I’d like to poll the group and see which winery you think is the best up and coming winery from the West Coast that deserves all of our attention. I am partial to the pinot/syrah producers, but would be curious to hear any and all responses.
I am fairly new to WineBerskers and have learned a lot about wineries I wouldn’t have normally heard about, most recently Samsara, which is freakin delicious, especially their rose WOW! I am on a few mailing lists (Rhys, Peay, Anthill, Samsara, Ojai, Copain, Cayuse) and am wait-listed on a bunch more, but would like to get in before having to wait a long time to purchase. I.E., Carlisle. which I love, but have been waiting…
So, please share with me your thoughts. I greatly appreciate them!
Bedrock…structured wines that will improve with age and are picked at reasonable brix levels, great vineyard sources and plenty of choices across a wide spectrum of varietals. Oh yeah…the pricing makes these great QPR wines.
Thanks Russ and Joe. I’ve been wanting to try Bedrock, so will give that a whirl. Saxum is one of the big guys in my books and has a waiting list. I just got on Rivers, but will look into Kutch.
Not necessarily “up and coming”, but some from California that I’m partial to for pinots and rhone varietals not on your list include Lagier Meredith, Tercero, Beckmen, Arnot Roberts, Littorai, Varner, Thackrey, and Heron Lake (Miss Olivia Brion). Cheers!
Not sure if this is a request for nominations of quality wine or for predictions on who is going to be the next hard-to-get worshipped bulletin-board darling, but if it’s the former I’d certainly recommend Clos Saron to any fan of Rhys, Copain, and Anthill.
whatever it is, i can say i’m over it. i’m long done hunting for the next big thing. too many previous big things that consume the bulk of my wine budget. i’m in a happy place.
Clearly, Bedrock, although I’m not sure that’s the Next Big Thing or the Current Big Thing. After that, Cabot, Big Basin, Rhys, Paul Lato, Arnot-Roberts, Wind Gap.
The Lagier Meredith is a good suggestion, as is Copain. Carlisle as well, however the waitlist there is long. These are great, but not what I’d qualify as “Next Big Thing.”
I think more in line with recommendations of quality (and should have put, priced well accordingly for quality) that is under the radar at present moment. If it becomes the next big thing, then so be it, but I am not necessarily interested in chasing the future stars as I’m interested in finding out who is making great wine that hasn’t been discovered, so to say. Clos Saron is a good rec. for sure and am looking forward to trying some soon The Carlisle model of quality and success seems to come mind as an example of a wine that if in 2003, one tasted and got on the mailing list, one would be enjoying many a good wine, for a reasonable tariff.
I haven’t tried the Wind gap, but bought a variety of single bottles from wine library to see if i’d like them. I imagine I would since I really enjoyed Pax. Lagier Meredith Syrah is such a good wine, and a good qpr. I had Big Basin, but found it syrupy, but I’m sure there are others to try. Thanks for the comments.
Not sure about “next big thing,” since that’s not what I’m looking for But if you’re looking for truly outstanding artisanal wines, two relatively recent entrants are Halcon and Ceritas. Halcon’s inaugural Syrah release is being offered now, and it’s simply fantastic syrah. Nice thing is it’s priced at a point where you can actually drink a fair amount of it Ceritas is producing truly beautiful Pinot and Chardonnay wines, I’ll be drinking one tomorrow
Cheers
To answer what I think is the spirit of your question and with the emphasis on new I would go with Ceritas, Cowan and Rhyme Cellars.
Another winery I love that is newish and gets zero mention on the wine boards is Ambyth Estate - low alcohol (12-13%), biodynamic wines from Paso. Truly outstanding if you like this style and unique for the area as they are in a cooler part of Paso.
OK, if this is honestly about quality and not-at-all about ego-boosting, then I submit the following:
for Rhone varietals: Tablas Creek — these guys are making, imo, hands-down the best CARhone wines on the market today; wines of true variety character and ageworthiness.
for Pinot Noir: Arcadian — folks on here must be sick of me recommending them, but I cannot help myself. Hands-down, the best Pinot Noir being made in America right now.
Neither of those wineries have wait-lists right now, and both have a 10+ yr. track-record of producing amazing wines.
Just a quick point…maybe in your recs you might want to include style. For example Thackrey makes a pinot called andromeda. Its a ball busting Minty pinot that lives in a different galaxy than say arcadian (taste watery to me sorry B) someone mentioned pax and wind gap. Liking pax does not mean at all you’ll like wind gap. I was a pax fan. He switched direction to make cooler styled syrah and grenache at wind gap. The wines are radically different. I don’t enjoy wind gap at all. Agharta which is also pax mahle is much more like the old pax. For well priced syrah in the bigger style without a waitlist id go to tensley jaffurs lucia the young guns in paso like torrin all sold out in minutes last year but might be worth looking into. Rhys and copain are soft in style but u already missed the next big thing bus on those. Rhys sold out in minutes as well. Black sears is a zin and cab producer that is very fairly priced. Big wines made by trb. If u like big pinot id look at loring not unknown but u could get his wines without a wait and very well priced.
Good points, 'berto. I’m not surprised re: your feelings about Pax and Wind Gap: predictably enough, I’ve loved the couple Wind Gap Syrahs I’ve had (definitely cool-climate styled) and have not enjoyed the couple Pax Syrahs I’ve tasted.
Tablas Creek: relatively restrained CARhone offerings, focusing more on varietal typicity and ageworthiness than being “big”/garnering “big” scores.
Arcadian: lower alc. levels (usually in mid 13’s); ripe-but-elegant; exact opposite of many CA Pinot Noir and Syrah.
Yup…big 2’nd on TablasCreek. If you’re looking for the next SQN or Alban or Colgin, so you can brag “I followed 'em from the very start”…like some smart-asses around here do,
then TablasCreek is not for you. But if you want good, reasonably-priced, ageable Calif Rhones…no waiting required…than TablasCreek is the one.
I should know…followed 'em from the very start.
Tom
Both of those are on the higher end and have been making great wines for a few years now, so maybe the bus has passed. Still, Bevan’s 08 Ontogeny is one of the best QPR Napa meritages I have ever had, and they didn’t sell out immediately through their mailing list. Their single vineyard stuff is phenomenal, and their syrah very affordable.
Charles Smith makes monsterous Washington syrah. The Old Bones, Royal City, Skull, and Heart syrahs are all phenominal, although they are steep. He produces wine at a bunch of price points, and all of it is pretty to extremely good, with a nice QPR (other than the 4 I listed, which are all steep).
Tablas Creek is great. Cheap, very good rhones that have nice typicity. Big fan, especially for the price. Very consistent.
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The Carlisle model of quality and success seems to come mind as an example of a wine that if in 2003, one tasted and got on the mailing list, one would be enjoying many a good wine, for a reasonable tariff.
But if you’re looking for truly outstanding artisanal wines, two relatively recent entrants are Halcon and Ceritas. Halcon’s inaugural Syrah release is being offered now, and it’s simply fantastic syrah. Nice thing is it’s priced at a point where you can actually drink a fair amount of it 
