Got the mailer and thinking about buying. Love the marketing, dig the wine.
I’m torn. I feel like I’m just not getting the bang for the buck with their wine. Plus I think if I recall, shipping wasn’t too friendly, but I could be wrong.
Well I skipped last year but I’m thinking about jumping back in on their second year Pinot.
I’ve never had their wines…what’s the 411 on them as far as types of wine, prices and style?
I’ve never seen nor heard of this winery…
Red Car?
I’d bought a few of these 2001-02…Dreaming Detective, Sugar Daddy, etc. At the time, this was the big oozemonster going style of Syrah, AND of all things …Pinot (Amour Fou)! The graphics were kind of cool, and the bottle was caveman club.
When I’ve opened them of late, most people have run screaming - like they went all Francophile on me. Consumer preference and winemaking changes at Red Car may have changed things since then.
Had them in the past and bought off of maybe 2 or 3 mailers. Nothing exceptional on the syrah front and the pinots are pretty extracted and full blown. Way too much money for what you get.
There’s no doubt that they are full blown new world. I’ve had people rave about the Syrah when I’ve popped them. No Francophile’s served though. Still war clubs.
Got on early, but dropped off. Their big winner, IMVHO, was the SugarDaddy. But after that I’m not sure they had a hit. OK wines, but for the price…
They always seemed, to me, to aspire to be the next SQN with the labels, different names each year. etc and never quite made it.
Actually although i’ve not bought in a while, I still get offers so if people want my allocation just let me know.
Here’s probably the best note I ever wrote on a wine for the 2002 Sugardaddy:
She belonged to another man, a friend of mine, but he shared. She was as dark as moonless desert sky. I cradled her in my hand a raised her to my nose. She was unyielding. Come on, baby, I said, and shook her violently round and round. She had that smell of fleshly killed meat on a freshly tarred highway. I put her to my lips. Tight. I sat around talking a while and she started to give in a little. She tasted of blueberries and espresso beans, complex and dense, but she just wasn’t ready for me. You’re just a kid, I said, come back in a couple of years. Forever was a long time ago.
For those that don’t know, it was a play on the label written by the late, great Mark Estrin.
I once loved a woman who belonged to another man. I held her in my arms. She told me she’d love me forever. Her eyes were as blue as the desert sky but her sugardaddy’s money was green. Forever was a long time ago.
On the list, and they’re fun wines, but no money, so another pass… -mJ
bought them when Mark Estrin was alive; he was my go-to tea guy and I supported his move into wine. Haven’t bought since he passed away.
alan
I’ve opened the 05 and 06 The Fight and the 06 Vinyl syrahs lately. They are extremely big wines, but very well made. Tons of fruit, smoke, and meat without the overwhelming oak signature of some of the aussie wines. They aren’t bashful. I really enjoy them but they are pretty pricey at the release prices. I bought the above bottles for less than $20 each, and at the price they are an incredible deal (for my palate).
What is it with Syrah producers and the SQN approach of fanciful sometimes caroonish labels and names? It seems like the cults and aspiring cults like Cayuse, Sanguis, Red Car, all manner of Aussie special cuvees (Dookers!) and probably a few others go about it the same way. It doesn’t seem to be as common with Cabs.
Isnt the lure of CA Cab the wood box? Im thankful the Rhone guys havent caught that bug.
As for Red Car, I used to like them but as someone said the SugarDaddy/Fight was THE wine I always thought and the rest were overpriced.
I remember Red Car! I fell under the spell of the eBob buzz and bought the Dreaming Detective and then the Sugardaddy off the “mailing list,” which I believe was my first exposure to mailing lists and gosh did it make me feel special. I believe the wines at the time were made by Clos Mimi’s Tim Spear. They were released to the mailing list something like 5 minutes after the grapes were harvested with instructions to hold them in your cellar for some extended period of time, something which other wine producers tended to do in their own cellar. This didn’t register with me at the time but I definitely found it irritating when other syrahs from the same vintage from the Rhone and California started hitting the market and it seemed like I’d had the Red Car hogging my precious cellar space for eons! (In those fat, heavy bottles, of course.) Anyway, the wines were rich and syrupy and dark-complexioned in the fashion of the time, not exactly shirazesque but closer to shiraz than Hermitage. I enjoyed them then but didn’t get the same special feeling drinking the wine as I did being admitted to the exclusive club of their mailing list, which I believe was open to everyone who signed up. I still have 3 or 4 Sugardaddys if anyone else would like to experience the same not-exactly-special feeling.
On the list and now in the club. I prefer their Pinot over the Syrah, but the Trolley Car Syrah is good for the money. I think the Heaven & Earth Pinots are quite good and we were up in Sonoma in November and were treated (yes treated it was that good) to a barrel sample of the '09 Heaven & Earth. Drinking every bit as good as the '07 which got lots of love!!! I have not tried the other higher end Pinots, but I like what they are doing.
I’ve only heard the name. I’m curious now: What are they selling for?
I don’t think I’ve tried their wines, maybe once, but I’ve inventoried some cellars that have a BUNCH of it. What you say about trying to follow the SQN model is spot on. Big huge bottles with busy graphic arts department let go labels. Along with the names you are supposed to know indicate that particular years Pinot or Syrah or what have you. I guess its fun for someone to think that stuff up but what about the wine?
Amen to that…Mark was a dear friend and we worked together for awhile at Bacchus & Associates in Santa Monica. I also have not purchased any Red Car since his far too young passing.
I think I shall lift a glass to him this day during Christmas dinner.
Marshall