Mike After Tour--Thoughts on Cali 18 + Top 20 winery wines, top 25 overall (looong)

Again, sorry for the delay in finally getting this up. With 496 wines to assess, there was a lot of post-trip thinking to be done.

I once again express my heartfelt thanks to every winemaker, winery and host/organizer and participants for various dinners for their generosity of time and knowledge and wines and companionship. I had the time of my life on this trip and it was fascinating from day 1 to day 17.

Anything here is my own opinion and does not reflect the views of http://www.wineberserkers.com…

That said, I kept my eyes and ears fully open.

GENERAL THOUGHTS

I thought I’d start by listing my thoughts from the last rotational trip 3 years ago:

“General California Thoughts:

1. The winemaking “industry” out here is in flux, some paradigms changing, a lot of comings and goings in vineyards and wineries

2. There is still no small amount of tension between what winemakers want to make or try and what their market will bear or perceives them as making. This was an interesting balancing act to discuss

3. More and more, the people I met, they are focusing on specific vineyards and want, if not all, certainly a controlling “interest” in their choice vineyards. At the same time, relationships with farmers and timely payment were cited as necessities

4. Plenty of talk ended up coalescing into the thought that there is a very stark dichotomy now in the industry—between those who are there to make wine and those who are there for the cachet of being in the wine industry. This is only a thought, but I think winemakers are more carefully picking the owners they work for

5. Water isn’t a critical problem everywhere, but it’s on everyone’s radar

6. There is, to me, the beginning of a sea change here, especially in the just-grown-up current generation, call it the 3rd generation, of great winemakers. The Star Trek era (Seek out new life, go where no one has gone before) is drawing to a close and some of what I characterize as the Burgundian model of winemaking—making the best wine you can make every year—is coming out. Without question, the heavy majority view is of letting the vineyards and grapes express themselves

7. And expanding on that, the notion of ageability in wines is creeping back into the discussion of winemaking. Whether some of the wines will achieve it or not, a lot of winemakers are after it.

8. More than one person I talked to is more aware of food pairing with their wines. I think this is an aspect that was not given as much attention before.”
   
   
   Those thoughts were set in the context of a question I asked most of my winemaker friends—“what has changed for you in the last 6 years?”

This time I dropped the other shoe. “What changes for you 6 years from now?”

Well, I will tell you that point #1 above? If anything, it’s only intensified. So is point #6—the “we’re just trying to make the best wine we can make each year” continues to be an ethos that is settling in. And starkly, point #3. A great many times in almost every region, I heard this chant: If you don’t own dirt, you’re in some trouble.

That comes in part from the Conglomeration Effect. That is, KJ, Gallo, Jonata’s group, AXA buying up vineyards. Buying up wineries. Buying up middlemen. This isn’t happening everywhere—Paso remains fiercely immune for the most part, and Santa Cruz isn’t perhaps enough on the map yet, but SBC, Amador, Napa, Sonoma—definitely happening in all those places, and people are looking north to AV now too. It was remarked in one place that Napa has priced itself out of “mid-range” wines….I got the sense that Napa property now is approaching the Burg model of a few years back where it’s $20 per bottle or so before you even get to touch a grape—that’s just the “membership fee” to get access. So Napa is looking hungrily at Sonoma and Alexander and Mendocino for grapes.

Some of the Effect has produced, for me, some sad results. This vintage will be the last for Brian Loring from Clos Pepe—a vineyard that he started with 20 years ago and, to a degree, put on the map. I’ve always associated Sleepy Hollow with Joe and Arcadian. No more. If I understood correctly, no more Rosellas for Ed Kurtzman and August West. Things can always change, but it’s still difficult for me to think there may be no more wines from these vineyards where I have felt these talented winemakers did the signature work.

I got a general sense of a move away from retail and focus on mailing list customers. In Paso, in particular, there is more than one winery that will be closing their doors to public tastings, and it will be mailing-list only. Others are starting to set up a tier system within their mailing list.

Part of the drive for this is something that was cited across the board. labour is becoming a critical cost. I listened to one horrifying story at a winery where they were in the middle of crush and destem, and another winery rep came by and offered the workers $10 more an hour—and the workers dropped what they were doing and marched right out the door.

I believe part of this issue may be, to a degree, the sense of work ethic and respect for your employer that may be missing in some of the younger workers, but at least an equal part is that the marijuana growers are willing to offer 2-3 x more money. More than one winery has invested in an optical sorter to try to cut down on the need for labour.

