Wine Geekery

[neufox47]

This was excellent, especially for its price point. Garagiste purchase. I was shocked at how fruit forward it was when pouring into the decanter. Drank from 2.5 - 4 hours. Was very soft and mellow but with nice fruit / leather / mushroom flavor. Interesting how new the cork looks. One comment on CellarTracker said the corks may have been reconditioned?



Interesting how different the comments / notes are on CT. I feel like the person who said it was done / past it’s prime got a corked bottle, or a very different bottle from what I had. I have a few more bottles so will be interesting to compare them.

[Cruiser]

More fun 21 kabinett

[liv2ski]

Last fall while doing our Paso Robles wine tour we came across Croad Winery. Really nice wines. We received our Spring shipment from the wine club and had this excellent bottle that was 60% Grenache and 40% Zin. My wife commented it smelled a little boozy. I looked and it is 16.7% Amazing as it tasted so good.

[Cruiser]

^^^ They must have the good yeast. A lotta yeast starts to peter out by like 16% and any extra sugar doesn't get fermented

[skaredshtles]

Just wanted to give props to stapes for bringing up this wine - my local liquor store has been special ordering it for me, regularly, for about 6 months for me. Very good value...

Just wanted to bring up this wine again - I think the '21 is even better than the '20 which I've been quaffing regularly for a couple years now.

Still around $10 by the case...

[jackstraw]

If you winos end up in Tampa check out Bern's steakhouse. They have quite the selection.

[PB]

Wait .... some of those aren't Cabs ......IN A STEAK HOUSE???????

[skaredshtles]

Wait .... some of those aren't Cabs ......IN A STEAK HOUSE???????

You spelled "malbec" wrong, you Philistine.

[Mr. Mike]

Just wanted to bring up this wine again - I think the '21 is even better than the '20 which I've been quaffing regularly for a couple years now.

Still around $10 by the case...

What is the wine? Went back a couple of pages but couldn’t find the post.

[jackstraw]

That was one aisle in the cellar. I don't remember how many it had. A shiton of wine in that place. Over the top. Quick Google says 6800 selections and 30k for one bottle. Then follow up dinner with the dessert room. Place is ridiculous

[skaredshtles]

What is the wine? Went back a couple of pages but couldn’t find the post.

Sorry - it's the Cantine Povero Barbera d'Alba:

[PB]

You spelled "malbec" wrong, you Philistine.

I was bamboozled by the term "steak house".

[cravenmorhead]

Is the Cantine Povero Barbera d'Alba significantly different than the d'Asti? I've had the latter, and while I liked the nose I thought the palate was a little boring, and particularly fell apart on the finish.

[skaredshtles]

Is the Cantine Povero Barbera d'Alba significantly different than the d'Asti? I've had the latter, and while I liked the nose I thought the palate was a little boring, and particularly fell apart on the finish.

Sorry - it's the d'Asti, not the d'Alba. Have you tried the '21? I think I like it a bit better than the '20.

And be advised: I am no wine connoisseur, I just know that for $10, this is a great wine to drink with food. So if you're disappointed by my recommendation, it's not my fault.

[cravenmorhead]

I haven't had the '21, only the '20. Not a bad wine by any means, particularly for the price. I like their dolcetto, maybe more than the barbera, for a lightly chilled picnic wine.

For barbera, I like Vietti and Ca' del Sarto both a bit more, but both cost a bit more money than the Cantine.

[skaredshtles]

I haven't had the '21, only the '20. Not a bad wine by any means, particularly for the price. I like their dolcetto, maybe more than the barbera, for a lightly chilled picnic wine.

For barbera, I like Vietti and Ca' del Sarto both a bit more, but both cost a bit more money than the Cantine.

Yeah - Vietti is nice, but as you say... significantly more moolah. I don't think I've ever had the Ca' del Sarto.

ETA: Actually - I have had that Ca' del Sarto - I recognize the label.

[alpinevibes]

Sorry - it's the Cantine Povero Barbera d'Alba:

I think I've bought this somewhere in the RFV; where are you getting it?

