MATURE BORD, BURG AND CA WINES FROM ONE OWNER CELLARS



This is my sixth BerserkerDay offer of better wines, many classic, some super rare!
Please read the posts by winemaker Rob Berstrom and Brig Campbell regarding the importance of provence of the bottles I have offered previously.

Please place orders, inquiries or wishlist bottles to me via vinoscape@gmail.com
If I get daffy or screw up, please bear with me, my wife and I just tested positive for Covid(boosted too) leaving me thick-headed today!

PRICING
I have listed these bottles below retail and below the Wine Market Journal most recent auction results which include hammer price + buyers fees. There are pricing discrepancies(not updated) in the displayed Cellar Tracker auction data vs. clicking on “Auction (Wine Market Journal)” preceding the displayed auction prices in the section above tasting notes. This will grant access to the most recent auction results.

Some of these wines are sitting in the Mid Atlantic region awaiting safe ground shipping temperatures. Please note, all bottles must be inspected by me in the SF Bay Area to confirm bottle conditions prior to shipping to the buyer. FYI, two years ago, wines from this cellar were sold in BD11, so it is a proven cellar around here. He buys on release and stores in 55 degrees. This collector has way too many bottles in his cellars and culls via whim, or shift in his preferences.

Bordeaux
1/2006 Ch. Pontet Canet $100 95 D, 94 WA, 94 ST, Faded Label
6 bottles/1986 Ch. Margaux $550 98 V, 97 WA (auction and retail $650+)
2 bottles/1990 Ch Margaux $995 100 WA, 98 ST, 98 D (auction and retail $1175+)
1/1982 Ch. Haut Brion $850 98 D, 97 JG, 96 ST(auction and retail $860+)

Burgundy
2/2002 Ponsot Griottes Chambertin $375 92.9 CT (auction $409 retail $524)
2/2002 Ponsot Charmes Chambertin $250 90-92 WA (retail insane $1000+)
2/2002 Ponsot Clos de la Roche $450 93 BH (auction and retail $529+)
2/2002 Ponsot Chapelle Chambertin $275 88,6 CT (auction $455 retail $1000+)
2002 Ponsot Clos Vougeot $375 90-92 WA (auction $431 retail $900+)
2002 Ponsot Clos St. Denis $500 91-4 BH (auction $618)
2002 Ponsot Chambertin $350 89 CT(retail $524)

Rhone
2005 Jaboulet La Chapelle $130

California
1997 Dunn Howell Mtn 5.0L $1225 96 D, 95 WA
No format premium
1995 Dunn Howell Mtn 1.5L $ 385 96 WA, 95 V
1994 Dunn Howell Mtn 5.0L $1400 97 V, 96 WA,
750ml $260 auction,
5.0L = x 6.67=$1734
No format premium

1986 Caymus Special Selection 3.0L $900 95 WS 94 WA (last 3.0L in auction 2018, retail 750 ml just insane today)

2003 Plumpjack Reserve Cab $260

2011 Araujo Eisele Cab. 1.5L $460 98 JS, 96 V, 92-95 WA

2006 Angus and Arlye To Kalon Cab $120
by Margaux Singleton Enoteca Wines
in Calistoga, now closed. Two barrels.

Davis Cellar Wines
1/1974 Hanzell Sonoma Pinot Noir $325
One inch ullage, still stellar, read
Charlie Fu’s review on CT, this is an
apex 1970s CA Pinot Noir.

1/1974 UC Davis Napa Cab ts $125
I have seen other vintages of Davis
staff/student made Cabs with strip labels
from vineyards
around Napa, This one is also a strip label,
but with no vineyard designation.
It could be from a Calistoga vineyard, Stag’s
Leap, or the UCD Oakville Station vineyard
(To Kalon)., or?
I waxed it because the cork was partially
saturated at the top.

1/1968 BV Special Burgundy $145
One inch ullage, Andre Teleschiev made,
first of three,vintages designated as
Special Burgundy

NV Christian Brothers Claret $185
Based on the red label background,
the vintage is most likely from the 60s

Decades Old Suntory Royal SR $150

Decades old Martell XO Supreme $235

What will be the process for placing an order on these?

1 Like

I just updated the offer with ordering via vinoscape@gmail.com, thanks.

1 Like

That UC Davis bottle is cool. The label/wax makes it look like some uber-pricey culty wine trying to look “vintage” and cool. But this one actually is vintage and cool!

1 Like

Ryan,

Simplicity, ain’t it grand?

I had to wax it because about a third of the top of the cork was saturated, so I decided to seal it.

What’s the shipping process for these?

Richard, we are excited to have you back with a handful of offerings for BD13! I have purchased from Richard in the past and he is super knowledgable and great to work with. I managed to get several cases from the UC Davis Cellar a few years back and the wines have been unbelievably fresh and most every wine I’ve had from his other sources were well-stored examples. We opened a hand labeled 1961 UC Oakville Station Cabernet (Crabb/Tokalon) at Epic Steak in SF for my buddies 60th birthday last fall and he declared it the best '61 cab he has had in decades. A second growth '61 next to it was tired in comparison. I wonder if the hand labeled '74 offered will be as good - it’s my birth year so my finger is on the send button! And the 1959 Christian Brothers Cab we opened at Farmhouse in Napa with a bunch of winemakers was drinking fresh like a top-of-its-game 70s cab - everyone was stunned. If the claret offered here (in the same interesting bottle shape) is half as good it will make for an amazing tasting experience.

