Trader Joe's 2000 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
evergene
where it was "cellared and bottled" is nowhere near Napa. At the
price ($4.99 or $5.99, I can't remember) it's as good a California Cab
as you're going to get.
rone
I bought a case of the Cab Franc ($4.99) for a party recently. It's
good stuff, and i plan to hand out the surplus (and i'll buy more if
necessary) as holiday gifts.
rone
--
"I don't even know you. What if you're a psycho?"
"Would a psycho waste the last of his triple-sec?"
-- RICHH
boxer
> In article <5aq0svgmr1puiubam...@4ax.com>,
> evergene <ever...@newsguy.com> wrote:
> >doesn't suck, despite the ugly label and the fact that the winery
> >where it was "cellared and bottled" is nowhere near Napa. At the
> >price ($4.99 or $5.99, I can't remember) it's as good a California Cab
> >as you're going to get.
>
> I bought a case of the Cab Franc ($4.99) for a party recently. It's
> good stuff, and i plan to hand out the surplus (and i'll buy more if
> necessary) as holiday gifts.
>
> rone
Is it 2 1/2 times superior to Two Buck Chuck?
boxer
evergene
>Appellation has to do where the vineyard grows, not where the wine is
>made. The grapes could be deliverede to a winery (or wineries) anywhere
>on earth and the label would still read Napa. Or, more likely, the wine
>from Napa was bought on the bulk market and blended and bottled at some
>other facility.
Given the California grape glut of the past few years, it's not that
strange to find decent wine at a low price. It was interesting to me
that this wine was cellared and bottled in Santa Maria, which is
almost 300 miles from Napa.
Appellations are tricky. It's pretty obvious that the "Oakville"
appellation refers to an area smaller than Napa. But "Napa County"
and "Napa Valley" are distinct legal appellations, with the Valley
located within the larger County.
One of my favorite wines comes from Chiles Valley, which is a
designated Viticultural Area with its own appellation in Napa County.
Geographically Chiles Valley is not in Napa Valley; politically it's
in both Napa Valley and Chiles Valley!
Paul Russell
On the subject of TJ wine, I see from their latest newsletter that they
are now carrying a couple of new organic wines, Five Hills Blue. There's
a cab and a merlot, apparently, at $6.99 and $7.99 respectively. I'll
probably pick up a couple of each today, purely for the sake of
research, but I was wondering if anyone else had tried them yet ?
Paul
Karen O'Mara
> Given the California grape glut of the past few years, it's not that
> strange to find decent wine at a low price. It was interesting to me
> that this wine was cellared and bottled in Santa Maria, which is
> almost 300 miles from Napa.
> Appellations are tricky. It's pretty obvious that the "Oakville"
> appellation refers to an area smaller than Napa. But "Napa County"
> and "Napa Valley" are distinct legal appellations, with the Valley
> located within the larger County.
> One of my favorite wines comes from Chiles Valley, which is a
> designated Viticultural Area with its own appellation in Napa County.
> Geographically Chiles Valley is not in Napa Valley; politically it's
> in both Napa Valley and Chiles Valley!
What is name of this wine and where do you buy it and how much is it?
tia,
Karen
salty...@yahoo.com
> On the subject of TJ wine, I see from their latest newsletter that they
> are now carrying a couple of new organic wines, Five Hills Blue. There's
> a cab and a merlot, apparently, at $6.99 and $7.99 respectively. I'll
> probably pick up a couple of each today, purely for the sake of
> research, but I was wondering if anyone else had tried them yet ?
Wife brought home a bottle each of Cabernet and Merlot. She said she liked the
Cab. She's allergic to sulfites which most wines contain. Gotta buy her some
more Merlot. I thought she bought it for me. It was pretty good. Cab is, of
course, good for cooking for some dishes like ratatouille.
Since doc bends my arm to drink a glass of red a day, I'll probably stick
mostly with TJ's two-buck-Chuck Merlot. No so good but can't beat the price.
