This playful wine is all about having fun. From the whimsical label to the boot-stomping flavors, here’s a wine that doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s just there for your pure enjoyment. Subtle aromas of vanillin oak and lively berry captivate one into the first sip. After that, this robust wine hooks you with its juicy berry blend of flavors. Ripe blackberry, espresso and dark chocolate are framed with softening tannins and traces of oak. A bit rough and chewy, but given a bit of time to breathe, it calms right down and behaves civilly, even with those red shoes.
Vintage and Winemaker Notes
We began producing our Zero Manipulation wine from the Tollini’s Home Ranch “Wild Vines” Carignane in 2000, and have produced it every year since. Alvin Tollini is a third-generation Redwood Valley grower and a wonderful person, as well as an exceptional grape grower. When Alvin offered us some of his Petite Sirah grapes a few years later, we were excited to produce a wine with the Tollini Mendocino Petite Sirah at its core. With Petite Sirah along with Syrah, Carignane and Grenache—all from Tollini Vineyard—we couldn’t legally call the wine a Petite Sirah, but wanted to come up with a fun name to reflect its origins. The name “Mendo Blendo” is our wink and a nod to Mendocino’s other agricultural crop of note.
Winery: Peterson Winery
Owner: Fred Peterson
Location: Mendocino County, CA
Peterson Winery has been producing wine in Dry Creek Valley for 30 years and, like most wineries in the Valley, produces Zinfandel as well as other wines. Yet a closer look shows that is where the similarities end.
Owner Fred Peterson is an iconoclast with an old world winemaking philosophy and a reverence for sustainable farming. The Peterson approach is to capture the essence of vintage and vineyard—a philosophy they call Zero Manipulation—with low tech, yet high touch, to produce wines of a place, wines with soul. The evolution of Peterson wines and winemaking accelerated when Fred’s son Jamie became assistant winemaker in the summer of 2002. In 2006, after moving from the tiny red barn on Lytton Springs to Timber Crest Farms, Jamie was given the overall responsibilities as winemaker. As a winegrowing team, Fred and Jamie assess the grapes from each vineyard and vintage as the season progresses, evaluating how the weather, soil and site are interacting for the particular vintage. At Peterson winery, the winemaking process begins while the grapes are still on the vines. Zero Manipulation is a discipline the Petersons follow to capture the character and balance of inherent in the grapes. Zero Manipulation means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics and texture of the wines. Fred and Jamie celebrate vintage differences and don’t tweak or homogenize the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wineries. For Fred and Jamie, Peterson Winery is all about the wines. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see the heart and soul that goes into every bottle.
Included In The Box
4-Bottles:
Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend
Case (12-Bottles):
Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend
4 bottles for $46.99 $11.75/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
wines to your cart and go through the checkout procedure until they tell you tax and shipping for delivery to Texas. Screenshot this (command - shift - 4), upload that image to salesforce, and link it here. If it is not for sale at their website, simply multiply the single bottle price from the Calendar by 12 and say “Not for sale online, $xxx/case MSRP”. If there is something weird, see if Terry or Dave have any suggestions
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend - $31 = 21.98%
Oh the sweet thrill of that Labrat package headed for your doorstep.
Upon opening the package, I discovered a wine possessing some of my most beloved varietals- Petite Sirah and Syrah, along with a little Carignane and Grenache to balance it out.
So the challenge as your dutiful Labrat, became what to pair this wine with to hopefully showcase its best qualities. After consulting with my lovely better half who has a knack for wine-food pairings, we settled on bacon wrapped Waygu burgers stuffed with smoked gouda cheese and mushrooms, along with grilled rosemary potatoes, hoping for a decent pairing. We opened the bottle about about an hour ahead of time to give it some room to breathe as the coals on the grill got ready. During grilling, we poured a little sample and observed a dark inky plum color, with some rather serious legs. Nosing, we got black currant, and my wife said fresh cut wood (she crazy), but I got some oak, and maybe some dark cherry. Standalone, it’s nice, tannic but smooth, and not a lot of depth as you might expect with this blend and price point. There’s some jammy texture, but not sweet, dark dry berries, currant, and possibly a little dark chocolate. After we sat down for dinner to see how our pairings worked, things got serious. Totally nailed the pairing. This wine loves to hang with smoked meats. The bacon, the Waygu beef, the smoked gouda made this wine sing and dance. The smoked rosemary potatoes paired nicely as well. With Labor day coming up, this is a good wine to go with your Labor day BBQ. Think a juicy steak, smoked brisket, BBQ ribs, or as we did, a great burger. At the price point Casemates is offering, get some.
