Good Grape: A Wine Blog Manifesto

October 22 2007

Open Call for Winery Recommendations

Please help a wine blogger out. With the recent news that Indiana is now open to consumer wine shipping up to a 24 case annual limit, I have a lot of buying ground to make up. Some estimates have our states winery availability at approximately 5% of that of California and New York.

Consider this a cause. The two most popular wine blogs in the U.S. are Vinography.com (San Francisco) and Dr. Vino (New York). Imagine what could happen with Good Grape (Midwest/Indianapolis) if I could only increase my accessibility to wine by doubling it from 5% to 10%. I could act as a national bridge to these two coastal leaders.

Not only am I committed to making a dent into that 24 case limit, but I’m also committed to finding a bunch of wine that I haven’t yet discovered through my own diligence or by virtue of finding something new at my local bottle shop.

Please help me fill my cellar!

So, I’m opening it up to you. My request of ye olde reader: please leave a comment and answer this question: if you had to make a single recommendation for your favorite winery, a little known gem that didn’t cost a car payment for one wine club shipment, to somebody that respected your opinion, who would that winery be?

To get your mind started about recommendations, I’ll start with my top five wish list for wines that I will/want to buy online or via their wine club.

Dover Canyon
Tablas Creek
Kosta Browne (Perhaps the best wine I’ve had this year)
Hartley Ostini/Hitching Post wines
Channing Daughters

Thanks for your help—know and understand that you’re helping me spend money in a positive and worthwhile fashion.

Posted in, Good Grape Daily: Pomace & Lees. Permalink | Comments (11) | Print | Email This

Comments

On 10/23, Ken wrote:

I would try the Four Vines wines if you can’y currently get them. Robert Stemmler makes some really nice PN as well. I would definately seek out a Bravante “Trio”. Villa Creek “Willow Creek Cuvee”. I can go on for hours, but check out the Ultimate Red wine & Ultimate White wine list on my page for more great ideas.

Cheers and enjoy your new found freedom.

Ken

On 10/23, wrote:

My wife and I belong to the wine club for Husch in Mendocino (http://www.huschvineyards.com) and love it, we just got our fall shipment yesterday.

We also love the Wollersheim Winery (http://www.wollersheim.com) in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. I’m hoping that with the legislation change we’ll be able to start receiving from them as well.

We’ve visited both of these wineries, and definitely feel a personal connection with them. They may not be considered 5-star operations, but we think they produce wonderful and accessible wines at a price that fits our budget.

Thanks!

On 10/23, winebroad wrote:

Hi Jeff,

I recently joined Andrew Murray’s wine club after a visit to the winery’s tasting room in Los Olivos. I’d never felt the need to join a wine club before, but AM’s fab Rhone-style wines just sucked me in.

I’d also recommend Navarro, in Mendocino County.

cheers,
Tina

On 10/23, Jill wrote:

we can help you make a dent…

Good luck getting on the Kosta Browne list.

Try:
Curran
Eric Kent
Nalle
Pax
Ojai
Raptor Ridge
Sineann
Owen Roe
Bella

oh there are way too many to list!

On 10/23, The Corkdork wrote:

Here are a few small gems that may have slipped by your notice.

Selene - Mia Klein’s awesome SB and now Cabs
Benessere - CalItal at its best
Acorn- Great zins, Syrahs, blends
Harrington - boutique Pinots
Native9 - awesome SoCal pinot
Hug Cellars - Great wines from SM Valley and Paso
George - tiny boutique Pinot producer RRV
Scherrer - Great zin and Pinot - RRV

On 10/23, Gretchen wrote:

I like Raphael and Bedell on Long Island, Kellham in Napa Valley… Fox Valley in Illinois isn’t bad either!

On 10/24, Jeff Lefevere wrote:

Great! Thanks for all of the recommendations. I’m going to check out each and every one of them!

My regards,

Jeff
http://www.goodgrape.com

On 10/24, Jake wrote:

Hi Jeff,

If you want a recommendation personalized more to your specific taste, you could start a profile at http://www.tastevine.com It’s fairly new and we’re still ironing out some kinks, but you’re sure to get some good recommendations. We’re going to be making some real exciting changes over the next couple of months… we’ll keep you posted. Let us know what you think!

On 10/25, wrote:

I’m the type of person that likes particular wines and not particular wineries as I usually end up liking a real subset of what a winery produces. There are a couple of notable exceptions though. (compared to the average person, I’ve visited a lot of wineries 60-70 and drank a lot of different wines. Nothing compared to a wine professional of course)

I highly recommend Bergstrom, and in particular their Bergstrom Vineyards single vineyard Pinot Noir. The 2005 was outstanding.

The other winery I recommend is Stonestreet. They make fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon—all hillside vines. Again, the single vineyard wines are really the ones that shine and I was surprised at the number of wines I actually liked from this winery.

Jim

On 10/30, swirlingnotions wrote:

This is so a question that is going to haunt me for days . . . . Here’s my list, off the top of my head:

* Forth Vineyards
* Hanna Winery
* The higher tier reserve wines from Clos du Bois
* Ramey
* Lancaster
* Longboard

What a fun mission you’re on!

On 12/04, wrote:

Hi- We have a vineyard on the Eola Hills in Oregon wine country and Brooks buys our grapes and their wine is excellent. They use organic and biodynamic farming practices on their vineyards and there is a real neat story behind the winery. Read up about them and they offer several different wine club memberships. BROOKSWINES.COM

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