25% of what I requested … worst ever on Garagiste … even worse than Salon.
Anyone know with the Tuscan Mystery was from the Spring (May 19, 2022, I think) that is being re-offered in the Nov. 10, 2022 Rêve Récurrent - Tuscany - 97 pts! offer?
Same. In fact, they told me to keep the wrong bottles and sent me the right ones.
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I find a lot of Tuscany ends up being Felsina Fontalloro.
I believe this mystery specifically said it is not Felsina.
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From a 7/13/18 Mystery Offer: 2013 Sterling Red wine. Very underwhelming and ‘port’ flavored. Short finish. That should cure me of any mystery urges for a few more years. The (not from Garagiste) 2013 Louis Martini Sonoma Cab was better, and still had some structure/life/depth, although not a ton. It was sealed under DIAM3.
Dear Friends,
Things get a bit interesting on this beautiful summer Friday!
How so?
Read on…
I was tasting through what I call “golden gak” from Napa/Sonoma last week from a host of established entities and I came across several potential targets for the lowest of low-ball offers (the “golden gak” reference is used for $50-100+ examples that a winery produced too much of, doesn’t know what to do with, is WAY over $ for what it is or is merely decent or forgettable for the luxury/golden $ point noted above – most of these are red wines so the “golden” reference has nothing to do with color – it’s more of a reference to the supposed luxury component).
One red (from a famous/long-standing Napa Valley winery – not BV) was particularly laughable at its tasting bar/mailing list heist of $65. Apart from fleecing decent folks out of their nest egg like like an 1870’s snake-oil railcar salesman (come to think of it, I’ve been called that a few times?), this wine was the ultimate insult to a “luxury” bottle - it was the above typed “forgettable”. As much as I disdain the term luxury and its association with wine, the word “forgettable” is not a word you want to use when referencing a flagship or “mailing list only” example. A few too many of those and your entire winery becomes forgettable (although, in this case, I hardly doubt it considering how many years/decades of success they’ve had).
The other interesting point?
The red was from 2013.
(yes, that 2013 in Napa Valley)
Initially, I approached the powers that be with a rather kind and gentle offer of $53+ retail (versus the $65 it currently trades for).
They said yes too quickly.
So I asked for $43+.
Yes.
$33+?
Yes.
Hmmmmm.
$23+?
Yes.
$19+.
Yes.
As long as we were headed down this long and dark hole of insult, I had to give it the old college try – so I asked for…
$13+.
They said…
Yes.
I’m not kidding.
This is the exact same wine that trades for $65 and they agreed to $13+!!!
Golden gak or not, at $13+ this blend of “high end” stock from some of their “best lots and parcels” (Cabernet Sauvignon dominant) can now be served to a wedding party of 500, a banquet of 1000, a random street gathering of 2000, a giant flashmob dance party of 5000 or whatever you so choose (Monday night in the backyard by yourself?).
Snake oil salesman or not folks, this is a “premium” (cough) Napa valley 2013 red that respectable consumers have traded $65 for…and you can have it for $13+ instead.
I’ll get out of the way now.
(this is the exact same wine, cork, label and contents as what trades at the winery for $65 – if I show you the label, I have to ask the full $65, if it remains a Mystery, it’s $13+. Seriously? Yup.)
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Thanks for the note. I came here to see if anyone had guesses on #9 Northern Rhone - This is not a Black Friday Offer!. This helps remind me / discipline me not to bite (especially when the price reference is a “compare at up to”)
Not gonna buy but was trying to crack #31 for funsies. He didn’t say WS Top 100 for 2022, because if so the only Cabernets he could offer for that price are:
41 Bookwalter Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Readers ($28 SRP)
59 Two Hands Cabernet Sauvignon McLaren Vale Sexy Beast ($36 SRP)
There were 4 Cabernets on the 2021 list $32 SRP and under:
29 Sparkman Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley Holler ($32 SRP)
74 Thompson Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Margaret River Four Chambers ($30 SRP)
73 55 Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon Paraje Altamira Zaha Toko Vineyard ($25 SRP)
66 De Martino Cabernet Sauvignon Maipo Valley Legado Reserva ($20 SRP)
Only the “55 Malbec” calls out a vineyard in the name. I don’t care enough to look into the others to see if they’re single vineyard wines.
I looked at CT and the only thing I can find that fits the description for #1 Chateauneuf du Pape Mystery 750ml (Rhone) - $129.76 is the 2019 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée P.O.L.
