MARCH 2010
1-800-356-3970
WWW.GROEZINGERS.COM
DEAR GROEZINGER CUSTOMER,
“Who Dat?!?” It would appear that the stars are in alignment and the world is going even more insane. The Saints won the big game, horror writer H.P. Lovecraft has been revealed as an author of non-fiction, and somewhere, right now, someone is actually listening to Lady Ga-Ga. Madness, sheer madness. We know that you were all too busy dinking beer, eating buffalo wings, and watching football last month to call and order from us, but it’s time for you to stock up before hockey season gets into full swing, because nothing pairs better with a gloves off grudge match slug fest like a nice bottle of wine. You will no doubt notice some redundancies in our newsletter this time around.  The reasons for this? First off, perhaps you were still reeling from Sarah Palin’s “hopey-changey thing” speech or Rip Torn’s career change from actor to drunken bank robber, but many of you missed out on some utterly phenomenal bottles of juice last month and we want you to have another crack at them. Second, prices have been falling around here faster than a Congressman’s pants in front of a glory hole, and we’ve been offered exclusive deals from some old favorites like Watermark, Adastra, Spelletich, and Fort Ross at prices so low they shocked even us. You wanted deals? Here they are. In fact, this may be the most value-packed edition of our newsletter ever. You’re welcome. Questions abound this month, important ones, like “Is the End really near?” “Who is Cthulhu?” and “Why should I care about him?”, “Who dat who dem say who dat?”, and  “Does Groezinger’s still have that phenomenal 3 case shipping deal?” You bet your King Cakes we do. $85 ships three cases anywhere in the continental United States!! That’s only $28.33 a box when you ship three of ‘em. $15 per case ships wine to our good neighbors in California, Oregon, and Washington. WE SHIP ANYWHERE-except Utah.  $30-$45 ships one case via UPS to most states and if you live in one of the few states still suffering from Prohibition era restrictions, we’ll bootleg it to you for $60 on one case, $90 for two, and only $85 for three!!! These prices make it CHEAP and EASY to get great wine where ever you may be.  Give us a buzz!! 1 800 356-3970.
HONEY? I FORGOT TO ORDER SOME OF THESE LAST MONTH. HAND ME THE PHONE? HONEY???

1.) 2005 PARADOR, Red Table Wine, (53%Cab/47%Temperanillo) Napa Valley-$39.00 Your first bad mistake of 2010 was not picking up some of this Ribera del Duero style wine from our friend Steve Ventrello. Deeply concentrated, wildly complex, food friendly, and age-worthy for years to come, this is a block buster that you cannot afford to miss!! Redeem yourself with a case order. We can’t say enough about this great wine. Call us up and we’ll talk your ear off.
2.) 2005 PARAS VINEYARDS, Merlot, Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley-$29.00 Your second bad mistake of 2010 was not picking up any of this amazing and ridiculously well priced Merlot that kicks the hell out of most Cabs at twice the cost.
Explosive, extracted, jammy, yet incredibly balanced and structured, this is another one we simply must insist you try.
3.) 2005 BARREL 27, “Head Honcho”, Syrah, Santa Barbara County-$25.00 Can you see where we’re going here? This is pound for pound every bit as good if not better than the Charbay Cab at the same price. Don’t say you don’t drink Syrah! This is a massive red wine that puts many more expensive wines to shame. Shame on you if you don’t try some!
4.) 2004 SPELLETICH CELLARS, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley-$25.00 A solid producer of great Cabernet. A great vintage. Five plus years of bottle age. Used to be $50, now only $25. What more could you possibly ask for? .!
7.) 2006 LADERA, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley-$36.00 Declassified Howell Mtn. and Lone Canyon fruit. . .
8.) 2006 LE PETIT VICE, Cabernet Sauvignon, (Stage Coach & To Kalon Vineyards) Napa Valley-$45.00
Everyone needs a vice, and this one is a relative bargain when compared to crack, heroin, hookers, or gambling, and leaves your breath fresher than cigarettes. Paul Hobbs squeezed layers of deep black fruit, cocoa bean, and smoldering cedar into 245 cases worth of this spectacular Cab. Warning-this particular Vice is extremely addictive. Get a stash.
9.) 2006 ILSLEY, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stag’s Leap District, Napa Valley-$50.00 By now this wine needs no introduction, as we’ve been selling it to you from the get go. In case you’re a newbie or have amnesia, we call this “smart man’s Hillside Select” due to its proximity and similarity to Shafer’s flagship. The 2006 is in need of a long decanting or a few more years in the cellar, but shows all of the power and expansiveness of both the vineyard and the vintage.
10.) 2007 STANTON, Petit Sirah, St. Helena, Napa Valley-$41.00 There ain’t nothing Petit about it. Doug’s best effort to date proves (to even the biggest skeptic) that this varietal is as serious as any grown in the Valley. Find out for yourself.
11.) 2006 HARRINGTON, Pinot Noir, Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone AVA-$33.00 A very serious Pinot from a true garagiste, this strikes the perfect chord between Old and New world style vino. Call us and we’ll tell you all about it . . .

