The journey of our Magic red wine blend has taken many turns over the years. It was originally crafted as a reasonably priced house wine for Hollywood’s fabled Magic Castle. As an amateur magician and enthusiast of the magical arts, Judd became a member of the Magic Castle in the early 2000s. The affordable Napa red wine blend that he created was an instant hit with his fellow members and their guests, and became a staple of the Castle’s wine program for years to come. The story of this wine continues today, as a winery-only gem, primarily sold to our Wine Club members. Each Magic release is unique but the wine is consistently a food-friendly blend of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals sourced from the Napa Valley. Our ultimate goal is to create an affordable wine for every day drinking that pairs well with a wide range of culinary creations.
Bright aromas of fresh strawberries and tart cherries offer a hint to the fruity flavors of this wine. Further flavors of raspberry jam with a hint of anise and white pepper further fill out the palate. This wine is very lively on the palate with a bright acidity and soft, supple tannins.
Food Paring
When it comes to food pairings, our Magic cuvee is about as versatile as a wine can be. Similar to a nice Chianti, but with much brighter and more concentrated fruit, this wine is sure to be a hit served alongside the savory, tomato-based dishes of Italy. Or try it with a good, old-fashioned western bacon cheeseburger with Cheddar cheese, grilled red onions and barbecue sauce. The sweet and savory flavors of this old standby dish work in perfect harmony with our balanced and luscious Magic blend. No hocus pocus, just a great wine and a great value!
Judd’s Hill is owned and operated by two generations of the Finkelstein family. Bunnie, Judd and Holly Finkelstein are vintners dedicated to producing ultra-premium, handcrafted wines. Our family has been making wine in Napa Valley since the 1970’s and continues to produce signature wines that are fruit-driven, concentrated and just simply delicious. Taking an intimate and personal approach to our winemaking, we limit our annual production to less than 3,000 cases.
In 2006 construction was completed on our new winery located at the southern end of the Silverado Trail. We designed it to be as green as possible, minimizing our impact on the land. The use of environmentally efficient drainage, solar lighting and an aggressive recycling and composting program are a few ways that our winery uses smart design to make a difference. As a result, Judd’s Hill has been certified as one of the first Napa Valley Green Wineries by the Napa Valley Vintners.
Our new facility is considerably larger than our original Howell Mountain winery and gives us more room to serve our Custom MicroCrush clients. It also houses our new tasting room that is tucked amidst the beautiful vines of Napa Valley and welcomes visitors daily by advance appointment.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
Judd’s Hill Magic Napa Valley Red Wine
6 bottles for $64.99 $10.83/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $114.99 $9.58/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
I must’ve done something nice in a previous life because I haven’t done anything in this life to warrant getting to lab rat twice in 50 days. Perhaps a bit of magic, in this case Judd’s Hill Magic red blend.
The wine had a synthetic cork and on pop and pour it was a clear ruby red with an aroma and bouquet of cherry, occasional strawberry jolly rancher and a fleeting eucalyptus and minty note.
On first taste fruit predominates, primarily cherry, with lesser cranberry and raspberry, mild tannins and medium acidity. Moderate finish. My AWS score is 13/20, rated as a good wine, and it is a good wine.
I had a cheeseburger on day one and a greasy pizza with a sweet tomato sauce on day two, the bottle finished it’s life as a cocktail on the porch with the neighbors and performed well in all settings.
This wine was crafted to be the house wine at Hollywood’s fabled Magic Castle, according to the website. It does everything a good house wine should do, it is enjoyable as a cocktail yet it will stand up to food. The wine will be an enjoyable part of the evening but not upstage the chef or the performers. The wine will likely be enjoyed by both the occasional wine drinker and a casemate wineaux with a more experienced palate.
If this wine was ice cream it would be vanilla, a good vanilla, not the value vanilla but also not the $10 a pint stuff. It would nicely complement your homemade apple pie but would allow the focus to remain on your baking.
