Parker’s rating (if by him) can attract me to a wine if it is in a particular price range. When he comes out and calls a wine one of the top three wine values of the year it underlines my interest. When it’s a red and in a $30 or so range I will really go out of my way to find it.
I am not interested in the 15 or 20 100 point wines in a particular vintage (although I remember and tasted his first 100 point CA wine, '85 Groth Reserve, which was a real challenge to find in the D. C. area almost 30 years ago).
Wine-searcher shows a number of places in the East that have '14 Stack House. When I called them most only have a few bottles or it is the '13 vintage. I also hesitate to have a case shipped ground from CA the first week of January. My compromise was a very good price on second day shipping from the Napa Connection. After we drank the first bottle we ordered a second case feeling that even with the cost of second day shipping it was well worth the cost.
For myself-if only for this one wine-I thank Parker for his opinion.
There is a second wine that I mentioned above and the source was not Parker. It was a blogger in Anacortes. The wine was Woodinville Cellars 2012 Reserve. I mention this as a second wine that I found which, for me, was so enjoyable that I immediately bought another case. The gifted winemaker for this wine, Sean Boyd, has an interesting family background: his father was the managing editor of the Wine Spectator in 1979 and was formerly the wine critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Sean and Woodinville have made a wine worthy of his background and his family’s history.
This whole thread just seems like Joe is trying to stimulate interest in two little known wines, too much shouting about a $40 wine beating SE does not have credability in most peoples eyes
As best as I understand it, Joe bought a wine tha Parker recommended and Joe likes it. Apparently, it must be hard to find it. Apparently, Joe wants all of us to praise him for finding and drinking the wine and was upset that nobody posted to call him a genius. Am I missing anything.
I’ve posted on various boards for almost twenty years and haven’t received a reception like this. I started this by asking if anyone had tasted the wine.
For those who say this is widely available: again, go on Wine Searcher and start calling places in the East and see how many have a full case of the '14. I note again that I had a very good experience with the Napa Valley Connection in having a case, now two, shipped to me on second day.
Addendum: this is my 112th post in three and a half years. Some of you have 20,000 or more in this thread. I probably had that many on the old Chowhound dating to '98 but one of the reasons is that I would have an experience or a taste and I wanted to share it with others on the board. It was a family which led to my organizing dinners at significant restaurants and friendships which I am deeply appreciative that endure to today. I am also indebted to Chowhound for meeting many on that board in many cities in the U. S. and Europe.
Today, I am retired. I suspect that many on here are much younger than I. Howard Cooper, in Rockville (I am in Reston but grew up in Montgomery county) are you anywhere near my age? Did you ever follow the D. C. board of Chowhound? Don Rockwell? Anyway, your comments were interesting.
Today, at 70 years old I am just someone who occasionally looks at this board and thought this might have been a topic that a few would find interesting. I never expected to find many of the responses that I did.
Sooner or later someone reading this will open and taste a bottle of the '14 Stack House or the '12 Woodinville Reserve which I also mentioned. I would appreciate your posting your thoughts after tasting either or both of them.
Joe
Your post didn’t generate immediate interest, in part because many have come from the point that they hung on every great score from Parker and they’ve now discovered their own palates. They’re not going to go out and buy a case just because Parker likes it, though they may have done a decade ago.
You then took a swipe at the board for not responding inside a day. I’m not surprised this generated some firm responses.
The other aspect that would have got people’s suspicions up, is that an occasional poster starts a thread with 3 unanswered posts strongly praising the merits of a particular wine. I do get the impression your posts weren’t spam, just enthusiasm at agreeing with Parker and excitement at getting a jump on a Parker recommendation (back in the day this would not have been an unusual attitude on e-bob). However I could see how some would wonder if you had a connection with Stackhouse or a merchant selling it.
FWIW I’m glad you enjoy the wine. Wine is to be enjoyed.
I have to say it is kind of ironic that any wine touted as ‘Best Red Wine Value of the Year’ by a very influential wine critic most likely would double in price and start going for silly money on the secondary market.
We sold the 2013 vintage of this a while back. I thought it was a good value for those that enjoy the huge fruit bomb cabs. Not surprised one bit it’s RP’s best red wine value of the year.
I have no connection with anyone in the wine industry other than some good friendships with VA winery owners. They would be the first ones to say that I have too many opinions… My wife heartily agrees and frequently tells me that I talk too much.
I understand now that it could have appeared that I wanted to promote a particular wine for whatever reason. But, I didn’t. Initially, I just wanted to know if anyone else had any experience with it. I used Wine Berzerker’s search tool and there was only one post where Stack House was mentioned as one of several wine values. I’d already started making the Wine Searcher calls and found that many/most who claimed they had it were either sold out or only had several bottles.
Then, I thought I’d put a post on here for others’ experience.
Anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve on the East Coast and I have just opened a bottle of the 2012 Woodinville Reserve which I touted. I have Ohio State and Clemson on television and our cats are sleeping on the floor at my feet.
My wife has made sure that my football doesn’t conflict with the movie she has planned on watching tonight. We’ll come together around 11:30 or so and hold hands in bed while watching another year pass. At least one of our cats will be snoring when the ball drops at Times Square…
Sounds perfect.
I have a nice Bedrock picked out for consumption during an early dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. With any luck, I will be in bed sound asleep here in Oregon before the ball drops in Times Square east coast time. That’s much too much excitement for me . . . .
Phil Jones
[quote=“Joe Heflin”]If I may note a second wine but the source is not Robert Parker. Rather it’s a blogger I believe in Anacortes at Compass Wines who has written about the “Eagle Beater.” That’s Eagle as in Screaming Eagle. He and several others would compare bottles of Woodinville Cellars Reserve to Screaming Eagle in covered bag competitions. Woodinville won. Consistently.
David Cooper, I apologize, I don’t know how to link your quote here. Yes, it was the newsletter that they had a blind, brown bag tasting comparing Screaming Eagle (not sure which year) to 2012 Woodinville Reserve. Their passion for the Woodinville Reserve is what led us to the wine. Then, over the phone (!), we met the wine maker, Sean. Now, on New Year’s Eve @7:45 EST well into my second glass of it, I have a deep appreciation for his taste and talent.
