Should you join a wine club?

Someone at work asked "Should I join a wine club (where they ship you wine every month...), but as I've never been a member of one ... any particular favorites you could recommend."

Being the wine person I am, of course I suggest trying to buy/find/explore the wines yourself.

- if you drink a fair bit of wine, you can determine what you like and joining a club or two of favorites should come naturally. I don't think this is you.
- if you are drinking not much more than 2-4 bottles every two months then a club will keep you supplied but you'll be drinking only the club wine... which is extremely limiting.

As you mentioned, getting wine in the mail can get complicated:
- you have to have a reliable delivery routine.
- during the hot months, I never have wine shipped as even 6 hours at 90+F is pretty hard on wine, especially nicer wine. Personally, I never have wine shipped.
- it is somewhat costly, at least at the price points I normally pay per bottle.

A wine club from a good wine shop (K&L, Wine Club, Beltramo or specialty retailers like Kermit Lynch or Vin Vino Wine) is better as you get a broad variety of wines. But I find them expensive, especially if they are sending you random selections. It's one thing to find out you don't care for Sangiovese; it's another to spend $50 ($40 + tax + shipping) to discover this.

But if you have a bit of time and energy I suggest getting a good wine book that simplifies wine and do your own shopping. For example, the book
Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier by Andrea Immer is excellent (it's the book I wished I could have written but better) as it covers wine from a learn by tasting now perspective with specific broad recommendations. And you don't have to pay a whole lot to discover the varietals/regions/style you like or dislike.

Buy your own from a decent store (K & L, Wine Club, Beltramos, ....), if possible and if asking for recommendations don't be at all afraid to keep to your budget, since they will always have a wine that is 30% more but even better. If these stores are too inconvenient try Whole Foods, Cost Plus or BevMo (though it's hard to find good wine unless you know what you are looking for at BM and to some WF).

My personal favorite is Costco, which has unbeatable prices and consistenly high quality wines. I really don't know how they get some of their limited production wines given their volume. Often times Costco is the only place I'll find a specific wine I'm interested in. If you were to blindly sample their wines you'd get an excellent of idea of what you like and dislike.

Tahoe tasting

A bunch of us had a bunch of wines between bunches of snow. How were they?

• Kaiken 2005 Malbec Ultra (WS 88) I'd been saving this as the previous bottle took a long time to open up and this was worth the wait. One of the first wines I had, so my palatte wasn't fatigued, it was birg, rich, fruity and smooth. Ripe red and black berry. My score: 92
• Terradora Dipaolo 2006 Greco Di Tufo (WS 90?) JB only wanted white so it was a good I had brought along 2 whites. Very nice with some stone fruit and citrus with a nice acidity. My score: 90.
• Antiori 2004 Chianti Classico Peppoli (WS 90, $19). A smaller wine than the others we had with it so it suffered by comparison. Quite smooth with none of the funky Sangiovese flavors I don't care for. I wish I'd had this bottle on its own to appreciate the elegance. My score: 88-89.
• Fairview 2006 Goat Roti. An interesting wine with some barnyard and dirt with the fruit in this flavorful wine. I don't remember loving it but there was nothing wrong and a lot to like. My score: 88
• Seghesio 2001 Zinfandel Sonoma (WS 88, $18)
  
• Seghesio 2007 Zinfandel Sonoma (WS 93, $19) - - I had though the 2001 was a 90-91 pointer from memory but it was the '02 that got the 92 points. This was the big blind tasting, as M loves all things Zin, especially Seghesio. The 2001 might be nearing the end of its drinking window. D did the pouring, and threatened that he might not even pour us the same wine first. Anyways the first wine had nice richness with balance. The second wine was just a bit rougher and a bit more rustic. Both were fruity and quite nice. I "cheated" and notice the second wine was much lighter in color so it was the 2001. M who always get these things wrong, did not dissappoint. My score: 91 (2007) and 90 (2001).
• Cristom 2006 Pinot Noir Jefferson Cuvee (WS 86, $22) - The first bottle a month ago was thin and tasted overly ripe with sweet jammy notes (say an 84), but the second bottle was a solid ripe pinot (88-89) with rose and red cherry. This was not quite as good but nice. My score: 87-88.
  