This wine is clearly a step up from a the typical restaurant house wine. I hope this paints a picture of a nice Napa red blend.
I would happily serve this wine to friends and family. Given a winery price of $24 Magic should come in as a real value.
Hopefully there will be vintner participation, I would guess the pH is above 3.5, no new oak, and would like to know the varietal composition. I’m curious whether this was an intentional second tier blend from a good producer or was the best blend with the remaining wine after fulfilling the wine program, which might give us a glimpse into the winemaker style.
I am hesitant to play “guess the varietal”, which usually means Merlot, perhaps some Cab and a wild guess on some Sangiovese.
I recall an April 2010 Judd’s Hill offer had a Pinot, a Cab and I believe a Merlot. How’s that for pulling a rabbit out of a hat?
@msten You’ve got a great palate! pH is 3.7 and there, indeed, is no new oak. This goes along with our philosophy of letting the grapes do their thing. We are in the midst of Napa Valley, (One of) the world’s greatest grape growing regions, so we want the fruit to be the stars of the show.
Most of our reds are aged in once-used barrels so as to get a hint of wood. We don’t want that to ever overshadow the varietal.
The Magic blend is a wine that has evolved since 2001 as a way for us to spotlight how different varietals can play together and compliment each other. Each bottling is different by design and we’re always thrilled to show off these delicious blends.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
Judd’s Hill Magic Napa Valley Red Wine - $15 = 11.53%
We were out of town last Wednesday when I received notice of a UPS delivery from WCC. Since I didn’t have any outstanding shipments, I knew what that meant (and a quick check of my email confirmed it)! We were not expecting to be home on Thursday in time to accept a UPS delivery (usually about 6pm for us), so I took advantage of the recent ability to redirect to access points and had the shipment delivered to the closest UPS store to our home (which was directly on our route home). I was happy to see it delivered at 10:30am, and when I picked it up about 6pm there was no additional charge (making summer ordering look much more appealing).
From the delivery notice I was expecting to receive a bottle of Judd’s Hill Magic. I put it in the wine fridge for a few days, deciding to try it on Saturday and Sunday nights in anticipation of the offer going live late Sunday. One of the winery suggested pairings (besides “savory, tomato-based dishes of Italy”) was “a good, old-fashioned western bacon cheeseburger with Cheddar cheese, grilled red onions and barbecue sauce”. That fit right into one of our coming meal plans (except I didn’t have red onion on hand so I used yellow, and I have my burgers on a lettuce bed instead of a bun). I pulled the synthetic cork (and poured initial tastes) about 1.5 hours before dinner.
It was a deep red (almost seemed opaque) color in the glass, coated the inside well on swirling. On the nose I got a lot of red fruit and a hint of eucalyptus. The initial taste was very full, deep red fruit (likely cherry), reflecting the Napa heritage of the grapes. It seemed to have decent acidity and not a lot of tannins. The flavor did not seem change between opening, with the meal, and finishing the last glass of the night later. I capped the bottle and stored it back in the fridge.
I decided on pizza for the second night (we make a keto-friendly “fathead pizza” for me). On the second night the wine seemed to have lost some of its freshness – it was good, but not as good as the first night. The lack of development after opening on the first night and the diminishing on the second suggests to me that this wine is likely at the later stages of its drinking window. I noticed that neither the winery, the bottle, nor CaseMates mentions the year of their Magic offering (but the latest date on CellarTracker is 2012).
All-in-all, this is a tasty, easy-drinking red, with a lot of fruit (more of the “crowd-pleaser” type) that works well on its own and with food. Since the winery price is $24, and according to the winery it is only sold directly and through the Magic Castle, I was interested to see what kind of pricing magic @Winedavid49 would pull out of his hat, and the case price on this wine is attractive (but again, I would not plan on long cellaring).
