Exciting new additions

OK well maybe not "exciting," but a bunch of wines have been added to the list of upcoming Chairman's Selections over the last week or so and I was wondering what everyone thought about them.

The 2005 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay caught my eye. It was called "Highly Recommended" by Wine Spectator, but at $29.99 it's not exactly the deal of the century and can be had for less in New Jersey and New York.

It's nice to see Flora Springs Trilogy again, I think that's the 3rd year in a row. The last two vintages have been great Meritages for the/(our) price. If you're interested you might want to contact your local store to ask them to hold it for you, it sold out very fast last year (as in, a couple days).

My sister dragged me to Trefethen a couple years ago when we were in Napa, I hadn't heard of it but their "library" wines were good.

Mark

At $30 the Flora Springs Trilogy 2003 is a bargain - Sells for $40+ is California.

This is one of those wines that are just fun to drink. My wife pinch hit as a babysitter for a friend last year when my daughter oculdn't get back from a school event on time-she didn't want to take money from the friends so they gave us this instead. I'm now promoting my wife as babysitter to other friends with good wine collections! Just drank the last of the 2002 Trilogy so the timing is perfect.

FYI Trilogy is now in stores, don't sit around if you want it.

Trilogy 2005 is now in stores for $34.99, $5 more than when they had the '03 but still the best price by far anywhere. Lowest price on wine-searcher is $46.99 and list is $65. It's not clear if this is a Chairman's Selection or not, it shows up one place as one but it's not in the list on the lcb site.

Robert Parker gave it a 93. Wine Spectator hasn't rated it yet, although they panned the '04 with a 79 point review after favorable reviews of pretty much every previous vintage going back 10+ years. I really liked the '01 and '02, while the '03 was pretty average. Too bad the Chairman's price has gone up $5 every year or two.

I remeber when they had the 2003 3.0L for $100. It was a decent wine, I gave it 88 points.

Odd things appear to be afoot with the CS program: I've been waiting for the Fleuron des Vignes Gigondas (19204) and the Les Bois du Menestrel Vacqueyras (19206) since I spotted them in the Upcoming list a while back. About a month ago, they both vanished from the list. They're still missing, but today I decided to double-check, and following the link in this website's CS list, I found they were both available in Philadelphia, in substantial quantity. Not sure what to make of that.

Anyway, I've since bought way too much wine, but after reading the reviews, I think I can stand to add a couple of bottles of the Vacqueyras. I'll post a note once I crack one open.

Yeah there's been a lot of that going on lately, "missing chairmen" I call them. They either show up on the Upcoming list and disappear without migrating to the Current list even though they're available, or don't appear on either list but are in stores. This applies to the two you mentioned plus Trilogy, Chalk Hill Cab, and Salexis Merlot. Some also might get canceled, not sure, as they appear on the Upcoming list and then are removed and don't show up in stores, examples include Pascual Toso Reserve Malbec and Norton Malbec Barrel Select.

I'm also excited about the Vacq and Gigondas, let me know what you think and I'll have a friend pick some up for me since I'm out of town.

Okay, finally got around to a bottle of the "Les Bois du Menestrel" Vacqueyras, and it definitely did not disappoint: first thing that struck me, as the wine splashed into the glass, was the light color, a translucent yet vivid ruby-red, very pretty, and very unlike the New World wines I've been drinking recently. True Southern Rhone nose of beef, guarrigue, and olives, with a very light hint of barnyard. Mostly, though, smelling this wine reminded me of going into the lagares, the wineries, back home, of the smell of fermented lees and new wine that I loved as a kid.

The attack again is clearly grenache, but with a touch of sweetness that I found unusual, and very appealing. The bright acidity hits you in the mid-palate, along with spices and dark stone fruit, and a little dried fig - yeah, I said dried fig, it's my story and I'm sticking with it! There's some tannin, but it's soft, and I was really only aware of it after the fact, if that makes any sense.

The sweetness returns on the long, sensuous finish, which reminded me a little of cherry cough syrup, but in a really good way.

Nothing not to love here: great food wine, which we all complain we don't get enough of, but lots of extra fun to go with the breezy, tart fruit. Real personality, reminded me of my early explorations into Rhone wines.

Also made me realize that the CdPs I've had recently are not really much like this, and I want to think about that a bit more.

Thanks for that great description Capaneus. Would you mind entering a rating from the Chairman's Selection page? Thanks.

Mark