• Rosenblum 2004 Petite Syrah Rockpile Ridge (WS 89, $22) - At this point, I had had a good bit of wine. I like this big fruity Rosy, but it didn't really stand out. My score: 87-89.
• Neyers 2007 Chardonnay Carneros (WS 93, $22 CC) - Past bottles have had too much overly smoked oak with a sharp acidity I didn't care for. But this bottle was richer and the oak was more subdued. JB loved this and I largely agreed. My score: 90-91.
• Pezzi King 2007 (?) Zinfandel Riley's Red - this was opened very late in the game. Nice fruity zin, but I didn't really take mental note. Somewhere between 86-90.

But the surprise of the evening was a bottle of red (meritage) that B had aged for 2 years. In the trunk of his car. Which during the summer would routinely break 90F. Ouch. I faced this with trepidation but it was much better than I expected, which was beyond ruined. I could almost see someone liking this... and in fact B did... in fact he drank it and said he preferred it to the Peppoli.

What I'm drinking part III

You're not reading this for meaningless chatter so let's get down to the reviews

• Castoro Cellars 2006 Cabernet Paso Robles (WA 90, $9 CC). My wife liked this a few months but I wasn't that fond of it, but it was a cheap bottle I could open for her. After 30 minutes, this opened up. Big obvious good cassis flavor and lots of brute oak. It tasted chunky as the flavors weren't well integrated... with fruit and then oak. Reminds me of a very good low-cost chilean wine. By the end, once my expectations were set, I liked it. My score: 88.
• Thorn Clarke 2006 Shiraz Shotfire Barossa (WS 91, $20). The 2004 and 2005 got even higher scores, but have been erratic for me. Very dark berry, some oak with a less fruity style, more earthy style than I expected. Some acidity not much tannins. Not as rich as I had hoped. My score: 88.
• Razor's Edge 2006 Shiraz Viognier (WS 91, $10 CC). One of the cheapest 91 pointers out there ... was still at the Sunnyvale Costco as of Jan 2009. Quite reliable. Dark and some red berry in a medium lean style with acidity and a wiff of minerality on the finish. A bit like a fruity Cote du Rhone. Too lean to get the really big score, but hard not to like. My score: 89-90.
• Jim Barry 2005 Shiraz Lodge Hill (WS 90, $13 CC). One of my top wines for 2008. Intense red cherry and raspberry in a pure style. Medium bodied with some wood and just a wiff of spice. Good acidity and no tannins in this fresh wine. My score: 90-91.
• Norton 2004 Malbec Lujan de Cuyo Reserva (WS 91, $16 CC). The WS review said "very creamy" which is an odd flavor for wine. But a previous bottle (my score: 87) was indeed "creamy", but lacked intensity. This bottle suffers too. Not much on the nose or the palate. Redoubling my tasting effort (aka closing my eyes), gives dark red berry, dried cherry with hints of tea and yes, cream. Smooth. Grading it as an elegant wine, my score: 89.
  

Wine scores: a score whore's view

When I excitedly tell my wife, my friends, my co-workers and even my co-workers who are not my friends the score of a given bottle, they nod politely and then turn away and resume their conversation with the person who is not me. I can tolerate this injustice most of the time. But there is a limit, and the worst is when I exclaim, "WS gave this 93 points", and the "listener" blithely resumes their life a fraction of a second later.

Why is this so exasperating? Because you don't understand how hard it is to get 93 points.

Ninety three points is high enough that if you don't know wines reviews, but still enjoy wine occasionally, you might never drink a wine that scores this high your entire life.

Ninety three points would have been the highest rated wine I would own in my first 6 years of collecting. Granted I wasn't spending much, but you just can't get a 93 pointer when you only spend $20. Even in 1990 dollars. (Well this wasn't quite true. In the 2005 vintage, there were a grand total of 5 wines scoring 93 costing less than $20 in WS. Three were obscure German Rieslings; the other two were Sauvignon Blancs).

Ninety three points is higher than ninety two points, which is my current threshold for really, really well reviewed wines. At 92 points, the reviewer loves the wine. Anything higher is just frosting, usually due to enduring length, crazy complexity or super intensity.

Ninety three points is so high that if you averaged drinking wine this good every time, you might be the person drinking the best wine in the world. On average. But in the whole world.