First off, thank you to the lovely Casemates people who make rattage a thing. I must admit that I love when you guys force me off my game a bit. There is comfort in familiarity, and I would drink the same things over and over otherwise - especially since I spend my 20’s choosing wines by how much I liked the label. Needless to say, that is a very lousy method to choose wine, and I usually ended up getting something I hated. It took me a long while to warm up to wine after that. I’m late into my 40s now, and I’m learning.
The reason I even bring that up is because I audibly laughed out loud when I saw the label on this wine. I love the red stilettos on the donkey! But I still harbor bad memories of bad wine with great labels, so I got apprehensive over this bottle. I probably wouldn’t have given it a chance if not for rattage.
People of Casemates - this would have been a mistake. A really bad mistake. A really boneheadedly-stupid, ridiculous, you-should-point-and-laugh-at-me mistake. I’m currently in the midst of a SIWBM, but I’m in for four bottles of this anyway, and I’m looking for excuses to justify a full case as I write this.
Mr. Fait & I drank this without any food accompaniment. I unscrewed the bottle, and before I even had the cap completely off, I was hit square in the face with the scent of blueberries. My nose said that it was a bit on the hot side (maybe alcohol?), but OMG - the blueberries were heavenly! I got a tad bit of black pepper on the nose as well, but maybe that was some of the hot coming through?
I poured a couple glasses through a Vinturi aerator, then promptly lost track of time. It poured dark purple, the color of a black plum. Light didn’t escape that glass. Lego Batman would approve of the darkness.
I finally got to swig a bit a full half hour after I poured it. It is thoroughly ready for drinking right now. Plums and blueberries and blackberries – WOW! The next 10 minutes or so brought out a nice black iced tea in the background that turned into more of a sexy mocha about 30 minutes into the glass. The plummy berries never went away, but it’s not a fruit bomb. The oak and the tannins did a beautiful job of balancing the fruit.
Interestingly (or maybe not – that’s up to you), Mr. Fait looked at me kinda funny when I said “blueberries”. He got dark berries with a lot of blackberry out of his glass, but he said that blueberries never crossed his mind. He’s a PN drinker, but he really enjoyed this. He even hinted that a few bottles wouldn’t hurt his feelings. SIWBM, be damned!
As far as the mouthfeel of this wine, I can’t seem to connect the mouthfeel with the taste. The “hot” nose told me that maybe this wine has a higher alcohol volume, but it didn’t taste “hot” like I’ve experienced with higher alcohol wines. My mouth definitely felt the dry impact of the tannins, but they didn’t hit me over the head the way I expected by the mouthfeel. Maybe that had something to do with the Vinturi combined with a 30-minute delay?
According to the back label, there is a lot of Petit Syrah and Syrah in the bottle. I’m a big Cab girl myself, but this could sway me to PS. This didn’t hit me over the head like a big Cab. It didn’t threaten me. This wine noticed some geeky accessory I was sporting from all the way across the room, then struck up a conversation about things we have in common (this wine may be a Doctor Who fan.) In short, I think this wine may be marriage material.
@fait Your rattage nudged me to pull the trigger. Perhaps you can request the shipping to VA as a marketing compensation?
/giphy economic-qualified-sage
Anyone know what the drinking window is on this this wine? Is this a drink now, rather than having a 5 yr or more window since this has a high percentage of PS and Syrah?
@Peterson_Winery Thanks for the info. I saw the vintage and I have a ton of wine. And I mean a TON. Always looking for something that has some life left and PS and Syrah usually age well. Gonna give it a try because I like the blend, but I shy from gimmicky names and labels since I can’t consume them! Might even offer this up to split with my NEO friends and family or just hoard it!!
Please let the graphic work. It’s my first rattage.
Good Day! I was excited to receive a bottle of Peterson Mendo Blendo last week for my first rattage. My wine fridge is being adorable and refuses to set itself at a temperature other than 54, so I stuck this in the regular fridge for an hour before sampling. It’s a lovely dark burgundy color, and the initial scents included raisins and plum (disclaimer: I nearly always smell plum on reds). Nice body on initial mini-taste. I poured some through the Vinturi for the first glass and set a non Vinturi’d glass to open up for an hour or so. The two tasted and smelled very similar (so yay, 8-year-old Vinturi for doing your job). Both revealed new scents of vanilla and berries. The taste deepened and became more complex.
I guessed the blend included Petite Syrah (one of my favorites) and Syrah; later cheated and looked it up, and I WON. Also learned through said cheating that it pairs well with beef, lamb, poultry, and veal, but I don’t eat any of those. Paired with a dark chocolate sea salt caramel (worked) and accidentally with some jalapeño pringles (don’t bother). Tasted another glass the following day and caught similar flavors, but it really seemed to open up on the third day, so do give this wine some time to breathe. I had a Casemates-purchased Peterson on hand and assigned myself the rough duty of opening one for comparison. I would describe the Barbera as more fruit-forward, more peppery, and heavier, but I like them both a great deal. DC/NoVA mates, HMU if you’d like to share (I live in DC and can bring it to NoVA).
@fait " I still can’t figure out how I could rat but not buy." I’ve never been able to figure that out either, but it’s happened to us in NY and to friends in OH. I’m sure it’s little consolation, but you’re not alone.
Even though it is still hotter than heck out east and I refuse to pay $40 extra, and even though I have more wine than I need, I like the wine maker’s family approach and I appreciate the rattage. I have been looking for a nice red table wine, and it has been aging for six years. In for a case; fingers crossed!!
This arrived the other day and we’re already through a couple bottles of it. Another winner- great palate energy and acidity, killer nose, etc., just like the LabRat reports. Also another of the worst looking labels I’ve ever seen, LOL! Keep these Peterson wines coming, WineDavid!
I got the shipping notice on 9/6/19 in an email and just a few minutes later I got a delivered notice email.
The case was delivered yesterday on 9/5. Casemates, you are falling down big time on notifications. Please, get your act together.
Since wine must be signed for, one needs to either be aware of its arrival or plan to have an adult around on delivery day.
Casemates, you do know this, don’t you?
This is the second case in the past month that has arrived without prior notice. Looks like you have some issues in your front office, which need to be addressed.
Often if I know it has been shipped, I will reroute the case on the FEDEX page to a nearby Walgreen to be held until I can pick it up.
Unless I check my order status everyday, I now don’t know what is happening with my orders. I often do this with summer shipments (I’m in Georgia) so that the case doesn’t sit in a boiling hot truck all day as my deliveries usually happen late in the afternoon. But every time I reroute, the shipment is invariably held up at the local FEDEX distribution center somewhere North of Atlanta for a day or more!
This is the second time this has happened. My shipment of Prohibido Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, which arrived also without notice on Aug 24th was the first incident. (See my comments on this wine delivery issue on that wine offering at the end of the comment section.)
I no longer trust Casemates for timely email notices and likely I will never trust you again for this courtesy. Once a trust has been violated, one does not get a second chance. Casemates has let me down once again, and I am truly disappointed.
To be sure, I took a chance with this order and did not include the summer shipping surcharge, which would have meant NOT buying the wine owing to the prohibitive surcharge. I had intended to have it held for pickup. Maybe I should change my shipping address on your site from the get go. Please advise how to do that.
I did measure the temperature of the box and of the wine immediately when I accepted delivery. The outside air temperature at that moment was 88°F. The wine temperature (packed in a 12 bottle Styrofoam packaging, thank goodness) was 78°F.
Past experience with the two too small ice packs, which are always at ambient temperature on arrival even if I elect fast shipping would likely have not been much better.
Of course I have no way of knowing what temperatures the wine was subject to during the ground shipment by FEDEX from California or how long the wine many have been exposed to any excessive temperature. Like I said, I took a chance. In my experience the only real difference in the fast shipping on arrival at my doorstep is a one, maybe two, day difference in transit.
The Stelvin closure on this case of wine was and is a good thing as it reduces considerably the chances of the wine going off in transit. (I’m more a member of the screw crew than the cork dorks in that I prefer the screw metal closures. Works for 100 yr old Scotch, after all, so why not for wine?)
OK, I am done whining. I think I will have some wine.
@Jackinga thanks for the input and sorry about the notification issue. we are researching it. We believe it is related to the “cold chain” trucking process that occurs on midwest/east coast shipments during the summer. The “reefer truck” segment that protects the wine across country is not directly connected to our last mile carrier and is therefore “dark” during transit and has no carrier scans (like it would have if we just sent it ground) For those who live near the carrier hub, the first scan can occur within hours of the delivery. This may be the issue, but not quite sure yet. But rest assured we are investigating and realize this is something we need to fix. Very sorry for the hassle. i hope you like the wine.
@Winedavid49 I like the wine! Thanks for your reply as it helps a bit to understand more about shipments coming East. But I am not sure I understand completely, why an email cannot be sent when the shipment leaves your hands alerting the customer that the wine is in transit? Based on other comments, it seems that my experience with this shipment is not an isolated incident. I completely agree with your statement that “this is something we need to fix.”
@Jackinga@Winedavid49
Isn’t the shipping label still created at WCC? I would think that the shipping notice emails would be tied into that and go out when the label is created.
My case of Mendo Blendo arrived yesterday (9/5) I got the shipping notice email today (9/6) at 2:27 EDT and the delivered email 12 minutes later. Thanks to the FedEx app I was able to see it was in the vortex between CA and St Louis and could prepare.
Currently enjoying it in a hotel room before the beach house move in tomorrow (thanks Dorian for sparing Folly Beach!)
I like it - not complex, big fruit and a great deal on a wine that I can open without any thought on a weekday, or when drinking out of hotel provided plastic cups.
Tasting Notes
This playful wine is all about having fun. From the whimsical label to the boot-stomping flavors, here’s a wine that doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s just there for your pure enjoyment. Subtle aromas of vanillin oak and lively berry captivate one into the first sip. After that, this robust wine hooks you with its juicy berry blend of flavors. Ripe blackberry, espresso and dark chocolate are framed with softening tannins and traces of oak. A bit rough and chewy, but given a bit of time to breathe, it calms right down and behaves civilly, even with those red shoes.
Vintage and Winemaker Notes
We began producing our Zero Manipulation wine from the Tollini’s Home Ranch “Wild Vines” Carignane in 2000, and have produced it every year since. Alvin Tollini is a third-generation Redwood Valley grower and a wonderful person, as well as an exceptional grape grower. When Alvin offered us some of his Petite Sirah grapes a few years later, we were excited to produce a wine with the Tollini Mendocino Petite Sirah at its core. With Petite Sirah along with Syrah, Carignane and Grenache—all from Tollini Vineyard—we couldn’t legally call the wine a Petite Sirah, but wanted to come up with a fun name to reflect its origins. The name “Mendo Blendo” is our wink and a nod to Mendocino’s other agricultural crop of note.
Specifications
Price Comparison
$278.00/case at Peterson Winery (including shipping)
About The Winery
Winery: Peterson Winery
Owner: Fred Peterson
Location: Mendocino County, CA
Peterson Winery has been producing wine in Dry Creek Valley for 30 years and, like most wineries in the Valley, produces Zinfandel as well as other wines. Yet a closer look shows that is where the similarities end.
