2 winners: 01 marquis phillips and 99 stonegate

[newsguy]

my regular wine shop loaded up heavy on several marquis phillips wines (shiraz, cab, sarah's blend, merlot, chardonnay and some of their higher end bottlings). when i heard the sparky and the mrs. were making wines at this price point, i went in and got a bottle of the shiraz and the cab. as soon as i tried the shiraz i went back and bought a case. but when RP's ratings came out on these babies, hundreds of cases flew out of the shop in days. they sold out of everything but the merlot and the chard, and i went back and grabbed a bottle of the merlot. they got another very small shipment of the shiraz in, and they held six bottles for me. (didn't even put the stuff on the shelves, just alerted a few customers that they had gotten a little more). so, i have 18 bottles of the shiraz and hope to get a case of the merlot on the way home tonight.

on the stonegate, drew, holding that 97 a little longer is probably a good idea. i remember when i popped the only bottle i had of the stonegate 97 cab a few months back, it was drinking beautifully (still had tannins though) and i tried in vain to find more. their 99 merlot has plenty of tannins and i'd guess could go five in the cellar.

[This message has been edited by newsguy (edited 12-06-2002).]