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".....California
Chardonnay hardly gets any better than this.....”
..... 95 points too!
The thing about 95+ point Chardonnay is this...... 1) There are very few
of them. 2) They're always allocated and impossible to find. 3) They almost
always cost $50-$100+. We took the entire New York allotment.
“Don’t drink this beauty too cold with your lobster, crab or scallops. It
has the weight of a noble wine, with minerality and creaminess giving shape
and texture to the leesy, yeasty flavors of pineapples, Key lime pie and
ripe pear puree. Aged in 40% new French oak, California Chardonnay hardly
gets any better than this.”
95 Points, Editors’ Choice, The Wine Enthusiast, July, 2010
2008 Fess
Parker Chardonnay, Ashley's, Sta. Rita Hills, 750ml
$33.79 - Good Wine Stores
$30.41 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$27.03 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$152.05 - Pop's Case Price (6)
Read
this review.....
..... 95 points too!!
"The 2007 Sassicaia (Cabernet Sauvignon) explodes onto the palate
with masses of rich, opulent fruit that caress the palate with gorgeous
length and a seamless beauty that is hard to fully capture. Dark wild
cherries, plums, spices, minerals and herbs develop in the glass. This is an
especially bold, perhaps slightly uncharacteristic Sassicaia in its
extroverted personality, but it is beautiful all the same. The inner perfume
and sweetness carries through the long finish, where the sheer weight and
glycerol of the fruit leaves a lasting impression. The 2007 is more than a
worthy follow-up to the profound 2006. While it may lack that wine’s
freshness, structure and potential longevity, the 2007 is immensely
appealing today, and should drink beautifully pretty much out of the gate.
That said, Sassicaia is always the most restrained of Bolgheri’s heavy
hitters. This is a superb effort from Tenuta San Guido. Anticipated
maturity: 2015-2037."
95 points, The Wine Advocate, May, 2010
2007
Sassicaia, Bolgheri Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido (Antinori), 750ml
$220.10 - Good Wine Stores
$198.09 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$176.08 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$990.45 - Pop's Case Price (6)
The
Nodding head Test......
Regular readers know about our "nodding head test" When a sample
is poured at our weekly wine tastings and you look around the room and see
smiles and nodding heads, you know you have a winner.
This one's unusual though. A flavored Caribbean rum?!?
I can't remember any product in our 35 year history that generated this much
excitement even among our wine lover employees to boot! Now, we're talking
"Demanding Dorothy" and "Ambitious Ashley" These guys both took a bottle
home!
It took a few seconds to realize what this flavor was..... rice pudding with
cinnamon, it tasted fresh & lively. Didn't taste like chemicals, like so
many "manufactured" drink products or sweet and syrupy.
I'm telling you..... y'a gotta try this stuff!
Pop's Wines & Spirits, July, 2010
Rum
Chata, Horchata Con Ron, Caribbean Rum with Real Dairy Cream, 750ml
$18.81 - Good Wine Stores
$17.86 - Pop's 3-Bottle Price
$103.83 - Pop's Case Price (6)
Note: Cordials & Spirits do not assort to achieve wine mixed case pricing
".....I
found an awesome value Chardonnay....."
"It's Hot, Hot, Hot.... and I found an awesome value
Chardonnay called Sommierois, a small production "Vin de Pays" Chardonnay
from France that drinks 2-3 times it's price!
Boasting a beautiful pale yellow color, this Chardonnay gives off an almost
exotically fresh nose of peach, nectarine, almonds, and white flowers. The
palate is both ample and aromatic with a nice coolness and it finishes with
a solid, long lasting aftertaste with great finesse.
Perfect with shellfish of any type, this is my Go-To "Wow.... that's good,
give me another glass!" Summer refresher...
Affordable, crisp, lively & delicious.... great for everyday drinking,
parties & gatherings where lovely wine is enjoyed.
Very well balanced with an irresistible freshness.
2009 is a great year in France and it shows in the Sommierois Chardonnay.
What is VDP? (Vin de Pays)
Vin de Pays means 'country wine' to the French, but to outsiders it can mean
New World with a French accent. These are the wines which the French
authorities unreservedly allow to be labeled with the grape variety from
which they were made.
