The Garagiste Thread (The Great Enabler) Back to Life

WINE TALK
2461

God my email has been happier since I “de-listed”

2462

Its a riot to say the least!

2463

still not missing them [bleh.gif]

2464

It’s ridiculous to throw $1800 or even $250 at a case of wine you have no clue if you will like.

2465

FIFY.

2466

Ok. For me it’s ridiculous.

2467

and there were something like 6
billion requests last time, so consider yourself blessed if you get to buy one.

2468

I’m prepared to be chastised for purchasing a garage sale case, but what the hell. I’m sure y’all are curious what was in it. I had tried to get a case for like 3 years in a row only to be told they were sold out. This year I got one of the $250 cases. Some interesting things in there, but not a great value. I won’t be doing this again. Here are the contents:

  1. 2012 Domaine Belluard Gringet Vin de Savoie Les Alpes
  2. 2010 Bünchen Riesling Spätlese
  3. 2012 Le Clos des Grillons Côtes du Rhône Les Terres Blanches
  4. 2011 Josef Bernard Kieren Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Weingut
  5. 2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Moenchberg Le Moine
  6. 2007 Pierre Morey Monthélie
  7. 2004 Moschioni Colli Orientali del Friuli Schioppettino (This one is actually a cool find at least.)
  8. 1996 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon
  9. 2001 La Palazzola Rubino Umbria IGT
  10. 2011 Pian dell’Orino Brunello di Montalcino Bassolino di Sopra
  11. 2006 Domaine de Saint Siffrein Châteauneuf-du-Pape
  12. 2008 Torzi Matthews Shiraz “Schist Rock”
2469

Also of note from your resident Gargiste sucker - here are a few of the mystery wines that I actually bit on.

  1. Mystery Wine #63 - 2010 Tenuta Vitalonga Terra di Confine Umbria IGT
    Drank this last night. It was actually really nice. Great pizza wine. Excellent for the price. For once I wish I had bought more than one of the mystery wine.

  2. Mystery Wine #65 - 2007 Boudreaux Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
    Sounds like this one isn’t a bad deal.

  3. Mystery Wine #79 - 2008 Boudreaux Cellars Merlot
    Tons of notes on CT indicate this vintage had some serious issues. Sounds like a potential drain pour, but I’ll give it a try.

  4. Mystery Wine #88 (Central California Reserve Mix) - All from Villa San-Juliette. Grenache, Malbec, Alicante Bouschet, and the $8.99 one was Merlot. No idea if these are any good or not, but they were cheap.

2470

I see no need to chastise you for spending your own money in whichever way you see fit, but I will make a suggestion.

Next time give the $250 to someone in need. Hell, give $50 to five different people in need.

You’ll get much more satisfaction that way.

The fact that Garagiste continues to pass on such piss-poor wine to people for as long as he has simply amazes me. [dontknow.gif]

2471

By coincidence I picked up some Garagiste wine today, and I often bite on a Mystery wine to see what Jon is up to. This time a mystery Brunello turned out to be a 2000 Marroneto, a producer I’m not familiar with
and will not be trying again. Jon is not doing a favor to either the buyer or seller by showing that he has no palate, and less shame.

P Hickner

2472

Once again I commend the effort to take the heat off M. Ilan and Premier Cru.

2473

@E.Todd - That is hilarious. Though I have to say I’m not upset with the mystery case. May not be a great deal, but does have lots of stuff I’ve never tried and probably never would have sought out on my own. I opened the Gringet yesterday - a grape I’ve never tried. And I was really impressed. Incredibly interesting and delicious. Like a weirdly twisted Loire Sauvignon Blanc.

But yeah, next time I have $250 to spend on wine, I will spend it on wines of my choosing. :slight_smile:

Jeff

2474

Here are the dozen wines in my $250 Garage Sale case:

2005 Joh. Jos. Prüm Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer)
2005 Azienda Agricola Montevetrano Montevetrano Colli di Salerno IGT (Italy, Campania, Colli di Salerno IGT)
2005 Luigi Baudana Barolo (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo)
2005 Le Grand-Clere (Françoise Blanchard) Touraine Contrebasse (France, Loire Valley, Touraine)
2007 Selbach-Oster Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer)
2007 Maison Arnoux & Fils Vacqueyras Jean-Marie Arnoux (France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Vacqueyras)
2009 Domaine de Montcy Cheverny (France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Cheverny)
2010 La Grange aux Belles Anjou 53 (France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Anjou)
2010 Bünchen Riesling Spätlese (Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer)
2010 Cerbaiona (Molinari) Rosso di Montalcino (Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino)
2010 Domaine Duseigneur Lirac l’Astrolabe (France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Lirac)
2011 Le Grand-Clere (Françoise Blanchard) Cabernet Franc (France, Loire Valley, Touraine)

Overall, while not a “oh my god” value, I think it’s probably a better value (or at least as good) as I would get walking into any of the well-known local bottle shops (Esquin, M&S, Petes, etc.) in the Seattle area and asking them to select a case for me at $20/per bottle (which is what this case averages out to).

Biggest quibble is that there are only 3 whites - and all are German Riesling Spatlese (would like to have a little more diversity there). Also, a little heavy on the Loire reds; however, the first one I opened last night (2005 Le Grand-Clere (Françoise Blanchard) Touraine Contrebasse) way over-delivered at a $20/per price point.

YMMV…

Michael

2475

I think you did pretty well Michael. I think Jeff would be prepared to swap cases in a heartbeat.

2476

Now I’m getting anxious to see what is in my $250 case…

2477

Caveat Emptor [snort.gif]

2478

This thread got me curious so I looked back on all of my Garagiste purchases to see what my impressions were. I’d say I’ve done terribly. I have about 15% that I loved. 15% that over delivered 50% that were ok~ish and 20% that were really bad.

I do have a bunch of Huets that I haven’t touched and those were pretty good deals if I recall.

2479

Picked up my mystery Brunello, Il Marroneto 2000 Madonna de Grazie.

2480

I’ve had the questionable habit of picking up mystery wines to test JR’s honesty. This one is a sub par wine from a tired vintage. It was billed as “not 2002 or 2003”, so it should have been predictable that it was the next worse vintage in the last 15 years.

P Hickner