Goodmorning,

Do you ever buy wines that u have never heard of, seen no press on, never tasted, and have never been scored?

If so, what factors influence your decision to purchase/try an unknown wine?

I have been a member on these forums for awhile now, mostly just read through the threads. My questions are based on being part of a very small winery trying to get started. We have had some success at boutique wine shops and wine bars, however collecting payment has been the biggest hurdle. Our mailing list is not big enough yet and I am looking for other ideas, not pitch the wine here. We really aren't big enough to go through a distributor. We have gotten some great feedback on both the wine quality and presentation. Thanks for any input.

Only on a recommendation from someone whose palate I trust.

Yes, but not frequently.

The few times I will might be if I'm looking for a Cab at the LWS and a new local producer catches my eye. If the owner is predisposed and I can't ask questions right away, I'll take a look at the back label and see if it tells me anything about the wine or the winery. If I'm intrigued enough by the information, I'll take a gamble.

So, in essence, I'd rather take a gamble on an unknown local producer than a out-of-state producer that I may have heard of.

Depends on the following factors:

1. What information I can find -- CT/BB tasting notes from people I trust, a recommendation from the LWS owner, etc.
2. Past experience with the winery or wine maker.
3. Objective information about the wine -- appellation, vintage, etc.
4. Price point -- the less confidence I get from 1-3 the lower it has to be.

I can't think of the last time I took a flyer on a completely unknown wine (no material information from 1-2 above) that retailed for more $12-15.

As an example of what you're up against, the last non-budget buy I made without at least a CT/BB tasting note was a 2005 Starry Night Zinfandel Montafi Vineyard.

On the other hand, I had enjoyed their less-expensive zinfandels, saw tasting notes for other vintages, and am familiar with the vineyard from the Carlisle bottling (formerly "Tom Feeney").

Also when it showed up randomly at the local store, I was hoping to do a side-by-side with that year's Carlisle, and might not have purchased it otherwise, but my friend was actually out.

In the end, it was very good, though at the price ($30), I'm not sure I'll by more.

1. Reasonable price that motivates my curiosity
2. Grape, Vintage or Region give a certain level of confidence
3. Free Tasting (given it taste good of course)
4. Which section of the shelf it is on ( this is true but varies for people. I tend to ignore every product within 5 ft distance from yellow tail)
5. A Big turn off would be free gifts like a pen or dollar-store wine gadgets. Usually only very low quality South African wines and box wines would try to pull this off.

6. Oh 1 more. I look at the back label to see if the oak treatment justify the price. Sometimes you'd be surprise to see a $20 wine which reads "Our wine has 5 month treatment in seasoned oak, some aged in stainless steal tanks" WTFFFFF ??

quote:

Originally posted by Montsant:
Depends on the following factors:

1. What information I can find -- CT/BB tasting notes from people I trust, a recommendation from the LWS owner, etc.
2. Past experience with the winery or wine maker.
3. Objective information about the wine -- appellation, vintage, etc.
4. Price point -- the less confidence I get from 1-3 the lower it has to be.

I can't think of the last time I took a flyer on a completely unknown wine (no material information from 1-2 above) that retailed for more $12-15.

Yeah, that about sums it up for me too. Except that I've had too many duff recommendations from LWS staff to put much credence on those.

quote:

Do you ever buy wines that u have never heard of, seen no press on, never tasted, and have never been scored

None of those really matter.

If I never heard of it but it's from an area I'm interested in or it' from a winemaker I know and trust or it's from an area I don't know but I'm interested in trying, I'll at least be interested in the wine.

Press isn't all that relevant either. Sometimes you hear about new wine. Sometimes you just read about wine and areas you already know about. Years ago, press mattered a lot more. Today I figure I taste as much wine as many people in the press, so I don't read for recommendations as much as info on areas.

Never tasted - I'm not going to buy multiple bottles of anything I haven't tasted and don't know, whether or not it's got press. But if the price isn't painful and it has something - area/winemaker/grape/style that I'm curious about, I may pick it up just to see.

Not scored - not relevant.

quote:

Originally posted by GregT:

quote:

Do you ever buy wines that u have never heard of, seen no press on, never tasted, and have never been scored

None of those really matter.

