Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  8/17/2007 (link)

  (Selbach Zelt-Sonn Auslese *) Friday SPECIAL Dear Friends, You asked for a summer sale or something of that ilk but we (fortunately) don’t have much of anything leftover from our offers (for a bin-end sale). So, as a Friday weekend send off (instead of a bin-end sale) I went out and found some of the best wines in the world that we’ve carried in the past at prices that are tough to pass up. Most of these are the last few cases they had before the next vintage comes up in September. All are directly from the source with perfect provenance - all at what should be the lowest prices in the world. PLEASE be patient as Niki must sift through the rubble of what will probably be a large number of responses for these - all are first come first served so don’t delay if you want to throw your hat in the ring (didn’t I already use that phrase earlier today?)... 2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger-Sonnenuhr “*” (one-star) Auslese LIMIT 3/person Not a lot needs to be said here except one-star Auslese for this price? A small cadre of this is floating around Seattle and I don’t care if it’s from a vintage on Mars, it’s still Selbach-Oster. Few succeeded to the extent that Johannes Selbach did in 2003 as his elegant ways served the vintage in a beautiful way. If you read David Schildknecht's comments on his entire 2003 portfolio, there about as glowing as his 2005 review. This is the special one-star Auslese only sold in the UK referred to below - VERY RARE! David Schildknecht on the regular 2003 Zelt-Sonn Auslese: “ A bouquet of orchid-like musky, spicy sweetness. Creamy but delicate on the palate, with baked apple, subtle spice, a touch of white raisin and wafting florality. Lovely oscillation of slate and fruit. Finishes with a light touch of fruit-skin chewiness and bitter vanilla notes playing against baked apple and wet stone. This was picked relatively late. (There was a "one-star" Sonnenuhr Auslese, sold in the U. K. , which I did not have the opportunity to taste.) 1 star. 2002 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger-Sonnenuhr “*” (one-star) Spatlese LIMIT 3/person See above comments - cut and paste here and add “2002 was a classic year overlooked like 2001 in Bordeaux after 2000”. This is a crazy price - (David Schildknecht “potential 2-stars”) 2003 Sette Ponti Oreno LIMIT 3/person I don’t know if this is the lowest price in the world but it must be close: 2003 Osoyoos-Larose Grand Vin Okanagan (British Columbia) LIMIT 3/person Once again, not sure if this is the lowest price ever on this stalwart but it must be. With the price of the top Washington Cabernet blends at record prices, this is almost silly. If you haven’t tasted this Bordeaux blend that is the Gruaud-Larose of the new world (literally, from cuttings taken from Gruaud-Larose), you may want to open one as the consensus is that there is no consensus...certainly worth a bottle to experiment. From just over the Washington State border into Canada in the pristine Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, some recent bottles of this have been incredible and others seem to be in a dumb phase - time will tell. From one of the top new vineyards in the US or Canada to emerge in some time. 2001 Yarrabank Yering Station Cuvee LIMIT 3/person (this is not the Creme de Cuvee which is a lesser-priced NV blend) Ok, so this is basically the same price as we had on the 2001 last summer but who’s counting? This wine sold out so fast last year that many of you never had the opportunity to try it. 2001 is a great vintage of the Yarrabank and if you think Australian “Champagne” can’t age - guess again. This wine competes with some of the best there is and at this price it may well be the single greatest Champagne-inspired Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to touch a riddling rack produced in the world. I don’t think I’m going to get much argument on this. PLEASE ADHERE TO THE LIMITS POSTED ABOVE - THANK YOU! We apologize in advance for sold out wines - it’s not Niki’s fault so please be kind to her. Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Germ9820 Germ9830 Italy7600 CA2200 Aus8110