There are lots of ways to group products in the wine business, some very general, others very spectific. The most typical ones would be by varietal, by vintage, by producer or by country or even region of origin. But this group has its own unique subset that is perhaps a little outside the normal parameters by which this industry works. This particular trio is arguably linked by the fact that they each have their own unique version of the same story...that none of them should actually still be here. We'll explain. We could do it the easy way and just say that these are all part of a most desiable subset in the wine world right nowhese days, that being "wines that got reviews over 90 points and sell for under $20." The reason that they shouldn't be here is because they shouldn't still be anywhere. They are too good and too well priced to still be available at all. All of these were released quite a while ago.
The distributor did such a good job of 'allocating' the delicious, dark Syrah-driven d'Andezon Cotes du Rhone 2009, they still had a pile of if sitting around when they got word the 2010 was going to land soon. At $9.99 this is cuvee of 90% Syrah/10% Grenache blend from vines that avdrage 40 and 60 years of age respectively, an Advocate 91, is a steal.
The sensational Girardin Beaujolais Crus were new for the 2009 vintage. So we can understand how typical sales folks might opt to sell typical Cabernet and Chardonnay rather than something a bit more esoteric and hard to say like Fleurie Vieilles Vignes Clos de la Chapelle 2009 , even if Josh Raynolds of Tanzer's International Wine Cellar gave it 92 points and said, "...This wine conjures up visions of Chambolle-Musigny." It is also from arguably the greatest modern vintage for Beaujolais and we sold plenty of its stablemate at around $20.
As to the Norton Malbec Reserva 2007, that was in the Wine Spectator Top 100...in 2010! You'd think that would have made it go away even at its original list of $20. But apparently this batch was lost in the warehouse for a spell. Hey stuff happens, and we are happy to help out finding homes for great buys. We'd like to think the purveyors were just giving the wines a little time in the bottle for us. Great buys here, while they last.
