My 10 year old daughter is at least as obsessed with Flannery dry aged beef as I am so that’s a must buy (as is Morgan Ranch). Beyond that mainly focused on the OR folks: Goodfellow, Vincent, Kelley Fox, Patty Green, Championship Bottle.
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Since us Council folks are sworn to secrecy, cant say much but the newbie list is looking amazing … and I’m in the no more space left but these will be hard to resist. Lots of good MC deals too so glad I just renewed mine!
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When I tasted with Marcus this summer it was still up in the air. I tasted zero dosage under cap. Yummy.
Interestingly, when FMIII, Dildine, myself, and Alan were at Rhys years ago they were playing with dosage for the sparkler. Kevin made a really interesting comment that just 1 or 2 grams made a big difference in the aromatics.
And aromas are important factors in “taste” so potentially a gram could pull pear flavors out of something that might otherwise be solely lemon lime.
It’d be fun to line up 5 bottles from zero to 4 grams, blind, and have at it!
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When I tasted at Goodfellow in early December, we were able to try brut nature versions of his sparklers, and they were excellent. However, he made a point of mentioning that the final dosage levels had not yet been decided. They were doing dosage trials later in the month.
I’m sure the final dosage levels have been decided by now, but I haven’t seen any mention of what they might be.
Edit: Ugh. I should have finished reading the thread before posting. @brigcampbell had it all covered.
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My wife dislikes steak except for Flannery.
Great info Brig. I agree that the Goodfellow was so good without dosage and advocated for keeping it that way. However, just in the last few weeks, they did dosage trials. Like Kevin, Marcus said that just a couple of grams took the wines to the next level. However, I am not a winery insider, so I don’t know what the final decision was.
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I am looking forward to a bag of dicks potato chips.
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Need a Durand desperately.
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Nikki is closing out Stars & Dust. In her last newsletter, she indicated that 2022 is her last vintage - some of them were in barrel as of November 2023. She will continue selling her current stock, but if my memory is correct the 2022 rosé is already sold out.
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I was going to note that, but better you
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Thanks for the info Astrid - and I just checked out the S&D website which confirms your recollection on the rosé. I’m a little sad to hear it, although also intrigued about what may be coming next!
Wow! I had not heard that. I’ll have to reach out to her. Such a fun and unique individual.
I agree that the vin clair would be a great white wine in its own right. I had that thought when tasting last June, and another winemaker in the valley who had also tasted it said the same. I’d guess the final wine has just a bit of dosage, but in any event, I trust Marcus’ call here, particularly given his personal tastes in champagne (and the fact that he makes brilliant wines, that too).
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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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