All this negativity should be balanced off. I think I felt more pride from everyone I met as to what they are doing and what they’ve accomplished than I remember in past visits. Everyone I talked to genuinely cares about the product that goes out the door. And more than one person cares very much about the customer experience and the employee experience at the winery—from a paella cookout to celebrate a sales employee’s success to plans for a B&B experience for top-tier mailing list customers, there are still innovations and improvements on the go.

The fire----most in Napa and Sonoma, I’m pleased to report, feel very lucky. They got their fruit in just before the fire hit. Those that didn’t are testing rigourously and will declassify anything with the slightest hint of smoke taint. In my barrel samples in Napa and Sonoma, I tasted ZERO WINES with any taint. But Napa still looks a little battered and bruised. And there are parts of Sonoma where the ash is piled very high. The inspiring stories I heard everywhere about people putting competition aside and helping each other selflessly were wonderful to hear. The biggest risk people had was potential loss of power during fermentation. Again, I can only go by what I did taste in barrel and I detected no problems or difficulties—hard as that is to assess at this early stage.

Some of the winemakers are starting to slim down their SKUs, or at least stand pat. There are some who are thinking legacy—or at least the opportunity for choice—for their progeny. And regionality—and the usefulness of or need to promote it—is percolating up.

A remark by more than one participant is that the consumer is not as points-driven as in the past—because of access to social media and things like CellarTracker, they tend to be more knowledgeable now. Some mentioned that a score of 94 or 95 doesn’t impinge on consciousness anymore—that only something 97 or above will have a real marketing impact.

Use of concrete is an interesting topic, with some winemakers quite excited about it and others dead-set against it. Education of the customer (in a positive light) is also cited as a focus by a few winemakers.

Oh—and Syrah. It’s becoming very hard to sell Syrah in the marketplace. I chime in on this, particularly when I was chatting with Mike and Leah Smith. I said to them, “name me one AVA—ONE—in this state that doesn’t produce Syrah?” I can’t think of one. There’s an ocean of this stuff out there.

The two most interesting observations to me were from Jean Hoefliger at Alpha Omega and Byron Kosuge, working with Paul Sloan at Small Vines and making his own B. Kosuge label. Jean noted that, in the age of Generation Text, wine can be a pushback against that because it does require and catalyze people seeing and interacting with each other in person.

Byron stated this—that, at best, a winemaker can make wine for 50 years or so. That means he or she only gets to make wine 50 times. That sounds trite? Well, for those of us who can do the same tasks hundreds or thousands of times in a year, it wasn’t trite to me. You only get 50 shots to make something special. It’s a privilege, Byron says. You need to treasure each one and the journey it takes you on, he adds. This is still rattling around in my head almost a month later.

I must say—quality level was at a tremendous high. Styles vary, of course, but picking a top 20 winery wines list was a murderous exercise for me this time around.

THE VINTAGES

2014 – AV pinots all had requisite acid carry. Otherwise, my notes from about 15 or so of these indicate wines of interest, which fulfills what I thought of the vintage in barrel 3 years ago. Must note, no wines from SoCal from this vintage were tasted. The Foursight AV Charles CVN PN and the Small Vines TBH Vineyard PN were standouts for me, as was the Clos Du Val Three Graces.

2015 – in SBC, all the chards appear to need time but will be worth waiting for. In Paso, the reds are mostly a pretty wild and exuberant ride. In Amador, the ripeness shows in the mainline grapes while some of the outliers (e.g. Alicante, Barbera, Malbec) had more freshness. In AV, seems a very good vintage for Pinot—I kept saying “this is good wine”, with the Drew 15 Valenti being particularly exemplary. There’s a broad spectrum across reds in Sonoma and Napa, but many fine examples—was particularly fond of a few I list below. Nevertheless, some seemed on the sweet and ripe side for me. Whites seem to have generally a fair sense of balance to them.

2016 – perhaps a dream vintage in that the words “yum”, “delicious” and “ready to go” got typed no matter what wine region I was in. Even “early” tasting Rhys, there was a sense of rightness about the wines. The exception perhaps is El Dorado where I found most of the wines need some time to settle down. In AV, I found the whites mostly to be just a touch sweeter than normal, not offputting at all, but reflecting a hot vintage. Sonoma, there are a couple of amazing Chards which I note below. Otherwise, seems a vintage where you were able to obtain some extra levels and sophistication to the wines, at least this early out. One word I used was “potency”. Those descriptions and that word apply even more to the Napa reds.

