Came close. I suspect it’s a good SB—from New Zealand if I had to guess. Was thinking it might be this Clos Henri. Did seem fairly low risk.
Jon has offered Clos Henri before. I buy wines like this to serve to family and friends who like SB, not for my own consumption.
I couldn’t resist the Tokaji. It’s been a while since I had one.
Secret 97pts BdB for $59, idk… How good are the mystery bubbles offerings usually?
I just swore I’m done with Garagiste after my last bottle filled out a case. It’s been largely disappointing and the mysteries are generally average at best. You’re better off buying one great bottle at 2x the price.
I will continue to buy a lot of their pantry items. Baci di dama, olive oils, artichokes. Best artichokes.
It’s probably worth about what he is asking for it, or slightly more, and you don’t get to chose a style you prefer.
It’s been said like 85 times in this thread, but they do much better with some areas than others. Italy they tend to do well and I had good luck with some Port mysteries. I’d be more wary of some regions, and especially the “anywhere in the world” or similar stuff. I’ve had good luck with the Italian mysteries.
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Speaking of Italian mysteries:
Mystery Bonanza! Wine #15 – 2021 Chianti Classico!
Castello di Meleto Chianti Classico
And this one turned out to be a frequent flyer with Garagiste
2021 Barolo - A Monumental Vintage!
2021 Schiavenza Barolo Serralunga
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There was a mystery Tokaji last week that I bit on. I don’t recall seeing much Tokaji in the offers.
It was just under $50, so fingers crossed…
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Mystery wine identities are now revealed in your dashboard (maybe only for shipped or arrived orders? I don’t have any pre-arrival mysteries at the moment.).
I have some mystery wines that arrived, but it doesn’t tell me what they are.
Must just be for shipped items then!
Yes, they are only revealed via the dashboard once they are packaged and shipped.
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Was emailing this week with Garagiste about a food delivery (not worth all the details but the first time in 15 years they say it’s my fault, not theirs (I disagree obviously), and aren’t just fixing/refunding which was surprising) and I asked about the big Brunello mystery offer that was supposed to arrive ‘late fall’.
Was supposed to come in last week, said they would check with the team and get back to me. I don’t have high hopes of hearing more but hopefully means it’s arriving soon. Will pass on info. if they do indeed get back.
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A bit disappointed with this one as it’s the same wine at the same price as another mystery offer from Decebmer 2024, and I bought both. In e-mails with them, they’ve occasionally said that Jon “generally” doesn’t repeat mysteries, but here you do. Still a nice deal, but probably wouldn’t have doubled up had I known.
I find it weird they would say they “generally” doesn’t repeat mysteries, my experience is the opposite especially with Italian wines. For example, the Barolo Mystery, Schiavenza, is probably the 5th or 6th time they offer that producer.
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The Brunello mystery shows “prerrived” on my dashboard.
That description was in context of discussing repeating the exact same wine, including vintage.
Obviously they repeat the same wine from vintage to vintage all the time in mystery offers.
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Yes, mine too. Sorry if that was unclear. By the wording in the email (late fall) I had expected it to be in by now, and they told me it was supposed to come in last week but has not. So hopefully soon as I’m excited to see if this one lives up to the hype.
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Garagiste definitely repeats Mystery offerings. Sometimes both offerings are Mystery, sometimes the offer duplicates the exact same wine/vintage as a normal offering. This happens a lot with Washington State wines, e.g. DeLille and Top Source recently.
I often buy just one of a Mystery wine out of curiosity. I give away bottles I don’t think I will like. A number of times I’ve been disappointed to get a duplicate of a wine I just gave away, and a few times it has been a pleasant surprise. Thus I confess to be part of the problem. All in all, I have to agree with anyone who says it is a stupid game. Why not let people buy more of what they want, and avoid wines they don’t?
This turns out to be “Alain” (seemingly Alain Voge) Les Vieilles Vignes 2021. Not a bad price at $59 though they are taking liberties to say it is “normally in the circa $80-100 range in the US” as the Winesearcher range is mostly $70-80.