1 Like

Rob, thank you so much for your kind words.
This is the first I am hearing from you since the Davis Sale and I am blown away with your reporting on several of the Davis Cellar bottles. Feedback keeps my batteries charged after so many years in this wonderful business. Enhancing lives and events and the sharing are high on my satisfaction scale. The oldies you purchased and wrote about are what wine lovers hope and dream to attain such as the Christian Brothers Cab and the 61 Davis made Cab which made my day of battling Covid much more pleasant. I almost sold you the Claret and kept the Cab. As for the 1961, that is amazing as it was made by students and staff as I understand it. There was zero track record and several one of a kind UCD bottles
That cellar was a challenge, I was not the first guy to consider buying it, a big name wine merchant walked after offering to by only a handful of the gems from the UCD Wine Curator’s widow. I sat down with her, a corkscrew and some bottles I was familiar with. Most of the 1000+ diverse bottles were in very limited quantities so I took my chances with my reputation, but between you and Charlie Fu it sounds as tho the vast majority have been solid.Yay!

Richard, we have had dozens of great experiences from those cases and still have two or three cases waiting for the right context to share with the right people. I know many more Berserkers will have amazing experiences from Bottles offered this round!

A few other great experiences from the wine you brought us:

’79 Felton Empire Gewurtraminer
We had at a vineyard dinner in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a bunch of winemakers who knew the winemaker/owner. It was delicious with a profile not unlike a well-aged Auslese. On the last pour of the bottle an intact grape popped out.

’77 David Bruce Cabernet
at a fundraiser here in Portola Valley which was a wine tasting put on by local Santa Cruz Mountain winemakers who all knew David. It was a beautiful aged mountain cab with a ton of leather, dry herbal notes, and great acid still keep it all in frame. David passed away last spring so it was a great moment of honoring him considering all the pioneering work he did for the California Wine industry with many firsts. He was already using French Oak in the 1960s and while experimenting he made the first White Zinfandel in 1964 a full eight years before Sutter Home made a huge hit out of it.

Italian Swiss Colony Barbera (1950s?)
This wine was just drinkable. But how fun to drink a wine from this part of California wine history! And we tasted it in a Napa Vineyard with a delicious Wagyu burger cooked over a fire made from ripped out eutypa-ridden Cabernet vines.

UC Davis Lee Panasheet Cab 1961
Also opened with a friend who has a '61 birth year. While not showing as young as the '61 Oakville Station Cabernet, it had some cassis fruit remaining, all secondary and tertiary aromatics, and a dusty impression that strongly reminded me of the tannins in many Rutherford wines.

Cresta Blanca Sparkling NV (1940s?)
I opened this with a tasting group who are huge fans of the early history of California wine. Considering the winery was launched by “The father of California wine” Charles Wetmore in 1882 who planted Chateau d’Yquem cutting Sauvignon Blanc and who won the Grand Prize at the Paris Exposition of 1889 with wine made from that vineyard, I couldn’t help but wonder if wine from those vines was in this sparkler. While there was no effervescence left, it was a beautiful aged old white wine with ripe apple, waves of Carmel, toasted nuts, and refreshing acidity. It reminded me a lot of a memorable 1950s Martin Ray sparkler I had a decade before.

1966 Charles Krug Cabernet
We drank this single blind with Peter Mondavi at a lunch event at Chez TJ along with several first and second growth Bordeauxs from the same year. While most of us could pick out the Krug besides its French counterparts, it was delicious and easily held its own amongst the distinguished company and had more delicious fruit left than any of the other wines.

For people that may be new to wineberserkers and Richard, he’s 100% legit.

Many people have purchased his extraordinary wines over the many Berserkerdays that he’s participated in. C.Fu and myself included.

We are very fortunate and thankful to have him as part of our community as someone that shares the passion and history of wine.

From the Davis Cellar which was an addition behind the garage and attached to the dining room with the original exterior window opening into the wine cellar!
0307171513 (1).jpg

Here is a fascinating half bottle. Check out who drank the other half of a 750ml. IIRC, UCD was developing controlled temp fermenation then.
1126161543a.jpg

These bottles were way ahead of their time, look carefully. Yup, they were screwing around. I The other bottle of Paradise had a strip label stating “Rec’d 1949”.
Roma was the largest winery in CA and possibly the country in 1955.
0118171213.jpg
I have more photos, if anyone wants to see what else lurked in that once in a lifetime cellar

1 Like

Thanks for these offers Richard. Would love to see more photos!

Thanks Richard! I sent you an email about some of the wine.

Great offer, Richard - email sent.

Very interesting offer! I sent an email about a couple of them.

I’d recommend an update identifying what’s left as I assume there will be great interest in some of these…

Yes. I usually give him a few then add a few backups of first are not there any more…

1 Like

What an amazing offer, Richard!! Just sent you an email.

Hope you and the wife are holding up!!

If I haven’t heard by now should I assume I didn’t get any of my requests? Or are they still being processed?

I would send him an email. vinoscape@gmail.com

Some cool stuff here. Will find out what’s left…