I had my notes prepared to post this morning, but when I got up my desktop PC was not giving my any video, so I had to recreate my notes using my wife’s laptop. I found it interesting to see that @msten and I both chose the same food pairings, and I was a bit surprised as well when I received my LabRat notice since my previous was on June 1. Thanks to Alice and CaseMates for the opportunity.
and I was a bit surprised as well when I received my LabRat notice since my previous was on June 1.
Yeah, it’s interesting that several people have gotten multiple rat opportunities in quick succession while others seem to have fallen off the rat radar. It doesn’t seem related to (my perceived) quality of the notes, either. I’d be fine if people posting more detailed notes and doing methodical tastings were prioritized.
This is Judd from Judd’s Hill and I’ll be here for the next 30 minutes, happy to answer questions and talk about this Magic and what’s going on at the winery. Thanks for being a part of this!
@Mark_L I had mentioned in another comment that Eric, our winemaker loves to experiment and we encourage his creativity. By design, this is a multi-vintage wine using a blend of varietals that don’t often get bottled together. The goal was stylistic… to have a wine with some depth that would be approachable in its youth, with an eye towards food-friendliness.
I pop a bottle about once a week and hope you’ll enjoy it, too!
@Mark_L Nice write-up. You’re right that this wine is made to drink sooner rather than later. I often enjoy a glass while cooking dinner and then the rest of the bottle within the next couple hours during the meal. That’s the window I recommend after opening.
@msten, thanks for the write-up and the questions.
Our winemaker, Eric Lyman, loves to experiment with varietals, wood, yeasts, blends, etc. This is the result of some his creativity in combining wines that often aren’t bottled together.
The varietal makeup is:
55% Merlot
20% Cab Sauv
11% Cab Franc
7% Syrah
4% Zin
3% Pinot Noir
I just purchased that Dusi red blend – with which I am really pleased – how does this one compare? I’m liking blends lately and it seems like a great price. My hesitation is that this, based on the comments, seems ready to drink and I only have about 1 bottle a week, sometimes only 2 a month. Wondering if it will be past its prime by the time I get to it?
Also, I was a rat once. I miss it. Please rat me again!
The Judd Magic was foul! I ordered the Stag that will be delivered later this month. I expect a resolution to this Magic order before I take another delivery from Classmates
@cityisland14 I honestly don’t order much in the hot months. Ends up being a waste when stuff shows up cooked. it’s happened enough to me from a variety of sites that I avoid the sales that require shipping in July, August & September, just my preference.
In addition, the box and strofoam packaging was poor quality. The cardboard box was thin and flimsy. The strofoam was broken on 50% of bottles and very thin, third rate. Cases of wine that I bought from other websites were twice to three times as thick. Casemates needs to up their packaging even if they need to increase shipping costs.
@cityisland14@CorTot The biggest variable seems to be whenever the F UPS decides to show up. Most of our deliveries lately have been very late in the day. It doesn’t matter if you use 2 day shipping and then spend 12 hours driving around in a blazingly hot truck. The larger the thermal mass (i.e. more bottles) the longer it will take for it to heat up. I never had an issue with UPS because they were always here by late morning/early afternoon. Not enough time for the wine to get hot.
My Magic was delivered this past Thursday (I redirected it to a UPS Store (to lessen the time in the back of the truck). Temperature seemed fine (it had been at the store a while before I picked it up). Opened one last night and it seemed very similar to my rat bottle (I enjoyed both).
I do not plan to open another bottle unless customer service instructs me. I have not received a response or acknowledgement to this issue. I placed an order for the Stag that I will cancel if this is not resolved.
I am concerned that the regulars that constantly respond are just part of a scam. I will keep others up to date checking this thread. In addition, no response from producer who was so gracious when the designated wine aficionados were praising it’s wine.
