6 Wines to Buy Now at Marketview Liquor

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Our summer vacation this year was a trip to Michigan. Upper Peninsula you ask? No way. Southwest Michigan. South Haven to be specific. And I'm only telling you that because you're friends and want to let you in on one of the most closely guarded secrets of our generation: Midwest lake vacations are the best.

This year we decided to drive which gave us an opportunity to explore another well-kept secret: The I-90 Wine Retailer Trail.

There is no such thing formally but wine deal hounds know the best deal come from retailers. And some of the best retailers can be found in Springfield, MA (Table and Vine review), Albany, NY (Empire Wine review), and another I discovered this year in Rochester, NY: Marketview Liquor.

I love to stop in Rochester on the way home at DiBella's Subs. A visit to their Italian Market at 620 Jefferson Road provides a look into the future of sandwiches in America. The build-out is impressive and the sandwiches are delicious. Hands down the best sub I've ever had. 99+ points!

Their location is situated in a strip mall with a Five Below and a DSW. When Deanna and the boys were talking about a quick stop into those stores I recalled that I'd seen Marketview Liquor advertisements on The Reverse Wine Snob. I popped out my iPhone and Google Maps told me I was less than 5 minutes away. Time for a quick trip!

The place quickly reminded me of Empire Wine. Tons of SKUs with an astute eye for value at all price points. Marketview is the size of a small/medium sized grocery store with entire aisles devoted to wine categories.

I was on a time budget so I set my sites on 2 categories: My long-time favorite California Pinot Noir and my new favorite Spanish Monastrell. Here are 6 wines I picked up:

2011 Juan Gil Monastrell - $11.99

I discovered this wine at The Capital Grille but I fell in love with it in Spain. I've tasted this probably 10 times by now alongside a lot of other wines each time, which provides an opportunity to appreciate its qualities. This may very well be the best red wine value in the world right now. Fantastic stuff.

2010 Alta Maria Pinot Noir - $24.99

I wrote about the 2009 vintage of this wine as a value alert and the 2010 is 90% as good. Such a solid wine in an very attractive package - can't go wrong here.

2008 Luzon Crianza Seleccion - $11.99

We visited this winery on our trip to Spain. Luzon is one of the benchmark producers in the region and I thought this specific bottling was where peak value occurred. We tasted a more recent vintage but this particular one got 90 points from Spectator and a Smart Buy nod. Popped one open - solid stuff. More recent vintages are even bettter.

2011 Francis Ford Coppola Votre Sante Pinot Noir - $9.99

I enjoyed this wine at Ruth's Chris not too long ago and hadn't seen it around at retail in MA so I hopped on this opportunity to pick some up at $9.99. At $9.99 you have to temper your enthusiasm a bit -- I'd call this wine "very good" rather than "outstanding" --- but what I like about it is how creamy the texture is along with legit Pinot markings. Hard not to like it. And for $10? Please!

2011 Castano Monastrell - $7.99

I don't know how else to say it: This wine is wildly under priced. I think it tastes like a $25 wine. So bold and delicious with enjoyable freshness. These guys know what they're doing and if you can find this for $7.99 (before discounts) I don't think you'd go wrong tossing a few bottles in to round out a case.

2009 Lynmar Pinot Noir - $38.99

I've been looking for an angle to get this in MA after finding it on a business trip to San Diego (at San Diego Wine Co - great shop) a few years ago. Former Kosta Browne winemaker Shane Finley is at the helm at Lynmar but this vintage was before his time. I loved what I've tested from them before and I'm even more excited about it now with Finley on board. Haven't tried this yet but will update once I do.

Marketview offers a 10% mixed case discount and ships to nearby states for around $25 (full policy and prices here). Unfortunately they can't ship to MA. Sign up for their newsletter here and follow them on Twitter: @Marketview

Question of the Day: What are some of best buys you see at Marketview right now?

Read more...

How long does it take wine to overheat in a car on a hot day?

Wednesday, July 17, 2013


"How long? Not long. Because what you reap is what you sow."
-Rage Against the Machine
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Galatians 6:7

Friends, I've got good news and bad news.

Good news first


The good news is Blanchards in West Roxbury, MA has 1.5L bottles of 2007 Donjon CdP for $100 and they're eligible for 15% if part of a mixed 12 bottle case. That's a great price for a great wine from a great vintage.