FEATURED RED WINES

2005 WATERMARK, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley–$30.00
You may be asking yourself, “Why is this so cheap?” or “What’s wrong with this?” or “Why are these guys giving this wine away?” If you are then you might be the kind of person that turns down blowjobs, hates paid vacation, never skips work, enjoys hangnails, feels it’s wasteful to buy new pillows, and thinks warts aren’t worth a doctor’s visit. Hopefully you aren’t like that, and hopefully you’re calling us and ordering some Watermark at this ridiculously low price. Don’t be scared. We can’t go down on you over the phone…but we will talk dirty to you. Where else can you get a fluff job and world class, mountain grown, ultra-high pedigree Napa Cabernet for thirty bucks? Nowhere but here. Here’s the deal. We bought the last 40 cases of this at a sweet price and when it’s gone, there’s no more 2005. You’ve had it and you know it’s great. Now it’s $30 instead of $45 so quit tugging on your hangnail and stimulate the California wine business. Haven’t you heard that Napa Valley is taking it in the ass harder than Joslyn James on PGA tour? So throw us a bone and we’ll give it right back to ya. You’ll feel like you’re overdosing on Viagra when you taste this and realize you only paid $30. In fact, it’s so good that you’ll probably whip it out and show it to all of your friends and make them taste it. I guess by now it doesn’t matter what we say so we’ll tell you this fruit comes from a place where Diamond Creek’s winemaker works. It possesses power and finesse, delivers a wallop of a punch, and will make you wonder why the hell you’ve been sending your money to those people with fancy stationary, quarter mile long driveways, and G-5’s.
Tasting notes: it tastes just like Diamond Creek, not quite as hard, a lot friendlier, and $145 cheaper.

2006 SCHOOLHOUSE, Estate Pinot Noir, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley–$85.00
John and Nancy at Schoolhouse Vineyards release this wine on Valentine’s Day every year. Why on Valentine’s Day and not a few days before so you can actually have it on Valentine’s Day? The answer is simple. This stuff is so good, they want to make sure you don’t drink it with someone you’re just trying to bang only to find out they’re a complete and utter palateless idiot that wouldn’t understand what good Pinot is even if they had every orifice filled with DRC. Speaking of DRC, that is where this legend started back in the 1940’s. Inglenook (currently Rubicon) acquired cuttings from Domaine Romanee-Conti in the 1940’s and planted them in Rutherford. Andre Tchelistcheff said it was too hot for Pinot in Rutherford and told them to plant Cabernet and get that Pinot outta there. The Pinot cuttings were taken and planted on Spring Mountain in a magical microclimate that produces the best and most ageable Pinot Noir in this hemisphere. We had the 1963, 1966, 1972 and 1974 Schoolhouse Pinots in recent years to be left in awe by their unbelievable youth. Try that with your “cult” wines. This Pinot boasts the most Burgundian flavors of cherry cola, clove, mineral, spice, strawberry and tobacco leaf seamlessly meshed together making for a wine unsurpassed by very few Frenchmen in the history of winemaking. Before sharing this, make sure your friend, lover, partner, or spouse plans on being extra nice and is aware that Burgundy is a place in France in addition to being a popular flavor of box wines.

