Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing, vin clair is still wine pre-secondary fermentation usually tasted the spring after harvest/primary fermentation. I never tasted that I didn’t know anyone had. Brig and I are talking about sparkling wine that had been on the lees for several years already and could have been released as a finished Brut-zero product.
I should modify, you’re correct. The taste I had had been opened for some time and the bubbles had largely dissipated, so it was the base wine, but that had seen secondary fermentation and therefore extended lees aging.
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Having access to the producer’s most representative wines in their best drinking windows. Takes the guess work out.
I’d much rather try a slightly more expensive library wine than a slightly cheaper younger release that just needs more time.
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If @Marcus_Goodfellow offers any 2013 Whistling Ridge Pinot, people should jump on it. I’ve opened multiple bottles over the last couple months and with a bunch of air they’ve been fire.
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100% Especially the mystery cuvee. Bought 12 and haven’t regretted a single bottle!
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So to tie Nikki and vin clair in a big bow.
We had Nikki and Jeff to my house 10 years ago. OMG, we burned the place down.
Jeff was still working for Heidrick and Nikki was focused on Liquid Farm.
Jeff brought a bottle of vin clair. Oh my, it ripped your face off. Battery acid.
Big house pick green berries and dosage to compensate versus what the growers are doing.
Enjoy this nuttiness. May not have laughed harder in my life
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I have heard that someone here may be offering Durands on her website… 
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Thanks so much everyone for the fantastic energy and anticipation for our sparkling wines!
It seems like dosage choices have caught some interest, so I posted a brief description of our process for the dosage trials in the Goodfellow/Matello thread. No hard decisions will be made until the second and third legs of the trials are finished. Megan and I both really want these wines to be the very best they can be, so we’re engaged in a very rigorous process for determining dosage.
I’m looking forward to BD, and Oregon wines from Kelley Fox, PGC, Vincent, Championship Bottle, Violin, and hopefully a couple if newbies as well! I think I need to reload on Cabot and Sabelli-Frisch as well.
Edit: and build a bigger cellar as well…
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@K_John_Joseph - just offering a gentle correction…Virage is primarily Merlot/Cab Franc. I’m not saying there is no CS, but think it is minimal, if at all.
Cracked another 2007 on Christmas, which has become a tradition in the McIsaac household along with espresso-rubbed beef tenderloin. So, so good! I have a couple left, and may shed a tear when they are gone.
And more Cab Franc than Merlot. At least in the 2007 and 2011 IIRC.
Emily is all about the right bank.
And those are my favorite vintages of her releases!
@John_Kane, I’m glad you got this started… and yes, Astrea is easily some of the best caviar out there. Great prices and access through BD. Flannery, Morgan Ranch, Goodfellow, Richard Albert, Virage, are no doubters. And I’m sure I’ll get sixers from at least half a dozen Beserkers! Definitely will inventory and catch up my glasses… hoping for more Kane’s. Love them.
I am hoping for great things from Goodfellow sparkler! Beau, Random Wines, made my favorite American sparkler to this date. A gamy noir wine that has always hit me just right. Guessing Marcus and team will rock whatever they make!!!
Thanks, Todd, and team in advance for the monumental hard work you have in the near future!!!
Perhaps that’s why I love the structure and mouthfeel…and totally good there with the call out. I appreciate it.
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YESSSSSSSS
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I feel much the same way and a bottle I opened on December 30 was just lovely. I think I just have two left.
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Nice. I have 4. Those were Berserkerday flyers. And man did I/we luck out with them. One of the great things about 1/27…One can take a small risk on an unknown producer and score huge.
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I so much regret not buying those bubbles.
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Awesome!!
I missed Beau’s sparkling Gamay but it’s great to see him get a shout out on the board. Great guy, excellent wines, and way, way too long since I have seen him. We used to run into each other at Michael Alberty’s shop.
IIRC, Beau’s SO made the wines at Kramer and the sparkling wines were routinely excellent there as well.
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Seeing what Ansonia has.
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Emily Richer and her Right Bank (American) Borriquot and Bordeaux blend. Sucker for the short and suppleness of her wines.
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