Good for you....how do you get it for that great price?

 

He goes to the winery.

 

Is it really 50% off at the winery?

 

Wineries all have differing discount programs, but in this case it was our grocery store.

 

PT, when you literally have lived in the heart of primo wine country and are into the product, you get all kinds of local benefits.
It's a very, very small group of people generally speaking who are your neigbors and friends and also make great wine.
My brother has been in the heart of NorCal's wine region for 45 years and it's the same thing, even in overly publicized Napa.

 

Malibu is correct. Relationships are key. We extracted a couple cases of some pretty good Pinot recently that's not publicly available because the winemaker said cool to grab it from the library holdings though the winery manager had said sorry no can do initially. One example. And even at the grocery level we don't have to buy get-it-everywhere-Bogle or whatever because of a strong local/regional commitment.

 

There are some very nice suggestions here for finer labels, thank you!
Help a girl out here, please.
I drink a glass or 2 (or 3) of red most evenings and I'm looking to add something new to the everyday wine list. Prices where I live are outrageous but I hit Total Wine or Trader Joes when possible and stock up on the "table wine". I like J. Lohr for an everyday, I'll drink Bogle when it's all I have (Bogle is $12 where here, J.Lohr is $18 so you know I'm getting ripped off and suffering with limited sub $20 choices). For some more hints to my tastes, I enjoy Silver Oak more than Jordan. A glass of Villa Antinori Toscana delights me but it's a little pricey for a daily driver. Any suggestions?

 

I don't consider 12 and 18 ripoffs. (Yes, it's not like me getting Transcendence Pinot for $20 bucks when the vintner has a blowout for members, but you will get banged far worse than that at retail.)

As I've written several times, it is very difficult to recommend past the usual national wines from a region far far away. That's not punting, it's a reality. Total Wine is a very good resource to have at your disposal, but to my knowledge they don't universally stock. Start experimenting or ask the staff. I'm putting together a list of mod-priced Cal Cabs -- mod being 40-100 -- with the help of some in the industry, mostly because of the stupidity surrounding the pricing of so much Cal Cab and the frequent lack of any value at those prices simply because the self-anointed hip need to be trendy. Send me an email or a PM and I'll send that over. Anyway, you gotta trust your local merchants. Or join one of the low-cost wine "clubs" that seemingly everyone is foisting on us, be it Sunset or the Wall Street Journal. And wine taste when you travel. One need not live in a wine region to get whatever is desired sent to your home. Oh, Costco, too.

 

As you are well aware Ken, the push over the last several years has been heavily dominated by Pinot plantings, especially in Northern California.
That, coupled with more selective harvesting of the fruit, will end the Cab hip phenomenon IMHO. Also, the farm to table and such changes in food choices direct hipsters away from the more full bodied Cabs.
Lastly, at least in Napa, there is just way less Cab topography. Lots of Pinot, especially with the changing climate allowing more plantings toward the coast. Kistler's 3 vineyards in Occidental for instance.

 

Occidental is in Sonoma, not Napa.