My two cents isn’t worth much, but from my experience, both 68 & 100 really shine with a 24 hour (or more) slow ox. Just had a 68 yesterday prepped with a double decant & then overnight in an open bottle. Delicious. The 100 (prepped similarly) a few weeks ago was the best bottle of this wine I’ve had & I now regret giving some of it to my kids.
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Tim,
Thank you!!!
I got another case of #68 on that sale. IMHO Needs more time, so thanks later, too!
Marie,
Meals? I’m retired for 15 years, got time and gluttonous self indulgent inspiration.
I prefer cooking to yard work! I prefer secluded wilderness walks above all else!!! Go figure….
Cheers & Love to all you Beserkers!
Happy Memorial Day (maybe) Sale!
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I thank you from the bottom of my glass…
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OG Lot 159 2018 Rutherford Red Blend
Good wine, drinking fine. Can age for a few more years.
Probably should have decanted longer, 3 hours now and it’s better.
Next time I won’t wash the wineglass first. I just wanna taste that dust! Rutherford 
One point five Yums! 
.5.
with leftovers are better for: my Chipotle Chili Colorado
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Ha! Tonight my wonderful beautiful frugal wife, shared her wine SCORE from today.
2022 Pinot Grigio della Venezia from TJ’s @ $2.99/750ml! Refreshing…
Clean, no flaws. Water with a twist of lemon, on ice. Perfect @ $2.99!
Meanwhile, I go between #159 and last night’s #64.
She’s easy to love 
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I’ve done multiple dN blind tastings. My experience is that it depends on what other wines you are tasting that day.
#100 is a little flabby, it lacks acidity and the tannins are a little weak, but the fruit is nice. It will do well in a blind tasting with similar mid-tier CA cabs. I had #239 and #101 on the same blind tasting with #100 and having that Cab Franc (101) there showed how 100 lacks a lot of structure.
#68 is a bit of a powerhouse compared to it with lots of oak and alcohol, it really needs a long-ish decant to be really good (and it is), and I’d recommend chilling it slightly to tame it a bit. If you put it in a blind tasting with lighter bodied cabs, it might be a little over the top, but if you put it against some “heavy hitters”, you’ll likely see it is still slightly out of balance compared to the top producers.
If you have “I love Burgundy and I like my wine at 12% ABV” people in that tasting, they will likely spit #68 out and hate #100. If you have “I love Argentinian Malbec and anything less than 16% ABV is technically water” people, they will say #100 isn’t great but will love #68.
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I will also thank you for your L 68 Sonoma County Mountain 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon March Madness Moving sale suggestion ($11 bottle sale shipped, $18 Tranche I plus shipping offer, $29 Bottle Shop price) and will report back to you in 2025 how it went for my birthday party.
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I’ve also really enjoyed 160 for what it is. Even savory layers under the good fruit. I got a few different discounted orders and the latest on the warehouse move was like $7?
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Recently got my N.370 in. Totally torn on it. Going to follow up over the next few days. Will have some TNs on N.296 shortly since that is now what’s in the decanter.
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2021 de Négoce OG N.370 - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Ynez Valley (5/27/2023)
Given that these are 16.1% ABV - I wanted to pop one early as possible to figure out what to do with them. Decanted for about an hour before writing TNs.
Medium light ruby. Evaluating the nose is very tough. I like what is there at the beginning of the sniff, but at the end of sniff I just get nothing but alcohol. Before my nose is overwhelmed by alcohol I get a lovely nose of violets, cherry blossoms, bright sour cherries, baking spices, and a bit of fresh leather.
Light bodied, a decent amount of alcohol driven sweetness, and very primary. Bright and tart cherries, raspberries, blackberries, a bit of blue fruits, and some walnuts. Very light tannins, for a wine with this blend of grapes. But they bring in a nice black tea with a bit of chai spice. Moderate length fruity finish, with black tea, baking spices, graphite, and a hint of pepper. The finish is hot, but at the same time I am getting a constant flow of cherry blossoms, violets, and honeysuckles from it.