[skaredshtles]

I think I've bought this somewhere in the RFV; where are you getting it?

My local Super Liquormart special orders it for me. I went and picked up a case just today. Shouldn't be a special order from now on, though, since the main guy said they're just going to stock it as a regular, because of all the positive reviews customers have provided since they started putting it out on the shelf.

[ghosthop]

Oft, if you’re still around would you want to school me a little on Ridge?

My wife loves Zinfandel, we went deep down the natural wine rabbit hole and are working our way backwards through producers using indigenous yeasts and minimal sulfur. Ridge checks a lot of our boxes.

When we got into Riesling we drank a bunch of wines young but it’s even worse with some of these reds. So far we have had Three Valleys and Pagani Ranch, both 2020. I think Three Valleys is more our speed because the blend is earthier but 2020 was not a banner year. We are going to follow Pagani over this weekend and see what we think. After that we’re looking at 45+ a bottle for things that we should age, hard to tell where to start with that.

[liv2ski]

If your wife like Zins go to Paso Robles. Tobin James Fatboy is the Zin I would drink for the rest of my life, but it is heavy. The Croad Zins are lighter, but soooo fuckin good. Paso is the place for Zin.

[Cruiser]

@ghosthop

Check out Once & Future and Bedrock

[irul&ublo]

If your wife like Zins go to Paso Robles. Tobin James Fatboy is the Zin I would drink for the rest of my life, but it is heavy. The Croad Zins are lighter, but soooo fuckin good. Paso is the place for Zin.

Templeton, right next door but other side of 101 and closer to the coast is good. Try Lodi, Amador County and El Dorado county too. Macchia, in Lodi is a particular favorite. Fair Play district in El Dorado has lots of great Zin. From Amador, try Scott Harvey, Noceto and Turley (Turley also makes wine in Templeton)

[oftpiste]

Haven't checked in for a while.

I think their flagships are age-worthy usually, like Lytton Springs, Geyserville and of course, Monte Bello. I don't know if they still do it, but they used to sell Monte Bello futures which I bought in a couple of vintages. Way cheaper than post-release, and those almost always age like first growth Bordeaux. That means you will probably be sitting on them for a LONG time! Their Petite Sarah has always been wonderful and long-lived but that ain't Zin.

Of course it's always vintage-dependant, and I've been a fan of Draper's willingness to take a shot on the label at suggesting how long that bottling will take to mature and when to open. I have generally found him to be pretty on target. I also think you can take a pretty good gamble on how long a bottling's legs are by tasting it young. Big backbone? Stuff it into the basement.

And yes, they've gotten crazy expensive like everyone else. I have Lytton and Geyserville bottles with price tags of around twenty bucks.

Oft, if you’re still around would you want to school me a little on Ridge?

My wife loves Zinfandel, we went deep down the natural wine rabbit hole and are working our way backwards through producers using indigenous yeasts and minimal sulfur. Ridge checks a lot of our boxes.

When we got into Riesling we drank a bunch of wines young but it’s even worse with some of these reds. So far we have had Three Valleys and Pagani Ranch, both 2020. I think Three Valleys is more our speed because the blend is earthier but 2020 was not a banner year. We are going to follow Pagani over this weekend and see what we think. After that we’re looking at 45+ a bottle for things that we should age, hard to tell where to start with that.

[nickwm21]

Random question for the wine dorks.

In my small home, for long term wine storage, my ghetto wine cellar is my crawl space. I’m laying bottles in “higher end” storage totes. These totes have a gasket seal. Should I pull that seal out or drill a hole in the tote for limited air flow?


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[neufox47]

Cracked open the first bottle of my case of De Negoce 216 - Stags Leap Cabernet. Man what a deal.

Got the wine cellar almost finished. It ended up being 14x7’ with 7.5’ ceilings. I plan on doing a double depth rack across one 14’ wall and the other side has two 58”x52” built in boxes that I’ll put diamond shaped shelves in with each box holding 16 bottles. Storage space should be right around 2,000 bottles. It won’t be very fancy but will be very functional and I should be at about $10k all in with shelves to add 100 sqft of living space so that isn’t too bad.