358286 Mon Jan 08 21:22:24 -0800 2007 12 34 Wine 0 2166485 We're planning for a spring wedding, and the hall we've rented serves Salmon Creek as their default. We've never tried it before, but were thinking of just passing and paying the corkage fee for our own bottles. I wouldn't say we're wine snobs, but we tend to buy bottles in the $15-$30 range. Anybody tried Salmon Creek before? Thoughts? Mon Jan 08 21:22:24 -0800 2007 63442 ricestein 1 2167391 A rose by any other name . . . Salmon Creek is one of the many labels owned by the Bronco Wine Co., producers of Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck). I'd pass and pay corkage, but that's me. Tue Jan 09 00:41:07 -0800 2007 2166485 28122 zin1953 1 2167634 it's horrible. Tue Jan 09 01:49:51 -0800 2007 2166485 30273 hotoynoodle 1 2196974 I believe that Salmon Creek is a made-up label that sells wine only to restaurants (and perhaps caterers). It is very inexpensive -- perhaps in the $3 per bottle range. The clever idea is that it is never available retail, so the restaurant can serve something that is not available for purchase other than in restaurants. So you can't compare the retail price of the wine as you could with a more popular brand. What bothers me is that the restaurants usually price the wine at $20 per bottle, or so, which is obviously a huge markup. But they have to do that otherwise people would get suspicious. If they priced it at $10 per bottle, maybe more people would purchase wine in restaurants, but it would make their other wine seem outrageously expensive. That said, I once tried a Salmon Creek Cabernet, and it was not bad. Wed Jan 17 07:27:41 -0800 2007 2166485 17222 Joel 2 2199054 I'm not sure what you mean by a "made up" label, but the practice you are describing is a reasonably common one. Salmon Creek is one of several labels, as I said above, from Bronco (the most famous of which is Charles Shaw, but they control roughly a dozen or so). It is "on-sale" only, meaning restuarants and caterers. Another example of this is William Wycliffe -- it's a "restaurant only" label made by Gallo to avoid the image that the restaurants how wine is Gallo Burgundy and/or Chablis. Wed Jan 17 21:18:05 -0800 2007 2196974 28122 zin1953 2 2209398 You are correct, it is an on premise brand only and checks in at around $3 a bottle. Nothing like paying $3 a bottle and charging $4-$5 a glass. It's not bad, the Pinot Noir is pretty damn good. How much are they planning on charging you a bottle? Sat Jan 20 16:37:10 -0800 2007 2196974 62340 Mr Lee Ho 3 2669003 Salmon Creek is not just an on-premise brand; I manage a wine shop in Maine and it's available for purchase to sell in retail stores such as mine. Sun Jun 17 17:50:29 -0700 2007 2209398 40895 Shooley 1 2209492 My wife and I bought several bottles of the 2001 merlot at a favorite little restaurant in the northern Sierra for $12, which we really enjoyed with various meals. Years ago, I vaguely remember reading an article where Bronco snuck Salmon Creek into the SF Chronicle Wine Tasting, where it did not belong since it was not for sale to the public, and it won a medal. I know nothing of the current production but there is way more horrible wine than Salmon Creek. Sat Jan 20 17:21:44 -0800 2007 2166485 14128 BN1 1 2213625 Well, we finally had our tasting the other day, and neither one of us was taken with it. It seemed to be a combination of our tastes and our experience (which wasn't great), but Salmon Creek didn't really win us over. We're shopping around now for some wines to bring to the hall ourselves. Mon Jan 22 12:42:19 -0800 2007 2166485 63442 ricestein 1 2233765 Salmon Creek (or similar) was originally what Mr. Franzia wanted restaurants to sell at a $10 pricepoint, to get people to drink wine in restaurants as a non-exotic, affordable part of the meal. I would imagine that it is a $25/case or similar cost to the restaurant (in states without the legal extortion schemes). I have had it in various airline lounges, and some of it was drinkable, and some of it I have left as undrinkable. It is probably as reliable as 2 buck chuck, and sometimes it will have high/mixed quality grapes, and other times it will have Jug #2 quality. Bronco does make some much better wines, but Salmon Creek isn't one of them. The irony is that he wants inexpensive drinkable wines to be on every table, and things like Salmon Creek could make it happen, if restaurants would charge $10/bottle. If it was my wedding, I'd pay the corkage. Sat Jan 27 15:33:38 -0800 2007 2166485 13471 lmnopm 1 2667376 We too are being served Salmon Creek by the restaurant where we are having our wedding in 3 weeks. The restaurant is in LA and is one of the best according to Zagats, so I was surprised to see that Salmon Creek is what they are serving. Since it isn't sold retail, I couldn't try it. I did sample it at our tasting though and was very pleasantly surprised. We are having their chard and their cab. Unless your friends and family are super into wine, no one will really be focusing on it that day. Save yourself some money and stick with the S.C. Besides, no one has ever heard of it. Sat Jun 16 20:57:09 -0700 2007 2166485 105876 spitzj 2 2684074 Update. We were married last month. We ended up springing for some other wines to serve with dinner (Frog's Leap sauvignon blanc and Alamos malbec), but let Salmon Creek get served during cocktail hour. The verdict: Nobody commented on the Salmon Creek, but several friends told us how much they enjoyed the wine at dinner. So, thanks for all the advice and information. We're happy that we didn't serve the Salmon Creek with dinner, but when it was served nobody really noticed one way or the other. Fri Jun 22 08:09:37 -0700 2007 2667376 63442 ricestein 1 3422522 I've had Salmon Creek Merlot on two occasions at a restaurant, and it was excellent (for a house wine)...if it's for a wedding I would recommend it without question. Thu Feb 21 17:53:10 -0800 2008 2166485 120030 datadand