23187 Fri Feb 28 23:27:16 -0800 2003 6 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 87638 Frescobaldi is one of the 3 or 4 largest Tuscan wine producers. They have recently changed US distributors, and, as often happens in these situations, the old distributor is cleaning out his remaining inventory in a hurry. Looks like BevMo has picked up a big chunk of it on the cheap. There are 4 Frescobaldi high-end wines (Brunello, CabSav, Merlot & Chianti), which usually sell for $50+, that BevMo is now selling for $19.99. The Nipozzano Chianti Rufina Riserva, which is a VERY good wine usually selling around $15-$17, is now $7.99. Pomino Rosso usually sells for $18-$20 and is now $9.99. There are some lower priced Chiantis and two white Tuscan wines available as well. These wines all score pretty well with Wine Spectator. Your can find them at the BevMo stores or at the BevMo website. I am not a BevMo employee, but I know a great wine bargain when I see one! Fri Feb 28 23:27:16 -0800 2003 0 DavidT 1 87642 Thanks for posting this, David. Sra. Chowfish and I were at a tasting at BevMo on Wednesday night and we loaded her up with some of these bottles. I'm out of town, so I'm hoping to hear her tasting report soon. The Nipozzano is a particular steal - think they were selling the 97, 98 and 98 vintage. I've bought many vintages of this wine over the years and it's a bargain at the regular price. I had the 97 Castelogiocando (sp?) Brunello last weekend and it is awesome. Sat Mar 01 01:25:12 -0800 2003 87638 0 Melanie Wong 2 87809 The 97 Mormoretto Cabernet was well received @ Mr. Chowfish's birthday dinner this weekend. Since Melanie taught me to swirl 'n' sniff (still working on the spitting) I can say the aroma was great (I'd like to wear it behind my ears), and the flavor full and robust. Ran by BevMo today to get another case. I felt like a big spender--posted original retail was $50; they're selling it for 19.99. I also liked the 99 Nipozzano Riserva Chianti Rufina--only 7.99. And I'll put in a plug for the Goats Do Roam red table wine @ 8.99 but I have to admit it might be because I love the name and label. Mon Mar 03 23:35:52 -0800 2003 87642 0 chowfish 1 87695 Definitely good prices on good wines. Do you know if there's a BevMo in Marin? Or the closest to San Rafael/Larkspur area? Thanks. Sun Mar 02 10:54:02 -0800 2003 87638 0 rcc 2 87697 Yes, there's one in San Rafael. Has a good import selection. Sun Mar 02 12:09:22 -0800 2003 87695 0 vino 1 87852 Acting on your tip, I went to the Bayshore BevMo and picked up some bottles. Thanks for the tip. I didn't see any $19.99 Brunellos, though. They were also selling the Frescobaldi extra virgin olive oil for $9.99 for a 750 ml bottle. (The clerks didn't even realize it was oil; they thought it was white wine.) Any experience with that oil? I usually like Tuscan oil quite a bit. Tue Mar 04 14:54:31 -0800 2003 87638 0 svL 1 87902 I bought some of the Frescobaldi wine today at BevMo. It looked like a pretty good deal, but, after trying a couple tonight, I'll repeat what they used to say on the old Hill Street Blues TV show: "Be careful out there." One of the wines was a '97 Sangiovese. 1997 was perhaps the best year of the decade in Tuscany, but this wine was already over the hill. Smelled and tasted like it was oxidized. A Sangiovese should last more than six years, so maybe the wine wasn't stored properly. I'm returning them all tomorrow. Another wine was the '99 Nipozzano Reserve Chianti. This one was not gone yet, although I could detect some hints of that. But it wasn't that good. Very dry, lots of cedar and artichokes, bitter, and not much liveliness. Surprising. I've had some excellent Nipozzanos over the years. Definitely not this one. I still have a couple of others to try. They both are 2001 vintage, so I hope they'll be better. We'll see. My suggestion is not to go hog wild. Just sample it first. At the Bayshore branch, they had cases and cases of the stuff and didn't look like they were going to sell out any time soon. Wed Mar 05 00:38:39 -0800 2003 87638 0 svL