But once a bottle is opened don’t you just finish it?
I have received this as a thank you gift which was hand delivered directly from California so Im going to save it for a proper Sunday. Do not drink much US wine so I am looking forward to trying this.
There are a lot of very nice wineries on the list. Silver Oak cabs are outstanding if expensive. Grgich Hill’s whites are excellent. Their Rutherford reds constantly score 90+.
I’ve tasted a fair few of those I saw on the list, I’ve also been lucky to have visited many. BR Cohn, Cline & Ridge produce consistent good wines. Domaine Carneros is a stunning vineyard, and is mostly bubbles.
It is a gigantic market so select carefully, but enjoy 🍷
There are a lot of very nice wineries on the list. Silver Oak cabs are outstanding if expensive. Grgich Hill’s whites are excellent. Their Rutherford reds constantly score 90+.
I’ve tasted a fair few of those I saw on the list, I’ve also been lucky to have visited many. BR Cohn, Cline & Ridge produce consistent good wines. Domaine Carneros is a stunning vineyard, and is mostly bubbles.
It is a gigantic market so select carefully, but enjoy 🍷
Thanks a lot.
Ouch, this is going to hurt. The Silver Oak Alex Valley Cab Sauv 2016 will set me back £81, and a Grgich Hill Cab Sauv 2017, £71. But I did kind of expect that.
Hugh Johnson agrees with your vineyard choices :-)
I have Coravin but I'm generally too lazy to use it. I've got quite a lot of maturing Bordeaux, so intend to use it with that to taste it over a few days and differing decanting times. In terms of whites I might use it with Premier and the tiny amount of Grand Cru white Burgundy I have, just mainly to see it's quality. Top white Burgundy is so hit and miss, that imo it's just not worth the ridiculous price tags nor is there a requisite payoff in terms of quality. Most of the stuff I've got was just before the stratospheric price rises in the last decade, so I want to savour or hate it slowly as I'll not be buying much top white Burgundy ongoing.
Here's my three pennyworth on vacuvin, coravin and open wine:
If you're drinking fully mature wine, or wine with excruciatingly delicate flavours you don't need to decant for anymore than minutes if at all. So never keep this wine open, nor coravin it or vacuvin it just drink it.
Vacuvin's a bit like homeopathy, not sure it does anything but no harm in using it if you want. Went to an excellent wine bar in Bruges called Riesling&Pinot Noir. They never used vacuvin, and we were tasting wines that had been opened for days with the cork just being popped back on. They all tasted powerful and impressive. Granted they were youthful in their maturity and had the oomph of their primary flavours with the secondary flavours beautifully teased out..... So good I'm seriously fighting the urge to Coravin a bottle of Spatburgunder I bought there!
Coravin is fun if you enjoy quality wines and your partner doesn't want to imbibe that night. Some natural corks don't reseal, so that put's paid to it sometimes. Practically it's best in a bar setting: Not in London where you pay a 5-600% markup, and the wine selection has been put together by the most uninspired on trade merchant. If it encourages you to enjoy a wine over a longer period of days, great then it's well worth buying.
Bread and Butter from Napa Valley do the tastiest Chardonnay I've ever had. Toasty Vanilla, Oaky, buttery vibes. Their Pinot Noir is very good too, but so is most Pinot Noir from Napa.
£15-20 price point, available from Majestic.co.uk or direct from Bread and Butter if in the U.S.
Californian wines tend to be my favourite, but I've had some gorgeous South African Bordeaux style blends too. If you can get hold of a pre 2018 vintage of The Chocolate Block, you're in for a treat. Price point £20-30 if I remember correctly.
What stinks is that some of the wines Britain has access too are not considered that good here in America. Silver Oak Alexander and Grgich Cabs are considered overpriced and quite middling in quality. So many better wines for less but they just don’t leave our shores.
Can someone show me an online store in London and their full list of available wines and I can point out some good ones for the price.
@NapaAddick Roberson wine won Decanter's US retailer of the year in 2020: This is with the caveat that this year they've shortlisted Majestic, who have an abominable selection of US wine. Before anyone moans Majestic has a place, and around the £7 to £15 mark you can find some real winners, but in fine wine they're hugely overpriced and have never hit the mark since 2011/12 when they sacked most of their experienced buying team.
From experience Vinorium specialised in Californian and US wine. Though I wouldn't presume to know the quality of their selection, on account I buy virtually no US wine apart from the odd Oregon Pinot Noir. I also always thought Roberson was a little overpriced, but don't know now since they've closed their West London shops. Have a quick scan Napa and see if they're worth a deeper dive for others:
Looked at both lists and rather horrified at the prices. All about 20-80% more expensive there, than here. The Orin Swift wines on Vinorium are pretty tasty and full-throttle. Not for the faint of heart. Most have real alcohols of 15-16%, regardless of that the labels say. Kutch Pinots are among the best in the USA and might be worth a spin if someone wants to spend $50-80 per. I wish you all had access to Bedrock or Carlisle Zins there. Staggering quality, fun, and usually just $20-50, here.
