So while in Sonoma last week I was chatting with the gal giving us a winery tour and i mentioned this scenario (we were talking about the fires). Turns out her brother is the assistant wine maker at SE and this was the first she had heard about them not making any of the cab in 17. She texted him right away and below is what he said:
‘17 vintage, it will be really low case production and only with pre-fire fruit. We’re waiting to see how the wines are settling, so will check in 6-9 months and decide then.’
Interesting that there was at least a little “pre fire fruit” harvested, just make what those precious few grapes yield! Maybe only enough juice for one bottle per customer? Or less? Corison had all their grapes in over two weeks before the fires, and they claim their grapes are of very good quality. I would have to believe that the Eagle fruit is pretty good too.
FYI, per a recent visit, Blankiet’s fruit was hanging through the fires and they have not decided what to do. They went on to say, for what it is worth based on other recent conversations here, the lab says the wine is clean.
There are a lot of winemakers in Napa-Sonoma. It’s not hard to imagine that with the complete loss of production for a vintage, some would be out of business. As far as the level of smoke being comparable to charred barrels, that sounds like it could come under the heading of what Benjamin Franklin called, " the convenience of being a reasonable creature."
Now according to Galloni, there will be 4 barrels of 2017 SE produced, but only bottled in magnum. Didn’t say if they will be offered for sale to listers?
Contacted the winery and was informed that there will be “some” 2017 SE in magnums, but nothing is confirmed on who on the list will get an offer and what the price will be. Stay tuned…
While I get the feeling that this is rhetorical from someone with your experience, my guess is to create a feeling of exclusivity and maximizing return from limited production.
![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}