So if I see 2020’s on the shelves in future years, should I characterize them the same was many here look at the 2011 Napa Cabernets? What about 2017’s?
I’m happy with the 2011’s and 2017’s that I own. They’re from better winemakers.
N.B. I wrote this as Andrew was posting.
Dan
Huh. So an anecdotal push then?
I am just concerned about you creating controversy without specific info to back it up.
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David,
Did you see what Chris wrote above? Even Jeb mentioned it.
I am not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill at all here. And I personally don’t believe that Jeb will call out something if he didn’t find it.
Could he be ‘extra sensitive’ to smoke taint scents in the same way that Laube was extra sensitive to TCA and called out Chateau Montelena with their 2001 vintage (corroborated by lab reports, by the way)? Maybe . . .
I guess we’ll have to see what other reviewers have to say. I am hopeful that the issues are minimal and that vintage will not have an asterisk next to it (and remember that the smoke issues did not affect the entire state please).
Cheers.
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I already purchased a couple cases of 2020 Bedrock and will continue to support winemakers I know and trust. If I buy a little less it’s because I went big on 2018 & 2019.
For comparisons sake here is an excerpt from a note on a highly rated 2019 Cab barrel sample “… revealing a heavenly bouquet of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered blueberries, smoked tobacco, damp earth, and exotic spices.”
In 2020 what does the phrase smoked tobacco connotate? Ashtray? As a consumer, trying to be a objective as possible?
If I had any faith in Jeb as a reviewer I might care. I don’t.
Dan, would you rather drink the 2011 and 2017 vintages from the better winemakers ? Or would you rather drink the other vintages from the past decade from these same winemakers? Just curious .
I’m a casual collector of wine (I have around 100 bottles of wine) and buy primarily norther California wines, and I wouldn’t go near Napa 2011 (again), 2017, and 2020.
Someone was commenting about the smoke taint on another site in Washington State in 17. I have had a number of Yakima and Walla producers and notice almost zero smoke taint. Sounds like this in 2020 in Napa is a much bigger deal.
On a huge thread drift I am worried about MN 2021 harvest as we had a lot of smoke coming down from Canada so I canceled all my futures from the local wineries.
2011 was a completely different situation than 2017 and 2020 - 2011 was a cool, wet vintage. 2017 and 2020 were fire years.
Apples and Oranges . . .
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Yup, but rotten apples and dry oranges. No thanks.
And I’m not talking about the your neck of the woods. That does stink for you when you get lumped in when you shouldn’t .
Interesting…a twist on the theme. ASSUMING that there will be little appetite for NAPA cabs/etc. Where does that money/buying go? And does it immediately return?
2021 Napa is Vintage of the Century!
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+1000 ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
I remember having a 2008 (Mendocino something, as I recall) that seemed plain old smoky.
Cab? Perhaps the amount of exposure renders different notes? I don’t know. 2008 was smoky through verasion and beyond. Months rather than 2017 when the fires hit during harvest. I remember my Wife calling out smoke in a 2008 Mendocino Zinfandel and she never says more than this tastes spicy or this is fruity.
Navarro put out a cut price and different label Pinot in 2008 that tasted liked smoked Pinot for the first few months. Later bottles turned ash tray. When it was just normal smoky it was kind of fun for the cheap price.
In our location in Anderson Valley we had to sign many amended contracts agreeing to non payment for grapes delivered if smoke levels were considered too high. Not having much choice we moved ahead and delivered fruit to numerous clients. One major client refused to accept any fruit regardless of condition. One client even bought many more tons as they were sure that their Sonoma fruit would definitely be unusable. Luckily and happily all clients paid in full. We even custom crushed about 25 tons of Pinot. We never had an AQI (air quality index) over 220 …I think, during the entire season. I remember seeing AQI’s in Calistoga over 700 and Portland with 1200.
And here is the thing - when they finished fermenting that pinot, it was ‘fine’ - it wasn’t until final blending a year later that they realized that they had an ‘issue’ - and that is one of the biggest challenges with smoke taint - it may not be able to be detected early . . .
Cheers
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My experience working with small wineries who got smoke tainted fruit is that they knew very quickly the wine was affected. Some made various attempts to mitigate the issue, thought it had been dealt with, only to have it reappear (loosely bound compounds that became unbound). The idea that it would suddenly appear after a year or more seems like a myth, in my experience. The only mitigation method that worked very well (at the time, there may be more experience now) was to blend with a larger amount of wine from an unaffected area and sell as a lower cost bottling.
I would occasionally run across commercial releases at tastings (and a few I had purchased) that were smoke tainted. But, the majority of the small producers I know just took the loss rather than damage their reputation. A good reputation is the most important asset for a small winery.
-Al
Other vintages of course, but I’m still satisfied with what I own. I will enjoy my 2011’s and 2017’s when I drink them. Heck, I might even bring some of them to an offline.
dh
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