WTN: 2002 Rubicon Estate Rubicon

At an offline in the Finger Lakes the proprietor of Glenora Wine Cellars contributed a California blended red-- the 2002 Rubicon Estate at 14.1% abv. It's from Rutherford, Napa Valley produced by Francis Ford Coppola from Old Inglenook Wine Estate. I really liked this. It was very smooth and tastes mature although only five years after harvest. I found this to be a lip-smacking wine. The 2002 is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon with small percentages of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Mary Ewing-Mulligan gave the 2002 a score of 94 and said it would age well for 15 years but was lovely now (2006). She reports that the winemaker said it was the most tannic Rubicon he had ever made and yet "it is possibly the softest great California Cabernet I have ever tasted." (from Wine Review Online) I did not find it tannic and I am usually sensitive to tannic wines.

Ah....Rubicon. I brought this bottle to my best friend's bachelor party, and we simply slurped it down with gusto! Even at five years old!

Sometimes the hype IS worth it. Beautiful Napa wine, one of my top five California wines!

JC,

Thanks for the note. I've got two bottles of the '02 Rubicon. I think that we will drink on this summer and hold one back for several years.

I wonder if any made it out to Tulsa?

The 2002 is listed on wine-searcher.com from several sources.

Cool!

Wine-Searcher can't find any in Oklahoma.

Robert, maybe the winery still has some 2002 for sale. Don't know shipping laws in Oklahoma but in North Carolina we can have wineries ship to consumer if they buy a license to do so whereas we aren't really supposed to ship from retailers (though some do it anyway).

Wineries can ship to purchasers in Oklahoma only if the purchaser buys in person at the winery, per Oklahoma laws. And even then, no more than 2 bottles can be shipped. We ran into that problem in Colorado recently, when we wanted to have our purchases shipped directly home.

We are screwed all the way around by our moronic legislature.

Wineries can ship to purchasers in Oklahoma only if the purchaser buys in person at the winery, per Oklahoma laws. And even then, no more than 2 bottles can be shipped. We ran into that problem in Colorado recently, when we wanted to have our purchases shipped directly home.

We are screwed all the way around by our moronic legislature.

Send me your driver license and credit card and I'll help you out.

Seriously, that really is a bummer. It's one of the reasons I was glad to have moved from New Jersey to California. If nothing else, at least things involving wine are easier.

Is the Rubicon really that good? I think I let the fact that they charge a hefty admission to the winery color my prejudices. It makes me sad that the old Inglenook Estate is no longer as accessible as it was. (We went around the block on this here before. I'm just sour-graping.)

It makes it very frustrating indeed! Along with the screwy laws that require wine to be sold only in liquor stores (which close at 9:00 PM BTW) or in restaurants & wineries.

I can sympathize. Here in the Hoosier state only Luddites are allowed to run for legislative seats. Hell, we just finally adopted daylight savings time! It has been easier recently to get wine shipped into Indiana. Some web merchants still won't do it. We did get the 2002 Rubicon shipped from the winery IIRC. Good luck.

So what's the worst that can happen if I ordered wine from a site that said they could ship here, despite what the OK laws say?

So what's the worst that can happen if I ordered wine from a site that said they could ship here, despite what the OK laws say?

'Tis my understanding that it's not usually the customer who gets in trouble but the vendor who is at risk ... although I imagine a cruel and unusual state would find ways to punish both.

JC,

I agree, at the offline I though that the 02 rubicon was very approachable and was very smooth. This was no easy task especially beside the 97 phelps Cab (which was better but not an easy task to run with this bottle).

So what's the worst that can happen if I ordered wine from a site that said they could ship here, despite what the OK laws say?

The worst that could happen for you is that the wine is confiscated by the state as contraband and you're out the purchase price.

Mark Lipton

So what's the worst that can happen if I ordered wine from a site that said they could ship here, despite what the OK laws say?

The worst that could happen for you is that the wine is confiscated by the state as contraband and you're out the purchase price.

Mark Lipton

Ok, that would not be cool.

I can sympathize. Here in the Hoosier state only Luddites are allowed to run for legislative seats. Hell, we just finally adopted daylight savings time! It has been easier recently to get wine shipped into Indiana. Some web merchants still won't do it. We did get the 2002 Rubicon shipped from the winery IIRC. Good luck.

It's no mystery, Sam. Indiana is still one of 5 or so states that considers it a felony offense to ship wine into our fair state by common carrier. See the Wine Institute's shipping laws page for details. Basically, the only way those web merchants who do ship to IN do it is by employing the fiction that, once the sale has been made it's your wine (not theirs), and therefore they're only helping you transport your own property across state lines. That's why they also will package your wine in an unmarked box and probably use a vague name in the return address -- or so I've been told

Mark Lipton

[James Roscoe]

I can sympathize. Here in the Hoosier state only Luddites are allowed to run for legislative seats. Hell, we just finally adopted daylight savings time! It has been easier recently to get wine shipped into Indiana. Some web merchants still won't do it. We did get the 2002 Rubicon shipped from the winery IIRC. Good luck.

It's no mystery, Sam. Indiana is still one of 5 or so states that considers it a felony offense to ship wine into our fair state by common carrier. See the Wine Institute's shipping laws page for details. Basically, the only way those web merchants who do ship to IN do it is by employing the fiction that, once the sale has been made it's your wine (not theirs), and therefore they're only helping you transport your own property across state lines. That's why they also will package your wine in an unmarked box and probably use a vague name in the return address -- or so I've been told

Mark Lipton

At least you don't live in Maryland. You can be thankful for small favors.

[Robin Garr]

Indiana is still one of 5 or so states that considers it a felony offense to ship wine into our fair state by common carrier. See the Wine Institute's shipping laws page for details. Basically, the only way those web merchants who do ship to IN do it is by employing the fiction that, once the sale has been made it's your wine (not theirs), and therefore they're only helping you transport your own property across state lines. That's why they also will package your wine in an unmarked box and probably use a vague name in the return address -- or so I've been told

Kentucky, of course, has a similar situation, but at least here (and perhaps in the Hoosier state as well), it's a two-strike situation. The first offense justifies only a warning. The F word applies on a <i>second</i>, subsequent offense.

In other words, vendors may ship with impunity <i>until someone tells them to stop</i>. It happens that Kentucky ABC, fully aware of the wholesalers' role in the shipping law and its bogus nature, has never chosen to enforce the law, and to the best of my knowledge, no firm has ever been warned about a first offense. Of course, this merely reflects the law-abiding nature of wine enthusiasts in the Bluegrass.