What's new in your cellar?

Research, research, research! The Camaraderie Cellars has a website but still looks suspicious and fishy. Only one wine, that one you bought. A real winery is gonna have a website with at least 6-12 wines to purchase, a wine club usually.

If you go to a big chain wine or liquor store and a "salesman" comes up and ask if they can help and they point you towards some completely unknown wine, and you kinda know wine, they are pushing a wine that they make the most profit on guaranteed. The salesman can also earn commissions on what they sell on those wines. My older brother used to work in that industry until he retired last year.

Forgot to mention that Apothic is a Zinfandel dominant blend and WA State doesn't grow much Zin for some reason. If you have not tried any of the 14 Hands wines they are a good value that can be found for ~$10 in the stores.

The "Hot to Trot" Blend is slightly off dry in the Apothic style. Very smooth, easy to drink ladies love it...... LOL

Boatboy24 said:

This is Washington's answer to Apothic Red...

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ibglowin said:

Forgot to mention that Apothic is a Zinfandel dominant blend and WA State doesn't grow much Zin for some reason. If you have not tried any of the 14 Hands wines they are a good value that can be found for ~$10 in the stores.

The "Hot to Trot" Blend is slightly off dry in the Apothic style. Very smooth, easy to drink ladies love it...... LOL

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I have a bottle of 14 Hands Kentucky Derby wine (2014, I believe). A neighbor who is from Kentucky brought it over last summer.

Realize the Apothic is not a Cab, but it and the Radius are both sweet, mega-purple fruity reds. (I assume they use Mega-Purple, at least)

14 Hands is owned by the same conglomerate that own Columbia Crest etc. They have a Reserve line as well as a Vintage line that looks quite good and I would love to source a few bottles of someday. Only available through the winery. Some of the Vintage wines have scored pretty well on WS.

Boatboy24 said:

I have a bottle of 14 Hands Kentucky Derby wine (2014, I believe). A neighbor who is from Kentucky brought it over last summer.

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jswordy said:

I'd heard about this "all Italy" project, and though the blended vintages are uncertain (date on the bottle is the start of the project, not of the wine), I am a sucker for a big Italian red. So... on the way. One to decant and enjoy, three to stick back in the darkest regions awhile.

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OK, tried the first bottle of this and hmmm. It definitely needs to breathe first before being consumed, it does bloom. But I'm going to tell the truth, I would take a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle 2014 Cab over this, at about 25% less. I'll let the others continue to rest awhile and see if they grow. It's not bad, it has a nice nose and full rich color. It just does not develop in the mouth as much as I would like. Might be too young.

I am going to grab more Ste. Michelle cab off the store shelves while it is still around.

Jim,

Have you ever tried any Palazzo Della Torre? Might be what your looking for style wise at an even better price point than your "NV" bottle from WTSO.

jswordy said:

OK, tried the first bottle of this and hmmm. It definitely needs to breathe first before being consumed, it does bloom. But I'm going to tell the truth, I would take a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle 2014 Cab over this, at about 25% less. I'll let the others continue to rest awhile and see if they grow. It's not bad, it has a nice nose and full rich color. It just does not develop in the mouth as much as I would like. Might be too young.

I am going to grab more Ste. Michelle cab off the store shelves while it is still around.

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The Allegrini is a very good wine at its price. About $15 here and I have zero complaints paying that. A baby Amarone, that talks sassy for it's 'age'.

The remaining wine actually bloomed quite a bit in the bottle over a day in the fridge, so there's something there after the bottles rest a while, I think.

Took advantage of 50% off 2 day air shipping from Spring Valley Vineyards. I had gotten a bottle of each of the 14 Uriah and Fredrick back in the Winter. Since then the WS scores have come out and they garnered 94 and 93 points so wanted to snag another of each. Plus they just released a Rose' of Cab Franc. Hard to say no to the Rose' this time of year. 2 day shipping (for 6 bottles) was a whopping $11 somehow. Downside is I have a new UPS driver who has decided that I am the last or almost last drop on his route and some days he drops off around 5:30PM.

