Last night I tried the 2012 Saddleback Cellars Alicante Bouschet ($7.60). I didn’t know of any ratings for this wine when I bought it. I tried it because I like Alicante Bouschet and Saddleback wines seem to be well reviewed. There was a light aroma of road tar and balanced black and red fruit flavor. No real complex flavors were noticeable - by me anyway. This wine is drinking well now and I would give it a 91 rating. It drinks like a $40 wine. I would expect it to keep for a number of years but I’ve tasted some wine that quickly turned a corner and went over the hill in a year.
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How is it? Took a flyer on this one
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I’ve got a ‘14 & ‘13 from GO - plan to open this week
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Had my first bottle of the Meyer Chard…duh, I wish I bought 2-3 cases…superb. Also had the Meeker Grenache with dinner, excellent. Ergo, any concerns about poor storage or other provenance are alleviated. May the bargain drinking begin (or continue)!!
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Saint Jean du Barroux L’Argile 2017 - great Rhone blend - it says on bottle “decant few hours when young” and it still needs at least an hour or so.
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I’ve received 3 stage 3 cases over a 4 day period but I still have a stage 2 case due, I emailed their support asking about it. Here’s what they wrote back:
We are shipping orders in the order they were received and also as the wine can be located.
They included a lengthy paragraph about how disorganized the ware house is and how they may have to issue credit if a wine isn’t found. The stage 2 order i made was 8 different bottles so maybe they won’t find all of them.
I’ll add that despite my order shipment email saying it was 10/2, it actually was 10/1. I emailed and they issued my refund with a note saying they could not locate the last bottle.
I completely understand, but just a heads up to check your cases for accuracy when they arrive.
I went through all the cases I received and noticed what looked like 2 substitutes in a stage 1 case and a missing bottle in a stage 3 case. The missing wine was still in stock so their CS added a replacement bottle to a partial case of 7 I’m still waiting for. I’m glad I complained because it was a Red Car SV cab with an MSRP of at least $130. I wondered, as other UC customers have, whether in the last dying days of UC, employees were snagging the Screaming Eagle and other high value bottles.
Update: I just check the case that came in and found 1 missing bottle. I asked CS for any replacement wine or a refund of the $4 as a 2nd choice.
Saw the following in this article about UC. Thought I would share.
Napa company reaches out to club customers
One local company wants to offer Underground Cellar customers who may have soured to Wine Country because of the experience another reason to return.
Napa-based Cuvée, which has acquired two hot-air balloon tour companies as part of its goal of offering a way to explore Wine Country for visitors, has organized a consortium of over a dozen wineries and tour companies for the offer via the company’s app (www.cuvee.app/ugc).
“There is significant goodwill in our consortium, and they want to give the customers some consolation for the massive impact of the bankruptcy,” said CEO Andrew Allison.
Participating companies include Napa Valley’s Robert Craig Winery, Napa Valley Wine Train, and Napa Valley Bike Tours. The package includes two complimentary wine tastings and a variety of tour discounts during a trip to Napa Valley this spring.
Former Underground Cellar customers must book before April 30 and travel from April through June.
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Case one of two delivered, 2019 Le Ragnaie Rosso di Montalcino. Bottles are pristine. When this offer landed, I had some fear that the bottles could be compromised or they might send the lesser Rosso Toscana. Quite happy so far for the price paid. On one hand I wish they’d had a better spread of Italian, French, or other Euro options by the time I first found this. On the other, having a really full cellar and decreased consumption, I suppose I should be glad they didn’t.
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A bit of a long shot question - has anyone bought and received this wine? If so, can you provide further details/description?
2019 Casa Vincola Bennati Red Blend 750ML
Given the MSRP of $50, I was wondering if it was an amarone - I asked the liquidators if they had any further info/description on the the wine and got the following response:
“Unfortunately we have not. We have just been retained to oversee the liquidation process.”
In the end, I recently decided to take a flyer and order 3 bottles as part of a mixed case. but will probably not receive it for some time.
I wondered the same thing on this one. Casa Vincola Bennati produces a ton of wine. Nice that you can buy it in 3s.
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I hope all the wines switch to 3’s at beginning of April - wishful thinking maybe!
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Hell naw, we past that. I want all remaining wine discounted 50% on April 1 for one final week! Let’s go!!!
Actually, if they were smart, they’d drop their prices now as Last Bottle has their marathon on Thursday and Friday of this week! Oh, and now Wine Spies is also doing one day marathon tomorrow.
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After receiving 4 cases of UC wine and finding 2 cases missing a bottle, I reached out each time to their CS and got either a refund or replacement. In 1 case they couldn’t find the wine. I wonder why they don’t just issue a credit when they discover the case is short when they’re packing it? Me as the customer has to spend time emailing them instead. On the plus side their CS responds quickly.
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Youre approaching it like a traditional customer/business owner relationship. Its not that. They dont care if youre satisfied. Theyre liquidating assets (endinga business), not building a business.
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Has anyone received their case of Levo Soul3ed Out Syrah under Stage 3?
I ordered at end of Jan and have received other subsequent orders but was told this one was still pending and some orders are taking longer to pick than others as inventory is not always were it is supposed to be!
I got a tracking number for this last Thursday, but it didn’t start moving until yesterday - scheduled for delivery on Monday
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Just received my first UC shipment - 12 bottle case of 2018 Furthermore Sonoma Pinot Noir, all in at $12.75/btl. Shipment is complete and bottles pristine.
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