Woot Cellars Revelry Sonoma Red Wine (4)

For some reason, I was actually expecting this to be released under the Wellington label with a designation such as “Wooters Cuvée”.

[winenotes]

I have the remaining half bottle of the one that was opened but not decanted. For the last 2 days its been recorked (with a Scott Harvey cork from either the Barbera or the Forte) and sitting on the counter. So here are my impressions tonight on how its doing now.

The nose is rich with blueberry and cassis, spicy oak, and a whiff of fresh violets in a flowerpot. Tonight’s nose really surprised me because it didn’t make that much of an impression Saturday.

Medium to full bodied, upon entry the grainy tannins hit right away but slowly resolve to a core of blueberry and black cherry fruit, with sage and eucalyptus (a $2 word for mint). The mid-palate is a work-in-progress, the tannins never disappear throughout, and the finish is long, dry, slightly tart, and deeply fruited. CJ used the word plush, and I think that’s an accurate description, though its still a bit rough. The velvet is coming, but not quite yet.

Obviously young, not overly extracted, I think this has real potential to be special in 4-5 years, when the fruit and tannins learn to play together. I think a little under $20 for a quality Bordeaux blend from a top vintage, made by a master winemaker, is a wise investment. It’ll be fun to drink 1 of these each year for the next decade or more.

[winenotes]

Pulled a bottle half full from the fridge nearly a week after the release party. Continues to improve. Some of the youthful bits evened out even more bringing some more fruit through. I am most excited by how well I think this will cellar. Now if I can be my figure out how best to get some. They aren’t even shipping to my backup stat on this one.

What were the fruit sources that were used in making this? Is it estate fruit?

Wootlegger - be on alert. Going to have to place an order for delivery to you. CT is off the list for Wellington. Still OK?

We sold the vineyard and buildings to VJB last year, but not the inventory. We are leasing the tasting room (with exclusive rights to the brand) for three years.

Mais oui!

This was a great experience, and seeing this up for sale is making me do the happy dance!

For those who haven’t looked back at the tour notes, we did this in two stages, with the 1st half the team producing the base blend, and then the second half doing the refining.

Thanks to Chemvictim for stepping up and running the graduated measures for us during the morning session. Sparky, you guys killed me when I heard about you dropping the cab percentage, but your product is hard to argue with.

Producing this was an interesting experience, and it barely beat out the team lead by RPM - I don’t remember exactly, but I think RPM had a preference for a blend without all the Malbec. Either way, it would have been a great wine.

Note that I think there might also have been a little tweaking at the end by SonomaBouliste at final blend, but that’s why you go to a master winemaker for your product.

Thanks Winedavid39 for putting together a once in a lifetime event!

The Merlot and Malbec were estate grown, the Petit Verdot from Sarlo Vineyard, and the Cab Franc from Baron Vineyard. The Cabernet Sauvignon portion was a blend of Handal-Denier and Mohrhardt Ridge

Boo!!! No love for Tennessee!!

Wellington plus blended by members from the RPM tour, automatic in for one!

I’m shocked to see that South Dakota isn’t on the ship-to list. Of course, I’ve never seen South Dakota on the ship-to list, so I must be easily shocked.

Might have to work out a wootlegger deal. Missing a Woot Cellars offering isn’t something I like to do.

What Peter said. This is definitely an rpm AUTOBUY.

But as others who were there will tell you, this is not the blend I preferred. As I think Peter will agree, I blend for more age-worthiness than Peter does. Think Pauillac vs Pomerol. This is a little fruiter and a little more forward than I would blend for. Still, a nice wine and worth buying and laying down.

I think this is probably a 8-10 year wine, though it might have more aging potential. I’ll find out, because (as regular readers of my posts know) I almost never drink Cabernet under 10 years old and don’t plan to treat this differently.

But, buy as much as your budget will tolerate, put it away and forget it for a few years, the pull it out to your amazement and that of your friends.

Am I missing something awesome here? This seems a bit pricey to me for a woot cellars offering or a Wellington (on woot) offering.

But I love awesome wine. If this is awesome, then the price could be justified even for cheap wankers like me.

In for a case.

My wine budget is grateful that SC is excluded from shipping. :slight_smile:

Thank you kind wootlegger! Two sets on their way to you.

What’s a guy gotta do around here to get shipping to CT back?

Anyone in the north MD area that would be available for a wootleg? I don’t want to have to ship this to my parents. They already think I order too much wine. :slight_smile:
Or I guess anyone in the NoVA/DC group that has space to hold it for awhile until whenever I’m able to attend another event (possibly even until after Xmas, at this rate).

Why not Kansas? Please explain. The Free the Grapes map shows us as good to go.