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The Red Wine Thread

AndyL0711 said:
What's the best pinot I can get at my local wine and spirits shop? What have you tried and really liked?
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Kosta Brown are probably the current trophy pinots. Archery Summit is the best American pinot I've ever had, very full bodied. Colleen Clemens pinots are the current fave of the Wine Spectator crowd, reasonably priced & very delicate.
 
My wife's friend loves The Prisoner wine, so I decided to get a bottle for our anniversary dinner last night.
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To be honest, I was underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's worth the price. Or rather, I can think of at least a few wines I like a lot more for a lot less cash. Turley Zinfandel to name one (that we tried recently)

Has anyone else tried this? What's your verdict?
 
Grins said:
My wife's friend loves The Prisoner wine, so I decided to get a bottle for our anniversary dinner last night.
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To be honest, I was underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's worth the price. Or rather, I can think of at least a few wines I like a lot more for a lot less cash. Turley Zinfandel to name one (that we tried recently)

Has anyone else tried this? What's your verdict?
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I can't recognize which one this is. I don't know what your price was, but in my area they sell for $9.99. I've had the Shiraz and the Cabernet, and both were quite good for the price. Full bodied and flavorful. I have never seen this particular label around here.
 
Buckeyegolfnut said:
I can't recognize which one this is. I don't know what your price was, but in my area they sell for $9.99. I've had the Shiraz and the Cabernet, and both were quite good for the price. Full bodied and flavorful. I have never seen this particular label around here.
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Sure you're not thinking of 19 Crimes? I've seen those as low as $10
 
My three main houses...

Scherrer - Zinfandel, Pinot and Sonoma Cab
Testarossa - Pinot and Chardonnay
Pride - Cab and Merlot

I get other wines from time to time but I have close personal ties with each of the above houses.
 
I like The Prisoner, but it's price has crept up to where it's not worth it to me anymore. Try The Pessimist red blend which is similar for half the price.

Grins said:
My wife's friend loves The Prisoner wine, so I decided to get a bottle for our anniversary dinner last night.
View attachment 8997971
To be honest, I was underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's worth the price. Or rather, I can think of at least a few wines I like a lot more for a lot less cash. Turley Zinfandel to name one (that we tried recently)

Has anyone else tried this? What's your verdict?
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Not a huge fan of California merlots, but Pride is outstanding!

vintagebob said:
My three main houses...

Scherrer - Zinfandel, Pinot and Sonoma Cab
Testarossa - Pinot and Chardonnay
Pride - Cab and Merlot

I get other wines from time to time but I have close personal ties with each of the above houses.
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Grins said:
My wife's friend loves The Prisoner wine, so I decided to get a bottle for our anniversary dinner last night.
View attachment 8997971
To be honest, I was underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but I don't think it's worth the price. Or rather, I can think of at least a few wines I like a lot more for a lot less cash. Turley Zinfandel to name one (that we tried recently)

Has anyone else tried this? What's your verdict?
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prisoner used to be a gem. i think it was sub $20 when first released and a great value. it started to creep up, then it was sold, now it’s stupid expensive for what it is. i prefer pessimist, abstract and saldo.
 
McLovin said:
prisoner used to be a gem. i think it was sub $20 when first released and a great value. it started to creep up, then it was sold, now it’s stupid expensive for what it is. i prefer pessimist, abstract and saldo.
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I know your wine palette is far experienced than mine but I agree 100% on the prisoner. It's $55 around here and so not worth it. I haven't tried pessimist or abstract but I have had saldo and was disappointed by that as well. 🤷‍♂️
 
Either of you ever tried 8 Years in the Desert? It's basically the Dave Phinney replacement for Prisoner after he completed the 8 year non compete clause for making a zinfandel blend. It's a little cheaper than Prisoner. I haven't had it recently but I believe I had a bottle of it a year ago to try. I don't remember what I thought of it.
 
gmiller598 said:
Either of you ever tried 8 Years in the Desert? It's basically the Dave Phinney replacement for Prisoner after he completed the 8 year non compete clause for making a zinfandel blend. It's a little cheaper than Prisoner. I haven't had it recently but I believe I had a bottle of it a year ago to try. I don't remember what I thought of it.
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Have not tried this one. Normally we have 4 wine tastings a year at our club and they usually have around 75 wines at each tasting, which is where I find most new wines. Really looking forward to when these start back up again. Had this one last night with dinner, really nice wine for <$30!

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I just bought this Caymus a couple days ago. It is really unlike me since I have found lots of wine that I like in the 10 to $20 range. I tried a sip of this when I was with a buddy at a steakhouse. He paid $140 for a bottle. When I found this for $75 I decided to get it. I don't think it will be worth the $50 more than other wines that I really enjoy.

