You're getting into harvest time, so everything is more expensive and more crowded.

How late does harvest run? We're looking at the weekend of August 28th.

TP Ag, for me wine is one of my hobbies. Some people race cars, others fly planes, etc. I enjoy wine, both owning and consuming it. My average price per bottle in my cellar is $60-$65 but there are a few high end wines I have been fortunate enough to taste and purchase. Scarecrow is a wine I have drank, it's superb, but have never owned. In addition, most of my >$100 bottles could be sold online at various auction sites for equal or more than I purchased them for so there are some investment qualities to certain wines.
I do not buy wine as an investment as I intend to drink or gift everything I buy.

Lastly, if I am lucky enough to buy the bottle of Scarecrow it will be the most expensive bottle I'd own; this isn't a normal purchase but more of special bottle for a special occasion in the future.

Thanks, jumper. I appreciate and respect your perspective and reply.

Htown: I also appreciate your post.

I'm right on the same thinking as aggiejumper.

Wine has become my hobby. If that hobby was constrained to opening wine and drinking it, (not that there's anything wrong with that! ) it wouldn't be as fun for me. I like reading, learning, discussing, and yes - possessing wine. I've got a few bottles that are 10 or more years away, and that anticipation is part of the enjoyment for me. Can I truly say that a $200 bottle tastes four times better than a $50 bottle? Probably not. But given that the enjoyment of wine transcends mere taste and taste buds - to include the atmosphere, company, emotions and circumstances of both it's consumption AND procurement - I can say that for me the consumption of a special occasion $200 wine is more enjoyable than that of a Saturday night $50 bottle!

OK, OK, I get it. Points made. Sometimes I'm too financially anal, even for something I love as much as, (per the old man in the Barcelona corner store said to me this week), "good juice!"

Don't think less of me!

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I'm considering a long weekend in Napa/Sonoma in late August. I usually go in the spring, and I've never been this late in the year. Is there anything I need to know or plan on doing differently in August as opposed to what we'd normally do in March/April?

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It's too damn hot. Go in March.

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Olper the old man in the Barcelona corner store said to me this week), "good juice!"

Don't think less of me!

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Ok, now I'M jealous!

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I'm considering a long weekend in Napa/Sonoma in late August. I usually go in the spring, and I've never been this late in the year. Is there anything I need to know or plan on doing differently in August as opposed to what we'd normally do in March/April?

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It's too damn hot. Go in March.

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Too late to go this month, and we're going to NYC next month. The next time I'll be able to take a trip will be August. I'll brave the heat if necessary just to replenish my stash of Supplication and get some fresh Pliny from the teat.

A few thoughts for TP:

First things first, my situation is now different than what it used to be. If you had told me a few years ago that Scarecrow would be blowing thru 3 bills, I probably would have been bowing out. They actually said once that they wanted to keep it at the ~$100 level. Ha! But now, I only get to drink a handful of wines each year and I don't mind paying up to get the best. So on the margin it may not be a good value, but it is the best Rutherford cab out there, so I'm going to buy it and drink it.

Don't get me wrong, there are fabulous wines out there at $50/btl. Myriad makes some I'd drink every day if I could. But when I drink now, I want something that blows me away. And yes, I can tell the difference between a $50 wine and a $150 or $400 wine (talking about known producers/vineyards here, not throwing a dart at a wine spectator where some tech startup opened a winery and charged $400 out of the gate), so I stick with the big guns...or even wines that aren't so expensive but have a story, like those that I buy from people I'm friends with out there. My goal now isn't to drink an almost-Scarecrow. It's to drink Scarecrow. Like I said, my situation is a little different these days.

As far as an investment? Nah. I've never bought wines for potential appreciation and never will. When I sold 500+ bottles over the last few years, I didn't mark up a single wine. Even the ones I bought at half price were sold at those levels (You're welcome, Cecil!!). I always bought them for my own enjoyment. As I've said before on this thread, and have seen the others share the same sentiment today, it is (was) my hobby so a few nice bottles are always a welcomed addition. Coming from where I came from, it does feel a little weird to pull the cork on something that cost more than my first car, but then I take a sip and toast again to the good life. Hell, I'll toast to life on any glass I'm fortunate enough to drink, expensive or not. Because living happily is what it's all about, and you cant put a price on that!

(Sorry for random thoughts, I'm solo on vacation with a six year old!)

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Too late to go this month, and we're going to NYC next month. The next time I'll be able to take a trip will be August. I'll brave the heat if necessary just to replenish my stash of Supplication and get some fresh Pliny from the teat.

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Is it March already?

Seriously though, we used to go in late October of every year. It was sometimes tough getting schedules set with winemakers since harvest was wrapping up or they were staying up late doing punch downs every night, but the weather was awesome. We've done a few Veterans Day trips as well as Thanksgivig out there last year (Ad Hoc on Thanksgiving...do it). I love it in the fall because the temps are lower, the leaves on the vines are changing colors, and Yountville smells so good in the cold air! And Pliny. But I guess I can't tie that in to the fall season.

We went in August two years ago and didn't find it too hot at all. Stayed in Calistoga and didn't go much south of there.

BSD: Very rational. I get it. Best of luck on that "vacation."