You can move stuff nonstop and things stay cool/cold in an airplane cargo hold at 35,000 feet but when they go out for delivery and sit in the back of non air conditioned brown truck all day day and the expected high temp for that day is 92....... Luckily I was able to drive around our small subdivision and locate him and rescue my package. Checked the bottle temp via IR Gun and it was up to 80F by around 3:00 so not horrible but not all that great either. Tossed them in the Winery quickly directly in front of the AC unit and they were down to 64F in about 90 min.

The 2015 Crowdsourced Cabernet was just released by CC. Ordered 3 for myself. With all the work I put into it, you'd think they'd give me at least one for free.

I saw that. I am still on the mailing list but no longer in "da club".......

Boatboy24 said:

The 2015 Crowdsourced Cabernet was just released by CC. Ordered 3 for myself. With all the work I put into it, you'd think they'd give me at least one for free.

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ibglowin said:

Took advantage of 50% off 2 day air shipping from Spring Valley Vineyards. I had gotten a bottle of each of the 14 Uriah and Fredrick back in the Winter. Since then the WS scores have come out and they garnered 94 and 93 points so wanted to snag another of each. Plus they just released a Rose' of Cab Franc. Hard to say no to the Rose' this time of year. 2 day shipping (for 6 bottles) was a whopping $11 somehow. Downside is I have a new UPS driver who has decided that I am the last or almost last drop on his route and some days he drops off around 5:30PM.

You can move stuff nonstop and things stay cool/cold in an airplane cargo hold at 35,000 feet but when they go out for delivery and sit in the back of non air conditioned brown truck all day day and the expected high temp for that day is 92....... Luckily I was able to drive around our small subdivision and locate him and rescue my package. Checked the bottle temp via IR Gun and it was up to 80F by around 3:00 so not horrible but not all that great either. Tossed them in the Winery quickly directly in front of the AC unit and they were down to 64F in about 90 min.

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No harm done there, but that was pretty close. I've postponed all shipments until November, when it will likely be cooler here.

Its Raining Rose' hallelujah its raining Rose'

Made the "mistake" of stopping at the Super Smith's (Kroger) up in town to look for some ribs before they get wiped out for the long holiday weekend and I stopped by the wine area which is like 5X bigger than the wine area at the Smith's in White Rock which is closest to me. They just got stocked up on new Rose' that they have not had so far. I was especially excited to see they had gotten some of the K Vintner's 2016 Vino Rose' (Sangiovese) $11 I almost ordered from the winery back in the Spring but never got around to it. Supposed to be very very good. Also picked up 2016 Charles & Charles Rose' (Syrah, Cinsault, Mouvedre) $10. Lastly the 2016 Acrobat Rose' of Pinot Noir $12 which I got last year but they didn't have it until today. This was fantastic last year, one of the best for sure and somehow it clocks in at 14% but served cold you don't taste the heat at all. Fantastic prices with the 20% off 6 bottles sale. If you see these in your area they come highly recommended!

Thanks Mike. Am hoping to be at TW tomorrow for some Rose shopping and will look for these. I assume these are all dry?

Oh yea,

The Acrobat is from OR, and the other two are from WA State (surprise) LOL

Boatboy24 said:

Thanks Mike. Am hoping to be at TW tomorrow for some Rose shopping and will look for these. I assume these are all dry?

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Washington? Shocking.

Mike, I think I've seen that Charles and Charles Rose at my local Costco, I just don't remember its price.

Well, no Acrobat Rose at TW, but I did pick up a bottle of their Pinot Noir. Also a few Roses. Grabbed some canned red as well. A co-worker was telling me about the Trader Joe's canned wine the other day and that she is not inclined to try it. $2 a pop, so I grabbed one to try and one to gift.

Did they give you an extra discount on all of last years Rose' ?

Boatboy24 said:

Well, no Acrobat Rose at TW, but I did pick up a bottle of their Pinot Noir. Also a few Roses.

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Got my shipping notice at 1pm today. Wine arrived at 3:20. Damn fast!!