Invino: Insider Access to Wine Deals and Events

Think you can only get wine deals offered by the producers by joining their wine club? Think again! Invino is a free-to-join member’s only website that gives you insider access to wines from noteworthy producers at a discount of up to 75%.

Recent declines in demand and uneven access to distribution channels has posed a challenge to small and mid-sized wineries. Tony and Danielle Westfall, wine industry entrepreneurs and founders of Invino (formerly known as Winery Insider), used their vast network of wine industry contacts and marketing and supply chain experience to create a site where value-conscious wine lovers could easily find and acquire quality wines offered at a significant discount by producers with inventory they want to move out of the cellars and into the glasses of appreciative wine consumers.

A recent offering included a 2004 Castello del Terriccio Lupicaia Super Tuscan Red Blend with shipping included at $74.99. This wine normally retails at $169.00. Also offered on the same day was a 2008 St. Supery Dollarhide Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley at $19.99, half off the $40.00 retail. Don’t think these are great deals? Find a better deal on the same wine you have purchased from this site and the folks at Invino will refund the difference.

Though Invino offers wines from around the world, this site features an impressive list of wines from Sonoma and Napa Valley, California where Tony and Danielle have developed key relationships with winemakers. These relationships result in exceptional deals and rare finds, such as large format bottles and small production single varietal wines. Members of Invino also have access to critic’s ratings, tasting notes, and information on winery events and special invitation tastings.

My first purchase of wine from Invino was a free shipping deal of half-priced cabs from Napa. Sure enough these wines arrived safely at my door, free of shipping charges and just as advertised. I love a deal!

You, too? Click here to become a member of Invino and see what limited-time sales are being featured today.

Aging Nicely: 2000 Bethel Heights Flat Block Reserve

American Pinots are often thought to be lightweights, not particularly cellar worthy. That may be true for some American Pinot Noirs but not true for the 2000 Bethel Heights Flat Block Reserve I had the pleasure of drinking over two nights recently.

The estate–grown grapes came from a three acre block of Pommard clone vines in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA in Oregon and the resulting wine was barrel-aged in 60 percent new French oak for 14 months. Built for the cellar, this is a big body wine and the color is a deep blood red.

On the nose there is dark fruit and earth and on the palate there is plenty of unctuous fruit—dark cherry predominates. The mouthfeel is smooth and the fruit yields to some nice acid and some licorice. The finish was medium to long with fine tannins and lingering cherry and chocolate flavors. Or maybe I was tasting the dark-chocolate caramel dusted with sea salt that I was nibbling on as I made my notes. Likely, but nonetheless what a dessert it made!

There were less than 500 cases made of this wine so I doubt you will still find it in circulation. However, it proves that some producers are making Pinot Noirs that do hold up and shine after close to ten years in the bottle.

To find out more about this family-owned and managed winery located in Salem, Oregon, click here.

Female Wine Drinkers Less likely to Gain Weight than Non-drinkers

Another good reason to drink red wine (as if we needed one!) comes from a ScienceDaily report of a recent study done by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, who measured the weight gain over an average of 13 years of women who started with a body mass index in the normal range. Here’s what they found:

Compared with women who did not drink at all, those who consumed some but less than 40 grams per day of alcohol were less likely to become overweight or obese. Women who drank 15 to less than 30 grams per day had the lowest risk, which was almost 30 percent lower than that of non-drinkers.

‘An inverse association between alcohol intake and risk of becoming overweight or obese was noted for all four types of alcoholic beverages [red wine, white wine, beer and liquor], with the strongest association found for red wine and a weak yet significant association for white wine after multivariate adjustment,’ the authors write.

The women who were least likely to gain weight were occasional to moderate drinkers. Forty grams per day of alcohol is a roughly a glass of wine a day. As always moderation is the key, as is your choice of food pairing. A big chunk of brie with your glass of wine will not lead to weight loss.


flickr photo by salvis.are

2009 Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon—A Crowd-Pleasing Value

My friend Linda recently brought over a bottle of the 2009 Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon for a pot-luck Christmas party I was hosting. I had tasted this wine before but it had been a few years ago and I was happy to be reacquainted with this good value cab.

