The post above IS the invite. All you need to do is go to the World of Woot Wine forum and join in the discussion in the respective DFW event thread. 
Definitely not liking how WD is not giving out rats for any of these Havens offerings.
Is it b-c theres a possibility the rats will get a bad bottle? Itās been a little sketchy!
Anybody have an idea of what these would have retailed for? Closest Iāve come up with so far is that the 2002 Hudson T Block Syrah was a $40 retail wine.
The horrible review for the '06 from the one guy on CT also gives me a bit of pause. Even acknowledging that one CT review is hardly conclusive evidence.
Thoughts?
No, it appears it is because WD doesnāt have the ability to ship any of these wines until January.
It might be because of the bankruptcy. The rules are more stringent, and may prevent āsampleā bottles for labrats since they are property that can be sold.
Interesting that the 2005 has 2% Viognier while the 2006 does not. I found a note on the 2003 regarding this, but havenāt yet found whether it was done for the 2004:
āFor the first time making Hudson Syrah, Havens added Viognier from an adjacent block, crushing and co-fermenting it with the Syrah. While historical reasons for this practice may have been simply to add some higher sugar fruit to the mix, co-fermenting Viognier actually makes a darker wine, with more aromatic precursors, by a process called co-pigmentation. The resulting tannins are soft and fine, though substantial in total volume. All in all, a slightly bigger wine.ā
Anyone know whether this is the same as the T Block? The label they show on some sites selling the T Block doesnāt actually say this on it, so not sure how to tell.
It more likely has to do with terms of the liquidation and timing. Since thereās no physical winery anymore, it may be necessary for tax purposes or other lawyerly agreements that Woot not take possession until the new year.
People are used to Syrah as a warm climate varietal, but in reality the Cote Rotie is closer to Burgundy than Provence or probably even Chateauneuf du Pape. In California, which is almost universally sunnier and warmer than continental France, if it works for Pinot, it will probably work for Syrah, too. Syrah may even be superior in many Pinot sites, but given demand for Pinot and fruit-bomb Syrahs, the cool-climate Syrahs are often overlooked.
If both bottles of different wines are bad, that might suggest a storage or shipping issue assuming they came together.
So how many more weeks of Havens will there be? Iād like to see you mix it up a bit.
I wonder if weāll be getting some Bourriquot Wednesday? It seems weāre moving in that direction. Maybe Iāll wait and see on this, unless it starts bouncing early.
Looks like this is the last week. I wouldnāt sneeze at $40 wines going for $13. The potential QPR is getting better with each offering.
What is concerning about both of his reviews is they were done only a couple of days ago which may indicate that they came from the same batch that we will get. I hope this doesnāt mean that the entire list of Havens offerings over the past week are major scaffolding.
Here is the 2005 Review from CellarTracker:
Tasted by KDutti on 12/20/2009 & rated 82 points: Pop and poured. Lavendar nose w/ no hints of spice. If it were a blind tasting, I would have a hard time discerning this was a syrah (I should say a Cal syrah). More of a Rhone style syrah.
Paired well with food. Tasted it w/ some sliders and the wine really accented the spice and peppers in the burger. A simple wine (w/ not much complexity) w/ great qpr. (135 views)
Makes good sense- I guess Ill let this one slide 
Were the grapes crushed by beau terriers?
I think they are more like $18, at least for the 2006ā¦
http://www.vinquire.com/wines/search/buy/Havens-Wine-Cellars-Syrah-Hudson-Vineyard-Carneros/
I wouldnāt place too much weight on the bad CT reviews, though theyāre to be kept in mind. These are wines from my understanding that are built for the long haul. Theyāre also not typical Cali jammy Syrah. While they shouldnāt suck upon arrival, depending on the guysā preferences they may well rate them poorly.
Now they are. Woot is undercutting another retailer liquidating these wines. Iām quoting pre-liquidation prices at ~$40. If this was 6 months ago, this would be a 3 for the price of one.
If we have 4+ offerings of bad juiceā¦ I think WD will have a much harder time selling any juice in '10. Iād guess (and hope) he didnāt do this much work just to move some cases of Grape Drink.