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dthogey said:
I just bought this Caymus a couple days ago. It is really unlike me since I have found lots of wine that I like in the 10 to $20 range. I tried a sip of this when I was with a buddy at a steakhouse. He paid $140 for a bottle. When I found this for $75 I decided to get it. I don't think it will be worth the $50 more than other wines that I really enjoy.

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Enjoy it! I've heard good things but never tried it.
 
Ereim said:
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New to THP, love wine! Cellar is running out of space at roughly 250 bottles. This was our New Years lineup 🍷
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That's some big coin on the Dominus. I bought a bottle several years ago and waiting for a special reason to open it.
 
Grins said:
Sure you're not thinking of 19 Crimes? I've seen those as low as $10
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Yes, that's the "umbrella" brand. But didn't they have a particular wine called "the Prisoner"? I think that's what I might have been thinking of.

jdtox said:
I know your wine palette is far experienced than mine but I agree 100% on the prisoner. It's $55 around here and so not worth it. I haven't tried pessimist or abstract but I have had saldo and was disappointed by that as well. 🤷‍♂️
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A wine has to be pretty mind boggling to get me to spend that much on it. I can name you the few times I have. Back when they were released, I bought, along with some friends, a case of 1982 Mouton Rothschild Bordeaux. It came to a little over $80 a bottle for the 3. Absolutely magical wine once they were mature.

In 1990 I was invited to a dinner where the featured presentation was to be a 1961, "vintage of the century", red Burgundy. My contribution was to be a bottle of another red wine to precede it. I went to a local wine merchant and explained my situation. This wine merchant was of the old school. He understood wine. He could taste young wine, recognize its potential, lay it away in his cellars, and bring it out when he deemed it ready to be drunk!
He showed me a 9 or 10 year vertical of Paul Jaboulet Aine "Les Cedres" Chateauneuf du Pape, and pulled a bottle of the 1969. He said it should fit the occasion perfectly. It did, and I hold it as the third best wine I have have ever drunk in my life.

Second, is the other wine I drank that evening. A 1961, "vintage of the century", Savigny les Beaune "Vergelesse" bottled by the Hospice de Beaune. So, it was probably a blend of smaller producers in that appellation. The Hospice owned no vineyards. It functioned much like St. Judes does now. Producers would donate wine to it. It would age, blend, and bottle them and put them on sale. This is how the hospital made money. The practice was discontinued some time ago.

It was tough to pick the top wine of all time, but I guess I'd have to give the award to this one. Any of you who are regular readers of the Wine Spectator will know how regularly E, Guigal's single vineyard Cote Roties, known as the "La La", get 100 point ratings! These are the vineyards named La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque. Many years ago I found a bottle of the La Turque in a wine shop that I called on. I was in a monthly wine tasting club that had settled on the topic of "Syrah from anywhere in the world"! So, I got really interested in this bottle.

I asked other wine merchants about it. They told me that Guigal harvests later than everyone around there, and if he felt comfortable putting the single vineyard tag on the wine, it must have been up to snuff. They can dequalify wine down to the next lower level or below, but they can never upqualify wine to a level which the authorities say it cannot attain.

So, I brought the bottle to the counter to buy it, and the store owner tried to hose me! He hadn't charged me an aging fee! I told him I'd put it right back in the bin and let it grow whiskers! Did he want to turn it into cash or not? He charged me the frontline price which was $125.

I took it to the "Syrah from anywhere in the world" tasting, and it blew everybody away! And there were some really nice wines in the lineup, including a Rosemount Balmoral Syrah from Australia that I picked out of the lineup, (I had tasted it before), and the Guigal, since it put every other wine into the deep shade!

I find that wine to be nearly indescribable! It was just so incredible! I can't imagine tasting anything better than that! Let the folks at the Spectator or the Advocate struggle to find the prose. I just can't do it!
 
Buckeyegolfnut said:
Yes, that's the "umbrella" brand. But didn't they have a particular wine called "the Prisoner"? I think that's what I might have been thinking of.
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Prisoner is from Orin Swift winery. I was talking the other day to a friend who is much more knowledgeable about wine than me, and he thought all the Orin Swift wines were similar - big prices, great reviews, but not worth the money.
 
This ‘advice’ from a Life Hack calendar seems appropriate for this thread.

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Except a $3 bottle of wine has no tannins to soften!
 
Vortex said:
This ‘advice’ from a Life Hack calendar seems appropriate for this thread.

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it's not really softening the tannins, but the blender trick is a great one. you ever see someone swirl their wine glass, smell it then take a sip? well, this is like swirling on steroids. i've done it, and it works great.
 
McLovin said:
it's not really softening the tannins, but the blender trick is a great one. you ever see someone swirl their wine glass, smell it then take a sip? well, this is like swirling on steroids. i've done it, and it works great.
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Can confirm! Its also a great party trick and it will blow peoples minds.
 
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