Good Juice Direct

07/16/2014

Dear Good Juice Customers,
We would like to thank all of you for your continued support of our site over the past two years. Unfortunately, even with everyone's best efforts, maintaining an on-line presence just became too difficult to maintain. I would like to personally thank all of you who supported us on a regular basis. It was terrific interacting with all of you, talking about our favorite subject...wine! Although our on-line site GJD will no longer exist, if you are interested in receiving information on daily deals from our storefront site, Grand Cru Wine Shop, I encourage you to contact [email protected] to get on his e-mail distribution list. Tom has been a wine retailer for over 40 years, and there's very few people on this earth who know as much about wine as Tom. Much of what I know, I learned from Tom. One advantage of signing up for Tom's e-mails is that he will often market wines that are only available in smaller quantities. We did not have the luxury to promote some of these highly sought-after gems on the GJD site.

All outstanding orders will be fulfilled and shipped out by the end of the week. If you have a need to place an order for one of your favorites, today will be the last day the site is up. Those orders will also be fulfilled and shipped out by Friday.

I wish all of you a wonderful summer, and may all your wines be good juice!

Steve

07/02/2014

July 3, 2014 (Thu) from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Celebrate the Fourth a little early, and taste some fantastic American Wines!

07/02/2014

Good Juice Direct offers three unique daily wine deals for every wine lover. Bringing wine buying into 21st century. Best daily wine deals.

07/01/2014

Gorgeous Wines From Paul Draper

Folks sometimes ask me what the best California Cabernet Sauvignon is. I tell them it's one I can rarely get, the Ridge "Monte Bello". Time and again I have picked it in blind tastings of top California Cabs as the best on the table. But there's so little of it, and it's so expensive, that I only rarely get any for the store. This is not about that wine, anyway. But it is about Paul Draper, the guy behind Monte Bello Cabernet. He's such a good winemaker that every wine he releases is impressive. I've recently tasted two, a white and a red, and I wanted to tell you about them. Draper has been winemaker at Ridge since 1969; he practices what he proudly calls "Pre-Industrial" winemaking, a reference to Jancis Robinson's comment that 90% of the world's wines are "industrial". The results are spectacular.

The 2012 "Monte Bello" Chardonnay below is lovely, an elegant expression of the grape that often reminded me of fine white Burgundy yet clearly displays the California influence. The grapes are grown in the Santa Cruz Mountains at the 2200 foot level from 27 year-old vines; very little new oak is used. It shows in the quality.

The 2012 "Geyserville" cuvee is an exotic, and so enticing that even Zinfandel haters will love it. Stephen Tanzer certainly agreed with me in that, giving it a 93-point score (an equivalent of 95 points from anyone else. It's a truly special wine.

2012 Ridge Chardonnay "Monte Bello" (Santa Cruz Mountains, CA) Shelf price: $52.99 Collectors' Club price $43.45
Not a score to be found, but a quote from Matt Kramer of The Wine Spectator: "... simply one of the world's greatest Chardonnays, bar none." My score: 92 points

2012 Ridge "Geyserville" (Sonoma County, CA) Shelf price: $41.99 Collectors' Club price $34.43
93 points, Stephen Tanzer: "(71% zinfandel, 19% carignane, 7% petite sirah, 2% mataro and 1% alicante bouschet): Inky purple. A heady, exotically perfumed bouquet displays scents of dark berry liqueur, potpourri, smoky oak and Indian spices, with a hint of licorice in the background. Fleshy, palate-staining black raspberry and boysenberry flavors become brighter and spicier with air and pick up a sexy lavender pastille nuance. Supple tannins add support to an extremely long, sweet finish that extends the berry and floral notes. As fine an example of this consistently excellent bottling as I've had in years."

06/27/2014

How Did They Pull This Off?
When I tasted this wine a couple of old adages came to mind.

"There's great wine made even in lousy vintages." "Tough vintages separate the mediocre winemakers from the truly talented ones."
The Abeja Cabernet Sauvignon from 2011 surely proves the truth of both these sayings. I just say, "Wow".