On the nose there was some big blackberry fruit backed up by some pleasing vanilla and spice. The wine was wonderfully mouth filling with flavors of cherry pie and earth. This was a surprisingly complex wine for its price (under $12.00) and it lingered nicely on the finish, a bit hot, but tempered with yummy mocha and stone fruit.

As you can imagine, our pot-luck buffet offered many pairing options. It paired well with the yam casserole and Linda’s roasted pork loin. It was equally tasty with the chocolate-coated éclairs.

If you are looking for an accessible Cabernet that will please most palates you can’t go wrong with the 2009 Guenoc Cabernet Sauvignon. And it’s cheap enough to share with all your friends!

2001 Cameron Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to preface this post by admitting that I am a big fan of Oregon Pinot Noir.

I love the big fruit flavors, the diversity of microclimates and soils, and the passion these winemakers bring to crafting wines from this challenging grape. So when I opened a bottle of 2001 Cameron Willamette Valley Pinot Noir the other night I did expect that I would like this wine. What I did not expect was how well it had aged.

Close to ten years in the bottle, I did see a clear lip when I poured the wine into a glass along with a slight brick tinge to the bright art glass color I was used to seeing in these pinots. But on the nose there was no hint of a wine in decline. I inhaled raspberry, cherry licorice, clove, sweet tobacco, and new oak.

On the palate I picked up the plum brandy flavor that I associate with some age, followed by bramble and mineral and a refreshing sparkling acid on the tongue.

This pinot finished long with a mild but lingering cherry pastille flavor. Yum, just the ticket for a cold, blustery night.

If you have a bottle of this wine in your cellar, I would recommend you liberate it— perhaps when there’s a turkey roasting or when you need just a little something…for medicinal purposes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What wine should you serve with the best-dressed bird? My preference has alway been a Californian Pinot Noir or a dry Rose. I will be bringing a 2008 Dry Rose from Valhalla Vineyards to our neighbor's home along with a couple of hefty mircobrews from Canada for my host Bob who enjoys a beer before his meal.

But really, I think you should serve whatever wine you think your guests will enjoy. That might mean a Beringer White Zinfandel for Grandma and a beer for Uncle Chuck. The reality is with all the dishes that are typically served at a Thanksgiving meal it's difficult, if not impossible, to choose one wine that complements both the spicy stuffing and the marshmallow-topped sweet potatos.

Don't sweat it. This is one day where no one will care. We will just be grateful for the food, the company, and a little bit of acid and alcohol to cut the grease and grease the conversation.

2005 Bargain Bordeaux

I had the privilege of tasting a barrel sample of the 2005 Mouton Rothschild when were visiting there in June of 2006. Despite its impressive showing as a young wine, I knew then that I would not be buying this wine by the bottle. The hype surrounding the 2005 vintage drove prices up quickly and even in this recession I would have difficulty finding a bottle of the 2005 Mouton Rothschild for under US$700.

Instead we stayed away from the top producers and their pricey real estate and have purchased quite reasonable 2005 Bordeaux wines for under $40. The Roanoke Fine Wine Society recently did a blind taste of eight bottles of 2005 Bordeaux wines from St. Emilion, Pessac-Leognan, and Medoc to see what these relatively bargain wines offered in the glass.

Some were in a funky stage but most were very drinkable now if you can endure the mouth-drying tannins. These are definitely food wines. We paired these wines with braised beef and potatoes and hard cheeses and we were richly rewarded. Some of the evening’s highlights included a 2005 Chateau Joanin Becot (St. Emilion), Rollan de By (Medoc), and a Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion (Pessac-Leognan) all of which were rated 90 by Robert Parker and can be found for under US$40.

Of course, had we bought the 2005 Mouton Rothschild at release it would have been a very good investment but you can buy a case and a half of these less renowned Bordeaux wines for the $700 plus it would cost to buy one bottle of the Mouton today.

Which brings up the question: Are you a wine collector or a wine drinker?