2006 SCHOOLHOUSE, Mescolonza, Venerable Red Wine, Spring Mountain District, Napa Valley–$40.00
Yet another practically unobtainable wine from the winery that is way beyond cult. Schoolhouse followers are in a secret society that is so protective of these wines that their wines are rarely shared with others. We call this the Chateauneuf-du-Pape of Spring Mountain due to the blend of Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and a bunch of ancient Rhone varietals like Alicante Bousche, Grand Noir, Cinsault, and some other stuff nobody remembers because the vines are so old. The wine is field blended prior to fermentation producing a wine unique from anything else in Napa. This is a great food wine that is versatile, intense, eloquent, and unique giving you a thrilling diversion from Cab, Cab, and more Cab. Raspberry, blackberry, rose petal, spice, and mushroom float on a fat mid-palate and are stretched and extended for you with firm acidity and fuzzy tannin. This wine is like Burning Man, Grateful Dead tour, the Monet Museum on ‘shrooms, smoking salvia, or being abducted by aliens. You just won’t understand it unless you try it.

2006 STONE EDGE FARM, “Surround”, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County–$23.50     900 cases produced
Did you see Sarah Palin give herself the stranger on T.V.? Instead of sitting on her hand and rubbing one out, she writes on her hand and pretends to be someone who can remember stuff. “Energy, tax cut, and lift American spirit”. What she meant was, if you still have the energy to pick up your phone, call Groezinger’s and order some tax free wine and we’ll throw in a pack of smokes. Something like that. This stuff is holistically and organically farmed which I’m pretty sure means that hippies can drink it in church. 76% Cabernet and 24%Merlot from four separate vineyards make this wine complex, supple, immediately drinkable, ageworthy, extremely intense, and very sophisticated for a wine of this modest price. In a pre-recession world this would’ve been over $50. Who wants a new Cabernet for $55? Nobody. Who wants a new Cab for $23.50? That’s realistic. You’ll love the full throttle flavors of black cherry, velvety cedar, cassis, herb, and mushroom all wrapped up in 65% new French oak. Getting this wine is like giving yourself the Lee-Press-On-reach-around-stranger with a red wig on. You’ll find it hard to believe it’s your $24 wine and not somebody’s $60 Cab in your hand when you finally pop it. This wine will actually give you energy, save you money, and lift your spirits.

MORE INCREDIBLY COOL STUFF

VERTICAL of SHAFER, Hillside Select, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stag’s Leap Dist., Napa Valley, in 3 Liter Bottles
One ea. of 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 signed & in original wood boxes
Originally I was planning on buying a house or something real fast with this vertical. Now that the time has come to take this twelve vintage and one-of-a-kind vertical to market, the economy couldn’t be worse. That means if you’re one of the few and the proud that actually buys something like this, you’ll be getting an incredibly good deal. The only recorded sale of a vertical of Shafer Hillside in 3 liters was for a six vintage vertical that sold for $130,000 at the Napa Valley Wine Auction. Granted they threw in lunch for six and it was a charity but I think you can get an idea of how rare and expensive a lot like this could/used to sell for. Instead of six vintages there’s twelve, a case of three liters. As far as I know, this is the only twelve vintage vertical of Hillside three liters outside of Shafer’s caves, unspeakably rare. This is an incredible run of highly rated vintages from Elias Fernandez and the Shafers worth every penny–$30,000.00
If you purchase this set we will prepare for you and five others an incredible meal during your next visit to Napa.

