This looks like a wine that was overpriced at release, and may not be a “bargain” at discount. I’m intrigued by Sicilian white wines, though, and the better ones are hard to come by. I trust Jon much more on white wines than reds.
I’ve never understood the appeal of an American made (managed?) Etna bianco. You say the better ones are hard to come by, but are they really? Lots of good options out there for less money than this price, let alone release price.
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Today it is the Aeris Etna rosso Centanari. I don’t think I would ever buy it at the release price, but at half off it seems worth a try.
Yeah saw that. Sign of the times I guess. Probably worth a shot but for me I’d rather buy Etna from producers in Sicily for around that price.
The 2017 Grand Cru Ech mystery was a Bouchard. $250. WS Low is $320 before shipping.
Whoever wrote that the less they write the better the value is is for sure correct. That’s been my experience too.
B
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Garagiste quoting Decanter scores after accurately criticizing them recently. Ridiculous.
Does anyone know what the highly talked up October 10 Brunello mystery was?
well, what do we suppose is this washington state single vineyard mystery red? any guesses out there?
wondering this too, first time in a while I’m tempted to buy from Garagiste, feel like he’s pretty good with WA wines. Tried ChatGPT which was, as usual, pretty useless in guessing. Best fit I can think of is Andrew Will, maybe Champoux Vineyard?
Bel Canto Cara Mia Cabernet maybe.
Description says there is a famous person involved, whatever that means. Do any of the Bledsoe or Kyle McLaughlin wines fit?
What are the other celebrity wines in Washington?
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Figgins estate red seems like a stretch of a good deal but fits.
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They have some history of Sleight of Hand as a mystery wine, although not at $20. I went in for 6 just in case!
The 2021 Ca’ Rozzeria Barbaresco Single Vineyard is, per the cork, Bera Serraboella. We opened one and it seems quite decent, will obviously benefit from some time. Looks like this was $36.70, so a good but not tremendous deal at that price I think.
Passing Time Red would be a hell of a deal. Possible? Jon is always feinting.
Charles Smith is kind of famous/notorious. The copy said no Syrah. K Vintners does have Cab wines with no Syrah included.
Passing Time fits the “famous person” element and thus might be a decent guess, but the offer explicitly said it wasn’t Passing Time, Leonetti, etc.
As for other guesses mentioned:
- Someone in this thread guessed Figgins, but I believe the SRP is higher than the $70-$80 mentioned in the offer.
- Cadence Bel Canto was also mentioned, but as much as I like Ben Smith, I’m not sure he’d qualify as “famous”. (No offense to Ben.)
Kyle MacLachlan‘s Pursued by Bear “Twin Bear” could possibly fit (famous person), “their single vineyard wine” = Heather Hill, as opposed to their normal Pursued by Bear Cab, which is multi-vineyard so Twin Bear also fits there. SRP also fits, so 3 for 3 on those match elements.
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I just ignore any mystery offers. Most of them that I have purchased in the past end up being decent deals but nothing exciting. Your best bet with Garagiste is to buy 6 bottles of the Italian whites and Champagnes that they really praise. I have been very happy with those but disappointed in the few mystery offers I have purchased.
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Generally the Italian mysteries are good deals, often from the same producers over and over again.
Rest of the world, yeah meh. My favorite Rimmermanism was a Bordeaux Blanc $9 mystery a while back that he said was from “a very famous chateau”. Only entries in CT were from that exact Garagiste mystery offer. So that very famous chateau was so famous no-one in CT owned a single bottle of it, until the Garagiste offer 
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It wouldn’t surprise me that by “a very famous chateau” what he really meant was that the chateau (the building, not the wine) was very famous 
Yeah, that one was hilariously absurd. I fell for it and grabbed a couple. I recall it had a bizarre mustard note on the nose.
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