Qupe Syrah rock-bottom deal on Groupon

WINE TALK
41

I don’t really need more wine, but this is too good a deal to pass up.

I’ve been drinking through the Bonny Doon 2012 and 2013 Bien Nacido Syrah I picked up last year.

This will fill the ‘sub-retail Bien Nacido’ slot in my cellar, though I fully expect the Qupe BN Hillside Select Syrah to be a better wine. The Boony Doons have been solid, but the 2012 doesn’t quite come together despite great aromatics, while the 2013 is close to excellent though not in the upper tier of SBC Syrah.

42

Larry, really appreciate the note. I’ve seen some older vintages of Qupe (Bien Nacido, Hillside, and Central Coast) online and was curious as to their ageability. Have you had some mid to late 90’s or early 00’s lately by any chance?

43

Finding myself continuously vacillating between being glad that I got a case, and regretting that I did not get three.

44

Sucks I missed this!

45

Yup, but if you’re like me and 1) constantly fighting the battle of not increasing your wine inventory too much and 2) you place a premium on variety in your wine drinking / collection, I think it’s really hard to justify multiple cases of a wine (unless you plan on gifting / serving a bunch to others)

46

I got 2 cases, but it’s being split up between 4 people. I’m taking 7 bottles for myself. One test bottle to try and help me figure out how long to cellar the other 6.

47

Yeah, it’s kind of an existential struggle for me. Sometimes you find a great wine deal and wish you would have bought more. On the other hand, sometimes you buy six or 12 of some thing because the price was good, but then regret buying that much. That being said, if this is even close to the quality I have come to expect from them, it will be just dandy as a daily drinker or something to age a while. Versatile, in other words. Kind of like 2 wines in one.

48

I’ve recently had the 99 and 01 Hillsides and they were both still very much alive…

49

Qupe doesn’t make a syrah that isn’t at least very good, although Hillside Estate is a step up for me. As far as aging, a 20 year old bottle of the regular Bien Nacido took wine of the night in a couple of blind events I attended in 2008. Bob Linquist often brings old vintages of his wines to tasting events (eg, HdR) and they always show great.

-Al

50

The regular Bien Nacido is a step up from the Central Coast, IMO. I think the Central Coast is also made in a more accessible style, not sure how it holds up over 15 years although I’m sure it’s fine for a number of years.

-Al

51

And mags of Chave! What a great and generous guy!

52

I’ve been drinking through the Bonny Doon 2012 and 2013 Bien Nacido Syrah I picked up last year.

I missed that deal also. [swearing.gif]

53

Bro, you need to watch my posts!:laughing:

54

I was looking forward to them re-running that sale this year but doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Got a bunch of Le Cigare 375s last year

55

This bottling tends to be available at Pavillions in Socal for ~$13

56

As has been mentioned, there are a bunch of older Qupe on Winebid. I don’t have recent experience with the single vineyard Syrahs. Is there a pecking order to these? (grouping in tiers is fine, too)

Whitehawk
Colson Canyon
Alisos
Nielson
Stolpman
Sawyer Lindquist

57

I am thinking that was a one-off, Randall clearing out a bunch of inventory while he still controlled it and the winery.
He announced the sale of the winery very shortly after that.

58

I wonder how soon these will ship.

59

Offer text says “Most orders are delivered within 12 business days from the purchase date”. It actually changed from yesterday, when I believe it used to state that orders will ship within 7-10 days. Not sure why they changed it.

60

They are all good Syrah vineyards, probably differ more because of climate and dirt variations, also clones. Larry might be able to comment.

For my preferences (and I’ve only had one or two bottles of some of the less common single vineyard wines), I’d put Sonnie’s (a selection of Sawyer Lindquist) and Bien Nacido Hillside Estate at the top. Next would be the regular Bien Nacido, it’s a large vineyard and Bob has had a very long relationship with them, used to make wine at the ABC facility in the vineyard (maybe still does). Of the rest, I have a slightly preference for Stolpman and was less fond of the one bottle of the Qupe Colson Canyon I tried (but may have just been that vintage).

-Al