Donjon is one of my favorite Chateauneuf producers year in and year out. It's like they can't make a bad wine. Even in challenging vintages the wine is tremendous, and the 2007 in particular is spectacular. All juicy, brambly and earthy. If you're able to find 750ml bottles clanging around they typically sell for $55-$60. And magnums of CdP usually sell for more than double the 750ml (for some strange reason).

So $85 for effectively 2 bottles of '07 Donjon and no tax on wine in Massachusetts!

What's the bad news?


The bad news is I bought one of the magnums (last I checked online they had 5 bottles remaining) and did a very dumb thing with it. I accidentally left it in my car during the day and we're experiencing a summer heat wave here in Boston.

Here's how it happened...

Last night I met with a couple of great friends who are into wine for a BYOB night at a restaurant in West Roxbury. Blanchards is in also West Roxbury so we stopped there prior to dinner since I hadn't been there in a while. They had some nice deals especially on daily drinkers! The 2011 Castano Monastrell for $7.99 before discount. The 2011 Juan Gil Comoloco for $7.97 - not eligible for discount but it does qualify towards 12 bottles for the 15% off. With those and a few others I was able to get to 12 bottles no problem.

But then we were going to dinner and had a bunch of wine we didn't know what to do with. It was evening so the sun was going down yet it was still pretty warm - probably in the mid 80Fs. We brought a bunch of bottles into the restaurant with us especially the more expensive ones like the Donjon.

After dinner we brought the wines back to my car and headed home. When I got home I brought in what I thought was all of the wine - a cardboard 12-pack box and a 6-pack carrier.

The next morning I went off to work and visited a customer site. It was toasty out, but I figured I would be inside in air conditioning all day so no biggie, right?

However, when I went out to lunch at noon I heard a couple of bottles clanging around behind the back seat of my car. I got a sinking feeling I'd left some wine in the car from the night before. In fact, I had.

I thought "Good thing I realized this before it got too hot in the car!" However, when I stopped the car and had a look at which bottles were behind my seat I discovered two very bad things:

  1. One of them was the magnum of Donjon!
  2. One of the bottles was already leaking red wine!
Oh dear. It was hot out (91F by noon and headed for a high of 96F) but the car was parked in the shade so I was really surprised the bottles warmed up enough to leak so quickly.

What happens when wine gets hot?


Here's a good article from Jancis Robinson on the subject:

Heat is a quiet killer of fine wine. At just 28 °C, the cork seal breaks, pumping fresh oxygen into the headspace. 
Above 30 °C, in less than 18 hours, the aroma oxidises and loses its brightness, the colour browns, the sulphur dioxide drops, and there is permanent chemical damage to the wine. At 39 °C this damage occurs in just six hours! 
Much of this damage occurs silently, well before the wine seeps out of the cork as a telltale sign. The only indication of this damage is that when the consumer drinks it she says, 'I cannot believe Parker gave this 95 points and my supplier highly recommended it! I trusted him!' The brand loses value, and you lose a customer. 

What now?


It got hot enough for my wine to seep out by noon. Although, I'm not sure whether it was the Donjon -or- the other 750ml bottle I had next to it. I just saw that it leaked on the brown paper bag and the Donjon label. I might get lucky - it might have been the 750ml bottle that leaked first. It would seem logical that a larger bottle would take longer to heat up. But according to the article quoted above even if the wine hasn't seeped out the damage could already be done.

What should I do? Should I drink the wine right away to see if it's bad? Should I devote it to science and drink it alongside a (hopefully) known good other bottle of the same wine as a control? Should I taste it blind to see if I can guess which one is cooked if it's not obvious? I could learn from this situation!

What does "cooked" wine taste like?


Unfortunately I've got some experience with what cooked wine tastes like. When we were moving back to Massachusetts from Arizona I had a couple cases of wine. I didn't want to fly back with it so I took a chance and had the moving company move it along with the rest of our stuff. Bad idea - especially in the middle of summer in Arizona where temps regularly crack 110F.

Every one of the bottles was cooked. I could see red wine remnants on each of the capsules and after tasting one bottle after another I thirsted for something - anything - fresh. Every one of the wines was just dead. Stewy. Non-fresh. Not good.