2017 – Goodness. Did I taste over 100 wines from the coming vintage? Goodness me! My view in SBC is, of course, through Brian Loring’s wines. It appears to be a vintage where grip, acidity and other (interesting) features outshine ripe fruit for now. I think they will develop as the 14s did into quite interesting wines. There’s certainly real stuff there. The Roses from here—Liquid Farm’s and Tercero’s—were both stunning examples. Rose hits a wider spectrum in what I tasted in Paso. The couple whites I had were quite good, with Clos Solene’s Hommage Blanc particularly standing out. My only taste of Santa Cruz were a couple of barrel samples of the Betwixt Chard. Me like. In AV, the whites were of interest and the pinots—my impression is from the 4 samples at Foursight. Aromatics will be evocative, palate may lag behind a couple years. In Sonoma, I was particularly pleased with the tastes from Kutch and Small Vines but Fogline too has some neat stuff sitting in barrel right now. Didn’t taste very much Chard so will offer no opinion there. Here and in Napa, as I mentioned above, none of the tastes I had showed any hint of “smoke taint”. All looks good from where I tasted.

In Napa, most of my impressions are based on the barrel tasting I did at Alpha Omega. I tried 4 Chards, which seemed to say that the clonal variety was having its say in this particular year. The red samples all had what they need at this early stage to be good to great wines. I liked both Quivet’s and Bevan’s SB from this year, both had an attractive unusualness about them.

THE WINES—BEST OF

It’s impossible to narrow down to a top 25 from almost 500 wines. Instead, I will expand to give a top 20 “winery wines”, some of which will make it into the overall top 25. When things like a 2006 Comtes de Champagne, 1989 Montrose, 1989 Groffier Bonnes Mares, 98 Kracher Welschriesling ZDS, 2016 Alpha Omega Era, 2008 dead-on Boillot Pucelles and 2016 Kutch McDougall PN don’t make the top 25, there must have been some stellar wines.

WINERY TOP 20—well, 21

1. 2016 Limerick Lane Rocky Knoll Zin (see below for expanded notes on 1st 11 wines)
2. 2016 Rhys Alpine Chard
3. 2015 Drew Valenti PN
4. 2016 Sojourn Reuling Chard
5. 2016 Myriad Halcon Syrah
6. 2017 Alpha Omega Thomas Cab from barrel
7. 2013 Tercero Mourvedre
8. 2017 Kutch Bohan PN from barrel
9. 2016 Small Vines TBH Chard
10. 2016 Bevan Cellars Ontogeny
11. 2016 Sojourn Oakville Ranch Cab
12. 2017 Small Vines Baranoff PN in used Atelier Barrel – needs time, but a rock star in 5-6 yrs
13. 2016 Liquid Farm Radian PN – I am very fond of their Chards. Yet this is/was the best wine. Wow stuff
14. 2016 Rucksack Barbera Rose – a fabulous surprise. Licklicious and with barbera characteristics. Not one person I tasted this on had anything but good to say
15. 2016 Carlisle Papa’s Block Syrah – terrific Mike Officer-exemplar Syrah
16. 2016 Kutch McDougall PN – a fine heir to the great lineage of this plot for Jamie
17. 2016 Alpha Omega Era – I loved the Thomas in barrel more, but this can stand shoulder to shoulder with any Cult Cab
18. 2014 Foursight Wines Charles CV PN – Excellent carry, presence and just-right-weight. Joe killed it in this vintage
19. 2004 Tablas Creek Vin de Paille – utterly scrumptious. Will fit in nicely with a theme dinner with a vin Jaune that I want to do here
20. 2017 Loring Family Kessler-Haak in new Atelier barrel – I’ve commented on my thoughts that certain winemakers and certain vineyards go together—Joe and Arcadian and Sleepy Hollow and Pisoni. Ed Kurtzman and Rosella’s. Ted Lemon and Savoy. Well, I think Kessler-Haak is Brian’s baby. This is the second time that the sample from this vineyard has wowed me—both of us, actually.
21. 2016 Sojourn Gap’s Crown PN – Very balanced and delicious pinot, a surprise winner for me in the tasting as I usually put Reuling and Sangiacomo ahead of the Gap’s. Great work.

