HTownAg98 said:

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I wish I'd known you were going to Paso. I could have recommended a dozen places that you would have liked more than Eberle. Their wines are fine, but there's a lot of better places.

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LIkewise I will head back to this area, so curious what else you have for recommendations.

Our Paso Robles visit was a last minute thing so not a lot of options day before.

Nice. Was looking at bidding on some last week, but passed. May have to grab next time it comes up

You will not be disappointed. I just realized I have a magnum of that wine. Only 10 more years til I open it!

HTownAg98 said:

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I wish I'd known you were going to Paso. I could have recommended a dozen places that you would have liked more than Eberle. Their wines are fine, but there's a lot of better places.

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I've been to Paso twice looking at a third trip over the new years time frame. I get shipments from Booker, McPrice Meyers and Denner. On the waiting list for Saxon. Any others I should be visiting so far. The 2019 Denner's are my favorites of the three so far.

Also I'll take y'all's critiques of my three above choices. I'm fairly new to the wine world but doing my best to catch up.

Check out Epoch, Linne Calodo, and L'aventura.

I just bought the 2020 MacDonald cab allocation. It is 2020 Napa so I'll probably pop these open a lot sooner than I'd typically open a Macdonald. Maybe a 5 year and 10 year plan as opposed to my 15 and 20 year plan (I give my third bottle to a buddy every year).

Yes sounds like there is some good wine from that vintage, but I wouldn't risk long term storage. Good call.
Personally I'd still steer clear of the vintage if I could. Enough other wines to buy! I'm probably biased though since I experienced the smoke firsthand.

BSD said:

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I just bought the 2020 MacDonald cab allocation. It is 2020 Napa so I'll probably pop these open a lot sooner than I'd typically open a Macdonald. Maybe a 5 year and 10 year plan as opposed to my 15 and 20 year plan (I give my third bottle to a buddy every year).

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Walked away from my desk for 10 minutes and missed out. But that's on me for not reading the email last week that said it was going to be first come, first served. Oh well.

Chipotlemonger said:

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Yes sounds like there is some good wine from that vintage, but I wouldn't risk long term storage. Good call.
Personally I'd still steer clear of the vintage if I could. Enough other wines to buy! I'm probably biased though since I experienced the smoke firsthand.

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Yep. For the most part I stayed clear of Napa. Here is all I bought:

2020 Pott Napa (the only wine he released) - bought 12, 8 gone already
2020 Myriad Crane Elysian - bought 2, one gone
2020 Macdonald - bought two

That's it. All will be gone earlier than usual.

JCA1 said:

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BSD said:

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I just bought the 2020 MacDonald cab allocation. It is 2020 Napa so I'll probably pop these open a lot sooner than I'd typically open a Macdonald. Maybe a 5 year and 10 year plan as opposed to my 15 and 20 year plan (I give my third bottle to a buddy every year).

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Walked away from my desk for 10 minutes and missed out. But that's on me for not reading the email last week that said it was going to be first come, first served. Oh well.

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Ouch. That really sucks. For some reason I didn't get any emails this year but was texting Alex about meeting up in a few months and he told me about it. Lucky timing on my part.

BSD said:

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I just bought the 2020 MacDonald cab allocation. It is 2020 Napa so I'll probably pop these open a lot sooner than I'd typically open a Macdonald. Maybe a 5 year and 10 year plan as opposed to my 15 and 20 year plan (I give my third bottle to a buddy every year).

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due to smoke concerns? nvm, I missed those posts and question answered

I like Adelaida in that area. Make a fairly wide selection of wines including a shockingly good chardonnay and also cab and rhone blends. Beautiful property and not too expensive. check it out

As someone not familiar with MacDonalds, what is the allure? What was the cost?

BigAg95 said:

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Check out Epoch, Linne Calodo, and L'Aventure.