Rimmerman claims the “wine is so rare and hard to come by, hardly any individual bottles make their way to the US. …(the small sample of community notes average 99pts for wine #1… compare at up to $200-210+ in Europe, I can’t find any available in the US at all”
Well, the median (which can be loosely translated as “average”) for the P.O.L. is ‘99’. The three CT scores are 75, 99, and 100. I can’t find in the U.S. or Europe. Jeff Leve writes " Very little of this gem is going to be produced.’
Since 2019 was the inaugural vintage of this wine, #2 would be the 2020 based on the rest of Rimmerman’s text.
Any other ideas? There were only six (seven including a white) CdPs in CT with a median score of ‘99’ with a value below $240. This is the only one I found that didn’t have U.S. availability.
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Here are a few mysteries:
Saturday: 2020 Chablis Mystery! is 2020 Denis Race Chablis
Father’s Day Mystery - 97pts! is 2018 Il Borro Il Borro Toscana IGT
Red Alert: 2019 Gigondas…for $16+! is 2019 Crous St. Martin Gigondas Les Espaliers
Gigondas Oh My! MYSTERY is 2019 Domaine Notre Dame des Pallières Gigondas
I feel all 4 were pretty solid deals, especially the Il Borro for $46 (it’s $79 at WDC right now).
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Fwiw, I paid $35 a pop for the 2016 Il Borro and knew what I was buying from the get go. I’m so tired of the never ending mystery offers from PT Barnum. Cheers.
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Thread drift…you got a good team there this year. I do not. We have owned 32nd place for many weeks, although Chicago now is wearing the crown of mediocrity…er, “rebuild”.
Started going through my Garagiste shipments this past weekend. Turns out they sent me a different 2011 Bordeaux (one that I never ordered) instead of the 2011 Mouton offer. Hopefully this is an easy fix!
One of my “Garagiste rules-of-thumb” is “The shorter the offer e-mail, the better the wine (and, likely, the better the value).” In that vein, today’s e-mail is about as short as J Peterman can be…
Here’s the meat of the offer info:
"This iconic Tuscan beverage has just arrived with another top-note version of what has become one of the most famous red wines in Italy.
Known for long-term ageing and reflection of vintage and varietal (not to mention a collectable nature that tends to repay the patient for years), today’s subject is a sight unseen acquisition for many of you (every year) and, at the $ below, it’s extra incentive to go the distance!"
I’m pretty sure this is the 2019 Fontalloro. Garagiste seems to offer this wine just about every vintage, as a Mystery wine. Last year, they offered the 2018 – and the price, $46.90, was exactly the same as today’s offer (so, I suppose, this could be a re-offer of the 2018, too).
Michael
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In for a 6. Garagiste seems to have a pretty good track record on these Tuscan mysteries.
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Thanks for highlighting the offer and the informed guess about it being the 2019 Fontalloro. The offer also includes:
compare at up to $75-80+ in the US, even up to circa $150 in the US
wine.searcher.com (free, not a Pro subscription) for the U.S. shows the highest U.S. 2019 Fontalloro offers at $75, $77, & $85 with one outlier at $150, which matches very well with the offer language.
K&L has the 2019 Fontalloro at $50, pre-arrival.
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A few recent Mystery wines:
Mystery Barbaresco A and B: 2019 Rizzi Barbaresco Pajore and Nervo
Mystery Champagne #1: Champagne Solemme Terre de Solemme NV
Mystery Champagne #2: Champagne Harlin Tradition NV
Mystery Champagne #3: Champagne Gaiffe Brun Brut Exeception 2018 (rose)
Mystery Champagne #4: Champagne Petit Lebrun et Fils BdB Grand Cru NV
Fine with the Rizzi (about a $10 discount from retail) and the others were fill in low cost sparklers, so good with those as well (i know a few are Garagiste go to labels, but I have not had them).
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Thanks, but what do those ‘A’ & ‘B’ and #s correspond to w.r.t. Garagiste offers? I tried scrolling up to see. Does it refer to a list posted somewhere?
Thanks Loren. Helpful if you could post dates of offer and offering price is you have it.
JR posts so many mystery deals its hard to keep track.
It might have been mentioned at some other point in this long thread, but my annual Garagiste shipment arrived yesterday, and that mystery Gran Reserva was indeed the 2015 Olarra ‘Reciente’ Gran Reserva [Rioja]…
I’l have to pull a Penin guide out as I know nothing about it. Props to Rimmerman for doing some yeoman’s work bringing in this category of wines, without the mega markups that Burgundy racketeers demand.