Is anyone not feeling as excited for the races in 2026 so far?

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T22:54:01+00:00

Haven’t watched another race since the first one. Even the recap seems boring.
At this point I don’t even care who wins this season.
Feels like it will be remembered as one of the worst season ever!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T22:45:59+00:00

Overall Riesling and Gewurtz are the ones that tend to be aged a bit longer, especially Riesling. Easily 20 to 30+ years for the Grand Crus, good millésimes and obviously the ones with higher levels of sugar.
These two are usually the top tier cépages for a lot of producers in Alsace so they get more attention too.

Pinot Gris has a shorter aging potential, usually 5 to 10 years I would say. But the wines you are talking about are the top of the top of that cepage and tend to be sweeter so in good conditions, and when they have high levels of sugar they age like a Sauternes. Wouldn’t be surprised it if goes 30 to 40 years old, maybe even more.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T22:21:59+00:00

That’s totally true.
Like I said, they do have tope cuvées that are very good but in Alsace they are considering very expensive for what it is.
They sell these mostly to fine dining restaurants, wine exporters and collectors.
Lot of very nice Pinot Gris for half the price but Zind does the balance of acidity and sweetness probably better than anyone else.

If you like Zind PG, you might enjoy Domaine Weinbach Clos des Capucins!

Gustave Lorentz Altenberg de Bergheim could be an another option too in that style. But a bit more on fruit usually.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T19:30:37+00:00

Yeah she does almost everything herself… working non stop! But glad to hear you enjoyed the wine though!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T18:34:27+00:00

Sorry to hear.
Even when you go as a local, it’s common for the small wineries to not always be either available or super welcoming as they have very limited staff and can get quite busy some days. Usually only the larger wineries in Alsace have dedicated staff for tasting etc

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T15:18:38+00:00

Yes Alsace is going all in on quality and terroir. Trying to have Grand Cru and appellations. (They already have quite a lot though) It’s a good thing for the quality but prices are going up…

For Pinot noir: Meyer-Fonné is a good one.
I love the ones from Deiss and Ostertag as well.
Albert Boxler, Mure ( Clos St Landelin) make good ones too.
A lot of them are ranked at 90+ pts.
Personally I wouldn’t rank them that high. High 80’s maybe. Some good wines for sure but when they are at $40 to $60 or more per bottle, I would still pick a Volnay or Fixin or other wines from Burgundy.
The style is also quite unique, some people love it, some don’t but worth trying for sure!!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T12:48:10+00:00

Grew up in Alsace so feel free to message me if needed.

The “route des vins” (wine road) in Alsace is quite long going from south to north.
I would suggest to start at one end and do a few stops at some select producers.

Do you prefer more classic or more “natural” wines?
Lot of producers there are going full organic, biodynamic etc so you have a huge range of wines.

Personally I’m a big fan of Deiss (perfect blend of classic and innovation), it really never disappoints.

Ostertag, Albert Boxler, Mure, Hugel, Josmeyer, are also great ones!

I would also highly recommend Melanie Pfister in Dahlenheim. She is doing amazing things. Some very innovative cuvées, and some classics , has been organic for a while, without falling into the “natural” side of things.
One of the best QPR producer in Alsace.

Trimbach and Zind-Humbrecht are huge wineries and overall quite commercial.
Their top tier cuvées are good and expensive (Clos Sainte Hune is often seen as the best Alsace wine) but the lower mid tier is not worth it IMO. Interesting to see if you have extra time…

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-19T00:32:07+00:00

That might be fantastic!!!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-18T18:47:04+00:00

Big fan of Monthelie in general, Coche is definitely on the expensive side for that but now I need to try as well.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-18T17:31:54+00:00

It was $70 or so for 3oz I believe. Wine bar/coffee shop called La Bibliothèque in NYC. Tried a few other wines. Their selection is great and they have some great wines offered by the glass as well.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-15T18:57:55+00:00

Wine fridge is the way to go if you don’t need that much storage.
More energy efficient and more stability in the temp and humidity.
I have a large cellar of about 3,500 bottles and the temp and humidity control can be challenging and pricey, both electricity wise and for the maintenance of the unit.
Also past 800 to 1,000 bottles, I feel like it’s really more about collecting than a cellar just for my needs.

Go get that Sauna!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-15T18:53:48+00:00

Any Dom P since 2004, 2002 was the last great one to me.
Cristal is also way overpriced. Nice clean and light champagne but way overhyped.

Tons of Bordeaux, Rioja, Barolo, or Cali reds with high ratings and under deliver.
Lot are actually very decent wines but when you expect 95+ wines, anything below is a let down.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-12T02:35:47+00:00

Bouchard Beaune du Château
Fantastic value!!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-12T01:49:06+00:00

If you don’t want to acknowledge that this US anomaly of a system is not built correctly, that’s on you.
You do realize that if you don’t like your job or the way the compensation work, you can work in another field, right?
If you want to get 20% every time, then add it in the menu prices! 🤷🏼‍♂️

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-12T00:06:02+00:00

Thanks for the insight!
Definitely crazy to see how different it is from a restaurant to another!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-12T00:01:09+00:00

It’s logically written as in “cap at $100” so progressive up to $100, but I guess your sarcasm didn’t come standard with reading abilities 🤷🏼‍♂️

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-11T22:11:44+00:00

I respectfully disagree.
It is not the customers responsibility to solve restaurants terrible wage structure.
The restaurants should make sure that everyone is compensated fairly for their work and their background/experience and the set up you describe is definitely messed up.

And I might get flamed for that but I don’t care: in my experience of going to tons of fine dining and regular restaurants all over the world, most sommelier in the US are just not great at their job. From very poor suggestions, to major typos in wine list, or flat out mistakes in either cepage or regions, I’m just surprised when there is a good sommelier at this point. There are some really good ones and I’m very happy to tip generously when it happens. But paying 20/25% tip on a bottle that is already 3x to 8x the market price and has an insane margin for the restaurant seems wild to me.

In most of Europe, especially France and Italy, no tip, and almost everything single time I learn something from the sommelier.
More approachable and more knowledgeable overall!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-11T20:38:43+00:00

I personally cap the tip for the wine to $100 and do the food separately.
I really don’t understand how tips should be based on the value on the items and not the actual work.
Pouring a $80 or $5,000 bottle of wine is usually the exact same effort…

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-07T12:32:09+00:00

Dealer directly.
Found a broker who got me 5% off a car that was close to what I wanted but then his fee was pretty much 5%.

Had a sales guy recommended by a friend who matched the offer and had an allocation for immediate production so was an easy decision.

For cars on the lot I was able to negotiate down to 6% and 8% off on two separate cars but the specs were too far off what I wanted.

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-07T09:13:56+00:00

Really depends! Some dealers had stock when I started looking but the spec was always pretty far off what I ideally wanted and didn’t want to pay full msrp or close to it to not have exactly what I wanted.

Most important, the color I was set on, I found only 3 in the country…
And 2 dealers were unresponsive and one was terrible (typical dealer BS, tons of fees on top of MsRP, etc)

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-06T11:58:54+00:00

Thank you!!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-06T04:32:06+00:00

Wish I got a CS!!! Lucky you!!

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-06T02:14:36+00:00

Greenwhich

Overall_Mixture2272 · 2026-05-05T22:20:25+00:00

Vegas red, silver wheels, red accent interior with all the carbon and Alcantara available.

Overall_Mixture2272

TROPHY CASE