What enjoyable tasting room experiences have led you to become a regular buyer? and the winner is...

WINE TALK
1

As a counterpart to the issue raised most often in the boycott thread, I thought I’d take the other side and ask if a pleasant visit has led you to become a regular buyer of any producer? Obviously no one is going to buy wines they don’t like but have positive experiences caused you to buy wine more frequently or more regularly?

While I don’t visit wineries very often (my vacation time is more heavily allocated than I’d like) in my own case I’ll list both Navarro and Scherrer, the former for some years and the latter from just this summer. In both cases I liked some of their wines very much (others not as much) but I have such positive associations from enjoyable visits that the wines have an added layer of pleasure and it was only after the visit that made it onto my annual buying list.

Which reminds me, I need some more pinot noir grape juice…

Here are the results as of Post 63:

Navarro x7
Sojourn x6
Anderson Conn Valley x5
Copain x5
EMH Black Cat x4
Siduri x4
Denner x3
Joseph Swan x3
Lagier Meredith x3
Alta Colina x2
Angel Vine x2
Beckman x2 but indications that it’s fallen down
Booker x2
Heitz x3
Littorai x2
Llewellyn x2
Loring x2
Mountain Terraces x2
Myriad x2
Rhys x2
Seven Stones x2
Saxum x2
Scherrer x2
Southbrook x2
Unti x3
Windy Oaks x2
Zepaltas x2

7 Hearts/Luminous Hills
Adelaida Cellars
Alpha Omega
Anne Amie
Anything trb
Arcadian
Arkenstone
Barboursville
Belle Pente
Benovia
Bevan Cellars
Brooks
Buehler
Cakebread (for the view)
Caparone
Caroline Cellars
Ceritas
Chateau des Charmes
Clos du Val
Clos Pepe
Colaneri
Coleman Nicole
Conn Creek
Cornerstone
Coyote’s Run
Crown Bench Estate
Cypher
De Ponte
Dehlinger
Del Dotto
Domaine Drouhin
Donelan
Dutch Henry
El Corazon
Elizabeth Spencer
Elyse
Epoch
Eric Kent
Flat Rock Cellars
Frogpond Farms
Garretson
Graves Winegrowers
Grochau
Gypsy Dancer
Harbour Estates
Harris/Jones
Harrison Clarke
Henry of Pelham
Herman Story
Herman Wiemer
Hernder Estates
Hinterbrook
Hobel
Inman
Iron Horse
Jackson-Triggs
Jaffurs
Joey Tensley
Johan
Jones
Justin
Karl Lawrence
Kosta Browne
l’Aventure
Linden
Linne Calodo
Lynmar
MacPhail
Matello
Mayacamas
Mazzacco
Merrill Lindquist
Midsummer Cellars
Mike Smith
Nalle
O’Shaughnessey
Outpost
Paradise Ridge
Paul Lato
Paumanok
Peay
Peninsula Ridge
Persona
Pillitteri Estates
Pisoni
Pott
Pride
Ravine Vineyards
Realm
Relic
Ridge
RM
Robert Foley
Russel Bevan
Sebastiani
Seven of Hearts/Luminous Hills
SQN
Starr Ranch
Stoney Ridge
Stony Hill
Storybook
Strewn
Sunnybrook Farms
Surh Luchtel
Tablas Creek
Teachworth
Tin Shed
Torbreck
Turnbull
Two Hands
Viader
Villa Creek
Vineland
Winderlea
Youngberg Hill

Mugneret-Gibourg x3
Maison Ilan x2
Brovia x2
7 Hearts/Luminous Hills
Burlotto
Castello della Paneretta
Chadon de Briailles
Charvin
COS
Domaine de la Barroche
Domaine de L’Edre
Elio Grasso x2
Giacomo Conterno
Giuseppe Cortese
Gunderloch
Guy Charlemagne
Isole e Olena
Jadot
Joseph Drouhin
Larmandier Bernier
Lisini
Luis Pato
Mann
Marcarini
Monardiere
Montevertine
Morlet
Muller-Catoir
Niepoort
Pradeaux
Quinta de Tedo
Raspail-Ay
Rayas
Rizzi
Robert Weil
Rossignol-Trapet
Sandrone
Schiavenza
Taupenot Merme
Trapadis
Tremblay
Trimbach
Uccelliera
Weinbach

2

Sojourn.

Tom

3

Unti, Siduri, and Benovia recently.

4

Chandon de Briailles
Mann
Rossignol-Trapet
Mugneret-Gibourg
Tremblay
Pradeaux
Jadot

Possibly Mayacamas and Stony Hill - just visited the summer

5

Cypher
Booker
Turnbull
Beckman

6

In California: Unti, Copain and (after a return visit after many years) Navarro.

In Piemonte: Brovia, Rizzi, Burlotto, Marcarini, Giacomo Conterno, Schiavenza, Elio Grasso.

In Portugal: Luis Pato (when I can find them here).

7

Robert Foley, and I have yet to met him or his wife. Shannon has meet us there twice and she is a wonderful person, not to mention the wines are great.

8

By a wide margin Navarro.

9

Harrison Clarke
Starr Ranch
Caparone
Alta Colina
Jaffurs

10

Anderson’s Conn Valley
Teachworth

11

This is easy. In California, after a visit with Merrill Lindquist, I am a buyer of EMH Black Cat for the past 4 vintages, and I buy regularly from Fred Scherrer for the same amount of time. It’s a combination of good personal contact and good wines. Here on Long Island, I am a buyer of Paumanok wines thanks to my friendship with Charles and Ursula Massoud.

A few Barolo producers I am loyal to are Brovia, Elio Grasso, and Sandrone as a result of good visits.

12

Eric Kent
Navarro
Anderson’s Conn Valley
RM
Heitz

There are a bunch.

13

As far as buying that was really triggered for the first time by a tasting room / winery visit, I’d say Denner, Lisini, Uccelliera, Castello della Paneretta, Giuseppe Cortese and Sojourn.

There were probably some in the earlier days of my learning about wine that have come and gone.

14

Joseph Swan and another vote for Navarro.

15

So many, but here are a few of the best off the top of my head:
Lagier-Meredith, Pott, Bevan Cellars, EMH Black Cat, Arkenstone, Windy Oaks, Outpost, Seven Stones, etc.
I already liked most of these wines before visiting, but the great personal interaction at these places has made me a loyal customer for life. These visits definitely increased the amount I purchase from these places on an ongoing basis. Even more significantly, the experiece added a rich context of people and place to the wine and makes me enjoy each bottle of those wines that much more.

16

Lagier Meredith
Myriad

There’s something about a winemaker hosting a tasting in their own home that gets to my core.

17

Mugneret Gibourg

18

Only one tasting room visit ever resulted in me joining their wine club, something I had never done before or since. Gypsy Dancer [Oregon]. Gary Andrus, [Pine Ridge- Napa and Archery Summit- OR] now deceased and his label gone with him, impressed me with all of his wines across the board. Marvelous Pinots and his Pinot Gris is still the best Ive had from the new world. Im still opening up some of the wines I received from that time in the early 2000s and they are even better. His passing was a huge loss to all Pinot loving consumers. Here`s to Gary!

19

Rayas, Charvin, Trapadis, Raspail-Ay, Monardière

20

Joseph Swan
Navarro
Windy Oaks
Not a tasting room visit, but a lunch with Mike Smith ( Myriad)