Tried a 2011 Phillipe Colin 1er cru Demoiselles last night. Forgot to take the foil off, with result the Coravin wasn't delivering the Argon gas. So not thinking on my error, just opened normally. The needle had actually been 'capped' by a small bit of wax, as the top of the cork itself was sealed by a thin film of wax: Burgundy had a problem with oxidation in the noughties so some winemakers used this trick for a little while to 'solve' the issue.
Remember take the foil off! As an extra looking through the Coravin and Wine Enthusiast websites, they say a bottle that's been Coravined correctly can last for years if not decades. Not sure I'd rely on it for a very good bottle, rather than just buying 6 or 12, and trying bottles conventionally through their predicted development.
Can't beat Wine Society for general selection, and en primeur is quite good. I use Lay and Wheeler, Brunswick, Uncorked, Vinorium and occasionally Justerinis. Not a big fan of Berry Brothers. Whatever suits you but with in bond wine for me the main factor is price then service: As they all store wine at London City Bond's various Bonded Warehouses, so it's easy enough to have them transferred.
Comments
And yes @PragueAddick a Coravin is a good investment.
@NapaAddick - what is the name of your vineyard? I will be there in December.
There are a lot of very nice wineries on the list. Silver Oak cabs are outstanding if expensive. Grgich Hill’s whites are excellent. Their Rutherford reds constantly score 90+.
I’ve tasted a fair few of those I saw on the list, I’ve also been lucky to have visited many. BR Cohn, Cline & Ridge produce consistent good wines. Domaine Carneros is a stunning vineyard, and is mostly bubbles.
It is a gigantic market so select carefully, but enjoy 🍷
Ouch, this is going to hurt. The Silver Oak Alex Valley Cab Sauv 2016 will set me back £81, and a Grgich Hill Cab Sauv 2017, £71. But I did kind of expect that.
Hugh Johnson agrees with your vineyard choices :-)
Here's my three pennyworth on vacuvin, coravin and open wine:
If you're drinking fully mature wine, or wine with excruciatingly delicate flavours you don't need to decant for anymore than minutes if at all. So never keep this wine open, nor coravin it or vacuvin it just drink it.
Vacuvin's a bit like homeopathy, not sure it does anything but no harm in using it if you want. Went to an excellent wine bar in Bruges called Riesling&Pinot Noir. They never used vacuvin, and we were tasting wines that had been opened for days with the cork just being popped back on. They all tasted powerful and impressive. Granted they were youthful in their maturity and had the oomph of their primary flavours with the secondary flavours beautifully teased out..... So good I'm seriously fighting the urge to Coravin a bottle of Spatburgunder I bought there!
Coravin is fun if you enjoy quality wines and your partner doesn't want to imbibe that night. Some natural corks don't reseal, so that put's paid to it sometimes. Practically it's best in a bar setting: Not in London where you pay a 5-600% markup, and the wine selection has been put together by the most uninspired on trade merchant. If it encourages you to enjoy a wine over a longer period of days, great then it's well worth buying.
@PragueAddick I think American wine is overpriced compared to European wine, but you will like that Silver Oak.
£15-20 price point, available from Majestic.co.uk or direct from Bread and Butter if in the U.S.
Californian wines tend to be my favourite, but I've had some gorgeous South African Bordeaux style blends too. If you can get hold of a pre 2018 vintage of The Chocolate Block, you're in for a treat. Price point £20-30 if I remember correctly.
Can someone show me an online store in London and their full list of available wines and I can point out some good ones for the price.
Conundrum
Caymus (particularly)
Hall winery
Bogle
From experience Vinorium specialised in Californian and US wine. Though I wouldn't presume to know the quality of their selection, on account I buy virtually no US wine apart from the odd Oregon Pinot Noir. I also always thought Roberson was a little overpriced, but don't know now since they've closed their West London shops. Have a quick scan Napa and see if they're worth a deeper dive for others:
https://thevinorium.co.uk/
https://www.robersonwine.com/buy-wines/?country=U.S.A.&sortOrder=Price|Desc&itemsPerPage=12&page=2
Here's the wine soc list.
Remember take the foil off! As an extra looking through the Coravin and Wine Enthusiast websites, they say a bottle that's been Coravined correctly can last for years if not decades. Not sure I'd rely on it for a very good bottle, rather than just buying 6 or 12, and trying bottles conventionally through their predicted development.