The mere presence of a wine you’d actually want to drink at Groce Out is cause for a Board alert. In this case, however, this is an all-hands-on-deck alarm.
As most here are aware, Rock Wall sadly was forced to close its doors this year.
The wines have popped up at Grocery Outlet. All in the $10-$15 range. These include sparklers, Chardonnay, Pinot, Petite, Zinfandel, Cabernet, Tannat…quite an assortment, many of which retailed for $50+ on release. I have verified their presence on the shelf at Petaluma, Rocklin, Sacramento (Folsom Blvd.).
Enjoy.
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I bought a bottle of Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet once upon a time at GO.
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wow. that was a find. distribution error i’m assuming?
Well, I don’t know what you mean by an “error,” and I am not wise in the ways of alcohol sales and distribution.
I do know that the winery was having a progressive sale as it got closer to their closure. The website lists all bottles as being “sold out.“ I am guessing it’s possible that the distributor was left holding a considerable inventory. Alternatively, the winery might have used other means to get rid of unsold inventory. I just don’t know.
The store in South Lake Tahoe had a nice selection today. My buying freeze continues
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Pretty common with GO to just offer them 2 mixed trucks of closeout wine (2400 cases), take it all price at $42 a case, and leave some loose bottles of BDX or Burgundy in there to make the total package more viable. We drove to 5 or 6 different GOs looking for the Leflaive, sorted thru the pallet in back room, whatever.
Drank it with @Jamie_Kutch at Slanted Door in SFO.
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Love it when bottom feeding pays off. Admittedly a hobby in which I indulge, almost always to my utter disappointment, but there are those shining moments…
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There were a whole bunch of Rock Wall options at the SLO store on Saturday - reds at $12.99, whites/sparkling at $9.99. High alcohol on many, but I picked up a few to check out for science.
2019 Alegria Zin
2018 St. Peter’s Church Zin
2017 Mariah Zin
2018 Hendry Block 29 Zin
201? Papa’s Syrah
201? Jack’s Petite Sirah
2017 Rigg (SF Bay) Cab Sauv
2019 Heringer Nebbiolo
201? Heringer Cab Franc
2017 “The Palindrome” Tannat
2016 Ski King
2018 Estate Pinot Noir
2018 Estate Chardonnay
2019 Blanc de Blancs
2021 Del Arroyo Malvasia Bianca
Very little higher-end stuff ends up at GO, but every now and then you can find interesting close-outs…it’s been a source of decent inexpensive rosés for us in recent years (Pratsch & Il Poggione, for example). My highest-end find at GO was the Tweeddale 28 Year Old “The Evolution” Blended Scotch at $49.99 sometime last year. It hasn’t totally knocked my socks off, but I have enjoyed a couple of bottles considering that price (it was $111.99 at K&L, which is the next lowest price I’ve seen).
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Was this around 8-10 years ago? In that timeframe, there was a nor-cal distributor that went belly up. I was able to snag a bunch of higher end stuff like Leroy SLBs, Bouchard 1ers and some GC corton. I also heard rumors of first growths floating around but I’m not sure if there there was actually any merit to that story.
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Rock Wall has been there since early spring. Mostly gone now. There were a number of other producers that had to close during the pandemic as well, or at least had to clear out some inventory fast.
Ken Volk retired and sold out his entire inventory. Not particularly brilliant wines, but a lot of interesting grapes that you don’t find elsewhere, like Negrette.
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i was referring to the leflaive chevy monty.
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i would have done the same thing haha.
Large stash of Rock Wall at the Santa Cruz store. Thanks for the tip!
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Hmmmph! Our local GO had a Rock Wall Zin advertised a couple months ago but it either sold out or had never arrived by the time I got there at 1PM. At $8.99 it would have been a no brainer. They advertised another yesterday, but at $12.99. Should have gone by, but I didn’t. Our GO is not very good with ‘better’ or interesting offerings most of the time.
Yes please, may have to come back for Nebbiolo, Syrah, Tannat…
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I also picked up a bottle of the Malvasia Bianca, but I haven’t tried it yet. Have you had it before?
Also, which Zin? We tried the St. Peter’s Church one, which was a bit on the big/ripe side for me, but I’m thinking about trying out the Hendry and/or Alegria, which I recall being lower octane.
Still need to try the Nebbiolo and the BdB I picked up as well.
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nice. our g-o has limited selections/inventory. they just had the chardonnay and the yolo sparkling. may have to hit up some of the northern g-o. i’m also hoping to find a case of leflaive montrachet in stock between merced - modesto.
I’ve not had their Malvasia but @ $9.99/btl it’s. Good cellar defender/poolside pounder.
The Zin was the Alegria, I’ve never tried any of these. I time like the present. Forgot all about the sparkler, disn’t look for it but they had Pinot, Chard, Cab, Zinin, Syrah, Tannat, Nebbiolo, MB
Just tried the Tannat and the Cab. Cab took an hour to settle down with too much green pepper to start. Really improved with some air and turned into an interesting, more old school cab. The Tannat was the crowd favorite. Almost a cross between Pinot and Grenache and maybe even Beaujolais. Wonderful spice and balance and no heat at all.
Have enjoyed several of the Zins and plan to go back for more. They are definitely on the big side and the alcohol is on the border of too much but with wonderful old vine flavors. Deal of the year for our house. (Except maybe for those Ravenswood Library bottles.) Santa Cruz store still has a wide variety.
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Just purchased the Zin, Petite and RR Pinot. All single vineyard designates for $9.99. Unreal value. The petite is quite nice and will try the Zin and Pinot down the road. Bummer that the winery is no longer as the wines were solid with good vineyard pedigree. The tasting room in Alameda was pretty cool too. But some if you find them. Cellar defenders…
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