@cityisland14 I’m not sure what “regulars” you suspect to be part of a scam. If so, it has been going on for many years (back to the days of wine.woot in 2006). Also, it is not terribly surprising that the producer has not responded, since their offering is no longer a current offering. It might help if you included them on your response, as they will receive a notice of being mentioned. @JuddWine
@cityisland14 I’m not a regular, but this band has been together for a long time, dating all the way back to Wine Woot. The regulars have called out many offerings if they felt that it was warranted. It is wise to be cautious of what unknown commentators say on the web, but I assure that this is not a scam. I’m also confident that your situation will be resolved to your satisfaction. Generally this is a very kind and civil site. Lately as an outcome of Covid stress that civility has been slipping. Please everyone remember that this is a different place than the rest of the web. We encourage differences of opinion and listen respectfully to one another.
@cityisland14 I would say that given that your complaint seems more based on heat damage than the quality of the wine, I’m not sure that the party you want is the winery anyway. I’d include @Winedavid49 if I was really concerned that Casemates was not responding adequately.
Also, I’d give their customer service 1-2 business days to respond.
@cityisland14@InFrom@JuddWine@Winedavid49
Also, I just wanted to mention that Casemates/@Winedavid49 has an impeccable (as far as I know) reputation for making things right when there is a problem with a product.
@cityisland14
Hello! I am so sorry to hear of a less than stellar delivery. We carefully vet who we work with, as it is our wine and reputation on the line. We have known the fine folks at Casemates for over a decade, and trust they will make this right. We have reached out to WineDave on your behalf, and will keep an eye on this conversation.
Thanks for the feedback. Please explain contact how to contact, @Winedavid49@JuddWine. Regarding your comment on heat damage, as a producer or distributor, would you risk your reputation sending it if there was that risk?
@cityisland14 yes, please email support. they’ll take care of you. sorry you got some impacted wine. looks like it may have been knocked around more than usual.
@cityisland14 Of course nobody wants to see customers disappointed, but it seems to me that for the seller a balance has to be struck. Once the shipment is given to UPS or FedEx, it’s out of the seller’s hands. They could protect it by putting it into bullet-proof packaging, or shipping it door-to-door in a refrigerated truck. But how much is it reasonable to put into packaging and shipping a 10-dollar bottle of wine?
When someone mentions you in a post, you get a notification. So that’s how you contact them. It’s like the Bat signal.
@cityisland14 We had a cooked shipment a while back and my wife (who was the purchaser) got a full refund. The catch was that it took a while because CS was slammed (apparently) and then the email went to spam. So (a) keep pinging them and (b) keep checking your spam folders.
Casemates contacted me and the issue was resolved professionally and promptly. @WineDavid49, @JuddWine. Going forward, I will request that my shipments be deferred until the fall …or I will defer ordering during the July-Sept period.
Thanks to all on this board that assisted and provided feedback.
@Winedavid49@WCCWineGirl Is something up with shipping on these? I got a notification 8/7 that it would be delivered 8/8, but I haven’t seen any change in the UPS tracking. Is anyone else having similar issues (I can understand with the heat and fires right now, just want to be sure it’s not lost)?
Magic Napa Valley Red Wine
Tasting Notes
Food Paring
Specs
Included in the Box
Price Comparison
$371.76 at Judd’s Hill for 12x Magic Napa Valley Red Wine
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Aug 27 - Monday, Aug 31
Judd’s Hill Magic Napa Valley Red Wine
6 bottles for $64.99 $10.83/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $114.99 $9.58/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
NV Judd’s Hill Magic Napa Valley Red Wine
I just caught a glimpse of a Magic disappearing Rat.
Hopefully to soon reappear, after tidying up a bit.
I must’ve done something nice in a previous life because I haven’t done anything in this life to warrant getting to lab rat twice in 50 days. Perhaps a bit of magic, in this case Judd’s Hill Magic red blend.
The wine had a synthetic cork and on pop and pour it was a clear ruby red with an aroma and bouquet of cherry, occasional strawberry jolly rancher and a fleeting eucalyptus and minty note.
On first taste fruit predominates, primarily cherry, with lesser cranberry and raspberry, mild tannins and medium acidity. Moderate finish. My AWS score is 13/20, rated as a good wine, and it is a good wine.
