Question, has anyone opened a '13 Quivet cab yet? I bought my first Mike Smith wines this fall: Quivet Pellet/Kenefick, and a Myriad cab. Popped the Quivet Pellet vineyard this weekend, decanted for 2 hours, and felt like the wine might in a dumb phase. It was plump and juicy, but didn't have as much depth or structure as I anticipated.

Cellar tracker seemed to be disappointed as well, and advised holding. Was curious to see others thoughts...

I typically don't touch my Napa cabs til 5 years after the vintage. I'd imagine it would need some serious air if opened before that. I'll be tasting the '13s with Mike in about two weeks and report back.

Edit- what the hell just happened? I commented on a post about a Quivet '13 cab and the post is gone. Am I going insane...again?

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Going to napa week of Feb 17th, staying in Yountville. We've been three times but wanted to get opinions on some of vineyards to visit. like the more private tastings.

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If you want to go big, call 750 Wines in St Helena. It's a boutique retail shop that pours some high end bottles. Be prepared to spend some cash there, though. I'd also check out just about anyone on Spring Mountain or head across the Howell Mountain for Lamborn and Outpost.

Accidentally opened a Kenefic a few weeks ago and thought it was very good.

Just had Angeline Merlot from HEB for <11 and it was GOOD.
I'm an expert, can't you tell?

BSD- Thanks, I'll look those up. We are looking at going to Howell Mountain one day. My friend went to O'shaughnessy and said it was really good.

Not too exciting for this crowd, but we cracked open a 2011 Caymus cab last night and it was fantastic. I'd have let it go another year or two, but the wife got into my cellar when I wasn't looking. Glad she did, I don't think it was going to get any better.

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Not too exciting for this crowd, but we cracked open a 2011 Caymus cab last night and it was fantastic. I'd have let it go another year or two, but the wife got into my cellar when I wasn't looking. Glad she did, I don't think it was going to get any better.

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aint nothing wrong with fantastic wine!!!

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Just had Angeline Merlot from HEB for <11 and it was GOOD.
I'm an expert, can't you tell?

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we found that wine in 2008 at the Sonoma County Harvest fair and that it was a great value. We'd buy the pinot for parties.

That sounds awesome to me

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I typically don't touch my Napa cabs til 5 years after the vintage. I'd imagine it would need some serious air if opened before that. I'll be tasting the '13s with Mike in about two weeks and report back.

Edit- what the hell just happened? I commented on a post about a Quivet '13 cab and the post is gone. Am I going insane...again?

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Someday I will have that kind of cellar!

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Accidentally opened a Kenefic a few weeks ago and thought it was very good.

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I suppose I'm going to have to open it up in the next few months as well, since the next offering comes up in May!

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Not too exciting for this crowd, but we cracked open a 2011 Caymus cab last night and it was fantastic. I'd have let it go another year or two, but the wife got into my cellar when I wasn't looking. Glad she did, I don't think it was going to get any better.

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Caymus is very exciting and a solid wine all day e'eryday.

Looking back on 2015, I realized it was an over the top year for me (quality, not quantity) since I turned 40. The celebration was grand! I was trying to pick a top wine but several blew my socks off. While I could easily rattle off 6 spectacular wines, here is the one that just seems to edge out the rest:

1975 Yquem - out of 375ml bottle. quite possibly the best wine of any varietal I've ever had. 40th birthday dinner (dessert actually) in Hawaii.

As I mentioned, several other could have been my #1 but this was so damn divine, and I had made it to 40 (was touch and go there for a while) and I was with my family at a nice restaurant overlooking the pacific. I'm not sure if I can do any better than that. I'm truly blessed.

What topped the list for you guys?

Cheers! And have a great '16!

Can't go wrong with a good sauternes, glad you were able to enjoy it!

