It wasn’t creative differences per se. I’ve been told there were a number of factors that contributed to Mike’s departure.
I’ve heard 3 or 4 diff stories as to what it was. Hard to know and none of my business really. Figured creative differences summed it up.
^ This ^
4 diff stories sums up why we don’t ask people who don’t know. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Don’t know. Schrader did not make any and they use the same Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
Does “allows Mike ultimate control of To Kalon and a couple other vineyards” mean Carter lost those vineyards? I saw that Mike picked up To Kalon and Weitz for Myriad, but I figured those were new contracts. Are you saying that Mike is now getting the fruit that used to go to Carter? If so, is Carter still going to get those vineyards?
No, Mike got his own block of To Kalon because he made wine from 2020 To Kalon fruit when most everyone else bailed on the vintage. Andy alpreciated that.
Ah, that makes sense. Any idea who lost their To Kalon fruit because they didn’t choose to make wine in 2020?
Not sure if anyone lost any but Mike moved to the fromt of the line so to speak. If you’re familiar with the vineyard you may know they ripped up a block fronting hwy 29. It’s now been 3 years replanted and Mike gets some of that fruit in ‘22.
That makes sense if Mike is getting the new plantings just coming online. It will be interesting how the Myriad wines compare to the Carters, especially the Grand Daddy as I believe that one is also sourced from the front blocks.
What I meant by this is that at Carter Mike didn’t have as much control over the final product as he will at myriad. Myriad is his, so he gets ultimate control. AFAIK Carter will still have to kalon wines.
I’m going to head up on the 6th.
Mike Made a Myriad ToKalon in ‘21 too. This fire vintage thing has me thrown off.
I tasted through the 2020’s with Dan over the weekend and didn’t taste a hint of smoke at this point. They were all very good and I placed a good size order.
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Great afternoon with my wife, Dan and Russell tasting through the Carter 2020’s. I think the only 3 that we did not taste were the GTO, Los Compadres and the wine under the “Haze”. Can’t remember the name of it. New wine though. No Weitz or Fortuna anymore, they left with Mike Smith. No Hossfeld or Coliseum block this year either. Prices are up as well $175 for Carter Carter, $225 for most of the remainder. $650 for GTO and not sure about pricing for the Haze and the other wine with a similar name…
I found all the wines were tasting well and there was no signs of any smoke taint, at least on my or wife’s pallet.
La Bam was the most open for business per usual. I preferred the La Verdad and OG per usual. I didn’t think the Carter Carter was as good as previous years, but was still nice. Three Kings was better than Grand Daddy, but both were not up to the La Verdad and OG in my opinion. I am not a fan of “The Haze”, but it was better than last year which was its first year.
Grabbed 3x Carter Carter, 2x Los Compadres, 3x La Bam, 3x La Verdad, 2x Three Kings, 2x Grand Daddy and 3x OG. More than I was expecting to spend for 2020’s. Was hoping to take the year off from Napa. Oh well…
Prices for Beckstoffer will continue to increase. Andy Beckstoffer wants his grapes to all be above $300 is my understanding. At some point this will price me out other than some special occasion wines.
Big thanks to Dan for arranging the tasting.
Edit… forgot about Missouri Hopper… I did not see that this year either may have been taken by the fires. There was no 2020 Missouri Hopper available.
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Thanks for the 2020 Carter Cellars vintage impressions so far, I will not get a chance to taste, so this is helpful. I went deep on 2018s and 2019s, so I’ll get much less than before, but it’ll be tough not to get La Verdad and OG even in an iffy vintage. Bummer about the price increases…
I got that e mail. Price increases during a questionable vintage are the smart thing to do. Nothing is smarter than chasing a customer away who was on the fence. 
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I agree with you, but feel this is more a Beckstoffer thing.
However, even Beckstoffer should recognize that. Also, with millennials not willing to pay big prices for wines, Beckstoffer should stop trying to push prices even higher. My understanding is he wants his grapes to command at least $300 per bottle.
I will be scaling back on Beckstoffer purchases.
I’m not buying regardless, but with so much inflation, I’d be surprised to not see any price increase year over year.
Challenging to me to raise prices for a terrible vintage. Was on the fence and price increase makes the decision easy.
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I told myself that I was going to hold off on buying 2020’s, which shouldn’t be that hard because most of the Napa lists I’m on aren’t making 2020’s. But I’ve been a long time Carter buyer and decided to roll the dice on a few bottles. I’ll probably drink them young since I have friends that insist they will taste like an ashtray in 5-10 years.
The only other 2020 I plan on buying is MacDonald, because……I have to. I think they plan on doing only 150 cases for 2020, but I’m sure there’s a number of people that are going to take a pass on it.
FWIW- recently drank my last 2 bottles of 2017 Carter Weitz. It’s in a great drinking window right now. Definitely going to miss the Weitz offering