To Alan’s comment that talk has cooled off, I personally gave up on Copain when it turned out that to join the club and get access to the better SVD’s, you had to buy 18 bottles a year. I found that so absurd that, despite it being one of the true highlights of a trip last year, I walked away without buying a bottle and haven’t bothered buying anything since then. I have a few nice bottles bought at auction, but if they want me to buy new releases, that policy has to change. Too much good wine out there.
Oh - now you did it, Merrill. i just had to go back in and increase my 2013 Laureles allocation! ![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
I don’t love the current process either, but the wines have been great. Every year I am on the fence about staying with it, but I have hung in so far. I probably will again this year.
I only have to buy a case every year.
But I always buy at least 18.
What are your thoughts on the other Chards?
I thought the SVD club was 12.
Me thinks it depends…customers who have a (long) purchase history are grandfathered in at 12 bottles per year for the SVD club? That applies to me…but I usually order 12 in the spring, 12 in the fall regardless…
Cheers,
JP
This is what I remember being told at the time the Club started. Like JP, though, I tend to order 12 bottles from both releases anyway. I probably drink more wine from Copain than than from any other producer, so it works for me.
My Copain preferences are evolving over time. I started buying primarily because I liked the Syrah so much, but now I concentrate more on the Chardonnay and Pinot. Merrill’s note on the Laureles Grade has me eyeing my own stash as a potential Super Bowl wine!
I am grandfathered too but take more than two cases. This year I am taking 3 of each wine. I like them all. In reality the chard is one of the great values in Cali chard in my opinion. 46.00 a bottle for wines of this caliber is hard to pass up. It depends on the year, as to which I like the most but most years it’s en haut and broseaue …laurels grade is right in there.
My wife loves en bas. The value of the club to me is also being able to purchase their lower end wines at a discount. The rose is good year to year, and the tous ensem Pinot and chard are winners for the money.
I echo the quality of the chards - great across the board. The les voisens and tous ensemble lines are great values as well - pinots and syrahs.
Tom have you enjoyed the tous ensemble syrah. I get their single vineyard syrah and enjoy those after a few years but I tried the 11 tous ensem syrah, and wow what a screamer. I hid them deep in the cellar and will check on them in 2020 lol
To be honest with you I have drunk very few of the SVD wines (cellaring them) and have really been enjoying the cuvees - Hoping the svds turn into something special. The 09 & 10 LV pinot, TE chard and all of the Syrah cuvées have been fantastic.
ordered 2 cases.
Seriously considering more.
Nice to see the thread here get some legs on it.
I kick myself for not making up to the winery to taste the 12s last year and it’s the first year I have missed getting there in a long time. However, as I was telling another WBer in a PM, the winery now and what they make, it’s a relationship/belief buy for me. It’s the #1 producer in my cellar, the style and focus of the winery is what I want to drink and so whether I try and assess for what wines are best or what are say on the fringes for the 2015 offering, I just take it all. Heavy on Kisers, Brosseau, Laureles, Wendling and Hawks. Less on the others, two cases mixed across the offering.
I am sure many of you have one, maybe a couple wineries you really dig…at some point, you and the winery shake hands, walk the path together and truck along, as you lose that line between customer and winery and it’s just a matter of a relationship. That’s Copain for me.
I know people have real struggles and pain points now with so many mailers, storage space and finite budgets–hell, I am there too. So, to try and pick and choose does have to be the strategy here for some–I get it.
I called Copain and placed my order and did not include any Hawks. Until I tasted the '10.
Immediately replaced my order. Copain is a joy for me.
I’ll just keep quoting myself. Night number 2, after being in the fridge overnight, this baby does not like to be cold. Cool, yes. But too cold and the acid just leaps…
A beautiful bottle of wine.
Love the Laureles, from a beautiful local hilltop vineyard (1,100’?) that I see from my bicycle! Alas, not in the Spring offering, but the DuPratt and Brousseau Chardonnays are.
I do love the Brosseau…the few I have had. I have the DuPratt in the cellar, but have not ventured in.
Maybe I should just buy a case of the Laureles and call it quits. 
Thanks, Steve. And thanks Alan for the reference point on that '12 Monument Tree.
BTW - I am drinking a bottle of the 2011 Baker Ranch Syrah, and it is killer. Loads of acid and very taut/linear with a great salty/savory element and beautiful purple florals. This would be a fun one to sneak into a blind tasting of Northern Rhone wines as it reminds me of a blue-fruited St. Joseph.
I know this thread is about the 2015 release, so sorry for the thread drift, but I’m really digging the 2011’s thus far…this is all reaffirming my enthusiasm for this year’s releases.
Another big fan of Baker Ranch. I would think the '12 will be very good. I’m trying to decide between Halcon and HB.