Whitehall Lane Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - 2 Pack

I know that this these will answer what I am asking, but I am also curious as to the style that the wine was made ( fruit bomb, traditional, etc)

Found the 2005 at K&L Wines for $29.99. 2005 Whitehall Lane Napa Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - SKU 1049551

Don’t see teh 2004 avaialble for much less than the winery price of $85 but I suspect it is a pretty limited release and just not allot out there.

Wow, Virginia is not on the list. I was seriously considering this one.

they don’t actually have it in stock though :stuck_out_tongue:

From the Sineann (future Wine.Woot provider I hope) website:

Sineann is now several years into using glass corks on most wines and have done side by side tastings with glass stoppers and corks. It is evident the glass is superior. The wines still age as you would expect, though a little more slowly, and with better fruit preservation. If you open the wines soon decanting will help bring the aromatics out quicker. Best of all, we open hundreds of bottles each year and with the glass stoppers, we never open a bad bottle. I don’t know if many can fathom how wonderful it is to have every bottle opened be the same as the one before and the one before that.

I wish they had some of there regular cabs…

This winery is one of my favorites and most profitable…

When less known they used to sell at Sam’s Club and I lived in an area with “not” so sophisticated wine drinkers…

There 2001…was going for $23 a bottle and then got something like a 95 rating from Wine Spectator…

Instantaneously the price went to north of $60 a bottle…I bought 4 cases at $23…

Kept a case and sold 3…

Financed my wine purchases for some time to come…

This wine will be as good as anything Woot has sold in this price range…

Very enjoyable stuff…

I remember stopping by Whitehall Lane periodically in the early 1980’s. I had a client in Lake County I visited a couple of times per year, and I generally stopped by at Whitehall Lane on my way back to the Bay Area if I had time at the end of the day.

When I first started visiting tastings were free. Then they started charging on weekends, but tastings were still free if you had a Whitehall Lane wine glass you had previously purchased. So that glass came with me on my trips to Lake County.

They even sold white zin in those days. That was DWs favorite, and according to one of the pourers in the tasting room it was by far their biggest seller.

I still had the glass until about ten years ago.


Whitehall Lane was one of the first places I visited where I began to appreciate the differences between good quality wine and the stuff we used to drink at parties when I was in college.

Indeed… those data are what our esteemed friend rpm is going to use to decide whether the wine is to his tastes. I think however, that few wineries, not even the worst flabby Napa culprits will say they make a fruit bomb, even if they do. Some make fruit bombs, but drinkable and balanced ones (Ty Caton, apparently) because they do actually have some acid. Some are very fruity, but not high alcohol, and good acid (thinking some of Scott Harvey’s wines, among others), which is another delightful style, depending on what you’re in the mood for.
Some have a lot of acid and not really much body, perhaps too much so, but some people love that as well. And so on, with lots of permutations.

It’s not just “Parker International V European Traditional” styles. For starters there are gradations between them, where you have some fruit and youth, but not sticky, and a fair amount of acid, but maybe not enough.

I believe it might be true that: the history of the vines, the skill and intentions of the winemaker, and their knowledge of the husbandry of the wines and their knowledge of their particular clones and weather and soil all make a huge difference, even to wines with apparently very similar data. That’s why we love talking to the winemaker. The winemaker’s philosophy, and level of sophistication emerges from the conversation not just by telling us what they want to say, but by how they say it, and what they like to focus on in their conversations with us!

(NB we like to talk to the winemaker, not PR flak or well-meaning but misguided salesperson without the underlying knowleedge of their winemaker who can hide all sorts of rubbish with overenthusiastic praise. Mind you, some boutique owners have a style they like, and can express their philosophy well, even if th winemaker they hired isn’t available. now ant then however we get it wrong… at least one good winemaker famously did his best to send us on a wrong path (he was actually quite good) by being an arse on these boards despite making decent PN).

Sometimes they’re simple and fun, and that can be great, and sometimes very serious and know exactly how they want their wines to turn out. The latter are easier for us to leearn… and decide if their styles suit us.

However, the data are a fine first guide, lacking anything else, and help us decide what to ask a winemaker in our collective quest to work out what it might taste like without having tasted the damn thing… complicated by th fact that one wine will taste entirely different to many different people!

Hi Greg!
These, from the CT reviews does look rather Napa / International style, with a bit too much alcohol, dark flavours, chewy tannins etc. Would that be true in your experience? (you may like that style… but that Spring Mountain we had I found to lose its interest after half a glass despite its initial charm, and these decriptions are a bit like this, just with more graphite, lead and spice… which means even riper). This may be a difference in taste, of course!

That’s great. I’d sell you the Silver Anniversary for $9.99 a bottle… if I had any. Really I would :wink:

Link? You got me curious :tongue:

How do you exactly describe chewy tannins? I have never come across any wine with chewy properties. Are you referring to Juslyn, with spring mtn??

I’m not 100% certain, and I’ve only been a member for a bit over a year, but I suspect he was referring to this.

http://wine.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=3773953&PageIndex=1&ReplyCount=275

That thread is infamous here. Quite a interesting one he was, also with his political views…

No, this is not the Spring Mountain style…more depth in the Reserve. A bigger wine by far. This is not an old world style though, but maybe somewhere in the middle. The 2004 is drinking well now, but it did need some decanting…or just drink slowly!

Oh, hi yourself. Enjoying Tampa?

Edit: I’m a twit…I had the 2004 reserve, not this. 2005 was, generally, a better vintage than the 2004, correct?

2004 was a really wet year and very poor overall, however there were still standouts from top producers and a 92 from WE for their 2004 would show they had one.

In for 2.

Interesting, I’ve read the complete opposite–a heat wave late in the season created the most difficulty in the north coast.

I really think it should be a wine woot requirement that Black Tie offerings have winery participation. I would love to consider this wine but there are WAAAAYYYY too many unanswered questions to click the golden button.

Exactly, My wallet is safe…

2004 was an outstanding vintage especially if you are a fan of drinking wines upon release and a more fruit forward wine from Napa. 2005 is a classic Napa vintage with great fruit, structure and HUGE amounts of yield- 2005 deals are some of the best out there as the wines generally are excellent and there are a ton of them-2005 also was not heralded early on but got more hype after bottles were released.

I would not age long term most 2004’s though as always there are exceptions.