Alban hits today. This is my second release, looking at the Seymour or the Lorraine. Any suggestions?
Seymour
Lorraine
Patrina
Estate Grenache
Viognier
Don’t skimp on the viognier. It is delicious!
The Grenache is love it/hate it. I will say this: You will never mistake it for cdp.
Syrah is of course the raison d’etre. They manage to maintain the Old World sensibility of the grape in an amped-up form that is pretty quickly accessible. They have all been delicious in my experience, even if I might struggle to tell them apart.
Thanks Kelly. I bought some Pandora on the last release, will definitely give it a try before the next release. Being that Seymour and Lorraine are the same price I might grab a few of each.
Kelly, accessible is not a word that comes to mind about Alban. The wines are fantastic and i to will be buying from this list but ive found they need a good amount of time sideways before drinking. The exception being the Patrina which is made for more immediate drinking.
I had the ‘13 patrina during the Super Bowl and it was incredible. Highly recommend.
Fair enough. I should have clarified: “relative to an Old World syrah beast like hermitage…”
Had an 06 Reva last week and it was still a monster and not very forgiving. No rubber tire phase which was good, but just a monster.
The viogniers are a prime example of new world ripe, unctuous viognier - if that’s the style you like, go for it. I find I like these younger rather than with age, so my advice is drink them sooner rather than later.
The grenaches do tend to be pretty big and bold - and definitely benefit from many years of bottle age.
No roussanne offered at this time? I adore this bottling - and love it with at least a decade worth of bottle time. It holds its alcohol much better than the viognier IMHO and is one of the best new world examples out there.
Cheers.
Still waiting for my first. How long did you wait?
I joined last summer and was offered wine on that release. So it was not very long.
Patrina is my semi-house wine - absolutely love that juice, and it’s a good price point. You can never go wrong with Seymour, but as has been mentioned, do not overlook the Viognier as it is tremendous.
I bought Alban Reva for several years (at least 3-4 vintages) and never received a regular offering of Seymour or Lorraine except for a “flash” offering for a 2010. Cheers!
I grabbed the 3 Seymours that were offered. Realm is tomorrow so hard to go much deeper.
To Larry’s question, if I remember correctly the roussanne was offered in the summer. I think I will buy some on the next offer.
Not sure how or why, but I joined and was offered the Pandora right away. Then this release the Seymour and Lorraine.
I’ll have to double check and see if I’m on the waiting list. I know several wineries wouldn’t put us Oklahomans on the list unless you called and provided them another shipping address. With the new law change in October they can now legally ship direct. Turley sent me a postcard this winter to specifically tell me I was now on the list for this reason.
2000 Alban Lorraine and 2003 Cayuse En Cerise in one tasting flipped me from drinking exclusively Cabernet Sauvignon to almost exclusively Syrah in 2016.
Went to the website and it shows all but 6 states that they don’t ship to and Oklahoma was not included in those 6.
I probably don’t need another list but I have a few I’d drop quick for this one. Ha!
Ive been buying Reva for 4 years, this was my first Lorraine and Seymour offer.
Its a pretty high entry price but i could not resist a couple of each and the grenache, these will be hidden away for 10-15 years minimum, if they are let out they will still be untamed !! however once tamed their is no bigger more satisfying wine than an Alban, the wines just have a savouriness and black pudding goodness to them that nothing ive tasted matches and when your in that mood its awesome.
Its like music, you mostly listen to easy going stuff, occasionally a bit more but once in a while you want full belt Mahler, that is Alban, its Mahler #2
For joining as recently as you did, you absolutely scored with your allocation.
I opened the 2014 Reva recently and with a long decant it was awesome.
I may open one of my Pandora’s for this year’s birthday.
I am passing as shipping make it very expensive for me but did get an allocation for Patrina and Lorrain.
The new ground shipping option is far better, make sure you selected ground and not air.
Normally it was like $90 shipping, ground it was $38 much better