Confession is good: what have you bought lately?

[Jenise]

I bought two bottles of 2005 Ch. D'Issan at Costco while in there to get some new glasses, (they had a ton of it and some other '05s as well). I planned to buy a case or more when I went to pick up my glasses a week or so later. When I got there, I found out that some restaurant bought out the entire supply of all the '05 Bordeaux! I was none to pleased and learned that, at least some of the time, you gotta buy at the first opportunity.

That's pretty much true of everything at Costco, and probably especially wine, and probably even more especially if you live in a hot market like DC (Bellingham, Washington, is NOT). Some of us can only dream of the kind of selection you must have.

Yesterday, when I read this thread, I felt quite virtuous - nothing purchased this month!
Today I fell from grace, seduced by the temptation of 2006 Chablis - Brocard and Christian Moreaux.
Now I am 12 bottles heavier and my bank account is several hundred dollars lighter. Mea Culpa. Peccavi!

[Jenise]

Yesterday, when I read this thread, I felt quite virtuous - nothing purchased this month!
Today I fell from grace, seduced by the temptation of 2006 Chablis - Brocard and Christian Moreaux.
Now I am 12 bottles heavier and my bank account is several hundred dollars lighter. Mea Culpa. Peccavi!

Oh goody. I can attest to the fact that you are heavily relied upon for a vast array of quality white wines, so I'm glad to hear you're constantly replenishing. I'm thinking about going white for Friday, btw, isn't that a shocker?

One bottle of 2006 Sanford Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Two bottles of 2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling
Three bottles of 2003 Kunde Estates 2003 unfiltered Reserve Chardonnay

Our golf club offered specials on all of these (via email), plus some others I wasn't interested in. The prices were great and I would have purchased more but we have very limited storage in NC.

[Jenise]

One bottle of 2006 Sanford Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Two bottles of 2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling
Three bottles of 2003 Kunde Estates 2003 unfiltered Reserve Chardonnay

Our golf club offered specials on all of these (via email), plus some others I wasn't interested in. The prices were great and I would have purchased more but we have very limited storage in NC.

Good choices. I know you go back and forth between your two homes on either coast. Do you not have wine storage you can leave stuff in for next time? Drinking bottles with a little more age on them than you find them at retail is so rewarding, I hate to think of you being stuck with relatively new releases.

[Jenise]

featured in today's Garagiste mailer.

Jenise, what's the scoop on Garagiste? It seems like a lot of those wines kinda 'fell off a truck.'

Bill

Bill. Sometimes their offers sound too good to be true, and they are. And sometimes I'm in deep regret that I only ordered two bottles. But I scaled back after a couple disappointments--that I bought six of this indicates the extent to which owner Jon Rimmerman got to me with his latest masterwork of hyperbole. It was as follows:

Dear Friends,

Think 2000 vintage Port is good? Try this.

I’ve been trying to acquire this vintage for the last two years but the price has been too high. The quality has always been there and now that I have the price down, this is one of the best deals on a bottle of world-class wine I’ve seen. Educational and exemplary, it is worth the effort to acquire. A $40-50 dry red from Portugal better deliver the goods but the same wine at $19.99? Now I’m listening.

As one of the most expensive dry red wines in Portugal the Luper Legacy means business. Rarely distributed and only sold in small amounts, this is largely due to the tiny size of the vineyard, between 1.5-2.7 hectares (depending if you count the terraced rocks between the plantable areas). The vision of Luper himself, this vineyard lies in a backwater area of Portugal rarely traveled by tourists or by those seeking the fortified wines of the country.

The Tras-Os-Montes, lie beyond the beyond, in the northeast of the country, near the Duoro but a world away in mentality. It is rugged, mountainous, mysterious and intriguing - like a magnet that repels with the opposite end. It is one of the most isolated and unknown areas of the continent with a mentality that they are immune from the legislation that emanates from Lisbon. In the Tras-Os-Montes, survival is the main concern not abiding by manmade laws and rules. The old-timers stay, the youth try to find a way out...at least they did in the past but a new pot of gold has been uncovered in this region and it is deep purple and viscous in a glass. Despite its location, this area has some of the most promising terroir and old-vines left in Europe, yet they are largely undiscovered. As far as potential quality, think of a regal old-world Barossa Valley before the Grateful Palate explosion and you will be close.

