Price check: 2003 Finca Allende Rioja
Finca Allende, Price Check, Rioja, Spanish Wine, Whole Foods
We brought this wine in recently, and are happy to be able to offer it at a fairly competitive price ($22.99 a bottle, which is just slightly north of the prices at other Southern California stores such as Wine House and The Wine Country). Ideally, we’d like to be able to match these prices, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. But because we’re so enamored of this wine, we chose to bring it in anyhow, and we’re very happy with the decision.
Also, we knew from research that we were offering the wine in the lower end of the price spectrum, having seen it on Wine-Searcher for up to $30 a bottle. But when we happened to see it at Whole Foods this weekend, during a grocery shopping/wine espionage excursion, we were left scratching our heads. At Whole Foods, the wine retails for $36.99 a bottle.
THIRTY-SIX-NINETY-NINE! That’s a good 23% over the highest price listing on Wine-Searcher, and 80% higher than the lowest priced SoCal retailer carrying the bottle. We also noticed that the Telmo Rodriguez Dehesa Gago Toro 2005 is back up to $15.99 a bottle there, but that’s another story…
FYI, the Finca Allende appears to be a popular wine on Cellartracker, with an average score of 89.3 points and more than 100 bottles shown in stock by users of the free wine inventory tracking service. We’d have to agree with the tasting notes from user “Mimik,” who writes:
A crimson-red wine with a fruity/berry nose of blackberries, sweet tobacco/oak with noticeable vanilla and some whiffs of figs, chocolate and raspberries. A fine well made wine with a purity and finesse that was unlike the 2001 which I found overbearingly acidic. Acidic presence is moderate but well integrated on the long dusty tannins finish. 91 points. Very approchable now.
If you’re interested in the Finca Allende Rioja from vintage 2003, here’s where you can find it and for how much:
Marketview Liquor, New York: $19.99/bottle
Wine Buys, Missouri: $20.64/bottle
Wine Country, Signal Hill, California: $21.99/bottle
domaine547, Los Angeles, California: $22.99/bottle
Sparrow Wine & Liquor, New Jersey: $24.99/bottle
Nejaime’s Wine Cellars, Lenox, Mass: $29.99/bottle
Whole Foods, various locations (not available online): $36.99/bottle
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3/8/10: First domaineLA Wine Tasting at Susan Feniger’s Street: 5 Wines, $15:
Just a quick note to let you know that a week from today, on Monday, March 8th, 2010, I’ll be hosting the first domaineLA wine tasting event at Susan Feniger’s Street, with the Manincor winery of Italy. The importer and winemaker will both be present to chat about the five wines being poured (including an unusual and delicious dry moscato), and the wines will be paired with light bites.
The best news is that the event will cost just $15 a person…a bargain! Swing by between 6PM and 8PM — I hope to see lots of you there!
Susan Feniger’s Street, 742 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Oh, and you can buy tickets in advance, online by clicking here:
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wine jargon
Frizzante
From Wikipedia: Frizzante is an Italian wine term term for semi-sparkling wine (as opposed to Spumante, which is generally used for fully sparkling wines). Frizzante wines generally owe their bubbles to a partial secondary fermentation in tank. You might notice a light fizz or tingly sensation on the tongue with a Frizzante wine, compared to the more carbonated sensation that more fully sparkling wines yield.
Scorekage
Okay, so we made up this word yesterday after a great restaurant experience. We brought a bottle of wine with us, expecting to pay a corkage fee. But the restaurant either forgot to charge us the $15, or decided to be nice to us. We scored! Hence, “scorekage” has entered our lexicon. This can also refer to BYO friendly restaurants that don’t charge for corkage under any circumstances.
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DomaineLA Store Contact Info
If you’re looking for our brick and mortar shop, here’s where it can be found:
(323) 932-0280
Hours are 11AM to 8PM, Monday through Saturday and noon to 5PM on Sundays.
Read more…Fabulous & Frugal!
Our friends launched a new site and domaine547 is a featured wine columnist in their premiere edition! Go check out Fabulous & Frugal for some fantastic lifestyle tips for living the good life during what, for most of us, is an economically challenging time. There’s much more than wine there, and we’re thrilled to be a small part of the start of what will surely be a successful venture. Congrats to Brandi & Steph for their achievement!
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