What is a Garagiste Winery?

Garagistes refers to a group of winemakers in the Bordeaux region, producing vins de garage, "garage wine". A group emerged in the mid-1990s in reaction to the traditional style of red Bordeaux wine, which is highly tannic and requires long ageing in the bottle to become drinkable. Some of the criticism for vins de garage is that with their high prices and limited production, they appear to be made more for wine collectors rather than for wine drinkers.

What is an AVA?

An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know about the geographic pedigree of their wines, as wines from a particular area can possess distinctive characteristics. Consumers often seek out wines from specific AVAs, and certain wines of particular pedigrees can claim premium prices and loyal customers.

What is a 2nd edition wine?

Since the grapes are flash frozen right after crushed and destemmed into “grape must”, that means vinification can happen much later. That opens the possibility of working with grapes from the same harvest in two separate years of production. Working with frozen “grape must” uniquely allows for working with the same vintage twice allowing for adjustments to be made based on the first experience at making wine from these same grapes. So, 2nd ed. wine comes from the same vintage (growing season) but the wine was made in a year later. This is found on the front label with “2nd ed.” and a different vinification date on the back label.

Why are some wines cellar reserve?

The giveaway allocation is solely based on quantity, so cellar reserve wines have even more extremely limited quantities. For whatever reason I made a smaller than usual quantity of a particular wine. If it was particularly impressive wine and the “grape must” is still available, keep a lookout for the 2nd ed. wine.

Cellar reserve wines have a give away allocation, are they part of the give away program?

No, these wines are extremely limited (about a handful of bottles). They are given away at the sole discretion of Blanchard Cellars for the purposes of solicting reviews to better represent the entire wine portfolio (especially in cases of a future 2nd ed. wine).

Can I make a request on a future release?

Sure, requests are welcome but there are no guarantees. I would like to enhance your Blanchard Cellars wine experience wherever possible.

I like reading the reviews, but not comfortable leaving one. Is that a problem?

No, reviews are not obligatory nor does lack of you leaving a review adversely impact any of your future allocations. The sole purpose of this feature is for improved engagement and enhancing our shared experience in this digital age.

Is it possible to leave anonymous wine reviews?

I considered this option very seriously. But given the website is public, there is no way to ensure the integrity of the reviews without a name associated with it. And since the allocation holders are known, no review is accepted from someone who has not sampled the wine.

I submitted a review but do not see the stats updating?

Unfortunately, currently the incorporation of review statistics is a manual process, as well as the curation of review comments.

I am excited to have received an allocation. How long before I need to consume it?

Fortunately, all of the types of wines Blanchard Cellars produces should easily improve over the next six months in the bottle. Given how these wines were produced, they should have good reductive power and age for years. The exception would be the whites; even though these may be able to age a couple of years - they may lose freshness. Also, since 2025 is the inaugural release, there is no past experience to back any of these claims. Therefore, Blanchard Cellars would recommend you consume your wine within the first year after receipt to avoid issues. Based on our experience cellaring and tasting these wines, this recommendation may be updated in the future.