So I have a sense for what cooked wine smells and tastes like. So I think I'll be able to detect what state this Donjon is in.

Lessons Learned


Obviously the lesson learned is that wine can heat up very quickly in a car - even in New England. A common occurrence in Napa in the summer is for someone to love a wine at a winery, put it in their car, let it roast then wonder why it's not as good at home as it was at the winery. I knew not to leave my wine in the car in the heat, but even when I realized my mistake I thought for sure I'd be okay if the car was in the shade and it was the earlier part of the day for a few hours.

That's not the case and this will make me more conservative when I have wine shipped here - even from in-state retailers and wineries. The back of those FedEx trucks can get warm I bet! Better to be safe than sorry.

The unfortunate irony is I was razzing my friend about being too paranoid about provenance. And I was careless and got burned.

It could be $85 down the drain. Not the end of the world but obviously not the desired state.

How long does it take wine to overheat?


How long? Not long.

I accidentally left the wine in the car for 3 hours and it leaked.
Like Tow Mater says in Cars 2 "I never leak! I never leak!"

What you reap is what you sow.

Be careful with your wines and eliminate owner-inflicted exposure to heat to give yourself the best chance of enjoying your wines at their peak.

It seems like just yesterday we were talking about it being too cold to ship wine. Now it's way too hot. Best to stick to spring and fall shipping schedules and avoid iffy situations in extreme temperatures.

I'll try to find an occasion to pop the Donjon soon. I'll let you know how it goes when I do. Subscribe to the WWP and you'll never miss an update.

Question of the Day: What would you do now if you were in my shoes? Pop the bottle open as soon as possible? Get another bottle as a control to compare this potentially cooked bottle to? Relax and try to enjoy it - it might be fine?

Read more...

Five Recommended Spanish Rosés

Monday, July 1, 2013

Bodegas del Rosario Monastrell vineyards in Bullas
Programming note: This site just hit 800 subscribers. I've got a slot open for an advertiser at the top of the page - if you're interested have a look at my advertising policy and drop me an email.

With the 4th of July holiday coming up I wanted to share picks for some of the better rosado wines I tried while in Yecla, Jumilla and Bullas. In case you missed it, these are from a trip I took to Spain last week. Read more about the trip here.

These wines are mostly Monastrell driven and usually present themselves in light shade of magenta. On average their flavors are more intense than what you'd find in say a Provençal rosé like this one. Alcohol levels ranged from 12.5% to 14.5%.

Most of these area available in the US - click the Wine-Searcher links to search for them at a nearby retailer. Prices listed are the average price where I saw strong availability at retailers according to Wine-Searcher.

2012 Castaño Rosado ~$9.99

Produced by Bodegas Castaño. Smells and tastes like fresh strawberries and watermelon candy but it never gets overly sweet. Medium acidity. Very satisfying and so easy to drink. No off notes. From the Yecla DO.

I'm pretty sure I've seent his one around in Massachusetts but the best availability seems to be at Total Wine stores. Find it on Wine-Searcher

Hard to complain about anything with this one.
2012 Las Reñas Rosado ~$5.99

Produced by Bodegas del Rosario in the Bullas DO. Light magenta in the glass and so refreshing. The flavor profile is very satisfyingly intense and it's 14.5% alcohol but doesn't taste hot at all. 100% Monastrell. Hit the spot after some time in the warm vineyards. Poured by the glass as the house rosé at a restaurant we'd dine at later that evening and a terrific value. A Las Reñas white and red are available at Wegman's in the US for $5.99. Expect a rosé to follow in the future.

They also make a Liquid Geography Rosado with more widespread availability for around $8.99. Find it on Wine-Searcher

Look for an upcoming vintage of this at Wegman's for $5.99
2012 Bodegas Olivares Rosado ~$8.99

From Bodegas Olivares in Jumilla. Nice fruity nose and flavors. Medium-high acidity - would be great with food. Find it on Wine-Searcher

Solid. A crowd pleaser.
2012 Bodegas la Purisima Rosado

Bodegas la Purisima is a cooperative in Yecla that's just bringing their wines to the US. Their rosado has an inviting nose of plush strawberries with leafy briar patch notes in the background Very clean and dry. 12.5% alcohol.

Not quite available in the US, but soon!
Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite Spanish rosés?

Read more...

Topics

  © Blogger templates Newspaper by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP