PHOTO OF THE WEEK
This snapshot is from a visit we made in France a few years ago...the
people at that domaine open many bottles for visitors, but we noticed they are
big fans of their own products.
Sometimes a winemaker or winery workers can become "cellar
blind." If they drink only wines of their own production, it's easy
to have those as benchmark, reference point wines. They may develop less
sensitivity to potential flaws in their wines.
Let's say, for example, there is a dank, musty air in the winery, it's likely
they will become desensitized to wines described often as
"corked." This can be due to something called 2,4,6
Trichloroanisole, or TCA for a shorthand term.
You've likely encountered TCA when you find a wine to smell like a cellar full
of wet newspapers or cardboard.
Our colleague Ellen is ultra-sensitive to this musty character in wines and we
are fairly sensitive as well.
We have a friend from a wine-tasting group who often ranks a corked wine as his
favorite! That fragrance, for some reason, is comforting to him and he
finds it to be a positive quality, while most other people simply disqualify
such a wine as simply being a "bad bottle" thanks to a faulty cork.
Ages ago a server in a restaurant opened a bottle and we rejected it as
"corked." A young fellow, masquerading as the manager that
evening, brought the wine list and asked that we select another wine. We
inquired as to whether or not they had more of the wine we ordered and they
did. The second bottle was perfectly fine and quite different from the
tainted bottle.
The young guy, after pouring the wine for everyone at the table asked whether he
might have a taste.
He poured a sip and disappeared, never returning to our table.
We suppose he found nothing wrong with the corked bottle and perhaps he wondered
why we'd accept the second bottle as maybe it was inferior in his view.
C'est la vie!
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That Cabernet we mentioned winning (by a wide margin) a recent blind-tasting
arrived.
It's the 2018 Titus Napa Cabernet. The winery price is $62, while our
sale-price is $49.99.
It's a big, dark, purple-colored wine with black fruits, cassis, berries and
some sweet oak notes.
One customer who purchased a bottle on our recommendation last week, called the
following day and asked for a case!
Yes, it's that good.
We opened a number of bottles of various Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines and were
delighted by the least costly wine of the group! It's a youthful, 2018
vintage from the Cristia estate. We're told this is 85% Grenache and 15%
Syrah. The wine is beautifully balanced and berryish with a touch of
spice. You can enjoy it right away and yet we will not be surprised if
this doesn't develop handsomely with 5 to 10 years of aging.
$29.99!!!
Langmeil's Valley Floor Shiraz is back in stock after a brief absence.
This is excellent Shiraz, capturing the berry and spice notes with a touch of
oak seasoning (10% new barrels...French and American).
We had sent out one of our sporadic email "blasts" about this and many
people stopped by to get a bottle.
Even more gratifying are not just those who return for more bottles, but the
other day a fellow, new to the shop, said his friend served the Langmeil at
dinner a few days earlier and he was delighted to discover such a good wine at a
mere thirty-bucks.
$29.99
The Sablet Blanc from Notre Dame des Palliéres is marvelously spicy with
notes of clove...It's about 50% Roussanne and 25% Viognier with the rest
Grenache Blanc and Marsanne. Members of an old tasting group included this
in their April tasting kit as the "mystery wine." It was quite a
hit and one fellow ordered a case, making this his new "house wine"
for the upcoming month.
$19.99
From our Trentino friends, Pojer & Sandri...a Brut Rosé made of Pinot
Noir and Chardonnay.
Bottle-fermented and quite dry.
$39.99
The Zahel winery makes this unique dry white of a grape called Orangetraube.
They used to blend it into their Viennese field blend but have been making it on
its own for some time now and it's a delight!
Lots of exotic, citrusy notes and flavors.
And it's less than $20!
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Ellen
had her picture on the front page of the New Year's weekend Daily Journal, a local
newspaper here in San Mateo County.
They did a story about holiday sales of wines and liquors, so we were mentioned
(and quoted) in that.
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The store is fully stocked...lots of good value bottlings and numerous
"fancy" wines, too.
Stop by and we can give you a little tour...Socially Distant, of course...Don't
forget a face mask!
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GIFT CARDS AVAILABLE...
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Had a nice mention in the Wall
Street Journal's 2016 story about wine store signage:
CLICK
HERE
The Most recent mention, September of 2017, is this one...Things Wine Shop
Owners Detest...
CLICK
HERE
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Australian Wine Writer Jim McMahon wrote
a nice article published on the web site of the New South Wales Teachers
Federation.
CLICK
HERE
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Did you see the article in the local newspaper, by the way?
CLICK
HERE.
It was printed
just before New Year's Eve...
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|
SOME
PEOPLE KNOW THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING AND THE VALUE OF NOTHING
We are
dinosaurs in the wine business. Weimax has been open since 1961
and Gerald has been in the business long enough to remember when young,
upstart wineries such as Caymus and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars opened
their doors and charged all of $3.75 a bottle for Napa Cabernet!
If you buy wine because it has a cute label or was given a 90-point
score by someone, we're probably not your wine outlet.
If you think you're really getting a deal buying a second bottle of some
over-priced plonk for a nickel, we're probably not your wine outlet.
If you're impressed by a huge selection featuring hundreds of
factory-made wines of mediocre quality, we're probably not your wine
outlet.