It's been a long time since I've found myself so impressed by a wine. I was expecting something along the lines of all the other 2011 Washington State reds I've tasted: a good-ish wine that drinks well now but lacks a little something and has little future. It was that kind of vintage.

But what I experienced was something quite different, something quite delicious. Abeja somehow managed to capture their usually focused fruit, sweet oak, and silky texture, even in this cool, challenging vintage. I was blown away.

o was The Wine Enthusiast's Paul Gregutt; he scored it 94 points and gave it a Cellar Selection designation. So do yourself a favor and taste this wine, if only to prove to yourself one (or both) of those old sayings.

And it doesn't hurt that Collectors' Club members pay the lowest price in the country for this excellent wine. Well, there is this one guy in Idaho .... but do you know how much the gas would cost to get to Sandpoint? (We're even cheaper than The Unnamed Giant Wine Retailer Down The Street!)

2011 Abeja Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley, WA)
Shelf price: $52.99 Collectors' Club price $41.99 net
94 points, Wine Enthusiast and Cellar Selection -- "Tasted pre-release, this is already extraordinary, especially for this challenging vintage. The fruit (from Heather Hill, Kiona and Sagemoor) is dense, dark and detailed—an immaculate and thrilling wine, loaded with cassis, smoke and chocolate. The concentration, balance and length put it among the best Washington Cabernets of the vintage."

06/26/2014

At Grand Cru Wine Shop tonight!
North To South, East To West -- It's All Here To Taste, Tonight

We've stayed away from Italian wines on Thursday nights in the weeks since the Vino Amore Mega Tasting; time to catch up. We'll start in the north, work our way south, and circle around again.

Here's the line up:
2010 Lois Lageder Pinot Bianco "Haberle" $19.99 --
Rich and complex yet refreshing.

N.V. Piccini "Memoro" Red $10.99 --
A blend from all over Italy, the big hit of the Mega Tasting.

2009 Paitin Barbaresco "Serra" $27.99 --
Another big hit from the big tasting, an unusually fine Barbaresco for the money.

2006 Eubea Aglianico del Vulture "Covo dei Briganti" $24.99 --From some of the oldest vineyards in Italy, this wine is sometimes called the "Barolo of the south".

2008 Arena Amarone della Valpolicella Classico $40.99 --
Lush and rich, classic Amarone at a great price.

Why not join us? We start at 5, end at 7. The company is witty, and so are the crackers. Bring ten bucks and taste more than $125 worth of wine..

06/24/2014

Wine Industry News for Jun 23, 2014

06/24/2014

Best Buy Oregon Pinot Noir?
This is a lot of Pinot for $20.

It's sweet, spicy, and smooth and drinking beautifully right now. That's my impression, anyway, but you don't have to take my word for it (even though I retasted it on Friday). I've got Stephen Tanzer to back me up (his review is way down at the bottom).
And even more impressively, I've got a California wine writer singing its praises. And when you get the wine editor for the San Francisco Chronicle saying pretty things about Oregon wine, it must be pretty good (I'm quoting him below).
To top it off, we've managed to get this beauty at a great price, the (almost) best in the country. (Well, there is this guy in Portland selling it for 80 cents less, but I'm ignoring him; you should, too.) And so, without further ado ...

2011 Stoller Family Pinot Noir "Estate" (Dundee Hills, OR)
Shelf price: $27.99 Collectors' Club price $19.99 net
Reviewed by Jon Bonne, San Francisco Chronicle -- "Score another for experience, this time from winemaker Melissa Burr. Stoller's more straightforward bottling, formerly known as the JV, is plush and oak-accented, with warm accents of bergamot, nutmeg, dry bark. The best part of a sunny forest. The fruit is polished cherry, with a beautiful texture and none of the spiky acidity that was a risk in 2011.