-Dick Wilmot
rone
Heh. Probably not.
I miss last year's inexpensive wine, The Rothbury Estate's 2001
Shiraz. The stuff was fantastic, and only $6. Would've been a great
buy at twice the price.
amalia
news:rone.bptovf$13k$1...@ennui.org...
> In article <231120030945346544%bo...@bestdog.com>,
> boxer <bo...@bestdog.com> wrote:
> >Is it 2 1/2 times superior to Two Buck Chuck?
>
> Heh. Probably not.
That's subjective. I won't pay $2 for Two Buck Chuck because there's no
pleasure in drinking it. When the Merlot was served at a recent event I
attended, I found I preferred water.
I *would* pay $5 for a drink with some complexity, and IMO a wine with any
complexity would be at least 2.5 times superior to Two Buck Chuck.
> I miss last year's inexpensive wine, The Rothbury Estate's 2001
> Shiraz. The stuff was fantastic, and only $6. Would've been a great
> buy at twice the price.
That's about the price of the Pepperwood Syrah. I don't know how good it is
this year, but it's been a bargain in the past.
-Amalia
evergene
>What is name of this wine and where do you buy it and how much is it?
First, to answer your questions:
The vineyard is Volker Eisele Family Estate,
http://www.volkereiselevineyard.com/
Until last year they sold only one wine, made mostly from Cabernet
Sauvignon grapes; this is the wine I've tried and enjoyed. As far as I
know it's not available in wine stores. You can call or email them to
order, or buy it at the vineyard. A year ago the '98 Cabernet cost
roughly $30 a bottle, and the '97 was a bit more. I assume the 2002
will be around $35.
VALUE
The Volker Eisele '98 Cab is eight times better than Two-Buck Chuck.
But at $30 or $35 a bottle, a bottle of the Volker Eisele costs about
twice as much as eight bottles of Two-Buck Chuck. Two-Buck Chuck is
clearly the better value, if you drink eight glasses of it for every
one glass of Volker Eisele that you'd otherwise have drunk.
However, the Volker Eisele '98 Cab is also twice as good as Miner
Family 1998 "Oakville" Cab ($60), and exactly as good as Rombauer 1999
Napa Valley Cab ($36.75), so you can drink a glass of Volker Eisele
followed by only half a glass of Miner, and then a single but not
quite full glass of Rombauer, rather than 24 glasses of Two-Buck
Chuck.
OTHER WINES
This year Volker Eisele is also releasing a white wine, and a fancy,
even more expensive red wine blended of 1/3 Cab. Sauvignon, 1/3 Cab.
Franc, 1/3 Merlot.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Back in January on ba.food I posted this:
This wine is hard to find. I had a glass a while back at Liberty
Cafe, but couldn't find it at any local wine store. I liked it well
enough to order some from the winery in Napa Valley. It's worth
trying if you find it on a restaurant list. And given that '98 is
generally considered to have been a poor year for Napa Valley, other
vintages would be worth seeking out too.
Dave Kearns
>
> That's about the price of the Pepperwood Syrah. I don't know how
> good it is this year, but it's been a bargain in the past.
>
last year but lately the Viognier, at least, has been
indistinguishable from $3 Chardonnay. Haven't tried the recent Shiraz,
though.
-dave
amalia
news:HB8xb.26399$GV5....@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com...
> "amalia" <amaliaxe...@comcast.net> wrote
> >
> > That's about the price of the Pepperwood Syrah. I don't know how
> > good it is this year, but it's been a bargain in the past.
> >
> I liked the Pepperwood Shiraz and the Viognier (approx $5 at Cost+)
> last year but lately the Viognier, at least, has been
> indistinguishable from $3 Chardonnay.
Eww. Who thought it was a good idea to throw oak chips into the Viognier
tank?
FYI, K&L does carry the Vinum Cellars Viognier I mentioned in my Pt. Reyes
post, $18. Not a budget-budget wine but a very nice aperitif nonetheless.
-Amalia