60" wolf. Something like one of the ones in the below link. It was the best kitchen appliance we ever owned. Yes, one needs to bend over to use the oven. We had the griddle which was quite nice. We sold that house or we would s...

John S

For me no on VT. My serious CdP tasting info generally refers to vintages 2007 and before.

John S

Yep, well made but riper in style and some have more new oak. But my experience with these is a bit dated.

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