617461 Tue May 05 11:38:09 -0700 2009 17 34 Wine 0 4656311 I got roped into a few mail order wine clubs that were vile. canceled memberships, of course. then i used to belong to some specific wineries' clubs---Cakebread, Grgich Hills and Duckhorn. I'm a white wine girl. Thing is, those aforementioned got waaay too expensive. Is there a wine club out there that offers great wines, whites in my case, at a reasonable, rational price? Thanks! Tue May 05 11:38:09 -0700 2009 108629 HabaneroJane 1 4656480 Consider Ridge ATP (no cabernet), K&L Wines and wineries from places outside Napa, like the Sierra Foothills and Paso Robles. Oops, I just saw the White Wine comment. Scratch Ridge. K&L offers a mix of red and white. Tue May 05 12:20:28 -0700 2009 4656311 11117 SteveTimko 2 4656525 Thanks Steve, will check out K&L asap! Tue May 05 12:33:00 -0700 2009 4656480 108629 HabaneroJane 3 4656580 curses, they don't ship to Florida. Any other suggestions out there?! Tue May 05 12:48:55 -0700 2009 4656525 108629 HabaneroJane 1 4656599 Also, check out Celebrations Wine Club. They have an "All white wine" option. Tue May 05 12:54:51 -0700 2009 4656311 149137 Rick Azzarano 2 4658200 Actually many if not all wine clubs have a white-wine-only option or a red-wine-only option. Having worked for a half-dozen wineries, I know this to be the case. It's a rather common request to specify one color only of wine. Ask. Wed May 06 00:59:19 -0700 2009 4656599 18222 maria lorraine 3 4660505 Here is a suggestion that combines Steve Timko's answer and ML. Holly's Hill in the Sierra Foothills has a white wine only club called Au Contraire. They make a very nice vignier-roussanne blend called Patriarche Blanc, as well as fine standalone viognier and roussanne. Prices are very reasonable. Wed May 06 15:47:53 -0700 2009 4658200 192682 bclevy 4 4660546 Tasted some of HH's wines at the Hospice du Rhone last weekend in Paso Robles. Was favorably impressed. Wed May 06 16:03:11 -0700 2009 4660505 18150 PolarBear 5 4661327 I agree. In addition to the Patriarche Blanc mentioned above, HH's Wylie-Fenaughty's Syrah is excellent. However the gold standard for Rhone Valley varieties in the Sierra Foothills remains Cedarville. Wed May 06 20:37:58 -0700 2009 4660546 192682 bclevy 6 4662294 Thanks for the tip. I found a three year old article from the SFChron that mentioned their 03 El Dorado Syrah and the 03 Naylor Vineyard ED Petit Sirah as being outstanding ($25 ea, at that time). Do you have any other recos for them, any GSM blends by chance? TIA Cheers, Dave Thu May 07 08:09:20 -0700 2009 4661327 18150 PolarBear 7 4662813 The most elegant wine produced by Cedarville is their Grenache (typically 90% grenache 10% syrah). In Northern CA the only 2 other places where I have tasted grenaches approaching this quality are Unti and Ridge, and I still prefer Cedarville. Cedarville has also a fine viognier, and among non-Rhone varieties, a Zin and a cab. Their Zin is very different from most Sierra foothills zins which tend to be over the top. It is really a finesse food-friendly wine. The cab is a great value (just below $30) and quite good, but at a much higher price point, better cabs can be found in Napa or Sonoma. Thu May 07 10:09:44 -0700 2009 4662294 192682 bclevy 8 4663167 Now you've really got my attention, is the Grenache available other than at the winery? I tasted Unti at the HdR, along with Denner, Torbreck, and McPrice-Myers (every thing M-M poured was excellent), which were all very good I thought. Pretty much my only prior base for comparison has been Beckmen's lower end offering. Thu May 07 11:31:32 -0700 2009 4662813 18150 PolarBear 9 4663570 A few stores in Northern CA carry some of Cedarville's wines, but I have never seen the grenache there (basically Cedarville sells out of it quickly). So here in Davis, I have seen the Cedarville syrah, zin and cab in stores, but never the grenache. Cedarville has a mailing list and this is probably the way they sell most of their wines. I have never visited Santa Barbara wineries, but I am due to take my son for a visit of CA colleges (he graduates next year) next month, and I was planning to visit Beckmen, Curtis and a few other Santa Barbara wineries (a friend just came back from a trip there and gave me a map and a list of wineries to visit). Thu May 07 13:20:37 -0700 2009 4663167 192682 bclevy 10 4663798 Thanks, I'll check with the winery. Lots of good places to explore in SB, Alma Rosa, Andrew Murray, Fiddlehead, Foley, Lane Tanner, Rusack, and Whitcraft come to mind immediately. Have a great trip. Thu May 07 14:26:33 -0700 2009 4663570 18150 PolarBear 10 4663801 Got to try the 2000, 2004, 2007 and 2008 Cedarville Viognier two weekends ago. The 2008 was probably still suffering from bottle shock but the rest completely rocked. Posted a couple of photos from the trip to Cedarville here: http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=201327 The 1998 Cedarville Syrah was going strong, too. Supposedly all of these photos can be seen by the public, not just my Facebook friends, but I have more here. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=26375&id=1246571693 While at Cedarville, co-owner Jonathan pointed to where Holly's Hill was, so when I went to Holly's Hill for a tasting I took a photo looking back at Cedarville. The Holly's Hill lineup was strong, especially the 2007s. I loved the mourvedre. Thu May 07 14:27:42 -0700 2009 4663570 11117 SteveTimko 11 4664326 ST, thanks for the reminder about HH's Mourvedre, it had slipped my mind in the purple haze, but found it on my list. Other Mourvedres at the HdR I found tasty were Denner, Edward Sellers, and Unti. Couldn't find Minassian-Young, which I really had my sights set on. Thu May 07 17:35:00 -0700 2009 4663801 18150 PolarBear 1 4720901 I am a big fan of Duckhorn too, but the Napa wine clubs are pretty spendy. My suggestion, since you clearly like California whites, is Brander in Los Olivos. It is known for its award winning white wines - mostly Sauvignon Blancs, but also Grenache Blanc, Chardonnay (done in steel - not oaky at all) and some fabulous white blends as well. If you enjoy dry roses, they have a wonderful one called Chateauneuf de Pink (as it is made in the dry style of Chateauneuf du Pape). Wed May 27 21:42:40 -0700 2009 4656311 323257 anneburns 1 4722971 You might try MyWinesDirect.com. They don't do a club, but you can buy six-packs that are just white or just red. They change their stock pretty often so you can try different things. I haven't ordered from them for a while, but the times I did, I was pretty happy with the quality. They're "Wednesday wines" generally--good quality everyday wines. Thu May 28 14:32:06 -0700 2009 4656311 39731 Sallie