I had a cheeseburger on day one and a greasy pizza with a sweet tomato sauce on day two, the bottle finished it’s life as a cocktail on the porch with the neighbors and performed well in all settings.
This wine was crafted to be the house wine at Hollywood’s fabled Magic Castle, according to the website. It does everything a good house wine should do, it is enjoyable as a cocktail yet it will stand up to food. The wine will be an enjoyable part of the evening but not upstage the chef or the performers. The wine will likely be enjoyed by both the occasional wine drinker and a casemate wineaux with a more experienced palate.
If this wine was ice cream it would be vanilla, a good vanilla, not the value vanilla but also not the $10 a pint stuff. It would nicely complement your homemade apple pie but would allow the focus to remain on your baking.
This wine is clearly a step up from a the typical restaurant house wine. I hope this paints a picture of a nice Napa red blend.
I would happily serve this wine to friends and family. Given a winery price of $24 Magic should come in as a real value.
Hopefully there will be vintner participation, I would guess the pH is above 3.5, no new oak, and would like to know the varietal composition. I’m curious whether this was an intentional second tier blend from a good producer or was the best blend with the remaining wine after fulfilling the wine program, which might give us a glimpse into the winemaker style.
I am hesitant to play “guess the varietal”, which usually means Merlot, perhaps some Cab and a wild guess on some Sangiovese.
I recall an April 2010 Judd’s Hill offer had a Pinot, a Cab and I believe a Merlot. How’s that for pulling a rabbit out of a hat?
@msten I like the vanilla ice cream analogy!
@msten that was a magical report. Thank you.
@msten
Two out of three; well done.
@msten You had me at greasy pizza
@msten You’ve got a great palate! pH is 3.7 and there, indeed, is no new oak. This goes along with our philosophy of letting the grapes do their thing. We are in the midst of Napa Valley, (One of) the world’s greatest grape growing regions, so we want the fruit to be the stars of the show.
Most of our reds are aged in once-used barrels so as to get a hint of wood. We don’t want that to ever overshadow the varietal.
The Magic blend is a wine that has evolved since 2001 as a way for us to spotlight how different varietals can play together and compliment each other. Each bottling is different by design and we’re always thrilled to show off these delicious blends.
@msten
The varietal makeup is:
55% Merlot
20% Cab Sauv
11% Cab Franc
7% Syrah
4% Zin
3% Pinot Noir
@kaolis @msten
Greasy pizza pulled me back in after losing me at synthetic cork.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
Judd’s Hill Magic Napa Valley Red Wine - $15 = 11.53%
FYI,
Red Rhone Varietals:
Viognier (white Rhone) is used in blends sometimes as well.
Red Bordeaux Varietals:
Still remember our visit there from my first D&D trip. Rainy and a narrow bridge to get there!
Any one want all or part of 6 bottles?
/giphy protective-foulest-interest
@MarkDaSpark Thanks for the visit! We’d love to host you back here sometime soon.
ʇsısǝɹ oʇ ǝʃıʇnɟ sı ʇI
We were out of town last Wednesday when I received notice of a UPS delivery from WCC. Since I didn’t have any outstanding shipments, I knew what that meant (and a quick check of my email confirmed it)! We were not expecting to be home on Thursday in time to accept a UPS delivery (usually about 6pm for us), so I took advantage of the recent ability to redirect to access points and had the shipment delivered to the closest UPS store to our home (which was directly on our route home). I was happy to see it delivered at 10:30am, and when I picked it up about 6pm there was no additional charge (making summer ordering look much more appealing).
From the delivery notice I was expecting to receive a bottle of Judd’s Hill Magic. I put it in the wine fridge for a few days, deciding to try it on Saturday and Sunday nights in anticipation of the offer going live late Sunday. One of the winery suggested pairings (besides “savory, tomato-based dishes of Italy”) was “a good, old-fashioned western bacon cheeseburger with Cheddar cheese, grilled red onions and barbecue sauce”. That fit right into one of our coming meal plans (except I didn’t have red onion on hand so I used yellow, and I have my burgers on a lettuce bed instead of a bun). I pulled the synthetic cork (and poured initial tastes) about 1.5 hours before dinner.