Some of the best value-priced wines come from no-name small French
countryside vineyards. It's our job to pick out the best of the lot for you
to enjoy!"
Ted Clark, Certified Value Finder, Pop's Wines & Spirits, July, 2010
2009 Chardonnay, Vin de Pays
D'oc, Sommierois, 750ml
$11.85 - Good Wine Stores
$10.66 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$9.48 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$106.65 - Pop's Case Price
Screaming
Deal! $40.00, $50.00 possibly $100.00 a bottle wine for $15 plus when bought
by the case.
"Taking Advantage of the Wine Glut
Amid an oversupply, Cameron Hughes buys top wineries' excess and resells it
for bargain
"There is a glut of wine all over the world—an oversupply so significant
that it's compelled Australian winemakers to plow up their vineyards, forced
French producers to turn wines into ethanol and brought wealthy Napa
vintners if not to their knees then to their bankers in search of refinance.
The reasons are various—new vineyard plantings by ambitious producers,
increased productivity at a time of plummeting demand, winemakers who have
over leveraged their brands.
The bulk wine market—which encompasses everything from wine in the barrel to
finished wines in unlabeled bottles, aka "shiners"—may absorb some of this
excess but with prices as low as $1 a gallon, it's not going to help
winemakers raise very much money, let alone make them rich. Except in the
case of Cameron Hughes. Mr. Hughes takes the $100 California Cabernets that
have gone begging for buyers and sells the very same wines under his own
labels for $25 a bottle and less. He packages them in generic-looking
bottles with names like Lot 164 Rutherford Cabernet and Lot 135 Syrah and
sells them on his website and to retailers..."
The Wall Street Journal, On Wine, Lettie Teague, May 7, 2010
Pop's Wine and Spirits has jumped on the bandwagon and has been able to
secure a large quantity of The 2007 Lot 136 Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville
and Rutherford.
"Black wine with a deep purple rim. Delicate French oak accompanied by
blackberries and cassis illustrates the balance and sophistication expected
of Central Napa. This blend of Rutherford and Oakville Cabernet personifies
the classic Rutherford "dust" backed by a lush fruit, a hint of bright mint,
and a resilient full body. A seductive fleshiness is steadied by an ideal
tannic structure, firm and well integrated. Just starting to disrobe, this
wine drinks beautifully now and will only improve with age. Decant an hour
before serving.
Cameron Confidential: Lot 136 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is one of
our favorite wines from these appellations, the sourcing of which is quite
clearly Rutherford and Oakville. We bought it last summer and barreled it
down over the past year under our own barrel program, using Radoux
Cooperage. The oak on this wine is beautiful against the touch of
Tempranillo that our winemaker blended in, giving it solid grip. This wine
drives hard.
It's been very busy with many wines to taste. But summer has been good to us
and I found many good wines from great wineries. So if you liked Lot 102
Rutherford Cabernet, you'll love this screaming cab from these $40 and $50
bottle programs."
Cameron Hughes
2007 Cameron Hughes Cabernet Sauvignon, Lot 136, Napa Valley, 750ml
$21.15 - Good Wine Stores
$19.03 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$16.92 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$190.35 - Pop's Case Price
Delicious
Rose.....
“I wasn’t sure if it was the warm weather, but this wine
tasted delicious and seemed perfect for the oncoming summer. The fruit just
seemed so fresh and clean, that I had to resist the urge to just gulp this
one down so much as I had a hard time putting down my glass. So I conferred
with some of my associates and they assured me that it wasn’t just me, but
that this wine was star.
Now that we Americans have gotten past the fear that pink equals sweet,
we’ve been exposed to tons of great dry roses. However in many cases these
roses top out in the low to upper teens, which to many of us is above the
quaffing price level. Thanks to Robert Oatley we can devour this one at
little over $9, when bought by the case of six."
Victor Doyle, General Manager, Pop's Wines & Spirits, July, 2010
2009 Robert Oatley Rose of Sangiovese, Mudgee, Australia, 750ml
$12.09 - Good Wine Stores
$10.08 - Pop's Single Bottle Price
$9.67 - Pop's Mixed Case Price
$54.40 - Pop's Case Price (6) |