I am torn on this wine. This is quality juice that is hampered by the high alcohol content. As it sits in the decanter longer, it seems to get less hot. We decided pour the leftovers back into the bottle and follow over the next few days.
Posted from CellarTracker
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Just did TNs on the N.296. This is going to be yet another great DN PN 
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2021 de Négoce Pinot Noir OG Lot 296 - USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (5/27/2023)
Decanted for only about 30 minutes before writing the TNs. It's a bit oak heavy right now.
Medium garnet in color. Nose of spearmint, fresh pine needles, a bit of spices, a bit of black pepper, and then some red fruits. Medium bodied, a bit of a thick mouthfeel for a Pinot, and on the lower side of the Pinot acidity for me. A very interesting palate. Palate has this blend of fresh forest, think Gin spices, and red fruits. Structured but light tannins. An almost everlasting finish that won't let go. A lot of fresh forest, juniper, pine needles, black pepper, limestone, a bit of lime peel, and some fresh flowers.
I suspect this is going to be one of the DN PNs that just blossoms for me in the next few years. Looking forward to what this brings.
Posted from CellarTracker
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229 on sale for $99 yesterday (5-27-23) email. FYI
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274 and it wasn’t at its peak tonight. Drinkable, but not memorable.
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NV Dourdon-Vieillard Champagne La Gourmandise de Désirée Rosé
Dull, musty, lacking any freshness. Clearly a faulty bottle. Damn.
edit: to expand the “damn” part a bit more. This is actually the nice bit about dN wines.
If this was a 1988 Salon, I would be LIVID. Now it’s like “oh well, I’ll crack open another one”.
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Not my favorite would be an understatement.
2018 de Négoce Merlot OG N.90
Garnet to blood red/purple color. Nose is all oak. Vanilla, oak, oak, some more oak, wood, astringency, oak, and a touch of tart cranberries and red fruit if I am generous.
Palate is medium bodied, low+ acidity with oak, oak, oak, blueberries, red cherries, with oak and some more oak.
I could spend an hour coming up with nice various wood styles to describe this, but this is simply a wine that has been killed with oak and will never be anything but a wall of wood.
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2019 de Négoce Cabernet Sauvignon OG N.250 - USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford (5/28/2023)
Straight out of the bottle, this wine is drinking well now. On the nose red rock, rich dark fruit, and florals. On the palate: deep fruits with black cherry, blueberry, and blackberry. Seasoned oak and spice. Fine powdery tannins, a Rutherford dust almost. Medium to medium+ finish highlighted with silky fruit and herbs de Provence.
This is a very good wine, that admittedly I opened a year or two early. But like other 2019's the nose is aromatic and not closed, and the wine is drinking well now. There was a bit of improvement after a 5-hour decant.
In the end, this is very good wine and of high quality, but at the 39$ price point, this was not an outstanding QPR for DN standards. (92 points)
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The n.165 Carneros Pinot Noir was a bit of a head scratcher. The CT notes on n.165 are uniformly very good to great, including a 100 point outlier. (Not that I take the high score seriously, but clearly someone really liked this wine.) It’s a decent wine with adequate balance, it’s certainly not a grotesque caricature of the variety, but it’s also not exciting or layered like a finer exemplar.
Glad I had only one of these from a mixed purchase. This is the sort of wine that had turned me off to dN for a bit.
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2018 de Négoce Pinot Noir OG N.165 - USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros (5/27/2023)
Not getting the excitement on this one, certainly not a 100 pointer, nor even a 90 pointer to my taste. Cherry, pepper and cola on the nose, mild/shy nose overall. Good weight on the palate, sour cherry and Dr. Pepper, with a certain astringency/under-ripe phenolic impression. Oak is reasonably well integrated, not ideal, though not adding texture and mid-palate depth. Light tannins, typical low tannins and moderate acidity structurally for a Pinot.