If I never heard of it but it's from an area I'm interested in or it' from a winemaker I know and trust or it's from an area I don't know but I'm interested in trying, I'll at least be interested in the wine.

Press isn't all that relevant either. Sometimes you hear about new wine. Sometimes you just read about wine and areas you already know about. Years ago, press mattered a lot more. Today I figure I taste as much wine as many people in the press, so I don't read for recommendations as much as info on areas.

Never tasted - I'm not going to buy multiple bottles of anything I haven't tasted and don't know, whether or not it's got press. But if the price isn't painful and it has something - area/winemaker/grape/style that I'm curious about, I may pick it up just to see.

Not scored - not relevant.

Agreed with Greg on the area I am interested in - and the amount purchased. This is how I originally got into RRV Pinot - I would see them at LWS and give a bottle a shot - if I enjoyed - I would buy more. Went through quite a few very enjoyable producers and found many we still drink today.

Also, I enjoy the little notes on the back of bottles. I understand they are sales pitches - but they are nice to read and wish more had them (expecially Bordeaux blends that do not list grapes).

I need SOMETHING to base a purchase on.

If I have no information to help me come to a decision, I won't do it blindly. Too much good wine out there that I have information on.

I prefer to have tasted it, the ratings, the auction values, vintage history, and recommendations of those whom I trust. The internet has spoiled me

quote:

This is how I originally got into RRV Pinot - I would see them at LWS and give a bottle a shot - if I enjoyed - I would buy more. Went through quite a few very enjoyable producers and found many we still drink today.

Sticky - do it like Whitey. I understand the desire for "some" info, but your palate is as good as anyone else's. Plus, if a critic or someone on CT likes a wine, you still might think it sucks. I love the idea of CT but I don't use it at all for recs - it's way too random. But if Molesworth or Suckling or someone mentioned a wine and you bought it, next time you see one from the same area or winery or whatever, why not give it a shot?

Oh yeah, and go to tastings! I never pass up a free glass. Going to taste some new wines from Chile tonight. Not sure if they're on the market yet and definitely not scored or reviewed, so maybe I'll post a note and be the first data point!

I'm going to preface my comment with an observation that a wine with no press, no reviews, and no county fair awards would be a true rarity.

That said, based on zero knowledge of a producer I will sometimes give a new wine a try. I discovered the white wines of Movia (Serbia) just on the hunch that if someone was featuring a Serbian wine, there must be a reason.

The chances that I'll try a wine vary by region. I'll try red wines from Washington blindly, but not Bordeaux without a recommendation. Pinot Noirs from Oregon, yes, Burgundies, no.

If it's an expensive wine then I want some form of reference which is easy to find these days. Otherwise I'd just pick one up and try it. I almost never buy any wine that I'm not at least familiar with the producer or have heard about them.

I should add that the reputation of the importer can be a big factor in whether I'll take a risk on an unknown name.

As other have said, the chance I'll try a wine diminishes as the price goes up, and also if the price is too low. A decent discount is often an incentive. An outrageous discount makes me think something must be wrong.

I do it once in a while but never pay more than 15-20 bucks for it.

quote:

Originally posted by pape du neuf:
I discovered the white wines of Movia (Serbia) just on the hunch that if someone was featuring a Serbian wine, there must be a reason.

Movia is from Slovenia, at least the well known one is, is there another?

OK,

So I still don't know squat about Movia,(and about the same about Slovenia) but I do like the wines.

I do this a lot on value priced wines under $20. Especially 2nd bottlings from winemakers who I like. -mJ

quote:

Originally posted by pape du neuf:
OK,

So I still don't know squat about Movia,(and about the same about Slovenia) but I do like the wines.

Sorry Pape, rereading I can see how my post could be construed as somewhat rude, didn't mean to be. I do agree with you that Movia makes excellent wines.

Vt,

I didn't take your comment as rude at all. I'd rather be corrected than persist in being wrong.

Only if it is cheap.

