Hola Free Rangers,
Pretty much status quo around here in regards to policies, and general chaos, so we now take you to another episode in our series: Why We Have a No Cell Phone Policy Theater, already in progress….
INT. FREE RANGE WINE & SPIRITS, Brooklyn, NY
[based on actual events]
A woman walks in, on her cell phone, stands directly in front of a chalk sandwich board which says ‘Pick-Up and Delivery Only: Order Online!’ and starts speaking rapidly, to no one in particular, her cadence is indistinguishable from her still active phone conversation. She is surrounded by ‘no cell phone’ signs.
Customer: I need vodka, like a Tito’s, or anything that’s gluten free.
Me: Gluten is a solid that doesn’t make it through the condenser of a still, so all vodka is gluten free, but you’re also standing between 3 no cell phone signs.
Customer: What’s that? You want my ID?
Me: Yes, I definitely want to see that, but I’d also appreciate it if you’d take your phone call outside.
Customer: What? No, sorry, I’m in the liquor store. Should I meet you in Brooklyn, or the City?
Me: Brooklyn is the City, and unless you need a receipt, we’re done here.
And scene.
A couple of years back, I quite skeptically took an appointment with a newer winemaker, whose least expensive bottles were well above most people’s conception of intro level (myself included). The winemaker was Scott Sampler, principal at Central Coast Group Project. The local rep entered the shop with a big scruffy guy, looking like some wayward head of security I might have done a bunch of drugs with in some festival field in the ‘90s. I generally don’t taste in front of a winemaker with whose work I am not already familiar. I have a brutal honesty problem that isn’t always taken well, and I can’t truthfully recall why I took this appointment. As someone who has tasted thousands of wines, I can also be fairly curt when someone tells me what I should be tasting. Scott was sticking mostly to the facts: spontaneous fermentation, long maceration(s), and daily hand stirring (which is a ton of work, given the soak time of these wines). Then halfway through the tasting, he pours me a Syrah (called Behind the Purple Door 2013), and begins spinning a tale of a mysterious river nymph, and the strange circumstances by which this bottle came to into being. His deadpan delivery did not crack beneath the weight of my incredulous glare. I was wearing a smirking bitch face, with a side of salted arched eyebrow, and Scott smiled back, as I sipped at the mystery elixir. Now I had no choice but to grin, this was very serious juice, whose nature and intent shared moments with the very best of old school non-interventionist CA winemaking. His demeanor was even, dry, and sincere, and his wines were not with the messing around. In the next few weeks, we’d buy as much as space and budget would possibly afford. We have proudly carried Scott’s CCGP wines ever since, and I scoured the secondary market for a handful of his wines of which he had already sold out, for personal use.
Scott had already been conceiving a line of lower cost wines, on which Plague Year forced him to focus, and a couple of those (by no means less serious- minus one of the labels) wines just arrived. His newest release, Scotty Boy Big Tang 2018, is another long soaked Syrah which adheres to very few characteristics you’d expect from that versatile grape. Its nose has an atypical concentration, and the palate leads with a fleshy stone-fruity note, and much like most of his wines, this one evolves in the glass for many hours (days?). In fact a forgotten finger lay in the bottom of the bottle, uncovered, and was no less enjoyable 24 hours later. Also just through the door is CCGP L’Arge D’Oor 2017, a fairly serious medium bodied Sangiovese, with a delightful mouthfeel.
Scott’s stuff is wholly unique, and most importantly- delicious- but they aren’t cheap, and we’re reducing prices as far as possible without giving them away, so that as many as would like to try can have that opportunity. The top two offers below are for just the new ones, a 2-pack, and a 6-pack (3 of each), respectively. The Full (Scotty) Sampler includes one each of the new ones, plus that magical Purple Door Syrah, as well as the darker, bolder CCGP Names Syrah 2013, the Italian style blend, Super Cali Red 2013, and the paradoxically lighter Stolpman Vineyard field blend, Hey Ruben 2013, whose label displays the actual text message between Scott and the vineyard manager regarding the blend (and weight) of the grapes that went into that crush. These are some of the most intriguing wines I’ve come across in the last decade, and are absolutely worth your palate’s time. Given the amount that exists in the world, I have already consumed an embarrassing number of these.
*** Every purchase of any size below gets an entry to win a bottle of CCGP Super Cali Cab 2013! While these are also for sale separately, one person who buys from this offer will get one FREE! Good Luck… ***
(!) Click here for the hidden sale page (!)
sale: retail:
Scott’s New Ones (2-pack): $49 $62
New Ones (6-pack): $140 $186
The Full (Scott) Sampler (6-pack): $349 $421
** This week only, as supplies last! **
* No other discounts apply.*
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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