Can’t say enough good things about this site - the input from the reviewers and the regulars is invaluable, the deals ($$$) are really good, and often the vinters are available in the comments to answer questions. We’re off in the boonies of the Santa Cruz Mountains, so the whole “casemates” thing hasn’t worked that well (we are trying to recruit), but the reviews from the community “lab rats” are great in determining whether each offering is something for you, and we’re okay with dealing with a full case of an exceptional wine!
I bought a good deal of wine from Wine.Woot over the too short years it was in business. Usually, in those days, however, one could only buy six bottles (or less) of an offering.
When Amazon came along, bought Woot!, made Matt even richer (octopus for breakfast and all that), and killed Wine.Woot, I was at a loss.
Then I got an email offering to join a Kickstarter campaign for Casemates. So I sent in the $ and became a VMP, which I have been ever since. I use the VMP status occasionally on one of the associated sites, but maintain it mostly for purchases on Casemates.
My rate of buying has decreased somewhat over the years as my cellar grew, and I became more discriminating. I check the offerings every day even still. I am still a sucker for certain offerings no matter what.
I have been a Lab Rat on several occasions and have been proud to offer my humble comments and opinion, when I can. I don’t consider myself with my limited innate organoleptic talents to be any kind of authority in describing the subtleties of this or that note, flavor, and odor. Based on what I read in other comments and Lab Rat reports, I’m apparently missing a lot – like wearing a full arctic coat and boots to a pool party.
But I know what I like, and what is just meh (to me).
I have sent a lot of wine to various people and family members as well. Indeed I’m a minor celebrity amongst the friends and neighbors of one of my wife’s nieces as the uncle, who sends wine!
@Jackinga Wine.woot’s 6-bottle packaging was great for us one-person households. That’s about as much as I would want of any wine, and if it wasn’t to my taste, I wasn’t saddled with 11 more bottles.
@lisagd Casemates always has a 6-bottle or less offering for each selection. The less than case number of bottles seems to depend somewhat on the price point of the wine. The more expensive the wine per bottle, usually the fewer bottles in the less than a full case offer.
The drawback, of course, is that the price/bottle is higher than the price/bottle of the full case.
@Jackinga I don’t think I’ve ever gone to Casemates. I still have a ton of wine from wine.woot. Some of it has probably turned by now; whites don’t age as well as reds. Turns out I don’t drink as much wine as I thought I would.
@Jackinga@Kidsandliz@PHRoG My old roommate opened a bottle of white wine that was something like 7 years old, and it was awful. The color had gotten darker, too. One or two of the bottles I bought from wine.woot have tasted noticeably worse than when I first got my order from them.
Wine snobs turn up their noses at screw caps, but they don’t run the risk of drying out and spoiling the bottle, or being so hard to get out that you end up with pieces of cork in your wine.
Can’t say enough good things about this site - the input from the reviewers and the regulars is invaluable, the deals ($$$) are really good, and often the vinters are available in the comments to answer questions. We’re off in the boonies of the Santa Cruz Mountains, so the whole “casemates” thing hasn’t worked that well (we are trying to recruit), but the reviews from the community “lab rats” are great in determining whether each offering is something for you, and we’re okay with dealing with a full case of an exceptional wine!
I bought a good deal of wine from Wine.Woot over the too short years it was in business. Usually, in those days, however, one could only buy six bottles (or less) of an offering.
When Amazon came along, bought Woot!, made Matt even richer (octopus for breakfast and all that), and killed Wine.Woot, I was at a loss.
Then I got an email offering to join a Kickstarter campaign for Casemates. So I sent in the $ and became a VMP, which I have been ever since. I use the VMP status occasionally on one of the associated sites, but maintain it mostly for purchases on Casemates.
My rate of buying has decreased somewhat over the years as my cellar grew, and I became more discriminating. I check the offerings every day even still. I am still a sucker for certain offerings no matter what.
I have been a Lab Rat on several occasions and have been proud to offer my humble comments and opinion, when I can. I don’t consider myself with my limited innate organoleptic talents to be any kind of authority in describing the subtleties of this or that note, flavor, and odor. Based on what I read in other comments and Lab Rat reports, I’m apparently missing a lot – like wearing a full arctic coat and boots to a pool party.
But I know what I like, and what is just meh (to me).
I have sent a lot of wine to various people and family members as well. Indeed I’m a minor celebrity amongst the friends and neighbors of one of my wife’s nieces as the uncle, who sends wine!
Casemates. It’s a good thing.
@Jackinga Wine.woot’s 6-bottle packaging was great for us one-person households. That’s about as much as I would want of any wine, and if it wasn’t to my taste, I wasn’t saddled with 11 more bottles.
@lisagd Casemates always has a 6-bottle or less offering for each selection. The less than case number of bottles seems to depend somewhat on the price point of the wine. The more expensive the wine per bottle, usually the fewer bottles in the less than a full case offer.
The drawback, of course, is that the price/bottle is higher than the price/bottle of the full case.
@Jackinga I don’t think I’ve ever gone to Casemates. I still have a ton of wine from wine.woot. Some of it has probably turned by now; whites don’t age as well as reds. Turns out I don’t drink as much wine as I thought I would.
@Jackinga @lisagd wait…wine goes bad?
I have some from 2 to 4 years ago. I thought the longer it aged, the better.
Clearly, I know shit about wine.
Might need to make drinking and giving this stuff away a priority.
@Jackinga @lisagd @PHRoG Hmm seems to be a google disagreement on how long you can keep wine.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-long-does-wine-last#unopened-wine
vs
https://www.marquis-wines.com/blog/how-to-store-and-age-your-wine/
and who knows what else will tell you differently out there. I googled because I was curious. I don’t drink alcohol, wine or beer. Hate the taste.
@Jackinga @Kidsandliz @PHRoG My old roommate opened a bottle of white wine that was something like 7 years old, and it was awful. The color had gotten darker, too. One or two of the bottles I bought from wine.woot have tasted noticeably worse than when I first got my order from them.
Wine snobs turn up their noses at screw caps, but they don’t run the risk of drying out and spoiling the bottle, or being so hard to get out that you end up with pieces of cork in your wine.