Hendry Wines Estate Red - 3 Pack

Susan is doing well. She recently completed a tour of the old Spanish missions in California. She is retired, but not sitting still!

Summer before last, my girlfriend and I visited Hendry after calling and making an appointment for a tasting. We were treated to a fantastic tour of the vineyards, cellars and a sit-down tasting of all the current offerings and a few gems from the cellar. Just the two of us, with George Hendry. It was an experience that I won’t soon forget. Calling it a wine education would fall short. He was extremely hospitable, kind, knowledgeable and extremely proud of the wines they produce. We left with a few cases of Chardonnay and un-oaked Chard., along with several bottles of the Red Wine and Block 28 Zin. We purchased some Cab as well, but that’s still in the cellar and I can’t wait for the day I choose to open it. Everything I’ve ever had has been fantastic and I look forward to purchasing this offering and more!

On a side note with regard to the Stelvin screw cap: When we saw the bottling line, I did ask how he chose what type of closure to use and I distinctly remember him saying that he wishes they could use a Screw cap on every offering. He noted how consistent and easy to control they were, with varying permeability. When people will pay for a quality wine and not pre-judge something with a screw-cap, you’ll see cork disappear.

I guess I have a bit of a “wait and see” attitude on them. I have heard reports of Sulpherization and reduction problems on the older wines using Stelvin closures out of Australia (maybe NZ an S. Africa too). The younger wines have incredible success rates, though.

OTOH, I had a beautiful Beuna Vista Pinot 2 nights ago (w/ Easter Lamb), and it had a Stelvin…So, maybe I’ll get over it and the aging issue will go away.

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This Saturday evening the Bay Area wine wooters are hosting a gathering in Santa Clara where we will try to focus on “unusual wines” (varietal, region, blend, etc). All are welcome to join. And if the wine isn’t unusual, it’s still good wine that we look forward to trying!

Please go the the gathering thread for more information, and/or PM me or cmaldoon for location and information.

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Hendry is without a doubt one of my favorite wineries and to this day the best vineyard tour I’ve ever experienced. I was so impressed with George’s wine I came away with two cases…forgetting I had to ship them back to NY. Not a huge fan of Primitivo (anyones), but I love just about everything they make. Very elegant wines.

This is great juice. Would have ordered, but LA is not on the ship-to list. Hendry makes a variety of underpriced, high-quality wines. And, Mike is a great host if you visit!

This has been a very bad week for my bank account.

Thus, this has been a very good week for my wine collection.

All the glowing reviews pushed me over the top. Only in for one because I really shouldn’t be spending the money but, considering I’ve never had anything by Hendry, this sounded too good to pass up!

Unfortunately I didn’t get home from work til a few minutes ago…

Cooperage on these guys? New oak, neutral? French, American? How many months?

Hendry has been a long held “secret” of ours, after first tasting the Block 28 at Fleur de Lys in Las Vegas. We always have Hendry at the house and always take our visiting friends when we’re up in Napa. Fortunately, we now live in San Francisco so every time we run out of the Primitivo, or Block 28, or… it’s a great reason to go drive across the Golden Gate.

Well you just can’t keep a good wine down, I suppose. Never had Hendry before but sounds great - had to finally pull the trigger in the final 2% of the time window. Last wooter perhaps?

Looking forward to trying them…