Owner Fred Peterson is an iconoclast with an old world winemaking philosophy and a reverence for sustainable farming. The Peterson approach is to capture the essence of vintage and vineyard—a philosophy they call Zero Manipulation—with low tech, yet high touch, to produce wines of a place, wines with soul. The evolution of Peterson wines and winemaking accelerated when Fred’s son Jamie became assistant winemaker in the summer of 2002. In 2006, after moving from the tiny red barn on Lytton Springs to Timber Crest Farms, Jamie was given the overall responsibilities as winemaker. As a winegrowing team, Fred and Jamie assess the grapes from each vineyard and vintage as the season progresses, evaluating how the weather, soil and site are interacting for the particular vintage. At Peterson winery, the winemaking process begins while the grapes are still on the vines. Zero Manipulation is a discipline the Petersons follow to capture the character and balance of inherent in the grapes. Zero Manipulation means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics and texture of the wines. Fred and Jamie celebrate vintage differences and don’t tweak or homogenize the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wineries. For Fred and Jamie, Peterson Winery is all about the wines. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see the heart and soul that goes into every bottle.
Included In The Box
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, September 12th - Monday, September 16th
Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend
4 bottles for $46.99 $11.75/bottle + $2/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $109.99 $9.17/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2013 Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend
Thanks for the lesson on how to do the price comparison.
@InFrom Oh I see it got fixed.
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations)
2013 Peterson Winery Mendo Blendo Red Blend - $31 = 21.98%
That Radiohead video is creepy. I can’t figure what it has to do with the wine offering unless all is not what it might seem with the wine.
@Lighter It’s a track from their album The Bends, which became the sale’s title, “The Blends”
The Peterson Barbera that was offered in May was delicious. It’ll be interesting to see what The Rats have to say about his one.
@mrn1 Agreed, really enjoying the Peterson Barbera. This looks interesting!
@mrn1 @wnance thirded…really like their Barbera, too!
@mrn1 hmmmm. It may not take too much more to push me into the buy column
Oh the sweet thrill of that Labrat package headed for your doorstep.
Upon opening the package, I discovered a wine possessing some of my most beloved varietals- Petite Sirah and Syrah, along with a little Carignane and Grenache to balance it out.
So the challenge as your dutiful Labrat, became what to pair this wine with to hopefully showcase its best qualities. After consulting with my lovely better half who has a knack for wine-food pairings, we settled on bacon wrapped Waygu burgers stuffed with smoked gouda cheese and mushrooms, along with grilled rosemary potatoes, hoping for a decent pairing. We opened the bottle about about an hour ahead of time to give it some room to breathe as the coals on the grill got ready. During grilling, we poured a little sample and observed a dark inky plum color, with some rather serious legs. Nosing, we got black currant, and my wife said fresh cut wood (she crazy), but I got some oak, and maybe some dark cherry. Standalone, it’s nice, tannic but smooth, and not a lot of depth as you might expect with this blend and price point. There’s some jammy texture, but not sweet, dark dry berries, currant, and possibly a little dark chocolate. After we sat down for dinner to see how our pairings worked, things got serious. Totally nailed the pairing. This wine loves to hang with smoked meats. The bacon, the Waygu beef, the smoked gouda made this wine sing and dance. The smoked rosemary potatoes paired nicely as well. With Labor day coming up, this is a good wine to go with your Labor day BBQ. Think a juicy steak, smoked brisket, BBQ ribs, or as we did, a great burger. At the price point Casemates is offering, get some.
@efamily Yum… your rattage makes me hungry! Thanks for the thoughtful pairings. You nailed it!
First off, thank you to the lovely Casemates people who make rattage a thing. I must admit that I love when you guys force me off my game a bit. There is comfort in familiarity, and I would drink the same things over and over otherwise - especially since I spend my 20’s choosing wines by how much I liked the label. Needless to say, that is a very lousy method to choose wine, and I usually ended up getting something I hated. It took me a long while to warm up to wine after that. I’m late into my 40s now, and I’m learning.