One of the burdens the Portuguese have to cope with if they are going to make headway into the fine dry wine market is an industry (and public) that preconceives their country as capable of only one thing - Port. In truth, Port only represents a small amount of what is produced in Portugal and most of it is exported, as it has been for 100 years or more. How many Portuguese actually drink Port on a regular basis? I think you will find that most consume the dry wines far more often and (surprise) a great deal of that consumption is white wine.

Portugal has far more to offer than hot-climate, roasted wine. The very best producers in this small country love their terroir and they want to express the specifics just as any vintner would in France, Germany or other. Many of these prized plots are among Europe’s oldest and exciting untouched stock. Why? They simply have not been exploited like many of the more known regions of the world and the old vines remain original and intact - waiting for the right hands to transform their bounty into something that will speak to the world.

J. Luper found one of those special parcels, north facing and away from the hot sun, in a gorgeous Tras-Os-Montes valley bowl that would be considered a major discovery for anyone in the wine trade. The only catch (and there’s always a catch) was that it was almost too remote - he was going to have to abandon everything else to dedicate himself to the dream at hand. Either do it or don’t - an often difficult mantra to grapple with but one that many of us could learn to live by. He indeed “did it” and the rest is, as they say in Portuguese, “Passado”.

The 2000 Luper Legacy will knock many of your socks off for the tarrif. For those of you that remember the 2000 Monte d’Oiro Reserva Syrah/Viognier we offered 3-4 years ago, you should pay special attention here. This is another Portuguese wine of the same quality from the same vintage and many of you still claim the 2000 Oiro was the finest deal we’ve ever offered, even 3-4 years later (that was also $19.99). Where the Oiro was like Portuguese Cote Rotie, this wine is akin to Portuguese Leoville Las Cases.

If you could combine perfumed, smoky red fruit from 80-120 year old indigenous stock of unknown origin (they have no idea what the exact blend is in the vineyard), toss in one of the finest vintages in the last twenty, give it plenty of restrained ripeness, complexity and regal style and sell it for $19.99 instead on $40 or more, you would have my attention.... and they do. Call it what you want, Iberian Bordeaux from a ripe year (like 1990) or simply high-class, exotic wine from a new region that is begging for discovery - whatever it is, the wine is worth the educational exercise and I think it could be a new house wine for a large number of you. A crazy deal.

Serve this blind and watch the fun begin (decant 1-2 hours prior).

This parcel has perfect provenance directly from the source - it has been resting since release under ideal conditions.

Please note: This wine is also called the “Vinhos Duoro”, although that is not technically correct - it is from Tras-Os-Montes.

For comparison, you can check pricing on the 1999 version of this wine (if you can’t find the 2000 out there):

2000 Luper Legacy Vinhos Tras-Os-Montes (Quinta da Carolina) - $19.99
(compare at $35-55)

FIRST COME FIRST SERVED up to 24/person until we run out

One bottle of 2006 Sanford Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Two bottles of 2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling
Three bottles of 2003 Kunde Estates 2003 unfiltered Reserve Chardonnay

Our golf club offered specials on all of these (via email), plus some others I wasn't interested in. The prices were great and I would have purchased more but we have very limited storage in NC.

Good choices. I know you go back and forth between your two homes on either coast. Do you not have wine storage you can leave stuff in for next time? Drinking bottles with a little more age on them than you find them at retail is so rewarding, I hate to think of you being stuck with relatively new releases.

