2017 vintage

[Steve_Crawford]

Ridge Monte Bello.

In my opinion 2017 was not a great year for many California wines, especially since 2018 was such a great vintage immediately following. But the 2017 wines I’ve tasted from the Monte Bello property have been superb across the board, and the Monte Bello itself is truly spectacular.

Monte Bello is not from Napa or Sonoma so that the general vintage thoughts for California wine do not always apply to it. For example (and I only tasted it young), my guess is that the 2011 will be much better than most Napa or Sonoma cabs.

For sure, though in my opinion 2017 also wasn’t that incredible across Californian regions beyond Napa and Sonoma. Santa Barbara County and Sierra Foothills, for example - I think 2017 was arguably the weakest vintage of the last 5 years there, too.

Santa Cruz Mountains admittedly I have had fewer 2017s from, though the wines from
Monte Bello have been uniformly excellent.

are you saying 2017 was an above average year for napa?

[Jonathan_H]

2017 is also my wedding year so I have been trying to put away some goodies as well. It definitely wasn’t an easy vintage across the globe so I tried to taste as much as I could and for those wines that I couldn’t, I purchased based on the reputation of the producer. Here are some of the wines that I was lucky enough to track down and am happy to put in my cellar:

d’Angeville Clos des Ducs, Champans, Taillepieds
Barthod Fuees
Beaucastel CdP and Hommage a Jacques Perrin
Dujac MSD 1er
Hofgut Falkenstein Euchariusberg Kab
Lafarge Clos des Chenes
Leitz Rudesheimer Berg Roseneck Spatlese
Comte Liger Belair (various bottles across the lineup)
Mugnier Marechale and Fuees
Rousseau CSJ, Chambertin, Cdlr
Wagner Stempel Heerkretz GG
Weiser Kunstler Enkircher Ellergrub Kabinett and Spatlese
Terre Nere PrePhylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino

[Marcus_Dean]

Single vineyard reds from Tempier will still be kicking along at 25years old

[Ben_M_a_n_d_l_e_r]

Monte Bello is not from Napa or Sonoma so that the general vintage thoughts for California wine do not always apply to it. For example (and I only tasted it young), my guess is that the 2011 will be much better than most Napa or Sonoma cabs.

For sure, though in my opinion 2017 also wasn’t that incredible across Californian regions beyond Napa and Sonoma. Santa Barbara County and Sierra Foothills, for example - I think 2017 was arguably the weakest vintage of the last 5 years there, too.

Santa Cruz Mountains admittedly I have had fewer 2017s from, though the wines from
Monte Bello have been uniformly excellent.

are you saying 2017 was an above average year for napa?

Oops you’re right my wording wasn’t clear. No, 2017 below average year for Napa (with exceptions) and Sonoma (especially Sonoma). What I was saying was that it was also below average for many other California wine regions.

[Steve_Crawford]

i sorta thought that. with that being said, i’ve been happy with some central coast rhone stuff i’ve had thus far.

[Andrew_K]

Great vintage for white Burg. Whether it will last decades depends on the producer and your penchant for risk.

[MikeL238]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

[Greg_K]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

It’s a somewhat solar vintage imho. Personally, I think 2016 northern Rhone is considerably better for the long haul, and I went very deep; best northern rhone vintage since 2010, easily. (Unless 2017 is a birth year scenario.)

[MikeL238]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

It’s a somewhat solar vintage imho. Personally, I think 2016 northern Rhone is considerably better for the long haul, and I went very deep; best northern rhone vintage since 2010, easily. (Unless 2017 is a birth year scenario.)

I agree- 2016 is a better vintage than 2017 for sure, but given that 2017 is my daughter’s birth year, of the wines I like to drink (Cali, Bdx, and Rhone), I think Rhone was the best.

[Greg_K]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

It’s a somewhat solar vintage imho. Personally, I think 2016 northern Rhone is considerably better for the long haul, and I went very deep; best northern rhone vintage since 2010, easily. (Unless 2017 is a birth year scenario.)

I agree- 2016 is a better vintage than 2017 for sure, but given that 2017 is my daughter’s birth year, of the wines I like to drink (Cali, Bdx, and Rhone), I think Rhone was the best.

Touche!

[Jayson_Cohen]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

Personally, I think 2016 northern Rhone is considerably better for the long haul, and I went very deep; best northern rhone vintage since 2010, easily.

Strong statement. We can test it in good time! (And there are a lot of threads on this so i won’t drift here.)

[Greg_K]

I plan on stocking up on 2017 northern Rhones.

Personally, I think 2016 northern Rhone is considerably better for the long haul, and I went very deep; best northern rhone vintage since 2010, easily.

Strong statement. We can test it in good time! (And there are a lot of threads on this so i won’t drift here.)

I look forward to repeatedly testing this statement over the next 25 years, especially once this pandemic is over

[John_H2]

Willamette Valley Pinots from 2017 are highly structured, and I have stocked up on a number that should be great for the long haul. I have had several 20-year-old bottles in the past couple months that were in stellar shape.

Look for Eyrie (Daphne, Original Vines, South Block - none of which have been released yet), Cameron, Thomas, McKinlay, Evesham Wood, Goodfellow, Bethel Heights, heck even some of Domaine Drouhin.