2006 TOFANELLI, Estate Zinfandel, Napa Valley–$26.00      627 cases produced
Once upon a time this was about $40 a bottle and well worth it. Now we can get it to ya for a lot less which makes chugging this Zinfandel even more fun than before. Now that’s fun! Old, dry farmed, head trained vines pull flavor from deep within the gravelly loam soil giving the finished juice qualities and complexities rarely found in a $26 bottle of wine. You’ll get flavors of raspberry jam, black cherry, candied orange rind, cola, black tea, cigar box, spice and earth in this Zinfandel making this one of the most complex Zins from Napa. Vine age, dry farming, and a light use of new oak allow the fruit to show its true colors unlike many over manipulated, over oaked, over-everythinged Zinfandels. Plus, the label is a picture of Vince Tofanelli’s grandma, Irene DalPorto, on a motorcycle. All that for $26. Who Dat?!?

2006 TOFANELLI, Estate Charbono, Napa Valley-$26.00     268 cases produced
We used to sell this one for $40 a bottle too. Now we can sell it to you for less than we used to pay for it. Charbono, like Petit Sirah, is one of those grapes that has long been endangered by the California Cab craze, despite it’s ability to produce one of the most unique, powerful, and age worthy wines in the New World. In fact, there are less than 40 acres of Charbono left in the Valley. What can be done about this? You can support Vince Tofanelli’s Charbono preservation society by purchasing a few bottles of this wine. Almost black in the glass, exotic flavors and aromas of boysenberry and blueberry, pipe tobacco, Turkish hash, crushed rock, and bondage leather seduce the palate, frazzle the senses, and electrify the evening, all in a classy and more or less legal format. You can drink this now with a fat steak or gorgonzola or lay it on it’s side for 10+ years. This is not a $26 wine. It’s a $40 wine you can get for $26. What are you waiting for?

FEATURED WHITE WINES

2006 FORT ROSS, Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast-$20.00
It seems that crazy screaming deals are the theme this month. The good folks at Fort Ross are moving into their 2007s, had a few extra cases of the 2006 laying around, and since we keep their wines on our shelves all year round, they cut us a smokin’ deal on what they had left. Not being too greedy or too smart, we’re passing the savings onto you. Now you can drink top notch Sonoma Coast Chard at the same price as Napa Sauvignon Blanc. Rich and creamy without the least bit of flabbiness, layers of poached pear, green apple skin, lemon tart, jasmine flower and mineral might just fool ya into believing that you are drinking an $80 Burgundy, except when you finish off the bottle you’ll realize you have three more left. How cool is that? Deals like this are simply too good to pass up, even when times are tough. Call us.

2008 TALLULAH, “Como”, White Table Wine (Marsanne Blend), Stage Coach Vineyard, Napa Valley-$24.00
Mike Drash liked the name Tallulah so much he bought the company. After years of making wine for other people, at De Loach, Far Niente, and most recently Luna, Mike bought Tallulah and its flawless reputation for finely crafted Rhone varietals. Tallulah’s first release under his stewardship is this utterly slammable blend of 52% Marsanne, 37% Chardonnay, and 11% Viognier, which promises great things to come from this brand. A microscopic 160 cases of this wine were produced from the coveted and immaculately farmed Stagecoach vineyard. Spiced pear, sliced white peach, honeysuckle, and wet rock flavors are the perfect accompaniment for up coming Springtime activities, like cleaning, visits to the tanning salon, power-raking your lawn, trying to restring that piece-of-shit weed-whacker that won’t run because of the gummed up two stroke gas/oil mixture you forgot to drain out last fall, counting bloated rats in the deep end of your pool, or fixing sprinkler heads the redneck snow removal guys scraped out of your dead, un-aerated lawn. It also pairs well with Easter egg hunts, new crop garlic, line caught trout, baby salad greens, braised rabbit, and sex, sex, and more sex. Seriously though, this is great with sex. Even if you’re alone. Still. Again. About ready to buy it. Haven’t had it since November. 2008. Seriously though, you should really check out this wine which is far classier, eloquent, precise, sexier than this review would imply. The finish is incredible and it’s really, really tasty. 800 356 3970. Call us!