I have storage for 42 bottles (see, very limited) in NC and that is full to the gills with some really good stuff. I do already rotate out the bottles that are ready to be consumed to make room for stuff I want to hang onto longer. You know, you're helping me brainstorm. I just thought of an unused space under our stairs, behind a closet that I would imagine stays pretty cool year-round. I may resort to putting some extra stuff in there until I find a more permanent solution. I agree, I love having some aged "gems" to pull out for special occasions. I know you can relate and have many more "gems" than me!! In fact, I don't think you even need special occasions to pull them out.

I tried to start a hiatus right before the CSW sale. Oops. So I picked up some more 2006 Foillard, Gonon St. Joseph, the current Pépière, some Pierre Péters for an upcoming anniversary, Brun, Domaine du Cros. Then last month was the 2007 German pre-arrivals, so there was Prum, Schaefer, Wirsching, Schafer-Frohlich, Haag, Von Hovel, Weins-Prum....

Nothing in the last month, but in the previous month some auction lots including some too old, but occasionally surprisingly good Italians (but also with a G Conterno Monfortino 1979 and a couple of other bottles that should be interesting). Also some very tasty 1994 Dom du Cayron Gigondas and some hugely impressive Seppelt DP63 Muscat.

Jenise: I liked Luper's other red wine, his 1999 Quinta da Carolina. Quite a nice steak wine, and the wine shop south of Saint Helena had it for a decent 25% off. I have one bottle left, and I think there is still some left in St. Helena.

I bought a case of Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2005 for $30. I sell wine here and there was a change of distributor. The new distributor did not want the existing inventory so I got it at a great price. We opened one last week and then had it over the next 5 days. By the third day it was outstanding with the earth and forest floor coming out. Hopefully today I get to meet Matt Donaldson and Lynette Hudson from Pegasus Bay who were here for IPNC last week.

Michael, are you saying that you got a case of this wine for $30, or a case of it at $30 per? If the former, then you didn't buy it, you stole it!

But I scaled back after a couple disappointments--that I bought six of this indicates the extent to which owner Jon Rimmerman got to me with his latest masterwork of hyperbole. It was as follows:

Dear Friends,

Think 2000 vintage Port is good? Try this....

I don't blame you! That's some good hyperbole!

-Bill

Edited to reduce sizeable quoteback -- Jenise.

I didn't buy any wine bottles in the past ten days (only because I was traveling in Provence, France.) But prior to my vacation, I ordered five bottles from Burgundy Wine Company (2 bottles of 2006 Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny, one bottle each of 2006 Drouhin Chorey-les-Beaunes, 2006 Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet, and 2006 Hospice de Beaune Premier Cru Cuvee Maurice. (Has anyone had the Cuvee Maurice from an earlier vintage? If so, what did you think of it?)

I have a Loring Wine Company offer coming up soon and ordered some Rieslings and others from the Finger Lakes and six bottles from Village Corner to pick up when I attend Mo'Cool. Need to get my money in to the organizers pronto!

[James Roscoe]

Are you saying you traveled in Provence and did not buy any bottles of wine? You didn't need to bring it home, just drink it!

James, we had at least two free wines (usually a white and a red) with every meal and on some occasions Champagne or a dessert wine as well! Will post some notes later although I didn't take notes at every meal. Our meals were paid for in the package (breakfast and dinner at our hotel in Grasse and lunches at two and three-starred Michelin restaurants.) Most wine I've ever consumed in a week. They just kept refilling the glasses until you told them to stop.

Three bottles of '05 Carmes de Rieussec Sauternes, because I have little sauternes in my cellar and Garagiste offered it at a very good price. 4 bottles of Miguel Torres Priorat "Salmos" because I love the older Torres Gran Coronas and this wine is made to age, a whole case of 2001 Langdon Rutherglen Shiraz (made by Richard L. Buller at his private vineyard) because I found it on closeout. A magnum of '06 Ridge Geyserville to hold for a relatively long time, 3 '04 Mommesin Morgon "Les Charmes," These purchases reflect my (almost total) restraint lately because my cellar is "full."

The Ata Rangi was $30 per bottle.

