Corked. It’s a funny word. In my earliest wine tasting days, it confused me too. In reference to a wine being corked, it means showing the presence of tricholoranisole (TCA) which at its most saturated and obvious smells and tastes much like a mouthful of dry powdered cork. If it exists in a given bottle, it most likely came from the surface of the cork enclosing it, and was doomed from the start. While it hasn’t happened in a while, there was a strange streak of people telling us that the wine they had purchased from us was corked, and returned to show a bottle that had never actually been opened. “Well, the cork broke, so this wine is corked,” wasn’t spoken exactly as that, but was the gist of several well intentioned wine shoppers. Completely separate from TCA taint, the longer a cork has been in the bottle, the greater chance it will be difficult to extract in one piece. I generally keep a two-prong cork puller (aka ah so) around for any corks I’m unsure about, and for most bottles fifteen years or more since harvest. If you are into older wine, I highly recommend getting yourself one. But in a pinch, if you’ve destroyed the cork and/or dropped cork bits into the wine, you can always run it through cheesecloth, a tea or coffee filter, or a rinsed paper towel in some form of a funnel-like thing, if you’re caught in the wilderness.
It’s been a full year since we had to cancel all 7th anniversary plans, due to the pandemic, and we’re still not really able to host any public 8th anniversary gatherings, though that date will pass us by in the middle of this week.
‘I own too much wine,’ is a funny thing to say (and mean) when one of my favorite lines to throw around is: Nobody ever said, ‘what am I going to do with all this nice wine’? But it’s true. When I began cellaring wine in a serious way, purchasing for both personal use, and for investment, I didn’t account for the total number of bottles I could possibly consume in a lifetime (even if a good number of total years, and with significant help). So, please help me pick up the slack here. None of these are “cast offs” by any definition, as the vast majority of these bottles were purchased at or near release with the intent of future personal enjoyment. Really trying to outdo what was our coolest wine deal of all time, while keeping the barrier to entry as low as possible. You be the judge! Seriously, please let us know what you think. These things are a ton of work for us, but also a ridiculous amount of fun. So, here it is, our 8th Anniversary gift to you… our latest take on the Magical Mystery offer of wine from my personal collection as well as bottles lost and found in the cellar, here at the shop.
You’re welcome to one each Magical Mystery Pack (any size) and Double Secret Reserve 6-pack (serious bottles and Magnums), first come first served, filled in the order received. Every bottle is at least 5 years since harvest, many are 7-20 years older than that. While the collection is mostly red, you may select to include (in the drop-down menus on the sale page) one bottle of white and/or whiskey in your pack, and we’ll accommodate as many of those as possible. We’re making as many packs available as we can, but last time the Magical Mystery packs sold pretty quickly. Happy clicking!
Magical Mystery Pack: Part Deux 3-pack: $89(guaranteed minimum value $150) 6-pack: $178(guaranteed minimum value $295) 12-pack: $356(guaranteed minimum value $590)
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