Uncorked Ventures Wine Club

We’ve mentioned before, but we’re incredibly happy to be considered the top 90 point wine club out there-every single bottle we ship is either rated at 90+ points by well known wine critics, or it is made in such small quantities that no scores are available-but the quality it there in our opinion.

We get a fair number of questions on that second part, about our opinion and how we decide.  Sure, some people consider it a cop out on some level, but I thought I’d share a good example about why we want that leeway.

We shipped a bottle this month to our Special Selection Wine Club members called Stone the Crows.  It’s a new Napa Valley project, but the wine is being made by Thomas Rivers Brown, perhaps the most famous winemaker on the planet.  With multiple 100 point scores from Wine Advocate at multiple wineries, he is also the most sought after winemaker around as well.  We shared some more information about Stone the Crows on our Blog if you’re interested-but when we started talking about including the wine there were not any critics scores to back up our thoughts, that it might be the most impressive bottle we’ve sourced all year.

Now, 92 points from Parker and 94 points from Wine Enthusiast came out and the wine is very quickly sold out.  If we would have waited for the critics to catch up and publish, we wouldn’t have been able to share this memorable Cabernet Sauvignon with our customers.

By Mark Aselstine

Matt and I had the following to say on our Special Selections Wine Club newsletter:

We didn’t set out to send a Pinot Noir only shipment this month, but we felt strongly about the Chloe Creek Vineyard wine and the opportunity after over two years of trying, to work with Keefer Ranch on their vineyard designate estate Pinot was too good to pass up.  We hope these wines combine to help show off the dramatic differences that winemaking choices and vineyard choices can create in Sonoma Pinot Noir.

When we tell friends, family and neighbors about what we do, we often get something of a confused look.  As it turns out, people think that finding high quality wines is incredibly easy.  It really isn’t and finding wine which we are comfortable shipping to our wine club members is a continual challenge.  There is a ton of made to be sure, but frankly when you start getting into this $40+ price point-not all of it seems like a good value when you taste it.  Sure, a $40 wine is more likely to be good than a $10 wine- but at this price point we need to start seeing an experience when you open a bottle.  In this wine club shipment for our Special Selections wine club we thought both Pinot Noir choices offered something different and unique for Pinot Noir in California.  They are both higher acidity Pinot Noir’s, which makes for a nice and interesting accompaniment to your favorite fish or chicken dish.

By Mark Aselstine