The following earned Honourable Mention in the winery class

2016 Domaine de la Cote Bentrock Chard in tank
2017 Clos Solene Hommage Blanc
2015 Merriam Malbec
2015 Baxter Ferrington PN
2009 Arcadian Francesca’s PN
2014 Clos du Val Three Graces Cab
2017 Tercero Mourvedre Rose

BIGGEST SURPRISES

2016 Smockshop Band White Zin – yes, seriously. I think Steve brought this out at a lark at the first dinner. All of us—and none of us are newbies at this—were shocked at the complexity and interest this threw off
2016 Rucksack Barbera Rose – see above
2016 Roy Piper Cabernet – it’s very good. The surprise is that it was very good with just THREE WEEKS in bottle.
1964 Spanna – wow, the last wine I tasted on the trip, did this turn everyone on their ears with how youthful and vibrant it tasted. I’ve ordered Paul to bring another bottle to the Friday dinner for FallTacular.
2017 Kutch Bohan PN in barrel (see below)
2015 Merriam Malbec – for sure the best Malbec I’ve had from Cali.

TOP 25 OVERALL

This is even more interesting and fun to do. For those who tracked each thread, especially the dinner/OL threads, some things will be out of the order I placed them there. That’s what happens with me. I will always rank on these big trips according to the memorability of the wine. Thus, a wine which might have been outshone by another on the night of, can sometimes come back to haunt me later with its quality—case in point. The #1 wine? Was #2 on that night, next to wine #11 on this list. I make no apologies for that. It’s just a part of the funny way in which I’m built.

1. 1998 Elio Altare Barolo Brunate – the more I think about it, the more I miss the taste of this wine. Painfully. It is possibly the finest young Barolo I have ever drunk and I would have loved to track it over an extra day. It wins WOTT in an extremely competitive field and in retrospect really deserves a score—let’s choose 95+ since it will get better.

2. 2005 Jacques Prieur Musigny – This was my #2 on the night of, but was the best of that night on further reflection. Everything you do want from this commune and this level is on display. I was joy-face

3. 1995 Chateau Ducru-Beacaillou – such a magnificent presentation. One of the last wines of the trip was the one I chose to bring back to let my friend Heather have a taste of. It was just as good 3 days later.

4. 1981 Chateau Gruaud-Larose – in the memorable race, this one is near the front. Such glorious funkylicious stuff here, and with a sense of classy grandeur at the same time. An absolute delight to drink.

5. 2009 Copain James Berry Roussanne – wow, was this ever good. And more amazingly, at an Indian restaurant on a very hot day. But it mesmerized from the first sniff and sip, coming very, very, very close to a Beaucastel Vielles Vignes. For me, that’s the highest praise I can give a Roussanne.

6. 2016 Limerick Lane Rocky Knoll Zin – a super-close horserace for the top winery wine, but they win. And to think I only stopped in here because I asked Sarah at Carlisle for her recommendation. This is the best Zin, new or old, I’ve had in a long, long time and one of the very few bottles I took back with me. This took home a 94 on Mikey’s very strict scoring scale.

7. 2016 Rhys Alpine Chard – sensational, perhaps in my case I can say no surprise, but to be this dazzling this young is quite something else. Promises to be one of the very best of these.

8. 2001 Drouhin Marquis de Laguiche Montrachet – don’t get me wrong—phenomenal wine here. If I had had the ability to do with it what I would have liked (someone else’s very generous bring) and slow-ox it for a day and decant it for 5 hours, I know I would have gotten more. As it is, we could only get the peek inside the marvelous kimono of this wine. 15 years? Easy. It promises true greatness

9. 2015 Drew Valenti PN – I hadn’t had any Drew before, I don’t believe. Know what I called this? Littorai for less. Just a super, super AV Pinot that never stopped chugging, never ran out of fresh energy.

10. 1993 Chateau Pazjos Eszencia – the miracle is that it’s taken this long on the list to get to a dessert wine! I have had the fortunate privilege to have this wine twice before. Each time it remains an absolute marvel. No different here, stays on your tongue for not minutes, but hours.

11. 2005 Michel Gros Vosne Romanee Clos du Reas – a cuvee and producer I have always been fond of, possibly the best iteration, took me right to Vosne and the vines. So velvet. So perfumed. So good.

12. 2016 Sojourn Reuling Chard – so excited to get my hands on some of these. It’s Montrachet clone, and it showed in this wine, which has to be for me the best Chard Erich has made here—and he’s made some darned good chard.

