Yeah ‘corked’ isn’t the term I probably should have used… more or less was not what I was anticipating smelling/tasting from that bottle… hopefully the next 5 are great! Then again, by the end of the first bottle, it doesn’t matter what’s in the next!
The ship to states change with most every offering. Not all the states, but some. You’re not paying close enough attention if you don’t notice some states appearing and reappearing depending on the winery and their license.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to trying mine when I get back, and I love a good Shiraz, but at $9/bottle shipped, I didn’t (and don’t) expect it to knock my socks off. I bet it’s a great “sitting” wine, though, to have with leftovers for dinner, while just watching TV or reading a book, and that’s exactly what I bought it for. I think the same is probably true here, and I really appreciate Woot looking out for those of us who can’t afford to drink $20-25 bottles every time we want a good glass of vino.
I’d go in for this one, but we’re stocked on whites, and the Chardonnay drinker in my household is a California partisan (she likes really oaky ones, too - to each their own, I suppose).
It sure is nice to see a 2008 vintage and not have to ask about smoke taint! Not that there are never fires in Australia…
other states really don’t matter much to me lo
just the one I live in 
Oh, and the dig at homebrewers in the description? Cuts me deep, man.
Besides, I would never serve something I put hard work and time into for general barbeque drinkage. That’s what our dear friend Sam Adams is for. I keep the homebrews for savoring and appreciating - not so unlike, you know, wine. Wine snobs and beer snobs really aren’t that different; to be sure, there is more that unites us than divides us (usually, at least, a pretty good buzz).
While I know that this sort of one-upmanship, prevalent in both communities, is usually all in good fun, some people just take themselves too seriously. I have found in my short time here that most Wine.Wooters do not have that problem.
From ETS Laboratories…
“Smoke Taint” in wines was first identified as a serious problem following the 2003 wildfires in Australia and British Columbia. Subsequent fires in Australia during 2006-07 caused additional losses in the millions of dollars.
Yes Virginia, they do have smoke taint in Australia. One might even say it was ‘born’ there.
What if you don’t have one of those?..
My teeth work well…
But, then again… for me anyway… part of the wine experience lies with opening the bottle…
… and somehow that “scrrrrrtttcchhh” of opening a screw cap just doesn’t make it for me…
I guess for some, “quicker is better”…
With regard to the “ship-to” issue, remember that this is not “out-of-state” wine. This is imported wine, so each state’s laws will be different. For the longest time, DC laws permitted limited direct shipping of out of state wines, but barred direct shipment of imported wines. That, fortunately, has changed.
It looks like this wine is un-oaked. Here is the only thing I have found (yet) directly on point on this wine: Tasting Notes.
Now, that leaves us with the confusing question: What is the relationship between Calcareous Vineyard in Paso Robles, California; the Limestone Coast of Australia; TLC Chardonnay and Lloyd Messer?
Edit
Whoops! Let me withdraw my question about Lloyd Messer, who passed away in 2006. According to one article in the Vegas Wine News, the connection to Australia is the wine maker, Damian Grindley. (Not to mention the fact that some of this ground was covered the last time this brand came up.)
Looks like I found my July 4th party wine. In for one.
Dang, 0-2 on offers shipping to WV this week. Saves me $ at least!
I’m a sucker. I loved the Shiraz so I’m in for 2. As if I didn’t spend enough on wine last month…I topped $600. Eeek.
Heavily snipping your post:
Close readers of the last discussion may remember that the winemakers took a surfing/winemaking trip to Australia, and the Cab-Shiraz was the result. I’m guessing this Chard was another child of that summer love. (Or would that be winter? So confused…)
Because the laws are often different for direct shipment of imported wine vs. US wine. Each state has its own (often arcane) rules.
Something weird is going on here. I live in Michigan and I too have bought wine from wine.woot in the past. Like Kansas in the previous posts, why all of a sudden can wine not be shipped to my state?
@Everyone who is saying “Why can’t wine be shipped to my state when it could before?”
Different wineries/distributors all have different states they will ship to. State laws vary from “ship” to “no ship” and even in-between. Some shippers take on more risk than others, hence the list changing from week to week.
When I worked in wine retailing, we had “green”, “yellow”, “red” and “black” states. We’d ship to green and yellow, ship to red only for our best (And most profitable) customers, and never ship to black (PA, MD, etc…)
“Corked” smells like wet and moldy newspapers. Not much chance you’d even take a taste because that odor is so icky.
Could simply be that the taste is just not to your liking. And there isn’t anything wrong with that. Simply your pallet and the maker’s pallet enjoy different tastes.
Could also be that the wine was “cooked” or had other handling and storage issues.
Yep. Michigan allows vintners, but not distributors, to ship to Michigan. This was necessary based on a Supreme Court case a few years back to allow Michigan winemakers to ship out of state (which accounts a decent amount of income, particularly for the smaller vineyards). Michigan used to allow our wine to be shipped out, but prohibited vintners from shipping wine in. The Justices determined that this was an unfair interstate commerce practice.
Wine.Woot gets around this normally for Michigan, because they are not a distributor, merely an agent (Wine.Woot never actually “owns” the wine). In this case, though, the vintner is a distributing agent because they are selling wine that they did not personally produce. Michigan maintains a monopoly on all alcohol distribution, but vintners (and microbrewers) may sell their products directly.
This is all part of the uncomfortable marriage that Michigan’s post-prohibition “three tier” system has with the importance of vintners to Michigan’s tourism industry.
Largely I think that you can thank our full-time, term-limited, bicambral state legislature for making things a complicated as possible.
TBH after judging several BJCP sanctioned competitions, that description of bad homebrew is quite accurate. Good homebrew, on the other hand, is a magnificent thing. And while those wine-makers think they are doing some cutting-edge wild-and-crazy things, I bet they have never laid their hands (and tongues) on a green-tea-chai mead, or had a perfectly balanced baltic porter that makes you wish it was colder out. Wine and beer both have their position and place, but one is not inherently better than the other. A cultured palate appreciates both.