If you think you're really getting a deal at the grocery store with
inflated prices on their wine to give you a hefty percentage discount,
we're probably not your wine outlet.
On the other hand...
If you like wines made by the winemaker and not marketing department
geniuses, we have some interesting bottlings for you.
If you're looking for wines which "taste more expensive" than
they cost, we have many discoveries to share with you.
If you're interested in broadening your enological horizons, stop by and
have a chat!
If you're a fan of wines "made for adult" palates, please
visit us...
|
This site is a "work in progress." It is updated regularly.
We are wine lovers and write this for wine lovers.
We offer a large selection of wines for
tasting
Monday through Saturday in The Tasting Room. We also
organize formal, blind-tasting comparisons. There is a growing archive of
tasting results, so you might check that out while you're viewing this site.
Click
Here To Take A Peek of the Tasting Results
Those
of legal drinking age are welcome to peruse this site.
We
Taste Before Buying.
We do not purchase wines on the
basis of favorable reviews by various publications.
If you're looking for numerical scores of wines, you won't find them
here.
Unlike about 98% of Wine Shop sites, we write our own copy based on
personal opinion and first-palate tastings.
This is a
Parker-Free and Wine Spectator-Free Zone.
We hope this site will encourage you to
stop by our shop and peruse the incredible selection of wines in store.
We make every effort to assure the accuracy of availability and pricing, but as
we are only human....
SHIPPING
AVAILABLE
ALONG THE WEST COAST.
$9 for the Box (12 bottles) , $23 for UPS. $5
handling per box for gift orders.
No Shipments to Utah, Massachusetts or New Jersey, please.
Additional Fine Print:
Non-California residents are responsible for determining whether they may
lawfully import alcoholic beverages into their state. We make no representation
relative to your right to import wine or spirits into your state. Each state has
its own rules about alcoholic beverages. Better check before calling us with an
order.
We are not responsible for shipments damaged due to weather. Next day air
or 2nd Day Air shipments are routinely handled with more care, so you may wish
to request those services.
We are not responsible for the weather (like, duh!), so shipments to places with
extreme temperatures are a risk. We will not assume that risk.
WE
DELIVER LOCALLY...CHECK THIS PAGE FOR INFO
ON GIFT DELIVERIES
WHERE
WE ARE: <click here!> 1178 Broadway, Burlingame, California
NEWSLETTER
Check out the current newsletter.
STORE HOURS
Monday 9am-7pm
Tuesday-Saturday 9am-7:30pm
Sunday: Closed
|
Gift
Certificates Available!
We Gift Wrap, too.
Rantings
& Ravings
ODD
SIGHTINGS
TASTING
ROOM IS CLOSED UNTIL
GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAYS WE CAN RE-OPEN IT 
The 2015
CASTELLO DI VERDUNO BAROLO is not designated as a "cru" or
single vineyard wine, but we understand the grapes are from the Boscatto
vineyard in Verduno.
It gets about 3 weeks of skin contact to extract color and tannin.
The 2015 is one of the showiest vintages we've tasted of this bottling
and it's showing well presently and should develop additionally over the
next decade, or so.
$49.99/bottle
Small
Print: One free taste per household...one free taste of a
particular wine per person.
You must be 21+ years of age.
|
HEY! We were listed amongst Food & Wine Magazine's 125
"Favorites" in the October 2003 Issue.
Thanks, Food & Wine!
CLICK
HERE
- Electronic mail
-
For: General Information, Comments, Queries, etc.,
Contact the Chief Cook & Bottle Washer, Web-Mister & Wine Meister.
gerald@weimax.com
- WEIMAX WINES & SPIRITS
1178 Broadway
Burlingame CA 94010
-
We built this site
ourselves using Microsoft's Front Page.
We "upgraded" to a new Microsoft program called Expressions...big
mistake!
While FrontPage was intended for novices, the new program is
intended for "experts" and programmers. Most "experts"
we know
view Microsoft with derision, much like wine drinkers look down
their noses at Gallo.
Now we know why.
We have been informed that
Netscape's Navigator doesn't present this format quite exactly as it is
intended. Sorry about that. We have also noticed it appears
differently on our browser than it appears as we've built it! Go figure...
"UNCLE BOB" GORMAN
1937-2012
Bob was in reasonably good shape in his later years.
In 2012 he had a bout of Bells Palsy in late Spring...
In early November he had a "dizzy spell" but said the hospital tests
were all fine.
Two weeks later he apparently suffered a stroke or seizure and ended up in the
hospital.
A series of further setbacks ensued and Bob passed away on Thanksgiving Day of
2012.
He was a bon vivant, world traveler and gourmand.
He appreciated art and photography, was a mushroom hunter and good cook and genial
host.
Bob wrote a book on California wine in the 1970s, a series of nice essays on
various varietals, with commentary on various wines and various food affinities.
Bob was especially proud that his book had been panned by The Wine Spectator,
while garnering good reviews from Gourmet Magazine's wine guru, Gerald Asher.
Julia Child also had been a fan of Bob's book, apparently.
He is greatly missed by Weimax regulars and his colleagues behind the counter in
the shop.
******
Jon Bonne, of the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote a nice article on
"old" wine books.
The March 2014 article featured a photo of a bunch of Jon's favorites, topped by
Bob's tome.
Read
Jon's article by CLICKING HERE.
"Quality first" is our mantra.
