Which California Mailing Lists are “Worth it?”

Hi all,

I’ve been getting more and more into wine the past year or two and have had some truly remarkable stuff in that time. My fiancé and I are members at Joseph Phelps, Larkmead, and Failla, and are active mailing list members at Turley, Rivers-Marie, and Realm. We recently also purchased from Arista, Bevan, Mending Wall, Quintessa, Outpost, Lokoya, and Morlet.

Part of the fun is getting together and discussing wine with like minded friends, and I’ve gathered quite the list of recommendations. Many of these places are allocated on a mailing list basis, and honestly, I was expecting more of a wait for some of them.

Between all of these mailing lists becoming available nearly all at once, and an upcoming wedding, I’ve had to make some “difficult” decisions about what to buy. I was hoping that people could comment on which of the following mailing lists they would keep and which ones they would drop. If anyone has any to add, that would be appreciated as well!

Here are some of the mailing lists we’re on:

Schrader
Nine Suns
DaNa Estates
Occidental
Arista
Sea Smoke
Eisle Vineyard
Bevan
TOR
Kutch
Kosta Browne
Colgin
Zeitgeist
Bryant
Kinsella
Dark Matter
Aubert
DiCostanzo
Pulido Walker
Sloan
Fairchild
Kenzo
Wayfarer
Hundred Acre
William & Mary
Marcassin (waiting)

Just putting them all out there shows the scale! Help!

i would narrow it down to the ones you can’t easily get at retail for the release price or less. For example, it’s pretty easy to find Eisele at the release price or lower. It’s pretty much impossible to find Aubert for the release price.

For me:
Bedrock
Lioco
Ceritas

But I’d consider:
Pax
Dragonette
Arnot-Roberts
Sandlands
Dirty & Rowdy
Paul Lato
Alban
Martha Stoumen
Ryan Stirm
Dusty Nabor
Bolt To
Clementine Carter
and a few more.

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Ultramarine - for the price this is to me a no brainer
Christopher Tynan - If I had to choose one napa cab at this price point
Alban - their whites, reva and grenache

Bedrock

Only list that I am on.

An historic producer in time. Preserving the California field blend heritage, and producing a wide range of quality wines, including Cabernet, at affordable prices.

I’m currently on the following lists:

Myriad/Quivet
Dicostanzo
William and Mary
Bedrock
Carlisle
Dirty and Rowdy
Ultramarine
Sea Smoke
Ridge

Don’t really feel like I’d add any others except Macdonald once/if I ever get off the waiting list.

Ridge Monte Bello. I no longer buy MB futures (at my age they take too long to mature to buy young ones) but the price benefit is huge.

It seems like you are in a position where you can hold your dollars hostage and be picky about where you spend them. Given that, I’d think about a couple of things in your prioritization:

  1. Are you buying to have things to drink now or later? Producers with a track record may be favored for the later answer.
  2. Could you get a fungible alternative (or the exact wine) on the retail market without the list access? If so, you don’t have to worry about FOMO.
  3. How deep is your experience with the winery? If they consistently hit it out of the park for you, go with them. If you are new to a lot of these, continue to dabble and focus on your answers to 1 and 2 to decide where to spend and where to just read the nice newsletter.

Cheers,
fred

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To quote Aaron Burr…from Hamilton

“Smile more, buy less”
There is such a high premium demanded by many of these wineries, especially for Cabernet, and the demand is so limited, that it makes little sense to hang out on lots of lists. Excellent advice above for McDonald, Ridge (if you like that style) and Bedrock. I might suggest you add Piper if you want an experience every bit as interesting as many of the cult wanna bees and it is a great educational experience, if you really want to really see how wine gets made. By all means, visit the impressive works of art that some of these wineries have become. Breathe deep the perfume of French oak, fermenting juice, and earth. But do not load up on the wines that will seem to be in short supply, for the most part they ain’t. Ask yourself how many nights will you really want to pull the cork on a $300.00 bottle of cab, unless of course you have almost unlimited means. Your wedding planning comment suggests that this is not the case.

Many Cali cab producers are hustling for a smaller market these days. This juice is produced in a lot more quantity than Grand Cru Burgundy. Retail deals are definitely out there and you have NO obligation to buy when you do not want to. I would also suggest you peruse the commerce corner and other auction sites where many excellent Cali cabs are selling at a discount from release price of just a few years ago. Not to mention sites like Last Bottle and WTSO where many attractive Cali Cabs are being quietly discounted and liquidated. If market troubles continue, you may shortly see a LOT of deals out there as the tourist industry may take a hit along with other luxury spending items.

Visit, smile, and buy less!

Of the lists your on that are hard to find secondary market for retail or less, and are worthwhile in my opinion, I’d say it’s:

Schrader
William and Mary
DiCostanzo

I’d also sign up for MacDonald, Maybach, Rivers Marie and Myriad. Memento Mori and Vice Versa make some great SVDs as well. Drop the rest.

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From whose perspective? For the winemakers, they all are.
From what buyers often say, they are often held hostage to buy much lesser stuff, in order to access the desired items.

Are you active at Colgin, Bryant, Sloan, and Hundred Acre? Those are some heavy hitters there. Or are these lists you have merely signed up for and are waiting?

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None. Buy retail, where you can get what you what, when you want it, and often for less. If it’s so “hot” you can’t access it by retail, wait three years, then buy it for 40% less on the secondary market when people have moved on to something else and are dumping it. Rinse, repeat.

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This. I’m becoming more and more disenchanted with the idea of my wine dollars being wrapped up in de facto club memberships.
The bottom line for me is that there are massive oceans of really interesting, diverse wines out there. No reason to obligate oneself to any particular producer.

Yes. Bundling, complexity, and unjustified indivisibility are the key tools to grind chaff into the wheat flour, whether in wine, noodle shop dumplings, or even investments.

Are you confusing the Araujo era with the current (Ch. Latour)? I see '16s starting at $540 and '15s at $595. Pretty sure that’s above release.

Ditto

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EMH
Sojourn
MacDonald
Maybach

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Mailing lists are dangerous dances around the slippery slope…I’m cutting back from about 30 lists. It all depends on what you really drink on a regular basis and whether it is available at reasonable retail. I’m still purchasing Aubert because there is relatively none at retail. I love the chardonnay and pinots at Ceritas. I find Sandlands one of the biggest bargains in wine. I still purchase Anthill Farms for their pinots. Bedrock and Carlisle for their field blends and zins. I buy Hirsch wines to get my case of Chardonnay each year. I have weaned myself from Napa Cabs or cab blends thus saving beaucoup bucks. Dirty and Rowdy is a relatively new favorite. My wife purchased and gifted four cases of their wines this holiday season. I adore the white wine program at Tablas Creek…their vermentino and grenache blanc make up my summer white go-to. I now force myself to cut two lists for every new one added. Long story short, I buy only from lists where I actively drink drink what I buy.

From your list, the only I’d be personally interested in are Kutch and Eisele. (There’s a couple I’m not familiar with, like Dicostanzo sounds like one I might recommend, but most aren’t compelling to me.)

Strongly agree with the Bedrock and Ridge Monte Bello recs.

With lists you can really amass too much of some wines, far out of proportion to what you drink. You should also be sure you love the wines, which is a very subjective thing. I’d recommend spending most of your budget exploring broadly, rather than getting into a rut always drinking the same producers.