It was a deep red (almost seemed opaque) color in the glass, coated the inside well on swirling. On the nose I got a lot of red fruit and a hint of eucalyptus. The initial taste was very full, deep red fruit (likely cherry), reflecting the Napa heritage of the grapes. It seemed to have decent acidity and not a lot of tannins. The flavor did not seem change between opening, with the meal, and finishing the last glass of the night later. I capped the bottle and stored it back in the fridge.
I decided on pizza for the second night (we make a keto-friendly “fathead pizza” for me). On the second night the wine seemed to have lost some of its freshness – it was good, but not as good as the first night. The lack of development after opening on the first night and the diminishing on the second suggests to me that this wine is likely at the later stages of its drinking window. I noticed that neither the winery, the bottle, nor CaseMates mentions the year of their Magic offering (but the latest date on CellarTracker is 2012).
All-in-all, this is a tasty, easy-drinking red, with a lot of fruit (more of the “crowd-pleaser” type) that works well on its own and with food. Since the winery price is $24, and according to the winery it is only sold directly and through the Magic Castle, I was interested to see what kind of pricing magic @Winedavid49 would pull out of his hat, and the case price on this wine is attractive (but again, I would not plan on long cellaring).
I had my notes prepared to post this morning, but when I got up my desktop PC was not giving my any video, so I had to recreate my notes using my wife’s laptop. I found it interesting to see that @msten and I both chose the same food pairings, and I was a bit surprised as well when I received my LabRat notice since my previous was on June 1. Thanks to Alice and CaseMates for the opportunity.
Just to mention, there was another offering from Judd’s Hill here on 3/14/18: https://casemates.com/forum/topics/judds-hill-napa-valley-meritage
@Mark_L Thank you for the fun report. Great minds think alike “cheeseburgers”
@Mark_L @WCCWineGirl
Yeah, it’s interesting that several people have gotten multiple rat opportunities in quick succession while others seem to have fallen off the rat radar. It doesn’t seem related to (my perceived) quality of the notes, either. I’d be fine if people posting more detailed notes and doing methodical tastings were prioritized.
@klezman @Mark_L @WCCWineGirl i don’t think they use the ol’ lotto ball hopper…
@CorTot @klezman @Mark_L @WCCWineGirl I agree. I have fallen off their radar and would like to be involved again.
@CorTot @danandlisa @klezman @Mark_L @WCCWineGirl Me too!
Nice job. So Mark_L, can I volunteer both of us to rat somewhere around October 1? We can work on the menu later.
@msten
@mrn1 @msten I was just thinking about this and wondering why October 1 has come and gone?
@Mark_L @mrn1 I’m ready!
Going for it, thanks rats!
/giphy voracious-awry-squid
Hi all
This is Judd from Judd’s Hill and I’ll be here for the next 30 minutes, happy to answer questions and talk about this Magic and what’s going on at the winery. Thanks for being a part of this!
@JuddWine What is the year of this wine?
@JuddWine. What is the cellaring window, or is it drink now?
@MarkDaSpark This is a drink-now wine. It’ll certainly still be lovely in a couple years, but now is prime time.
@Mark_L I had mentioned in another comment that Eric, our winemaker loves to experiment and we encourage his creativity. By design, this is a multi-vintage wine using a blend of varietals that don’t often get bottled together. The goal was stylistic… to have a wine with some depth that would be approachable in its youth, with an eye towards food-friendliness.
I pop a bottle about once a week and hope you’ll enjoy it, too!
I can vouch for the pairing with cheese burgers and just this week had Magic with a rich lasagna. Delicious!
@Mark_L Nice write-up. You’re right that this wine is made to drink sooner rather than later. I often enjoy a glass while cooking dinner and then the rest of the bottle within the next couple hours during the meal. That’s the window I recommend after opening.
