Thunder Mountain fire sale

Back in February, at our Open That Bottle Night mega-tasting, one of the guys brought a bottle of 1995 Thunder Mountain Cab he'd obtained through a wine club membership many years ago. He figured he'd held the bottle long enough, time to open it. Unfortunately, I didn't keep serious notes of the evening's selections, but my mini-notes show I rated it outstanding, 90+.

It's the only time I'd ever seen or heard of Thunder Mountain wines before last Friday night. I wandered into a liquor store in Soioux City, Iowa and was surprised to find the 2001 Star Ruby Cienega Valley meritage on the shelf. For $13.99! This is wine that routinely retails for $45-$50, and that's if you can find it.

So why is a $45 wine selling in Corn Country for $14? The story I got from the shop owner was that the Thunder Mounatin winemaker had died, and that his widow now wants nothing to do with the winery. So, the stock is effectively being liquidated (pardon the pun). Is that just an urban legend, I hope?

I tried to find out more about the wine through the winery's website, but the site hasn't been updated since at least last fall. There's no reference to the 2001 Star Ruby listed there. Nothing is scheduled on their "Events" page after April 1, 2005, which means it was probably put on the books a lot earlier. (Also surprisingly, that event was in Omaha, 90 miles from Sioux City. I flew out of Omaha on my way home.) The 2001 Star Ruby is nowhere to be found or mentioned anywhere on the web site. This lends at least potential credence to the wine shop owner's story.

Lots of awards for their wines: Valley scored 89 and won Silver at the 2004 Santa Cruz Wineweb.com lists two of their wines for sale, but not the 2001. Wines in D.C., including the '95 cab at $45 and the 2001 Star Ruby at