The reason I even bring that up is because I audibly laughed out loud when I saw the label on this wine. I love the red stilettos on the donkey! But I still harbor bad memories of bad wine with great labels, so I got apprehensive over this bottle. I probably wouldn’t have given it a chance if not for rattage.
People of Casemates - this would have been a mistake. A really bad mistake. A really boneheadedly-stupid, ridiculous, you-should-point-and-laugh-at-me mistake. I’m currently in the midst of a SIWBM, but I’m in for four bottles of this anyway, and I’m looking for excuses to justify a full case as I write this.
Mr. Fait & I drank this without any food accompaniment. I unscrewed the bottle, and before I even had the cap completely off, I was hit square in the face with the scent of blueberries. My nose said that it was a bit on the hot side (maybe alcohol?), but OMG - the blueberries were heavenly! I got a tad bit of black pepper on the nose as well, but maybe that was some of the hot coming through?
I poured a couple glasses through a Vinturi aerator, then promptly lost track of time. It poured dark purple, the color of a black plum. Light didn’t escape that glass. Lego Batman would approve of the darkness.
I finally got to swig a bit a full half hour after I poured it. It is thoroughly ready for drinking right now. Plums and blueberries and blackberries – WOW! The next 10 minutes or so brought out a nice black iced tea in the background that turned into more of a sexy mocha about 30 minutes into the glass. The plummy berries never went away, but it’s not a fruit bomb. The oak and the tannins did a beautiful job of balancing the fruit.
Interestingly (or maybe not – that’s up to you), Mr. Fait looked at me kinda funny when I said “blueberries”. He got dark berries with a lot of blackberry out of his glass, but he said that blueberries never crossed his mind. He’s a PN drinker, but he really enjoyed this. He even hinted that a few bottles wouldn’t hurt his feelings. SIWBM, be damned!
As far as the mouthfeel of this wine, I can’t seem to connect the mouthfeel with the taste. The “hot” nose told me that maybe this wine has a higher alcohol volume, but it didn’t taste “hot” like I’ve experienced with higher alcohol wines. My mouth definitely felt the dry impact of the tannins, but they didn’t hit me over the head the way I expected by the mouthfeel. Maybe that had something to do with the Vinturi combined with a 30-minute delay?
According to the back label, there is a lot of Petit Syrah and Syrah in the bottle. I’m a big Cab girl myself, but this could sway me to PS. This didn’t hit me over the head like a big Cab. It didn’t threaten me. This wine noticed some geeky accessory I was sporting from all the way across the room, then struck up a conversation about things we have in common (this wine may be a Doctor Who fan.) In short, I think this wine may be marriage material.
…and now I’m confused because this says that you can’t ship to Virginia. Except that you did. I have the empty bottle to prove it.
Please ship to Virginia. PLEASE! I really want to blow this SIWBM to hell with this wine!
@fait Your rattage nudged me to pull the trigger. Perhaps you can request the shipping to VA as a marketing compensation?
/giphy economic-qualified-sage
@jwhetzel Ooh - I like that idea!
Anyone know what the drinking window is on this this wine? Is this a drink now, rather than having a 5 yr or more window since this has a high percentage of PS and Syrah?
@Boatman72 With the 6 years of age, the wine is ready to drink, but ages slowly and gracefully. Easily another full 5 years of life left.
@Peterson_Winery Thanks for the info. I saw the vintage and I have a ton of wine. And I mean a TON. Always looking for something that has some life left and PS and Syrah usually age well. Gonna give it a try because I like the blend, but I shy from gimmicky names and labels since I can’t consume them! Might even offer this up to split with my NEO friends and family or just hoard it!!
@Boatman72
/giphy woeful-calm-loon
I think this is priced for hoarding! (or drinking)
@Boatman72
By my estimation, you have about 1.5 tons if you include the bottles but only about 1678 lbs of actual wine in those bottles.