We've bounced around this issue before. My position is that I don't typically buy into poor vintages without wine review. If the vintage is reported as very good+, I'll buy blind by vintner. Not so on off vintages

The problem with than is, of course, some times the reviews are very slow to come. Harvey S. has just recently started to release reviews on some of the 07 Oregon pinots. Many have not yet shown up. Most of my buying decisions were made on two trips out there in the past year. If I waited on Harvey, my buying would be almost nil. Other rags have released some ratings to go by.

07 Oregon pinots are a great example, imo. Quality is spotty. One wine of a vintner will be quite good, the next poor. Funky year with inconsistent results. Help is always appreciated with you're dropping $40-$75 /btl on wine.

When I travel in Europe I find a lot of wines I never heard of, and take a stab at purchasing them. Try for local stuff. Love to experiment

Prior to going to Spain Erin & I bought 8 cases of wines from all regions before we got there. Most all of unheard of wines. Of the 8 cases, maybe we were diappointed with about 5 - 6 bottles.

what the hell - live dnagerously

quote:

That said, based on zero knowledge of a producer I will sometimes give a new wine a try. I discovered the white wines of Movia (Serbia) just on the hunch that if someone was featuring a Serbian wine, there must be a reason.

And Serbia is making some shockingly good wines at dirt cheap prices. Not imported. I'm trying to figure out how to sell those if someone were to import them because there is negative mind-share in the American public. In Europe, that might be the best potential value of all if someone were to figure out how to do it. I tried a series of wines from there that should retail for $8 or less and could easily compete with something twice as expensive. But if customers are waiting for reviews, press, scores, etc., those wines will sit on the shelves for a year, after which they may start to move slowly but you'll be drinking an inexpensive white wine that's already a year old.

I'm not knocking the reviewers or the print media because they operate under obvious constraints. But as a consumer, if you are not willing to take a chance on something, you don't give an importer a reason to introduce something outside of the familiar.

Fl Wino - you bought 8 cases and only had 5 - 6 disappointments? The importers sure didn't have that experience. You have no idea how much crap they choked on before selecting the wines you tried. I'm curious as to what unheard of wines you may have purchased tho.

I would answer "no" but I remember two exceptions:

Once Dan Kravitz recommended a Spanish wine that I had a (good) friend bring back from Spain. This was about two years ago and I still haven't opened the wine so I don't know if it was a good buy or not.

Years before that I was browsing in K & D Wines. A sales person (named Paul, long gone from K & D) recommended a wine and I bought a bottle. It was a Cabernet from Washington named Quilceda Creek.

Derek

quote:

Fl Wino - you bought 8 cases and only had 5 - 6 disappointments? The importers sure didn't have that experience. You have no idea how much crap they choked on before selecting the wines you tried. I'm curious as to what unheard of wines you may have purchased tho.

We bought all wines through Lavina web-site in Madrid. There was a bit of description for some of them. we looked at primary known areas of Spain.

As for getting the TN's on these, it would be difficult as we got and consumed many before CT.

Some of the ones still in cellar are:
1999 Celler de Cantonella Costers del Segre Cérvoles
2001 Clos Mogador Priorat Nelin
1997 Bodegas Gandía Tempranillo Reserva Hoya de Cadenas
2001 Marqués de Griñón Cabernet Sauvignon Dominio de Valdepusa
2000 La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja
2000 Artadi Rioja Viñas de Gain
2001 Finca Allende Rioja

DRANK
1999 Cervoles
2004 Conreria d'Scala Dei Priorat Les Brugueres
2003 Txomin Etxaniz Arabako Txakolina
2002 Azul y Garanza Navarra Red Wine
1999 Marqués de Griñón Cabernet Sauvignon Dominio de Valdepusa
2000 Celler Vall Llach Priorat Embruix
2000 Casa de la Ermita Jumilla
2000 Enrique Mendoza Alicante Santa Rosa Reserva
2000 Guelbenzu Ribera del Queiles Evo
1970 Fondillón (Robert Brotons) Alicante Gran Reserva (Spain, Valencia, Alicante)
1998 Bodegas Valdemar (Martinez Bujanda) Rioja Conde de Valdemar Gran Reserva
2000 Celler Vall Llach Priorat Embruix

As I remember the 1970 Fondillion was old, and even with decanting it was hard to drink.