I haven't been too bad:

2005 Century Oak Lodi
2003 Century Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
2001 Château Haut-Bailly
N.V. Lillet Rouge
2005 Jean-Luc Colombo Côtes du Rhône Les Abeilles
2005 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
2005 Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne Véro
2004 Domaine de l'Oratoire St Martin Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne Réserve des Seigneurs
2000 Domaine des Amouriers Vacqueyras
2007 Caves da Cerca Vinho Verde Fâmega
2007 Crios de Susana Balbo Malbec Rosé of Malbec

In the past month and a half or two...
2007 Dr. Loosen Riesling Dr. L
1989 Huët Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg
1996 Huët Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg
2005 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel
2006 Weingut Pfeffingen Ungsteiner Herrenberg Scheurebe Spätlese
2004 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese
2007 Domaine de la Louvetrie Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Amphibolite Nature
2001 Kees-Kieren Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Auslese
2007 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Klosterlay Riesling Kabinett
1996 François Pinon Vouvray 1er Trie
1971 Huët Vouvray Moelleux Clos du Bourg
2006 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese #10

Unlike Dale, who bought tons of stuff at the CSW sale, I only bought 18 bottles. Interesting ones, at least to me, was the '07 Volxem Riesling @ $16, '94 Steinmetz Spatlese @ $16, '02 Von Nell Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (sparkler) @ 20 and '06 JP Brun Morgon @ $15.19. Fortunately I have a daughter in NYC so I pay tax but get free delivery. She will bring the wine when we get together in VA in November. Other than CSW and 6 bottles from Dehlinger I have been good this month and spent very little.
Walt

And of course, I mean wine.

I've actually been very very good. But I slipped up today: after posting on the Kestrel, I indeed ordered two cases. And while I was on the phone, I threw in half a dozen 2005 Boudreauxs (a very fine WA state Bordeaux blend), 3 bottles of the new release of the Woodward Canyon Dedication Series (must be a hot one, I'm dealing with one of the biggest independent sellers in Seattle and he's only getting one case this year), and some of those Hestia semillons Clint Hall recently posted so well about. Oh, and six of that Portugese wine featured in today's Garagiste mailer.

Yeah, these guys are really neat.

http://www.boudreauxcellars.com/About/index.cfm

And they make good wine.

[Jenise]

And of course, I mean wine.

I've actually been very very good. But I slipped up today: after posting on the Kestrel, I indeed ordered two cases. And while I was on the phone, I threw in half a dozen 2005 Boudreauxs (a very fine WA state Bordeaux blend), 3 bottles of the new release of the Woodward Canyon Dedication Series (must be a hot one, I'm dealing with one of the biggest independent sellers in Seattle and he's only getting one case this year), and some of those Hestia semillons Clint Hall recently posted so well about. Oh, and six of that Portugese wine featured in today's Garagiste mailer.

Yeah, these guys are really neat.

http://www.boudreauxcellars.com/About/index.cfm

And they make good wine.

Serene...Boudreaux...you know what, you and I could really do some damage drinking wine together, if we could just keep from arguing about everything else. Glad to meet another fan, this is a winery that typically when I mention it, gets a quizzical "Did you say Bordeaux?" look even to people who think they know Washington wines. In fact, even I have to admit that I didn't learn about Boudreaux from any of my wine peeps here, I had to hear about it from Gary Vaynerchuk! I now have several vintages resting away.

Believe it or not I am much more argumentative here than in person.

[Jenise]

Unlike Dale, who bought tons of stuff at the CSW sale, I only bought 18 bottles. Interesting ones, at least to me, was the '07 Volxem Riesling @ $16, '94 Steinmetz Spatlese @ $16, '02 Von Nell Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (sparkler) @ 20 and '06 JP Brun Morgon @ $15.19. Fortunately I have a daughter in NYC so I pay tax but get free delivery. She will bring the wine when we get together in VA in November. Other than CSW and 6 bottles from Dehlinger I have been good this month and spent very little.
Walt

Lucky you, I'd have been happy with any of those. Dale's list was a drooler too. Lucky you to have a place to deliver them to.