Mika Winery

Just picked up a couple bottles of this wine:

http://www.pawinetalk.com/detail/?id=1001167

Haven't tried it yet. Apparently it's flying off the shelves.

According to the description on the PLCB web site there is a contract in place which prevents the PLCB from disclosing the source of this wine. In looking at the label there isn't a lot of info. There is no contact info and Mika Winery has no web site.

Google is a wonderful thing of course, and it wasn't difficult to turn up a phone number in Walnut Creek, CA. I called and a gentleman named Tim Halikos answered. He is president of Buonocore Distributing and readily offered that they created the packaging for this wine, and "Mika Winery" exists more on paper than anything else. He also referred to the contract and wouldn't disclose the source of the juice. But he did say that it was a blend of (in descending order) Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec.

Anyway just thought I'd pass that along.

Jonathan Newman?

Just picked some up, so will give it a go

We had it tonight. Very very good. Will be buying more.

http://mowheela.typepad.com/philly_wine_finder/2010/07/mika-winery-meritage-sonoma-20 04.html

Phillywinefinder, no problem with the link to your blog, but it would be greatly appreciated if you also entered a rating on PAWineTalk.

Thanks

No problem admin. Thank you for this site!

Great buy but going fast!

Tried to get some at lunch, but the South Hills store has now sold out.
Also called the Bill Greene store to see if they would hold the 4 units shown in inventory and the guy who answered said all of their allocation had been "pre sold" and never hit the shelves.

dontime - I only found a few locally, and were quickly gone, but ordered some online (still some available) and it delivered 2 days later to my local store.

Checked around the state. Looks like its all gone. Maybe we need a PA Wine "Alert" that lets us know of exceptional buys!

This morning at Store 5144

Phillywinefinder: "Do you have a wine called Mika? It's a Chair...."

Store Employee: "Yeah I know. They keep calling about that one. There must have been an article in the newspaper or something. We have one bottle left."

http://www.phillywinefinder.com

I had the same kind of reaction at store 0284 last week:

dontime: "Hello, you show four bottles of a wine in stock I would like you to hold..."

Store employee: "If it's the Mika its all pre sold."

dontime: "What does pre sold mean?"

Store employee: "It was allocated to people that we knew would want it."

dontime: "Even if they didn't request an allocation?"

Store employee: "Well, we knew they would take it, so we held it for them."

I was back in 0284 last night picking up a "few things" on sale and asked about Mike again. The employee I spoke to last night indicated he was not happy the way it was handled as it was pre sold to all of the store manager's friends.

Interesting...The same thing happened to my wife. The Cranberry Store showed 14 in stock last week and I had her swing by on her way home from Lowe's. She asked the store manager about the wine and he acted "put-out"and was apprehensive about getting her the 4 bottles she wanted. She got them, but the manager was kind of angry. Oh yeah, the bottles were stashed behind the counter.

Picture(s) tell a thousand words...or in/on this case, three!

I stopped at a PLCB store looking for this wine and one of the guys that worked there was honest enough to say most of the bottles that came in were pulled by the store employees for themsleves, their family and friends.....Absolutely disgusting.......

I had the same results as the rest. Wine on hold ... etc. Now I am even more diappointed that I did not buy any. No one to blame but myself ... saw it on the floor twice before I realized the "buzz"

Mark - we're going to have to give you the nickname of "The Detective". Nice find.

I took a look at Lambert Bridge on CT. They have a 2004 "Crane Creek Cuvée" which is a red Bordeaux blend from the Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma. Averages an 89.3 rating over 11 ratings (four of the 11 from the same individual) and shows an average community price of $82 and change.