13. 2010 Rhys Bearwallow PN – maybe it was where I opened it, amidst some of the Napa bigs, but man, this truly drank like a dream. I couldn’t take everything home, but how I wish I could have carted this back as an extra. As it was, it is perfectly proportioned and beautifully, freshly long.

14. 1998 Chateau Leoville-Barton – Ludicrous that this spectacular vin is so far down the list. Opened as part of the “Judgment of Altadena”, I’m very happy Paul followed my explicit decanting instructions for this. I think it did it a world of good and thought the Ducru is 10 slots higher, there is not a lot to differentiate them on a quality basis.

15. 2016 Myriad Halcon Syrah – I’m so proud of Mike—that he made this wine. That he’s come so far that he could make this wine. All the intensity he brings to his winemaking is combined with the bracing freshness and body that comes from this highest vineyard in Mendocino. I ordered a bottle and should have ordered more.

16. 2017 Alpha Omega Thomas Cab in barrel – winner, by a close vote, of the barrel sample contest. This was near the end of my blast-through with Jean through about 20 or so barrel samples, and I wrote “wow—the Chambolle of Cab?” It is that silky, that sense of ethereal that I have rarely found. I can’t wait to see what happens to this in bottle.

17. 2009 Domaine Louis Nie Clos Bellefond Pommard La Platiere – never heard of the producer. Never heard of the plot. But I know about them now. The WOTN for me of the first night’s dinner, it was a heckuva way to kick off. Just super-lovely stuff.

18. 2010 Prager Achleiten Riesling – need I say more? It’s Prager. I love Prager. I love this iteration of Prager. My bottle from last year was dazzling. This was dazzling with a little extra classy swirl. So good.

19. 2013 Tercero Mourvedre – I’m not just saying this ‘cause we’re good friends. Larry has so nailed this variety, and never more so than in this vintage at this time. I love what Hardy and Matt are doing at Dirty & Rowdy. This is better than that. This is what I absolutely want to think of when I think of Cali Mourvedre. Bravo!

20. 2017 Kutch Bohan PN from barrel – as much for the surprise factor as the quality—I am used to Bohan being a bit of the wild child of Jamie’s set, especially when young/in barrel. Not this sample. This was dreamily evocative already. Yummyliciousness is waiting for my order.

21. 2016 Small Vines TBH Chard – Paul nailed it with this wine. Not ready yet, but an absolute supermodel in 3-5 years. I hope I can wait that long!

22. 2015 Claude Dugat Gevrey Chambertin – I thought I might be done purchasing red burg vintages, but I guess not. I am absolutely digging what this vintage has to offer—from my visit last year up to this trip, and remarkable openness about the wines too. I will be selectively buying. This was great stuff.

23. 2016 Bevan Cellars Ontogeny – one thing I delighted in on this trip is seeing how my winemaking friends’ winemaking has grown and matured. I find it so here with this iteration of the Ontogeny, definitely my fave so far, there is just that enough-restraint now about the wine and a certain fineness that has made it special.

24. 1994 Joseph Phelps Insignia – from the Judgment of Altadena tasting, a very, very, very solid and pristine example of mid-age Cali Cab from the 90s. There’s something to be said for archetypal bottles.

25. 2015 Sojourn Oakville Ranch Cab – no disguising this is a big boy, but shows many layers too, and another example of a winemaker (in Erich Bradley) who continues to improve and develop with each vintage. This was their first grab from here, I think, and shining things to come if this is anything to go by.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

2008 Henri Boillot Puligny Les Pucelles
2015 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Volnay Pitures-Dessus – earned a 90+ from me and didn’t even make the top 25!
1989 Chateau Montrose – probably the 26th wine. Gorgeous example
2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne
Vilmart NV Cuvee Rubis
1989 Groffier Bonnes Mares
1998 Kracher Welschriesling ZDS TBA
2017 Small Vines Baranoff Pinot in barrel

THE TRUE HIGHLIGHT

My precious evening with Steve and Lisa Rigisich near the end of the trip. I will treasure the time for, hopefully, as long as I can remember to do so. I was elated to see them both in such good health physically and mentally, and to have the chance to share and bathe in the love they have for each other, their boys, and for me. It is a special bond that I got the ultimate privilege to renew.

