Chris - Thank you for this Virtual Tasting and raising awareness for The Free Wheelchair Mission.
For the time being, I am not drinking wine so won’t be posting tasting notes but did make a contribution on line.
After thinking about what bottles I could open that would be worthy of this Virtual Tasting, I’m kinda glad I am not drinking wine right now.
Funny! Was gifted that exact bottle by a notorious TJ’s wine shopper this past weekend. Drank it last night, as well. Well worth the $0 I paid!
Ooh. I have one of the TJ’s special Pinot lots.
Kev, get cracking on #2 we need a CT update 1984 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots, France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru - CellarTracker
1976 Monterey Peninsula Winery Ferro Ranch Amador Late Harvest Zinfandel (15.5% ABV; 0.2% RS)
Another bottle that I’ve dragged around the country for the last 40+ years. Not sure I had much hope for it given its history, it’s 46 year old status and my friends’ disdain for late harvest Zinfandel ((I was fascinated by them when the style first emerged in the mid-70s even though there were a ton of “misses”)
High shoulder fill. Strong bramble aromas with the pull of the cork. Garnet with a little browning fading at the rim. Raspberry and blackberry on the nose with a hint of musty closet which blew off quickly. Lovely structure with fine acid backbone and precise tannins and muted red berries. More reminiscent of a claret with some age on it than a Zinfandel. Alcohol is not obtrusive. Very nice, expressive bottle
I should add that I’ve overflowed my Eurocaves and have cases sitting in mediocre passive storage but that bottle gets a place.
As to the first part, thank you very much. I know what a kind soul you are, and I’m not surprised to see you do something generous like that.
As to the second part . . . but don’t you want to get rid of those finally and not have them sitting around? 
Taste and spit?
Literally found this in the warden’s stash behind the frying pans. 10 year old Cali Chardonnay that was $8, yes please!
This was behind the Cloud Break! Jackpot.
See above.
Not a fan of SB except from the Loire, and even then…
This smells like sweet generic SB. Hey, that’s what it tastes like, too! Again, this isn’t bad by any stretch. You could probably chug the entire bottle, mistaking it for juice. It’s worth about $10. I think it was cheaper? QPR, baby!
See above, but sub “red” for “white” and I was at a Costco. Sale for like $7?
Every dollar that the winery spent on this wine went to oak. Free grapes, volunteer labor, invest it all in wood! This doesn’t smell like a variety. Blind, I’d guess Apothic, although I’ve never had it. this is 75% MegaRed. The other 75%, straight oak extract by the gallon.
1996 Clos du Bois Zinfandel Sonoma County
Another one of my husband’s bottles that I discovered in the far recesses of a cabinet. Lots of things working against it:
Shockingly, this was kind of drinkable. Woody, some dark cherry, and glue (? something a bit odd I can’t place) on the nose. Still has structure, some nice subtle plum, and pepper. I finished the small pour in my glass.
That wins the thread so far
Counselor, I gotta get involved here. I’m gonna open some Laherte Freres Les 7 tonight, and I hope watch USC lock up the spot in CFP. But, someone who was over here a few weeks ago left a CA PN that is in an enormously heavy glass bottle, like an early 2000s Pax glass bottle. Just one TN in CT on the wine so WTH, I will open that too and see how it tastes. I just have suspicion that with this heavy glass weapon, I’m in for something that I really don’t want to be drinking, but for you and your charity, I can press on.
https://www.coupdefoudrewine.com/pinotnoir.php
Hey, I still got the Les 7 to save the day. 
Counselor, I rarely ever take a selfie but for you dude, I can’t say No. And while I did my dive into the wine below, the few ounces I tasted and spit is enough. I know there remains an audience for Pinot Noir made like this but I am not in that audience. Give me @Jamie_Kutch. Anyway, time for the Laherte Freres Les 7.
Posted from CellarTracker
Awesome Frankie. I didn’t really imagine I’d get you into this thread, you’re just too positive if a guy, but you knocked it out of the park.
I thought I’d never open this bottle, but this thread is the perfect reason to do so. This was a “gift” to me from my sister-in-law a couple Christmases ago. We’re not exactly close and I suspect this was intended to poke fun at my love of fine wine.
Sand Castle Winery “Alpine Spice”
The bottle refers to this as a “unique blend of wine, herbs, and spices produced under strict supervision of European wine masters”. I was not aware there were European wine masters living in Erwinna, PA, where this was produced. Live and learn! There’s no vintage listed, so I’m guessing it’s a multi-vintage blend. Alcohol is stated as 7%.
The screw top is difficult to open, and I suspect it’s from crystallizing of the residual sugar at the top of the bottle. Once open, the smell of liquid apple pie filling with excessive amounts of cinnamon and clove hits the nose almost immediately. Knowing that this is a grape wine somehow makes the scent more frightening than if it was actually made from apples. In the glass, it’s a deeper golden color than the pictures below suggest. There’s a light viscosity and it’s cloyingly sweet in the mouth. Like ‘worry about developing a cavity’ kind of sweet. The clove flavor is prominent and rides atop over-ripe apple and oodles of sugary syrup. There’s no complexity to speak of - it’s got but one note to sing and does so loudly. Perhaps the best thing about this is the finish – there isn’t one. Once it’s been swallowed, it just disappears… which is a bit of a trick given the intensity of the flavor on the palate.
We kept this open for about three hours before pouring it out, and it changed very little over that time. Some volatile acidity became more apparent but, otherwise, the first sip was consistent with the last. My wife suspects it would be better served warm. The only use I can imagine is to reduce it and serve it chilled over ice cream with candied walnuts. Even then, I’d use a light hand in pouring.
Glad to have this one behind me.
Everything has a purpose. My wife acquired this: it was used as an accessory to sell some bags at an art fair. Then along came this excellent charity idea!
Cellar tracker review:
Picked up by my wife as part of a sale of reusable tote bags for some art fair. I raised an eyebrow as if to remind her that we have enough exotic and well curated wine so there is never a reason for this.
I am lucky not to be hospitalized in trying to open the bottle. Screw cap simply would not open. Tried to cut along the supposed (yet ineffective) perforations in the foil around the screw cap. Didn’t help. Next : Pliers. Thought I was going to invent a new version of sabrage ( torque-sabrage!) and shatter the neck into my bare hand before the cap would yield. Let’s try cutting the foil - but this was like Russian industrial grade foil used to store their nuclear weapons. No use. Hacked at the foil with the sharp pick of a 1960s-era can opening tool I did not understand. This made rips in the foil with edges sharp enough to slice a finger in two. Plus my hand slipped a couple of times and the awl-like implement punctured my fingers. After a little bit of blood ( I didn’t mind, my own blood tastes more interesting than the wine ) the foil around the cap had been turned into a kind of impromptu meat grinder and just….fell off.
Oh, the wine, you ask?
Inoffensive, easy, and indistinct. I had this 2 hrs ago and don’t remember a single thing about it other than it was red. Cranberry. I recall some cranberry flavor as if it were a hundred years ago. Other than that I got nothing. Too inoffensive to hit the “don’t like“ button.
Score : 86. Relative to expectations : -
I forgot to identify the wine (although it seems to crave anonimity) : 2020 Cinta Montepulciano d’Abruzzo)
Bucks county, PA; never heard of Erwinna. No way I can top this.