I'll drink to that BSD!

Got a few allocations to add to the cellar:

The Maiden (1)
Vine Hill Ranch (3)
Realm Beckstoffer To Kalon (3)

Ordering today:

2 x 2013 Myriad Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon
1 x 2013 Myriad Beckstoffer Dr. Crane 'Elysian' Cabernet Sauvignon

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Got a few allocations to add to the cellar:

The Maiden (1)
Vine Hill Ranch (3)
Realm Beckstoffer To Kalon (3)

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Can't go wrong with those!

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Ordering today:

2 x 2013 Myriad Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Cabernet Sauvignon
1 x 2013 Myriad Beckstoffer Dr. Crane 'Elysian' Cabernet Sauvignon

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I got a mag of the Elysian. Don't ask me why. I'm an idiot. Got bottles of the others too.

I picked up 2 of each of the Crane's as well.

I went to Sonoma last year in early Sept. It was unusually cool and cloudy that week, but on average that is a warm time for the area.

We did visit one very small winery at their production facility (a shared facility), which was really cool and educational for us. another winery I wanted to visit couldn't due to it being harvest time. so that was a bummer.

Overall, it didn't seem that crowded to us, but only in Napa Valley for one afternoon at Spring Mountain, so I could be wrong. One thing I did do on that trip was drive through Carneros. I'm gonna make sure we visit there more next time, especially since the wife and I like chardonnay and there are some good ones made in that area from specific vineyards.

Just confirmed a case of Anomaly and a 3-pack of Scarecrow

Life is good!

Scarecrow has been ordered as well. I passed on the magnum because....

#1 - I cant drink that much
#2 - a $430 premium just to have 1500ml in one bottle doesn't really make sense to me.

BSD, I'm trying to figure out how to message you regarding a bottle of Scarecrow but can't figure it out. Do you have an email or some way to contact you besides this thread?

Jumper, my email is in my profile.

Anybody had the a Stony Hill chard? I have heard it is more Burgundian ? What about their Cab?Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I'm coming back to our dialogue a week or so ago about my questioning some of you about buying high dollar bottles. After reflecting on those responses and a little bit of introspection, it seems I was being a bit dishonest with myself on this topic.

The fact is, although I may not be buying $75+ bottles (although I get some from club memberships every once in a while), I have indeed over the last year or so really gotten a kick out of simply shopping for wine in general. Like Cecil (I think) said, there is something about merely possessing something. I've grown to like shopping and possessing many different wines from all over. HEB, Spec's, online. It's a hoot.

I think, for me, it reminds me of what a blast I had in high school and college going to a,...dare I say it,... "record store." I could spend hours in there looking at the albums, reading the back notes and stuff. Well, shopping for wine has taken on the same meaning.

So, just a note to say: thanks, guys. Although we are shopping for different things sometimes, we're still kinda doing the same thing.

Cheers.

Found some 2012 Del Dotto Cave Blend at the Specs in Plano. Had to scoop some up. Will crack open a bottle in the next couple of weeks to see if it was as good as I remember on the tour I was on, or if the tour guide had already gotten me drunk...

07: I'm betting on the latter,...

For us, it was hard to take an early 20-something seriously as being our tour guide/expert. KInda played into the DD stereotype I thought.

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I think, for me, it reminds me of what a blast I had in high school and college going to a,...dare I say it,... "record store." I could spend hours in there looking at the albums, reading the back notes and stuff. Well, shopping for wine has taken on the same meaning.

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Spot on analogy!

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07: I'm betting on the latter,...

For us, it was hard to take an early 20-something seriously as being our tour guide/expert. KInda played into the DD stereotype I thought.

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Our Guide was a 40 something year old drunk. And I use that term in the kindest of lights. HE poured himself twice as much wine as the guests and was pretty lit the whole time. It was a fun time!

...Then again I think my taste buds might have been shot too. We will see!

Del Dotto is a fun place. I think I mastered the art of "re-visiting" wines there. I rarely bought more than a couple of bottles at a time, though. Some were pretty good, some were just ok. But I did love how they tasted you on the different oaks and the different chars using grapes from the same vineyard.

07: we probably would have had a better time if that guy had been our guide. Ours was a little too cool,...

BSD: I admit I thought that side-by-side comparison was interesting.

Thanks BSD, email coming shortly.

Reload, Stony Hill's chard is definitely more Burgundy influenced than most and vary by vintage. I'm not a fan of their cab but when I was there last fall tried some of the winemakers private stash of Syrah. It wasn't for sale but was pretty darn good. My favorite Stony Hill wine is their Gewurztraminer, it's very light, dry, and crisp; perfect when it's chilled on a hot summer evening at the lake.

I am going to be honest I got my favorite wine "line" from that guy. He was telling a little story about how people taste different notes from different wines and this one young lady who was drug there on some kind of date on a budding romance said, "I can't taste any of that, but I like this wine!"

This tour guide turned to her and said "I am going to change your life. Any time you are tasting wine and you want to look impressive but don't know a thing about it, hold up your glass swirl it around, say hmph like you are thinking hard and then say the following phrase with a straight face, ""There's a lot going on in there.""

He did all this while demonstrating it with the facial features of pure seriousness and I about fell over laughing.