@JuddWine
I posed a few questions in my rattage, please.
@msten, thanks for the write-up and the questions.
Our winemaker, Eric Lyman, loves to experiment with varietals, wood, yeasts, blends, etc. This is the result of some his creativity in combining wines that often aren’t bottled together.
The varietal makeup is:
55% Merlot
20% Cab Sauv
11% Cab Franc
7% Syrah
4% Zin
3% Pinot Noir
I think that adds up to 100%
I’ll keep an eye on this thread for the next day and hope to have some more discussion. Cheers!
@JuddWine Thanks for the notes, hope to see you back for some more.
's so we can find you easier.
And you now have your
@JuddWine There are a couple of questions above that could use your input.
@JuddWine hello. Any megapurple make its way into this bottling?
@losthighwayz No Mega Purple.
@JuddWine thank you! In for one
@losthighwayz Fantastic! Enjoy in good health and happiness.
@JuddWine @losthighwayz
But lots of mega red, ha! J/K, I think.
@chipgreen @losthighwayz
Ha! No added color. Only made with Mega Love.
@JuddWine @losthighwayz
I just purchased that Dusi red blend – with which I am really pleased – how does this one compare? I’m liking blends lately and it seems like a great price. My hesitation is that this, based on the comments, seems ready to drink and I only have about 1 bottle a week, sometimes only 2 a month. Wondering if it will be past its prime by the time I get to it?
Also, I was a rat once. I miss it. Please rat me again!
@ACraigL curious about the Dusi comparison as well.
@ACraigL
Those words look like English, but they make no sense to me.
@ilanarama LOL. It’s summer and I’m also an IPA snob, so I tend to alternate between Margaritas, new craft beer finds and my wine collection.
WORK WORK WORK
@ACraigL Somebody’s gotta do it…
I’m in for a case. Nice to have something to grab on quick notice.
/giphy tearful-fastidious-umbrella
Also nice to have an excuse to finish the bottle on the day it is opened.
@Mark_L we only have that problem when we open the 2nd bottle!
/giphy silly-gilded-sugar
Irma’s favorite wine. piano starts playing by itself
@ecue As soon as The Magic Castle opens up again, her first glass is on me!
/giphy tempting-satisfied-notebook
This wine has turned.
@cityisland14 probably spoiled in shipping.
The Judd Magic was foul! I ordered the Stag that will be delivered later this month. I expect a resolution to this Magic order before I take another delivery from Classmates
@cityisland14
Did you contact customer service?
CorTot,
I would expect that Casemates have reasonable experience and expertise when deliveries should be made.
Your Thoughts
@cityisland14
So much I would like to say but I will shut up and leave it to the hardcore regulars.
@cityisland14 I honestly don’t order much in the hot months. Ends up being a waste when stuff shows up cooked. it’s happened enough to me from a variety of sites that I avoid the sales that require shipping in July, August & September, just my preference.
In addition, the box and strofoam packaging was poor quality. The cardboard box was thin and flimsy. The strofoam was broken on 50% of bottles and very thin, third rate. Cases of wine that I bought from other websites were twice to three times as thick. Casemates needs to up their packaging even if they need to increase shipping costs.
@cityisland14 I disagree here. Case mates is middle of the roam packaging. There’s others that are quite a bit worse.
@cityisland14 @CorTot The biggest variable seems to be whenever the F UPS decides to show up. Most of our deliveries lately have been very late in the day. It doesn’t matter if you use 2 day shipping and then spend 12 hours driving around in a blazingly hot truck. The larger the thermal mass (i.e. more bottles) the longer it will take for it to heat up. I never had an issue with UPS because they were always here by late morning/early afternoon. Not enough time for the wine to get hot.
My Magic was delivered this past Thursday (I redirected it to a UPS Store (to lessen the time in the back of the truck). Temperature seemed fine (it had been at the store a while before I picked it up). Opened one last night and it seemed very similar to my rat bottle (I enjoyed both).