Ninety three points is high enough that if you walk into a decent sized grocery store with 500+ different bottles, it's possible no wine will score that high. (Here in Northern Calif, the large super market chains have half to a full store-length aisle devoted to wine, which is my reference.)

Ninety three points is high enough that in a non-stellar vintage, an entire region might not have a single wine score this highly.

Still not getting this? Here's a different tact. Math.

It's a simplification, but think of each additional point as reducing the playing field to a third, once you get above 89, which is good wine indeed to start with. So if 91 points is rare, then 93 points is about one in ten of those.

Now perhaps all this ... still hasn't convinced you. Then let's get down to business. Price.

From 85-89 points, it doesn't make sense to talk about price because wines of all price ranges can fall into this bucket. $6 wines. $16 wines. And even $56 bottles. And the thing to realize is that at 88 to 89 points, the wine can be absolutely the perfect wine for many occasions. As in just what you wanted. (Reading WS reviewers blog about what they drank in real life situations makes this clear).

Once you hit 90 and above, prices start to settle out a bit more with the minimum prices starting to become a bit more predictable. (Keep in mind price and wine aren't really strongly related.) To get 90 points, you typically need to spend $16, even if know what you're doing. And with patience, you can find it for $12 or even $10. So let's say that 90 points a $10/16 low end limit.

And now for the tricky part. I think each 2 points is a doubling of prices. So that means for 92 points, expect to spend $32 given that you are aware of wine scores and you will be hard pressed to find a 92 pointer for less than $20. Of course there are exceptions but you have to be lucky to break $20.

At 93 points, we're now talking $44 a bottle as a reasonable lower limit on the price, assuming you follow the reviews and know what to look for. The "average" price of a 93 pointer is probably a lot higher, say $100-120. And in a restaurant this means a 93 pointer is going to put a dent in your wallet. So I hope you have a bit of respect for 93 pointers.

But if you really really want to annoy me, turn away after I say, "Now, this got 94 points".

What am I drinking II

Just a dump of things I had, with yet another bordeaux-ish wine from Washington. All from memory over the last few weeks.

• Jim Barry 2006 Cabernet Cover Drive (WS 88, $15). Something I've liked and occasionally loved. This bottle was a bit thinner and simpler than I had hoped. Of course, the very last glass finally had a chance to breathe, and nice cherry flavors backed by some wood came out for ... my score of 88.
• Sebastiani 2005 Cabernet Sonoma County (WS 87, $13 CC). Oh, Sebastiani Sonoma County labelling, how you've abandoned me of late. You used to be a wonderful $14 bottle, but then the last two years, you were AWOL. Sigh. The 2001 was magnificent on occasion. My expectations were lowered and this wine met them. That wonderful unique Cali cabernet flavor in a bold, slightly simple, but rough body. But as I continued to drink this and got to the last half glass, I realized I was going to miss having more. My score: 88-89.
• Thorn Clarke 2005 Cabernet Terra-Barossa Importer's Reserve (WS 90, $15 WC). Decent fruit with a slight green peppery note. Not as rich as I remember or had hoped, so this is starting to age a bit. My score: 86
• Columbia Crest 2001 Merlot Grand Estates (WS 90, $7). This was one of the first wines I bought 18+ bottles of. At its best upon release, a glorious wine. But since 2005, good bottles from the cellar have been hard to encounter. This had picked up an herbal and almost tobacco ish note to go along with the red berry. Similar to the Columbia 1999 Cabernet Otis Valley I tried recently, it had a medium thin body with aging tannins but still a touch of acidity. Not my cup of tea but I still had 2 glasses. My score: 86-87.
• Robert Oatley 2007 Chardonnay Mudgee (WS 90, $14). Crisp and clean with a touch of oak along with the standard chardonnay "yellow" flavors (apple, pear, whatever). Well balanced. My score: 88.
• Domaine de Durban 2004 Beaumes-de-Venise (WS 89, $16). A case of this Cote du Rhone was a gift (thanks A and S). It's 70% Grenache with 25% Syrah, and the Grenache is very clean. Almost like a big Pinot, with smooth red cherry, not tangy, and just a hint of mineral. Super drinkable. My wife who isn't a CdR fan at all, likes this alot too. My score: 89-90.