06/19/2014

Bordeaux-ish Style Red Blends
Plus A Pink Wine

Last week we wandered around the world for our TNT; today we'll circle back to Washington State and sample some wines that please. Specifically, we'll pop corks on a few cabernet- and merlot-based reds from some of our favorite producers. We'll start with a rose, but then dive into four delicious reds.

Here's the line up:
2013 Gilbert Cellars Rose of Mourvedre $16.99 -- Just the wine to refresh; perhaps the sun will shine!
2012 Januik Red Wine $20.99 -- Great value in a red; the vintage is fine, and it doesn't hurt to have Mike Januik doing the blending.
2010 Ross Andrew Red Blend $26.99 -- No wonder Ross labeled this "Washington Red Blend" -- there's 5% syrah in the cab/merlot mix!
2012 "The Vincent" $20.99 -- Made by Mark Ryan, but labeled as Board Track Racer; the blend here changes to 60% syrah with 40% cab.
2011 Long Shadows "Pedestal" $62.99 -- There's enough merlot in this one to label it as such, but it's still a blend; cab and petit verdot make up the balance. And famed winemaker Michel Roland did the consulting.

Why not join us? We start at 5, end at 7. The company is witty, and so are the crackers. Bring ten bucks and taste more than $149 worth of wine.

Hope to see you,
Tom and Chris

06/18/2014

Introducing Waitsburg Cellars
Paul Gregutt is fairly known to many wine drinkers. If you have ever seen the initials P.G. after a wine review on a Northwest wine, in Wine Enthusiast magazine, that's Paul Gregutt. Not only has he been the publication's Northwest Wine Editor, he has also written for other publications including the Seattle Times, Decanter and Wine Spectator.
Today's Special Offer: Additional 10% Off
Any Waitsburg Cellars Wine Order of $100 or More
Coupon Code: WAITSBURG10, Expires: Midnight, Tonight Purchase Requirement: Any minimum $100 order from today's three featured wines from Waitsburg Cellars. Mix and Match all you like!

Today’s Steal of the Day
A Taste of Mosel from Washington State!
2012 Waitsburg Cellars The Aromatics Riesling
SAVE 20% PER BOTTLE, ONLY $15.99!
WINE SPECTATOR -- 90 Points

Today’s Collector’s Corner
Round, Soft, Rich and Spicy!
2012 Waitsburg Cellars "Three" Red
SAVE $6 A BOTTLE, ONLY $23.99!

Today’s Un-Mined Gems
A Twist on Classic Vouvray!
2013 Waitsburg Cellars The Aromatics Chevray
SAVE 15% PER BOTTLE, ONLY $16.99!
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Good Juice Direct offers three unique daily wine deals for every wine lover. Bringing wine buying into 21st century. Best daily wine deals.

06/17/2014

Avennia Strikes Again!
They are also proof of my theorem that the "difficult" vintages -- years such as 2011 -- let us see who the good winemakers are. When the weather is challenging, they shine where less talented winemakers fail. If anyone needed more proof that Chris Petterson is a fine winemaker, his bevy of exceptional 2011s is all they will need.

No, not that Chris Peterson; the other one. The one who made fine wines with Chris Upchurch at DeLille. The one who has been turning out impressive wines from his very first releases at Avennia back in 2010

2011 Avennia "Gravura" (Columbia Valley, WA)
Shelf price: $36.99 Collectors' Club price $30.33
(90-93 points) Wine Advocate -- "Moving into the 2011 Bordeaux blends, Chris’s 2011 Gravura, slated to be bottled in June, is comprised of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. Aged 20 months in 50% new French oak, it is made from declassified lots that didn’t fit with the Sestina blend. Showing a deep, smoky nose, with a kiss of oak, it offers plenty of black fruits, liquid smoke, coffee bean and toast qualities as well as a medium-bodied, firm, structured feel on the palate. More fruit emerges as it sits in the glass and while it needs a handful of years to integrate, I like the mid-palate and it is beautifully balanced. It will have upwards of a decade of longevity. Drink 2015-2021.

06/05/2014

American (New) in Bellevue, WA