in az its been 2 weeks minimum, between 3-4 weeks usually, 5 weeks once in a while.
my first woot!
woot!
noob question: will i be getting a tracking number for the shipment?
thx!
Just tasted Roshambo wines recently… have heard good things from friends already… so I had to check them out, these are some really good wines for the price. I’m in for 2. I’m not that good at describing wines, but the Carignane tasted good, and I like it.
Note: I didn’t taste it at the winery (since their tasting room have been closed) but at a wine event this month. The staff at the event were really friendly which made it an extra positive experience.
I normally like Chardonnay that have been in oak barrels, especially when they go through malolactic fermentation & develop that buttery taste, BUT these are done in stainless steel tanks. I know a lot of people who like tank method, so I can give these away easily.
Well folks, I stewed for hours trying to decide if I should put my two cents in (you know – “if you can’t say something nice…”), but I couldn’t “lurk” this week without making a post about this winery and its products.
First, let me say I travel to Sonoma and Napa every two years, whether I have cellar room or not. It’s a family tradition, and we take our tastings VERY seriously. The Russian River Wine Road is our favorite route, and we’ve been doing it since 1995 when I became interested in fermented grapes in lieu of Bavarian hops. That said, we like to sample and buy when we’re enamored with a complex wine, be it a Zin, Cab, or blending wine such as Malbec, Carignane, or even a solid Tempranillo. Yes, we’re red-biased.
Know that Roshambo is VERY young. Too young to truly appreciate the age and heartiness of the phylloxera-free estate-grown vines and grapes they produce. There doesn’t seem to be any real reverence for the quality of the fruit their acreage produces, and we have to wonder just how much Lodi product (or other similar imported grape) they end up blending into their own. Since Roshambo is just down the way from Mill Creek, Wilson, Papapietro Perry, etc., it’s on the way to one of our favorite wineries (De La Montanya) and we make the effort to try their wares every time we visit. However, their wines have yet to impress us, and we always leave the tasting room wondering why we let the flash of the winery draw us in, only to be reminded of just how mediocre a great grape can be vinted. You know your taste buds are in trouble when the tasting room you walk into looks more like a cross between a modern art museum and a high-end casino restaurant. The view at the bar is nice, granted, but clearly Naomi’s dream is to be an art superstar, not an oenophile. Her sarcastic view of the burden (and limitations) a winery holds is well reflected in her tongue-in-cheek approach to selling her products. Sweetie, save us all a lot of trouble and open a gallery in Union Square or Castro, okay? Leave wine to those who understand and appreciate it.
Their wines? Where would this diatribe be without a word (or two) about them? Their reds (notably their Zinfandel and Merlot) are generally without distinctive character, ranging from underaged bitterness to over-oaked flatness (sorry, don’t care if the Zin grapes were from Alexander Valley, you killed ‘em). It’s as if all the best grapes were extracted, gingerly set aside, and then summarily discarded in favor of the flavorless mass of must left over – destined to be a great Roshambo wine, regardless of quality! Of particular disappointment was their Rosé (either one, but particularly the Syrah Rosé), as it reminded us of Lancer’s or a Rossi closeout: Dry, semi-sweet, acidic, and a bit like Windex – but without the blue coloring. The same could be said for their Chardonnay, but upon reflection, I seem to remember them accidentally leaving some of the light fruitiness and honey-flavor in the wine, even though the stainless tanks seek to destroy it. BTW, you will taste the tanks with this wine, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Oh, and my comments here come from my tasting logs dated October 2003 and October 2005.
Our friends who have purchased from Roshambo in the past have told us their wines, after cellaring for 2-4 years, seemed to drink much like they did when they tasted them at the winery, but without any noticeable improvement in complexity or mellowing. To us, this means most of the fruit was absent at bottling time, and the poor grapes had the life siphoned away from them at the first racking. It also means the wine may not store/age well, but this is just an opinion since I haven’t bought any to cellar.
You’re probably better off gambling your $40.00 on any trio of Mia’s Playground value-priced wines (a Sebastiani enterprise, i.e.: S/K/N, Smoking Loon, Pepperwood, etc.), as they at least have a solid history of superior vinting techniques and very good winemakers behind the clever mainstream labels. Better yet, go pick up a couple of Armida’s amazing reds. Poizin, anyone?
Joe
Ships to MA - rejoice!
Yes
And then you will learn that tracking numbers are just another Woot amusement. No reality. The number is entered into the UPS system at the time of shipment in California. BUT the wine travels in a non-UPS refrigerated truck for part of the journey. For the east coast, this is a week. Then UPS takes possession and the tracking number actually means something.
If I’m looking at the correct bottle on their website it only goes for $10.
IF I was looking at the correct bottle…this is not such a great deal.
The Rat is sold out at $25 a bottle and the chardonnay is $17 a bottle, so $52 without shipping. The deal comes in with the Rat wine.
If I’ve done my research right, it looks like in bulk the Merlot is about $10/bottle. I’ve found restaurants that sell it $25 a bottle. The convention is to double the price of the bottle around here, so I’d say its most likely available per bottle at $12-13.
Edit: I’ve confirmed this: http://www.winerx.com/vsku1416748.html
As always, the key is finding them locally at that price. I don’t beleive I can get these around here (Vermont). If I could, it would be at the boutique wine shop that sells Parker Station for $16/bottle and FFC Claret for $19 or $20. Shipping anywhere else would kill the deal on any other site.
I’m curious to hear more from the winery on this one. Those looking for the $40 3-pack should be excited about another lower cost offering.
Well folks, I stewed for hours trying to decide if I should put my two cents in (you know – “if you can’t say something nice…”)
Ouch.
But thanks.
More importantly when are you going back to the old shipping method? I don’t care how much shipping costs but it would be nice not to have to wait three weeks for my wine in Chicago.
Wow! Sounds personal.
Thanks for not lurking silently, Joe. Appreciate you sharing your opinions. One of the things I like about woot and wine.woot, it that they allow such unmoderated criticism of the products that they sell.
Thanks for the candid comments, Joe.
The comments are also what hooked me on wine.woot.com.
I would not return to this site if I thought there was heavy censoring, because there has to be something novel and thought provoking to encourage me to spend my money here, rather than at one of my many local dealers, all frantic to interest me in their yet-untasted-by-me offerings.
Could you do that every week? (Assuming you have actually tasted the product.)
Please?
cheers,
Yes, unless your package gets to you before the tracking number does. I’ve had it go both ways. What’s your cooking style chefjef.
HI JOE!! I have to say, although I am generally intimidated by such a directly negative posting, I have to say I’m pleased to have you out of the shadows, if only for the moment. It does indeed seem that you have a lot of history and knowledge concerning wine, AND extended tasting notes through the years. This is really impressive, and could be a huge benifit to the rest of us. I hope you take the time to share like this more in the future, good or bad, for any winery that you are familiar with.
Thank you for the information on Roshambo…now, will you consider being my personal wine shopper ::))
I actually liked the Zin quite a bit when I tasted it at a local wine bar. I specifically remember it because of the name. However, I do not remember which year it was, so that could make all the difference.
But I am willing to take a gamble on it since the Zin did impress me…
Oh, and I have to add that I appreciate Joe’s comments - it is great to have both sides and I think we should encourage anyone that has information to post!