Drink now. Fair price for the quality, but not a special QPR play. (85 points)
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OG N.24 2019 Carneros Pinot Noir with Traeger grilled lamb chops, mushroom risotto, fresh steamed corn on the cob. Plan was to match earthiness of this N.24 with lamb and risotto. It worked brilliantly. This Carneros Pinot Noir has noticable earthiness with sneaky fine grained tannins which stood up to lamb chops/risotto combination. Fruit is mouthful of cherry and strawberry, balanced with juicy acidity and long finish. I still think this is one the BEST de Negoce Pinots offered regardless of price- which was $108/case 1st Tranche. Every bottle I’ve had keeps getting better.
OK, so at the end of the evening, popped open a 2019 N.301 Sonoma Coast PN just to compare the two 2019 Pinots. Nothing to compare here. 24 for MY tastes smokes this 301. Granted the 301 was JUST bottled recently, but my friend has already bought two cases and a 3rd case might be coming his way- see if he notices that missing bottle.
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Popped a N.374 for this week’s brunch bubbly. Just fantastic.
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2021 de Négoce Friuli Grave OG N.374 "Millesimato" - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Grave (5/28/2023)
Pours a pretty vivid pink ombre. Steady stream of very fine bubbles. At first, there is a bit of funk on the nose which blows away after a few minutes in the glass - and I would recommend giving it a few minutes to air out after opening.
Nose of candied strawberries, candied raspberries, lime, and a hint of toast. A bit tingly on the tongue at first, but as the bubbles settle down it turns a bit creamy. Medium bodied, tastes like it is on the dry side of brut, tart fruits, and a nice acidity streak. Tart limes, strawberries, raspberries, a bit of red currant, saline, and a little bit of toast. There's a light tannin profile that melds with the acidity to provide the structure for the long finish. Long clean finish that just holds on and on with the tannic structure, light minerals, and residual tart fruits. At the end of the glass, I get a build up of spiced lime peel and white flowers on the back of the tongue.
While I would never mistake this for a Champagne, this holds its own against nearly every entry level NV Rose Champagne I have consumed. When compared to N.257 (the 2020 vintage of this) this has less spice but a lot more depth to the fruit - time will tell if it develops like the 2020 did.
Fantastic QPR at the T1 price of $10/btl. (90 points)
Posted from CellarTracker
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N.127. Not as “big” as Napa reds. It’s got some berries and tannin. Good wine for a BBQ or something simple. No regrets at $8.
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2019 Clos Sainte Anne - France, Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux (5/28/2023)
On the nose red fruits and sweet spices. On the palate tart Rainier cherry, raspberry, herbal tones, with graphitic minerality, and a medium+ finish. On day one, this was a wall with tartness winning out of what did come through on the palate. By day two a hint of purple fruit emerges, and the wine becomes more balanced. On day two this wine becomes more open knit, less taught, but still a strong structure. This is quality juice at a very reasonable price point.
This is the 90% Merlot / 10% Cab Franc version and not the Cabernet Sauvignon version, fyi.
This is a 90.5 today, in my opinion, an improvement can be gained by waiting for this to come around. (90 points)
Very good quality wine here. I opened it too early, needs at least another year, imho. This one threw me for a loop as it was sold as part of De Negoce’s International Cabernet sampler. I opened it next to another Cabernet to compare and contrast. Upon tasting I realized immediately that I wasn’t drinking a Cabernet Sauvignon. The back of the bottle actually reads “90% Merlot 10% Cabernet Franc”. Also - and I’m not complaining here - the Wine Enthusiast Review that the De Negoce team references is for the Cabernet blend version o this wine, and in fact, someone changed the wording on the review. The original Wine Enthusiast review of “92 points” reads: “Structure comes from the 40% Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend and the wine will age.”. On the De Negoce offer the Wine Enthusiast review was changed to read: “Structure comes from the 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc in the blend and the wine will age.”
No conspiracy here, but this is a Merlot, well worth the $16 paid and more. But there is a mistake in that this is not a Cabernet Sauvignon.
I went back and forth with the point score, and could have easily given this a 91. However, I do think an improvement will come with bottle age. Cheers.
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