Please let the graphic work. It’s my first rattage.
Good Day! I was excited to receive a bottle of Peterson Mendo Blendo last week for my first rattage. My wine fridge is being adorable and refuses to set itself at a temperature other than 54, so I stuck this in the regular fridge for an hour before sampling. It’s a lovely dark burgundy color, and the initial scents included raisins and plum (disclaimer: I nearly always smell plum on reds). Nice body on initial mini-taste. I poured some through the Vinturi for the first glass and set a non Vinturi’d glass to open up for an hour or so. The two tasted and smelled very similar (so yay, 8-year-old Vinturi for doing your job). Both revealed new scents of vanilla and berries. The taste deepened and became more complex.
I guessed the blend included Petite Syrah (one of my favorites) and Syrah; later cheated and looked it up, and I WON. Also learned through said cheating that it pairs well with beef, lamb, poultry, and veal, but I don’t eat any of those. Paired with a dark chocolate sea salt caramel (worked) and accidentally with some jalapeño pringles (don’t bother). Tasted another glass the following day and caught similar flavors, but it really seemed to open up on the third day, so do give this wine some time to breathe. I had a Casemates-purchased Peterson on hand and assigned myself the rough duty of opening one for comparison. I would describe the Barbera as more fruit-forward, more peppery, and heavier, but I like them both a great deal. DC/NoVA mates, HMU if you’d like to share (I live in DC and can bring it to NoVA).
@murftastic I’m NOVA, so if I can’t figure out how to order, I’d love to share a case. I still can’t figure out how I could rat but not buy.
@murftastic Quite the collection of bobbleheads! We have a friend here who also collects such things, and they’re even on CM sometimes!
@murftastic Bichon!
@klezman @murftastic they be funko pop
@jml326 @klezman And that’s not the half (or even one-quarter) of it. Husband has his hobbies, and I have mine.
@jml326 @klezman @murftastic National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum
(never been there)
@fait " I still can’t figure out how I could rat but not buy." I’ve never been able to figure that out either, but it’s happened to us in NY and to friends in OH. I’m sure it’s little consolation, but you’re not alone.
This is a great deal! I bought a case of the mendo blendo
@FloridaRob Enjoy!
/giphy practical-minute-goat
/giphy puffy-near-pepper
Even though it is still hotter than heck out east and I refuse to pay $40 extra, and even though I have more wine than I need, I like the wine maker’s family approach and I appreciate the rattage. I have been looking for a nice red table wine, and it has been aging for six years. In for a case; fingers crossed!!
/giphy punitive-furious-rock
In for a case!
/giphy deafening-aged-tendency
/giphy entertaining-jiggly-relation
/giphy reliable-yellow-leek
/giphy raging-musical-bear
Another hole in my head…
/giphy momentary-very-silver
i cannot giphy this offer
@kls_in_MD you can do it! I have faith in u!
NH/ Northern MA folks - anyone game to split a case? I should be on SIWBM, but this just sounds amazing…
This looks like exactly like what I want to get my mom for her birthday - something fun and campy but enjoyable for the coming fall and winter.
/giphy insincere-preferable-list
@simtel20 nailed it!
/giphy efficient-light-cow
@Winedavid49 Any way to add a couple/few cases back into the mix?
@InFrom sorry, only a few left of the smaller lot.
@Winedavid49 Oh well. Shouldn’t have snoozed on it.
Sold out. Congratulations @Peterson_Winery
Well done and congrats to those who scored. I LOVED, the Barbera from this place but like @boatman72 I have too much inventory.
This arrived the other day and we’re already through a couple bottles of it. Another winner- great palate energy and acidity, killer nose, etc., just like the LabRat reports. Also another of the worst looking labels I’ve ever seen, LOL! Keep these Peterson wines coming, WineDavid!
@wnance so true on the label! but great value!
@Winedavid49 Absolutely- really digging this wine.
I got the shipping notice today, 9-6. I picked up the package on 8-29.
