Comments on Viva la Wino!: Chateau le Boscq Cru Bourgeois Superior 2005/Haven...

just grabbed a bottle of the chariot, so intereste...

2010-02-22T15:32:55.080-08:00

just grabbed a bottle of the chariot, so interested in drinking that soon. i saw the fire sale on the havens stuff at K&L as well, but was too lazy to pull the trigger. good insight from CFP about the other wines/labels.

good work on the leg of lamb, great for crowds and slow cooking is such a low stress method of cooking. i always disregard 'caulking' instructions however, again - laziness be damned.

Havens is making Galician whites, apparently: http...

2010-02-22T15:23:56.532-08:00

Havens is making Galician whites, apparently: http://www.napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_4e492d56-5805-5c70-b52d-acbb7ab50de0.html

So Albarino? Godello? He made an Albarino at Havens before, so that wouldf make sense.

I really liked the Syrah, although there are certa...

2010-02-22T11:20:27.819-08:00

I really liked the Syrah, although there are certainly a lot of other Syrah's for around 25$ that I would be into as well. Do you know if he's going to continue making wine under another label or for someone else?

Yeah, I paid $20 for the '05 Merlot. It was w...

2010-02-21T21:25:47.736-08:00

Yeah, I paid $20 for the '05 Merlot. It was worth about $10, if that. The '04 Bourriquot, meanwhile, was a little hot and jammy from the absurdly hot '04 vintage despite having nice Franc and Merlot character. Since those two, though, every Havens wine I've had has rocked. They definitely sport a good bit of oak, but it is generally well-integrated and top quality.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I didn't rea...

2010-02-21T12:35:49.584-08:00

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that the winery had been sold that early. There's a huge difference in style between the Syrah and this merlot, so I guess that makes a whole lot of sense why the merlot wasn't that good. It's crazy they thought they could sell it for 20$...I think 7$ is pushing it. I've got another bottle of it left (my neighbor bought a case for some reason?), which is definitely getting busted out with company.

Heidi Montag, lol! Sounds like this Merlot was a ...

2010-02-21T11:23:23.983-08:00

Heidi Montag, lol! Sounds like this Merlot was a mess! I stayed away from the basic Napa appellation Havens wines during the liquidation since it seemed likely they were manipulated. Havens sold the winery in '05 or '06 to Billington, a corporation based in CT. Billington started meddling with the blending at some point ('05 Napa Merlot, for sure), causing Havens, who was supposed to keep working at his namesake winery, to quit as consulting winemaker. I figured the vineyard designated wines from Carneros were safer since there's less room for clueless management to mess 'em up.

Sorry for getting you sidetracked on the Havens wines. I really only meant to suggest trying the '05 or '06 Hudson Syrah (vineyard designated, cool Carneros climate, cooler vintage, made by Havens). Anything Billington touched is suspect. I think they ramped up production when they got into financial trouble, and ended up making plonk at the Napa level.