2000 Halstead Vineyards, Napa Valley

[hotwine]

Never heard of this one before, found it at Costco last week. Opened as the griller's choice last night ahead of the pesto with grilled chicken and Tommasi PG, and hated to put it down. Cassis, tobacco, cedar.... all in moderation, nicely controlled, with 13.5% ABV and about $10. $10?! Yeah. Looking forward to Round 2 tonight.

[Innkeeper]

Did you find out anything about the winery? Or is it one of those Crow Canyon kind of things? Incidentally Roberto has an '01 Crow Canyon Syrah for five bills these days.

[hotwine]

Have found nothing on the winery yet. It may well be a product of the grape glut.

[Georgie]

Where's that Drew? If anybody can find out something, he can! He's amazing!

[hotwine]

Google has failed me so far. The label says it's bottled in Morgan Hill, CA; that's in Santa Clara Valley. And the label artwork depicts autumn leaves, suggesting a link with Turning Leaf. With my limited CA Cab knowledge, I suspect this stuff represents dumping of surplus grapes from one of the big houses, such as Gallo. Regardless, it shows as a lot more wine than 10 bucks' worth. It held up superbly overnight under Vacu-vin (yeah, yeah, I know), with cedar receding and cassis coming forward, with a solid finish. Delightful, case buy.

[winoweenie]

It be a new'un on meese. (scratching head-bone).ww

[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 09-30-2003).]

[hotwine]

Just stumbled across the reciept, crumpled up but not yet discarded..... from Sam's Club, not Costco. And the price was $10.31. I really need to clean off this desk more often....

[Innkeeper]

Could be a "made for" brand. Will look in our local Sam's.

[winoweenie]

Last time I cleaned mine off found 2 prarie dog holes, a rats-nest, and 7 left-foot single socks. ww

[hotwine]

Gotta watch those single socks like a hawk, they'll multiply right under yer nose.

The wine held together into the third day after opening. Amazing. Wife said, "What's amazing is that you let a bottle of wine live that long after opening!" Yeah, yeah. Had been using it only as a sipper before supper, since din-dins called for SWs. That stretched it out considerably. But usually, if a wine is still alive at two days, it's still lost a lot of its character, yet this one is going strong. Go figure. Opened a second bottle tonight, since one leftover glass just wasn't enough. This has got to be a decent winery's effort to unload surplus juice without diluting its premier label.

[Drew]

Gil, I've been trying to find this wine and alas, no info. I emailed Gallo and deny the aligator saying: "Drew,
Thank you for your recent email.

In regards to your question, we do not produce the wine Halstead Vineyards that you referred to in your email, nor do we have any information on it. We are sorry that we could not be of further assistance.

Thank you for taking the time to email us. It was a pleasure to hear from you.

Sheryl Hoffman
Consumer Relations

I give up...but will keep an eye out!

Drew

[hotwine]

Thanks, Drew. Gallo was the one I suspected. I'll keep looking, too.

[hotwine]

I just sent an email to the Santa Clara Valley Vinters Association; will see if that turns up anything.

[Thomas]

Kind of shines a light on the American truth-in-wine-label system...

[hotwine]

Yeah, maybe a "black light" would be more appropriate. Or lemon juice, to read invisible ink.

[Thomas]

Does the label read "vinted and bottled by" or "cellared and bottled by?" If so, follow that lead. Whomever is listed is the one holding the license, not that it means it is a bona fide wine production facility, but you will know if it is or isn't by those very words. The search will have ended, unless you want to know at which facility the wine was made. But the fact that it isn't listed means the winery isn't interested in letting you know.

Gil, you say the wine is worth the price, and more. Well, to be sure, someone, somewhere is likely paying more for that same wine, but under a different, maybe even recognized, label.

You gotta love capitalism for its inventiveness...

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 10-04-2003).]

[hotwine]

The back label says, "Vinted and bottled by Halstead Vineyards, Morgan Hill, CA." So no help.... no trail to follow. I've checked membership listings on the Web sites of winery and growers' associations in CA and still no luck.

[Thomas]

Yep--I thought so. "Vinted and bottled by" is a catch-all nothing phrase that really means anyone with a license to sell wine at wholesale can do so, no matter who made the wine, or from where it came. So, Halstead could be a separate license held by a person, a group, a winery, a labrador retriever...Morgan Hill is the licensee's address, or wherever the licensee claims to do business.

The wine is produced somewhere, but no regulation states that the winery's name is required on the label. And as I said many times before, the wine could be the same wine bottled under other labels, and at different prices.



[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 10-04-2003).]

[winoweenie]

Heading to San Diego tomorrow morning and will check with my bud at Vintage Wines and see if he's hip to this purveyor. He's on Connissuers Guide Tasting panel so mite have a clue as I sure as the blazes don't. My guess is the same as Foodsters, surplus juice that was dumped to protect the main label. WW

[Innkeeper]

They did not have the Halstead in the Bangor Sam's. They have installed gas pumps since we were last there. They were selling regular for $1.46 which is about $.10 less than everyone else around here!