I got the shipping notice on 9/6/19 in an email and just a few minutes later I got a delivered notice email.
The case was delivered yesterday on 9/5. Casemates, you are falling down big time on notifications. Please, get your act together.
Since wine must be signed for, one needs to either be aware of its arrival or plan to have an adult around on delivery day.
Casemates, you do know this, don’t you?
This is the second case in the past month that has arrived without prior notice. Looks like you have some issues in your front office, which need to be addressed.
Often if I know it has been shipped, I will reroute the case on the FEDEX page to a nearby Walgreen to be held until I can pick it up.
Unless I check my order status everyday, I now don’t know what is happening with my orders. I often do this with summer shipments (I’m in Georgia) so that the case doesn’t sit in a boiling hot truck all day as my deliveries usually happen late in the afternoon. But every time I reroute, the shipment is invariably held up at the local FEDEX distribution center somewhere North of Atlanta for a day or more!
This is the second time this has happened. My shipment of Prohibido Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, which arrived also without notice on Aug 24th was the first incident. (See my comments on this wine delivery issue on that wine offering at the end of the comment section.)
I no longer trust Casemates for timely email notices and likely I will never trust you again for this courtesy. Once a trust has been violated, one does not get a second chance. Casemates has let me down once again, and I am truly disappointed.
To be sure, I took a chance with this order and did not include the summer shipping surcharge, which would have meant NOT buying the wine owing to the prohibitive surcharge. I had intended to have it held for pickup. Maybe I should change my shipping address on your site from the get go. Please advise how to do that.
I did measure the temperature of the box and of the wine immediately when I accepted delivery. The outside air temperature at that moment was 88°F. The wine temperature (packed in a 12 bottle Styrofoam packaging, thank goodness) was 78°F.
Past experience with the two too small ice packs, which are always at ambient temperature on arrival even if I elect fast shipping would likely have not been much better.
Of course I have no way of knowing what temperatures the wine was subject to during the ground shipment by FEDEX from California or how long the wine many have been exposed to any excessive temperature. Like I said, I took a chance. In my experience the only real difference in the fast shipping on arrival at my doorstep is a one, maybe two, day difference in transit.
The Stelvin closure on this case of wine was and is a good thing as it reduces considerably the chances of the wine going off in transit. (I’m more a member of the screw crew than the cork dorks in that I prefer the screw metal closures. Works for 100 yr old Scotch, after all, so why not for wine?)
OK, I am done whining. I think I will have some wine.
@Jackinga thanks for the input and sorry about the notification issue. we are researching it. We believe it is related to the “cold chain” trucking process that occurs on midwest/east coast shipments during the summer. The “reefer truck” segment that protects the wine across country is not directly connected to our last mile carrier and is therefore “dark” during transit and has no carrier scans (like it would have if we just sent it ground) For those who live near the carrier hub, the first scan can occur within hours of the delivery. This may be the issue, but not quite sure yet. But rest assured we are investigating and realize this is something we need to fix. Very sorry for the hassle. i hope you like the wine.
@Winedavid49 I like the wine! Thanks for your reply as it helps a bit to understand more about shipments coming East. But I am not sure I understand completely, why an email cannot be sent when the shipment leaves your hands alerting the customer that the wine is in transit? Based on other comments, it seems that my experience with this shipment is not an isolated incident. I completely agree with your statement that “this is something we need to fix.”
@Jackinga @Winedavid49
Isn’t the shipping label still created at WCC? I would think that the shipping notice emails would be tied into that and go out when the label is created.
My case of Mendo Blendo arrived yesterday (9/5) I got the shipping notice email today (9/6) at 2:27 EDT and the delivered email 12 minutes later. Thanks to the FedEx app I was able to see it was in the vortex between CA and St Louis and could prepare.
Currently enjoying it in a hotel room before the beach house move in tomorrow (thanks Dorian for sparing Folly Beach!)
I like it - not complex, big fruit and a great deal on a wine that I can open without any thought on a weekday, or when drinking out of hotel provided plastic cups.