One winery poaching another’s labor right on their own property is disgusting. On the other hand, they could be just that desperate due to the marijuana growers poaching even more labor. We’re going to see this problem occur here in Niagara and Prince Edward County at some point. The marijuana industry is going to have an extremely debilitating effect on the wine industry in both of our countries. I may have to turn into a vigilante and burn down some mary jane fields in Ontario and California in order to save the wine industry from this travesty.

In all seriousness, I think this is actually going to give wines from other countries – Europe, New Zealand and Australia, specifically – a huge wide swath of the North American market as they don’t seem to have either wine or marijuana field labor issues and will be able to fill in the market whole as North American wine declines in volume due to this situation.

Great write-up Mike…thank you for sharing.

Mike, this is absolutely a gem (though I’m not surprised) - tremendous work, seriously. Kudos to any of those lucky enough to be on his list!!

Superb review and synopsis Mike. I love that our group was able to contribute mightily to your top choices although the only intention was for everyone to bring great wine without the idea of participating in a contest.

Your cross country travel journeys have been an inspiration for me and I would think many others to travel about, meet up with Berserkers and other wine enthusiasts and share the passion. I have copied at least a mini version of your exploits by venturing into Orange County to connect with some of the beautiful people there on 2 occasions with many more trips anticipated.

Looking forward to your next visit my friend.

Mike,

Humbled, privileged and honored to have my wines included in your list . . . and just so much fun seeing you once again and spending some true quality time this time round. I adore seeing you at Falltacular and it remains one of my highlights of that unbelievable event . . . but capturing you on your own or in a smaller group as we did at Jim and Perry’s was simply precious.

Keep on doing what you’re doing - and I’ll get baking for Falltacular now

Cheers!

Bread—we must have our daily bread!

You earned it, hermano. And it was so for me as well—very important to me to have that smaller group and my one-on-one with you.

Blake—I do know it, and am so glad that you “took the plunge” and got to meet Frankie, Brigger, Chris and all the fantastic people down there. It puts paid to why I can’t miss FallTacular, if at all possible, anymore in any year. Come and join us for that insanity!

Have edited the OP to add the very important highlight of the trip.

Sante to all

Mike

The 3rd week of February is on my calendar. Looking forward to it.

Wow great write up Mike! So glad to be able to get together again, actually twice before the next Falltacular. Have to read through this again when I get some time, and very happy the Altare made the list

Well done, Sweater Boy. Putting the time cycles into capturing all of this, and then writing it all up as output, is not easy. Labor of love, keep doing them.

See you in February, dude.

Thank you for including me on your trip! It was a pleasure to meet you, Scott and Paul and introduce you to my favorite restaurant in LA. Let me know when you are back in town!

JF

This sounds like an amazing trip… When you making it to Seattle area next Mike?

Also love how you went to California, and your top 4 wines are all old world!

POTY!

It was lovely to meet you Mike and thanks for the massive post

Believe it or not, it was one of the things that convinced me to grab a 3 pack of Era this afternoon

Mike, I admire your endurance and can’t wait to hear all the details!

Big respect!

Thanks everyone. It’s always a labour of love to do this trip and very little labour involved for me—pure pleasure.

Yao–it’s not a shy wine, but I hope you will enjoy it—it definitely made a positive impression even after all the barrel tastes leading up to it.

Scott, JF, definitely one of the highlight dinners.

Mark–not sure, to be honest—you’ll likely be visiting here first before I get back there. very tentatively, if I fit in an Oregon visit in 2020 somehow, maybe then. Next year is 2 weeks in Scotland on a distillery tour, a week in Calgary for Stampede, a week immersing myself here in film at TIFF and probably a week or so in the Finger Lakes. And I have to fit Burgundy/Loire/Paris and the rotational East Coast trip into 2020. Sigh…life is good like that.

I’m more surprised that 2 of those top 4 are Bordeaux!

Rat—sorry we didn’t hook up, but will hopefully see you again at FallTac next year.

Thanks for the detailed thoughts Mike.

This comment struck me. When wasn’t Syrah a tough sell? There used to be jokes such as “what’s the difference between a case of Syrah and a case of gonorrhea? You can get rid of a case of gonorrhea.” While selling Syrah seemed to be a tiny bit easier for a while, I don’t think it was ever a hot seller, unless some crazy score (e.g. the Vinous 100 for Pax’s Sonoma Hillsides) got attached to a specific wine.

Glad to see that the East Coast is on your list. Hope to see you again in DC. It was good to see you when you came here last.

Where’s my Beychevelle? I demand a recount!