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Fixed.
Love Booker and Denner, haven't had McPrice Myers. I'll also recommend Clos Solene if you like a more restrained style, Paix Sur Terre, Torrin, Alta Colina, Bodega de Edgar if you like Spanish grapes grown in Paso, and Law, especially if you like Booker. Spend a day in Tin City and go to Jacob Toft, Turtle Rock, Aaron, Benom, have lunch at Etto, and go to Tin City Cider to give your palate a break.

cecil77 said:

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Objective Aggie said:

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As someone not familiar with MacDonalds, what is the allure? What was the cost?

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Two brothers. Family land. To Kalon. Leading the fight for To Kalon to refer to an actual place as opposed to Mondavi's efforts (Constellation, really) to use To Kalon as a brand.

Very old vines. Classic Napa cab, contrasted to the Mike Smith highly extracted/high alcohol/heavy oak/black current preserves stye that's popular now.

Very hard to get. I was on wait list eight years, I think the wait list is longer now.

$195, which in the day of $325 Insignia is a "bargain".

So a combination of stellar wine at a reasonable price, very hard to get, compelling history, and just a bit of fanboi fame.

There are others on this thread that know more than I do...

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All this and a really cool dog named HoneyBee.

cecil77 said:

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Objective Aggie said:

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As someone not familiar with MacDonalds, what is the allure? What was the cost?

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Two brothers. Family land. To Kalon. Leading the fight for To Kalon to refer to an actual place as opposed to Mondavi's efforts (Constellation, really) to use To Kalon as a brand.

Very old vines. Classic Napa cab, contrasted to the Mike Smith highly extracted/high alcohol/heavy oak/black current preserves stye that's popular now.

Very hard to get. I was on wait list eight years, I think the wait list is longer now.

$195, which in the day of $325 Insignia is a "bargain".

So a combination of stellar wine at a reasonable price, very hard to get, compelling history, and just a bit of fanboi fame.

There are others on this thread that know more than I do...

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thank you Cecil.

I found this review. Damn!!!!

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Otherwise, I'll save you the trouble and just tell you that this wine is other-worldly. Whereas the 2016 MacDonald was in less of a mood to show its hand, this 2019 was peacocking all over the place from the instant the cork was popped. Cascading with black fruit, earth, and minerality, this phenom was gushing more than Kris Jenner at a Kardashian convention. On and on and on and on with flavor. A perfect wine from the beginning to the end, which lasted about a hot second before the bottle was drained.

You can try to chalk this whole MacDonald thing up to fanboy mentality or scarcity making the heart grow fonder or some cult-mob mentality or whatever ideology you want to when trying to explain or excuse the wines from this house, but there is just absolutely no denying the unique place in history that these wines belong, especially when this kind of showing is anything but rare. The. Best. Wine. Ever.

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Cecil I'll buy one from you!

Props to them for not tearing out that old stuff to put in higher yielding rootstock/younger vines..

So those are their grandparents' vines. The ~40 year old vines were planted by their parents. The brothers have their vines and then they just planted some for their kids. They are very family oriented, and that aligns with my values so it's easy to support them (along with every reason Cecil said).

Ok. As someone who has had wine for years but never been that knowledgeable, how do i instantly up my game . . . meaning . . .

* to date, nice wines were always at work dinners and people i work with would order good stuff usually (although probably a bit stuck on usual big names Caymus, Silver Oak, etc)
* on my own I don't drink the Yellow Tail or cheap sugary stuff but I buy things at random
* I will drink white, red, sparkling, etc. I can tell a Cab and I know Syrah but in a blind taste taste I would probably embarrass myself
* That said, I am more and more starting to acquire a better palette and appreciate better wines.
* i just bought a wine fridge because people occasionally give me $100 or $200 bottles and I feel it's only right to store them correctly.

So here are the question
* where do i begin in opening up my exposure?
* what temp do you store reds and whites and yes i know some depends on teh varietals but what temp?
* counsel on decanting?
* any wine clubs or waitlists i should go ahead and sign up for?

nice post!

We joined a vintners club at our local country club and in short we get to try 3 ounce glasses of 50+ wines a year, all paired with either meals or snacks, so in the past four years I've learned more about what I like and don't like than I had in the past 20 years.

