Like many of you, thrilled to see this email this morning. I showed restraint, but picked up several vintages of the Estate Old Vine Pinot.
I’ve had some wonderful experiences over the past year with 05-07 vintage range Old Vine and Balcombe 1B Pinots, FWIW.
It is pretty incredible to be getting 10+ years of age for basically free. I have lots of 2016-2018 PGC that I have hidden in the “don’t touch for ten years” closet. What I treat to be able to back-fill these. And yes, I just got some 2008 Etzel based on your recent note!
+1000, though my credit card isn’t as happy as I am. This really is an unbelievable opportunity. Kirk, I have you to thank for introducing me to these wines to begin with, and then for showing me how well they age (the Etzel Block at least).
And, as I’m sure he will check in on this thread, thank you, Jim!
Yeah. End of the year inventory is always an eye-opener. Especially at 25-30 bottlings of Pinot Noir/vintage for several years now, to say nothing of the 12-24 for many years before, the library was growing to a level that was simply unsustainable and, frankly, a little insane. Keeping hundreds of cases of wine back each year presented multiple problems not the least of which was going to be “how are we going to actually use all these wines in any practical sense of the word especially given the status of the world these days?” We decided the best option was to identify where we had “oversupplies” and cut the library inventory down significantly. In the case of some older wines we basically emptied the coffers as we wanted people to have and enjoy the wines while they still had something to give. While I think we have wines that do well once you’re getting up into the 15+ year range after vintage I think you’re not necessarily playing with fire but if you own hundreds to thousands of cases of stuff in total it is probably time to make a move. I know there are other ways to crack that particular egg but this is what we decided to go with. I think the last time we did anything at all it was a bit more limited to vineyards that we did not source fruit from any longer so sort of a different thing.
I’ve tasted a large swath of these in the last few days (enjoying a 2008 Estate Vineyard, Bonshaw Block right now) and the ones we are releasing are in great shape. We found a couple of duds (a couple of 2003s that just were way too odd to sell) but largely some really nice wines. They have all been perfectly stored in commercial warehouses. It is a nice tribute to Patty here. She was a funny woman but she had that feel and I think a lot of these wines demonstrate that a basically self-taught winemaker could in a relatively short period of time start making terrific wines that got better at a decade and are still kicking ass at 1.5 to 2 decades.
Thanks for the kind words here. If you’re stuck on stuff send me an email and I will do my best to help out.
Too bad there was no Berserker’s Cuvee in the library. That was such a great deal
I agree. especially with the club discount this is just an opportunity I’m guessing we won’t see again for a long time.
the list and all of us certainly appreciate you and PGC opening the library up to us at such great pricing. I am sure most of us are happy to get some liquidity flowing into the winery during a particularly hard year as well. Kartherine mentioned in her email exchange that the interest has been booming so far. glad to hear that! With your mention of having tasted through several of these in the process, I am curious if you found anything that stood out or just shouldn’t be missed? especially for some of the PGC fans that haven’t maybe followed the winery as long?
2004 and 2008 Estate Vineyard, Bonshaw Block bottlings kicked some ass.
Anything 2012. Are there 2016s? Those.
2013 Durant Vineyard.
2004 Estate Vineyard.
Honestly I’m not even sure of what all is on the list. Again, if you have specific questions on certain wines I can probably help out.
I love library releases, this has to be one of the best. I made it 7 days into the New Year before buying my first case of the year. I really should get my basement finished with a wine cellar, sooner rather than later. My order stretches from 2002 Balcombe to 2014 Mysterious. Thanks Jim.
Excited for this opportunity. Jim Anderson- PM sent.
Well had to up for another case and a 3L! Incredible opportunity and really want more but alas…
So awesome. I’ve been wanting to try PGC for a couple years, and was planning to dive in for BDXII this year. But a library release is even better!! Thanks for making this available Jim.
Took advantage for 5 bottles myself. Appreciate the attention brought to it. First post BTW. Wish there was an equivalent opportunity for Cabs
this is definitely the way to do it. PCG age beautifully, so much so that I have hardly touched any of the wines Ive gotten from the club so far. im excited to have some that I can open right away!
“2004 and 2008 Estate Vineyard, Bonshaw Block bottlings kicked some ass.”
Jim, I’m new to PG but have been interested in your wines for a few years based on the great reviews it receives on WB. However, this Library release was overwhelming to someone new to your wines.
Thanks you for your post. I was able to grab 3 bottles of the 2008 Estate Vineyard Pinot Bonshaw Block based on your recommendation.
Looking forward to trying PG and thanks to everyone for sharing the release and contributing to this post!
Enablers. All of you.
Order placed. 
I have been buying these through a retail source since '02 and still have 03s to 07s. Through this, I backfilled on 08s and 10s and bought some 18s for the first time.
The case discount was a nice plus!
Was originally holding off purchases until Berserker Day, but figured this offer of perfect provenance aged wines was too good to pass up. In for a case and a half. Excited to try these