detlef Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 It's getting blown out around here. Maybe in your market as well since the deal is being supported by the supplier and not my local distributor. At any rate, I usually pay $37 (well, truth be told I don't buy it when it costs that) but it was presented to me at $20 on case drops only. It's '05 and got a 90 from the Speculator. Pretty damned opulent good stuff. Not shy with the oak but enough stuffing and acid to carry it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky11 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 It's getting blown out around here. Maybe in your market as well since the deal is being supported by the supplier and not my local distributor. At any rate, I usually pay $37 (well, truth be told I don't buy it when it costs that) but it was presented to me at $20 on case drops only. It's '05 and got a 90 from the Speculator. Pretty damned opulent good stuff. Not shy with the oak but enough stuffing and acid to carry it. thanks for the head's up. BevMo and K &L in this area still have it listed for $37 retail. lately, i've found my palate moving away from big, oaky CA chards. how's the ML in this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 thanks for the head's up. BevMo and K &L in this area still have it listed for $37 retail. lately, i've found my palate moving away from big, oaky CA chards. how's the ML in this one? Keep in mind, the prices I was quoting were NC wholesale prices. Make no mistake, this is big and oaky CA Chard. However, unlike some it has enough balance to carry it off. Funny, I'm actually trending back towards that style (within reason, mind you) after being a Chablis guy for the last 5 or so years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bier Meister Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Keep in mind, the prices I was quoting were NC wholesale prices. Make no mistake, this is big and oaky CA Chard. However, unlike some it has enough balance to carry it off. Funny, I'm actually trending back towards that style (within reason, mind you) after being a Chablis guy for the last 5 or so years. likewise.... i moved toward the drier, more earthy french chards... about a year ago started swinging back to the oak (bigger cali) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 likewise.... i moved toward the drier, more earthy french chards... about a year ago started swinging back to the oak (bigger cali) Well, truth be told, I still prefer White Burg to Cali Chard, I just moved south from Chablis to the richer stuff. I might as well go into my rant about oak getting a bad rap now. When that glut of acidless, flabby Chard with a ton of oak started inundating the market (really getting out of hand when they started soaking wood chips in bad Aussie juice, see: Yellowtail Chard), it caused a reaction in the market and the culprit was identified as oak. It was a fair enough assumption because these wines were totally dominated by the oak flavors. Only, it wasn't the fault of the oak, it was the fault of the juice being so nondescript that all you could taste was oak and butter. So, they took the oak away and called the problem fixed. Only now, you have all this crappy chard without oak instead of crappy chard with too much oak. See: Kunde un-oaked. Flat, flabby, and completely forgettable, only minus the one thing that was actually tasty about the wine; rich, sexy oak. The problem really was the fact that they were growing Chard in places where they shouldn't and it wasn't developing balance. It was ripening too soon or too much and that wine is destined to be bad regardless of what you do to it. Oak makes Chardonnay f'ing tasty. Grab a bottle of Puligny Montrachet. The chit's stellar. Ditto when guys in Ca who are growing it in cooler climates and treating it right do the same. That's the Chalk Hill. That's Kistler. That's Dutton Goldfield and certainly plenty of others. See, the problem with oaky Chards that don't suck is the same problem with Eddie Van Halen. Guy was genius and songs like Eruption should be held up as iconic and revolutionary. However, because he ushered in an entire generation of wanks with hair extensions doing crappy hammer-ons and such, we sometimes have a hard time appreciating the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Eddie looks like he's one foot in the oak casket. I've avoided Chards altogether for a year or so. Still trying to get my wife to come over to the dark side... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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