Assume this is gone - but am in the market for a Scarecrow. Sent you an email.

Plan on replacing the unit everyc4-5 years. More if you're lucky.

cecil77 said:

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Plan on replacing the unit everyc4-5 years. More if you're lucky.

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Knock on wood, but pretty sure ours is 10+ years old. Had issues once but a $10 power pcb got it going again.

Probably is a total number of cycles and hours running.

I've got two Vinotemps. The one that needs repelacing has the leaded glass doors and nice oak cabinet and is in a room that runs warm so it runs more than not and cycles a lot. The other hasn't been replaced and I'd have to ask aggiejumper how old it is. But it looks like a bank vault and is well insulated and runs much less.

cecil77 said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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Stan Crowch said:

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Nice. So are there any general guidelines to finding young Bordeaux wines that are drinking well.

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Go right bank. Those will have a higher percentage of Merlot and should drink better young.

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In general yes, but there's so much MOX now in BDX (I think someone on here mentioned they may be dialing it back?) there are lots of really drinkable bottles at five years, some even at three.

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agree, and with some warmer days now the Cabs get softer. Merlot isn't really softer or faster maturing by nature, at least not in BDX.

I think Merlot 181 ripens very early.

BSD said:

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Update: I just ordered a new one. Ouch. There goes my wine budget for the month. Of course, I did purchase some Detert first!

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I promised myself I wasn't going to buy off any lists this year, but after just receiving my Detert allocation this week I am about to break my promise.

JCA1 said:

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My condolences on the busted wine fridge. Had to replace the condenser in one of mine once (luckily it was still under warranty). Repair guy told me that he spends about half of his life working on wine fridges. Apparently, none of them are built to last; some just have more bells and whistles. Pretty sure we're all on borrowed time with those things. . .

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I got this one used about 7 years ago for a good price (and gave my larger one away during a move). I'm guessing that unit lasted 10 years. Not too bad. Hopefully this next one will have a matching longevity.

ATL Aggie said:

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BSD said:

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Update: I just ordered a new one. Ouch. There goes my wine budget for the month. Of course, I did purchase some Detert first!

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I promised myself I wasn't going to buy off any lists this year, but after just receiving my Detert allocation this week I am about to break my promise.

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Nice! I almost ordered mags but the shipping didn't make sense. It was an extra $50 to ship a magnum.

BSD said:

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ATL Aggie said:

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BSD said:

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Update: I just ordered a new one. Ouch. There goes my wine budget for the month. Of course, I did purchase some Detert first!

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I promised myself I wasn't going to buy off any lists this year, but after just receiving my Detert allocation this week I am about to break my promise.

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Nice! I almost ordered mags but the shipping didn't make sense. It was an extra $50 to ship a magnum.

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I've derailed 2 mailing lists orders just due to the shipping costs... crazy prices I've seen

interesting, and that would make some sense

Objective Aggie said:

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Love the Turnbull Black Label. I've always thought it was a great value for a more expensive Cab (> $100/bottle).

greenband said:

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Objective Aggie said:

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Love the Turnbull Black Label. I've always thought it was a great value for a more expensive Cab (> $100/bottle).

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I will never not be a Turnbull club member.

greenband said:

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Objective Aggie said:

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Love the Turnbull Black Label. I've always thought it was a great value for a more expensive Cab (> $100/bottle).

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I agree and also enjoy the Oakville Reserve, Fortuna, and Leopoldina

Goddam, I would have loved to have sampled all those.

WestUAg said:

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Had a nice tasting of some older Dunn and some new ones from the winery. They poured 13-19 from 750s and a mag of 98. I shared the wines in the pic from my cellar.

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Very cool

WestUAg said:

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Had a nice tasting of some older Dunn and some new ones from the winery. They poured 13-19 from 750s and a mag of 98. I shared the wines in the pic from my cellar.

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How was the '98? Also, is the Trailer V a '13? How was it?

98 was in a great spot. 93 showed slightly better. The trailer was surprisingly light and elegant…it's a wine you would want to drink everyday.

Anyone else a fan of Hope Family Wines?

https://hopefamilywines.com/

Have only had the Cab. It was a little sweet for me.

My boss loves Austin Hope. I agree with Cecil that it is too sweet for me and likely highly altered given the flavor profile, production volume, and consistency.

jh0400 said:

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My boss loves Austin Hope. I agree with Cecil that it is too sweet for me and likely highly altered given the flavor profile, production volume, and consistency.

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Austin Hope is about 8 grams/Liter of residual sugar. Fairly typical for Wagner family mass produced wine. Austin Hope isn't part of Wagner family but Austin Hope studied under Chuck Wagner.

When I go to a restaurant Wagner family style wines dominate many per glass wine lists because the average person enjoys the consistency and smoothness from the extra sugar. They both have had amazing commercial success.

Your average high end cab is about 3 grams/Liter residual sugar for comparison.

Agree.

And to add to that, 5 g/L (0.5%) sugar is the detection threshold for most humans, although higher acid can push detection even a little higher.

greenband said:

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jh0400 said:

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My boss loves Austin Hope. I agree with Cecil that it is too sweet for me and likely highly altered given the flavor profile, production volume, and consistency.

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Austin Hope is about 8 grams/Liter of residual sugar. Fairly typical for Wagner family mass produced wine. Austin Hope isn't part of Wagner family but Austin Hope studied under Chuck Wagner.

When I go to a restaurant Wagner family style wines dominate many per glass wine lists because the average person enjoys the consistency and smoothness from the extra sugar. They both have had amazing commercial success.

Your average high end cab is about 3 grams/Liter residual sugar for comparison.

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The first time I had Austin Hope I thought it was Wagner. I guess it is Wagner-esque in actuality,

Thanks for the feedback. They have quite a few wines in their portfolio. And yes, I do enjoy their wine, but the flavor profiles you all described I tend to graviatate towards

Happy Thursday

I have 2 passes to the Italian wine tasting at Total Wine tomorrow (5pm to 7pm) because my friends who were coming to visit had their flight cancelled. Not sure if I can transfer them but if you want to go I can meet you there and get you in.

Nice! How was it?

We popped and poured a bottle of the 2021 Cult we picked up from LastBottle. I was planning to decant it while we started with another bottle, but it was pretty fruity and seemed ready to go. It did not wow me though, so perhaps I should have been more patient.

QBCade said:

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Happy Thursday

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I didn't keep inventory back then but I really do think I bought this wine at the winery on my first trip to Napa with my wife.

AggieDad24 said:

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I have 2 passes to the Italian wine tasting at Total Wine tomorrow (5pm to 7pm) because my friends who were coming to visit had their flight cancelled. Not sure if I can transfer them but if you want to go I can meet you there and get you in.

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College Station Total Wine

BigAg95 said:

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Nice! How was it?

We popped and poured a bottle of the 2021 Cult we picked up from LastBottle. I was planning to decant it while we started with another bottle, but it was pretty fruity and seemed ready to go. It did not wow me though, so perhaps I should have been more patient.

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V good, but Rudd was better. Rudd was so rounded, layered, refined. Turnbull was very smooth, interesting after of menthol/eucalyptus.

Cult is v fruity, Fayard is the main winemaker/wine consultant. His style is pretty evident. If you like that, try some Purleiu or Le Pich.