For me it is a tough call - sticking with my theme we drank a magnum of Caymus Special Selection at a steakhouse in KC that was pretty wonderful. I'd say it was the best bottle I had in 2015, but a close second would be the 2011 Giminez Rilli Perpetuum Syrah that we brought back from Mendoza was right there with it. I had a lot of close seconds/thirds, but those two were hard to beat!

some that stick out...
2007 Verite' Le Desir
2011 Law Estate Audacious
2012 Tate Jack's Vineyard
2000 Carter Beckstoffer
2012 David Arthur Elevation 1147

1985 Groth Napa Reserve cab
2009 Realm To Kalon
1965 port that I can't remember the name of.
2007 Schrader Old Sparky.

off the top of my head:

two very good whites I had this year

'13 Delille Chaleur Estate Blanc (WA) I drank this earlier last year. I still have one left I'm going to let lay down a couple of years. The '14 is very good too, but man, this '13 just hit me in a special way

'10 Evening Land Seven Springs 'La Source' Chardonnay (Williamette, OR) I wish we had more Oregon chardonnay available around here (Houston). gorgeous wine, so glad I have 2 more bottles at home.


The only red I can recall right now would be an awesome Santa Barbara Grenache I had, '13 A Tribute to Grace. an amazing and gorgeous wine that took me completely by surprise.

I've seen some Evening Land Pinot at HEB Bunker Hill as well as at Specs. Maybe they can get you the chard.

Also, HEB Bunker Hill still had 2 M. Etains as of last night. Same price.

There is now one M. Etain at HEB Bunker Hill!

$140 full price or $126 with 6 bottle purchase. I bought 5 other randoms.

Looks like they got wise to the deal they were giving away as they raised it by $14, but still a good price.

Nah, the sale was over last week.

BSD, had the 2010 Alpha and Omega cab recently. It was great. In fact it was so good my daughter drank most of it.

I'm glad you liked it! AO makes some great wines that are easily obtainable. If you ever go to Napa, call ahead and talk to Jean to get you set up with a tasting there. He is a good man and took care of me when I had to sell most of my wine when I got diagnosed.

The 2013 Maybach cabs will be released two weeks from tomorrow. The 2007 Maybach Materium was quite possibly the best Napa can I've ever had. If these are anything like that vintage, I'm buying big and slowly enjoying over the next two decades.

Still hanging on to my one 2007 Materium, awaiting a proper occasion!

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Still hanging on to my one 2007 Materium, awaiting a proper occasion!

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on my way...

Howdy! Longtime lurker to the thread, first time to post. I currently have two wine club memberships to vineyards we visited in Napa last year and I'm thinking about dropping one and adding another. What are some good mid-priced clubs that we should look into? The one we want to replace ships 4 times a year and averages about $180 per shipment.

TIA!

What type of wine do you like? What clubs are you in now? Which one are you dropping?

BSD, got the email that rivers-Marie is releasing their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Which do you prefer?

Mostly Reds, although I do like a Chard from time to time. Currently in Truchard and Hill Family, going to drop the Hill Family.

Thanks!

Hudson2508,

This post really intrigued me so I did a little digging...

I'm not sure the CdP is worth much. I wasn't able to find much on it. The Montrachet though may be worth some dough. The 2012 vintage of Remoissenet's Le Montrachet costs almost $600. I looked into it and apparently 1969 was an excellent vintage for Burgundy so it may still have life left (could have tons of life left, actually). The amount you could actually get for it probably would depend on the bottle's provenance and whether a collector was willing to take the risk. I don't have serious money to throw around buying vintage Burg and BDX so I'm not sure where you would start to try and find someone who would be interested in something like this. I'm guessing there has to be some kind of message board/forum for this kind of thing.

If it were me though, I would make a nice dinner with the family and just crack 'em open and see if they are any good. If they suck, then at least you got to try some really old wines (just be sure to have some backup wines). If they are awesome then it will be a great experience and memory for you and your family. Just my .02. Good luck!

96pt 2012 Kenefick Ranch Pickett Road Red

$39.99 / bottle

Good deal?

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96pt 2012 Kenefick Ranch Pickett Road Red

$39.99 / bottle

Good deal?

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only if you like it!

(i don't know anything about the wine other than a $60 release price so I have nothing of value to add to this conversation...sorry!)

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BSD, got the email that rivers-Marie is releasing their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Which do you prefer?

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Keep in mind that this is just the Sonoma Coast Chard. The regular chards come out in 6 months. We bought a few Sonoma Coast Chards for parties and my wife said they were fine. Not great but not bad. I haven't tried it yet. It's a $30/btl so I doubt we'll buy again (but keep in mind that these are for guests...it's more of a cost thing).


The Pinots have all been very worthwhile in the past. I'll ask them this weekend which ones they like best. The Sonoma Coast Pinot has always been a good value. We max out on those with both of our allocations.