I continue to have fantastic luck and finding older wines on the cheap. Just had this. Was $5.50 after buyer premium, and no shipping, as I picked it up.
Was not expecting much, and way over-delivered. Still has many years left. No real signs of bricking and still lots of fruit. Nose of some prune and raisin, but still smelled nice fruit. Taste was even better. Very smooth. Not overly complicated but super nice drinking, with fully integrated fruit.
I will continue to look for and buy these older wines that end up selling for $1. This was part of a two-bottle lot that I won for $1 and paid $10 more for buyer premium.
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I should have added that I got this and other ones from the Spectrum wine auctions.
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I once bought some 1991 Gallo of Sonoma Estate CS at auction…. And was shipped the Gallo CS [Sonoma] which was their fighting varietal $8 wine.
PS - different auction house, not Spectrum, long time ago
Hopefully, they addressed it. One of the advantages of picking up is that you can check not just the bottle but the condition, which I’ve never had an issue with based how they described it on their site.
Speaking of Spectrum and older bottles:
Tom, have you happened to buy any of Spectrum’s mixed Washington wine cases, or seen them when picking up your auction wins? I’ve been curious about those lots, but the descriptions don’t give much indication of what’s actually included.
Wondering if you’ve encountered any or have any insight into what might be in them.
No idea. Never bought any and honestly, never really considered it. Mainly because I’m not a fan of generally complete unknown random cases (although I have bought and liked the random mixed cases from the Ravenswood Library offerings, but that has more context) and not a big fan of general WA wines (although I do like a few producers). Even though fairly cheap (maybe around $6/bottle), I still prefer choosing wines that I know for about the same price. I do wonder if there are any higher end wines in there like Quilceda Creek, Cayuse, Leonetti. Doubt it.
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Living close to Spectrum is a wonderful thing. I used to buy lots of bottles like that and have my friend pick them up who lived a mile away. Those bottles aren’t worth bidding on for people who have to have them shipped, but for us they are basically free
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I know exactly what you mean. I’m generally not a fan of mystery cases unless they’re cheap enough to justify the gamble.
I was tempted because I’ve had good luck with older Dusted Valley Syrah in the past, and there are quite a few bottles showing up in the current auctions. But without knowing what’s actually in those mixed cases, the risk of ending up with a bunch of past-their-prime supermarket wines is a little too high for me.
Thanks for the response!