Also, using an app like Vivino can really help you remember wines you do and don't like, and has notes features for easily tracking what it is you like and don't like, and the app has an algorithm that predicts the likelihood of what you'll like based on your prior ratings.

Objective Aggie said:

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* i just bought a wine fridge because people occasionally give me $100 or $200 bottles and I feel it's only right to store them correctly.

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This is a great start! Hope you got a size up from what you thought you needed. I'm perennially out of room..

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* where do i begin in opening up my exposure?

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Get out of the same varietals and styles of varietal. Trying niche varietals is fun and helps you learn more about the international varieties of wine and where they excel. But I also recommend doing side by side tastings of the same variety of wine, be it something as big as Chardonnay or something as small as Albarino.

Quote:

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* what temp do you store reds and whites and yes i know some depends on teh varietals but what temp?

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55 for both for long term. I always pop my reds and whites in the fridge before opening because they'll naturally rise to "room temp" on their own outside of the fridge. Shorter term, I keep white and rose in the fridge so they are ready to go. Try drinking reds around 50 - 55 and whites around 40 - 45, IMO. That should cover most bases of wine, but there is personal preference here too.

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* counsel on decanting?

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Depends on the wine. Generally I don't think it's needed for most wines that we end up drinking. For the bottles with more nuance (and $$$), anything greater than 30 minutes is good. Some people swear by longer times, but I like seeing the wine and how it tastes over time out of the bottle. You can always "Hyper decant" your wine in the glass by just swirling it a lot if you want.

Quote:

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* any wine clubs or waitlists i should go ahead and sign up for?

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Completely a personal preference. Most wine clubs that people enjoy remind them of a time and place and tie in to a specific producer. So many different types, some better than others.

Chipotlemonger said:

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Objective Aggie said:

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* i just bought a wine fridge because people occasionally give me $100 or $200 bottles and I feel it's only right to store them correctly.

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This is a great start! Hope you got a size up from what you thought you needed. I'm perennially out of room..

Quote:

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* where do i begin in opening up my exposure?

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Get out of the same varietals and styles of varietal. Trying niche varietals is fun and helps you learn more about the international varieties of wine and where they excel. But I also recommend doing side by side tastings of the same variety of wine, be it something as big as Chardonnay or something as small as Albarino.

Quote:

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* what temp do you store reds and whites and yes i know some depends on teh varietals but what temp?

---

55 for both for long term. I always pop my reds and whites in the fridge before opening because they'll naturally rise to "room temp" on their own outside of the fridge. Shorter term, I keep white and rose in the fridge so they are ready to go. Try drinking reds around 50 - 55 and whites around 40 - 45, IMO. That should cover most bases of wine, but there is personal preference here too.

Quote:

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* counsel on decanting?

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Depends on the wine. Generally I don't think it's needed for most wines that we end up drinking. For the bottles with more nuance (and $$$), anything greater than 30 minutes is good. Some people swear by longer times, but I like seeing the wine and how it tastes over time out of the bottle. You can always "Hyper decant" your wine in the glass by just swirling it a lot if you want.

Quote:

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* any wine clubs or waitlists i should go ahead and sign up for?

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Completely a personal preference. Most wine clubs that people enjoy remind them of a time and place and tie in to a specific producer. So many different types, some better than others.

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Solid advice.


I have a retro bar from the 70s so I got about the largest fridge that would fit behind there and it says 50 bottles so we all know that means 33. If this takes off I'll find another spot for a larger one.

Primary answer is drink more wine..

Read. A great start is: Certified Specialist of Wine Study Guide
Don't let the title intimidate, it's a great introduction to everything about wine.

The History of Wine in 100 Bottles a great "bathroom read" - it's a one page at a time read.

Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures
If you like history, a really great read. I've read it twice.

Follow your own trail. Take the opinions you like, ignore the others.

Also, don't take it too seriously, it's a great hobby, avocation, obsession. But it's purpose is to enhance the enjoyment of life.

Enjoy!