I do not plan to open another bottle unless customer service instructs me. I have not received a response or acknowledgement to this issue. I placed an order for the Stag that I will cancel if this is not resolved.
I am concerned that the regulars that constantly respond are just part of a scam. I will keep others up to date checking this thread. In addition, no response from producer who was so gracious when the designated wine aficionados were praising it’s wine.
@cityisland14 I’m not sure what “regulars” you suspect to be part of a scam. If so, it has been going on for many years (back to the days of wine.woot in 2006). Also, it is not terribly surprising that the producer has not responded, since their offering is no longer a current offering. It might help if you included them on your response, as they will receive a notice of being mentioned. @JuddWine
@cityisland14 I’m not a regular, but this band has been together for a long time, dating all the way back to Wine Woot. The regulars have called out many offerings if they felt that it was warranted. It is wise to be cautious of what unknown commentators say on the web, but I assure that this is not a scam. I’m also confident that your situation will be resolved to your satisfaction. Generally this is a very kind and civil site. Lately as an outcome of Covid stress that civility has been slipping. Please everyone remember that this is a different place than the rest of the web. We encourage differences of opinion and listen respectfully to one another.
@cityisland14 @JuddWine
@Mark_L Ha! I almost just posted the same! But not as succinct.
@cityisland14 I would say that given that your complaint seems more based on heat damage than the quality of the wine, I’m not sure that the party you want is the winery anyway. I’d include @Winedavid49 if I was really concerned that Casemates was not responding adequately.
Also, I’d give their customer service 1-2 business days to respond.
@cityisland14 @InFrom @JuddWine @Winedavid49
Also, I just wanted to mention that Casemates/@Winedavid49 has an impeccable (as far as I know) reputation for making things right when there is a problem with a product.
@cityisland14
Hello! I am so sorry to hear of a less than stellar delivery. We carefully vet who we work with, as it is our wine and reputation on the line. We have known the fine folks at Casemates for over a decade, and trust they will make this right. We have reached out to WineDave on your behalf, and will keep an eye on this conversation.
@cityisland14 @JuddWine thanks Judd. yea, we are on it. despite sending this 2 day, damages do occur. always happy to replace.
Cityisland14 & Mark_L,or
Thanks for the feedback. Please explain contact how to contact, @Winedavid49 @JuddWine. Regarding your comment on heat damage, as a producer or distributor, would you risk your reputation sending it if there was that risk?
@cityisland14 yes, please email support. they’ll take care of you. sorry you got some impacted wine. looks like it may have been knocked around more than usual.
@cityisland14 Of course nobody wants to see customers disappointed, but it seems to me that for the seller a balance has to be struck. Once the shipment is given to UPS or FedEx, it’s out of the seller’s hands. They could protect it by putting it into bullet-proof packaging, or shipping it door-to-door in a refrigerated truck. But how much is it reasonable to put into packaging and shipping a 10-dollar bottle of wine?
When someone mentions you in a post, you get a notification. So that’s how you contact them. It’s like the Bat signal.
Edit: Ah, I see it worked.
@cityisland14 We had a cooked shipment a while back and my wife (who was the purchaser) got a full refund. The catch was that it took a while because CS was slammed (apparently) and then the email went to spam. So (a) keep pinging them and (b) keep checking your spam folders.
Casemates contacted me and the issue was resolved professionally and promptly. @WineDavid49, @JuddWine. Going forward, I will request that my shipments be deferred until the fall …or I will defer ordering during the July-Sept period.
Thanks to all on this board that assisted and provided feedback.
Joe
@cityisland14 there is no deferment option
@cityisland14 @klezman Well, he does have the option to defer ordering, as he says!
@Winedavid49 @WCCWineGirl Is something up with shipping on these? I got a notification 8/7 that it would be delivered 8/8, but I haven’t seen any change in the UPS tracking. Is anyone else having similar issues (I can understand with the heat and fires right now, just want to be sure it’s not lost)?