Finally made it to the list and received allocation offer. With so many great new wine makers, are these folks still cool?
Are you drinking the wine? Impressing your friends? Flipping it on CC? Need some context.
They are well made wines if you like a fuller bodied, richer styled PN. They are also very expensive.
Op same for me. I think they are still worth it. Just debating how much to buy and how much to flip on cc.
I have had the “Ten” on two occasions, years apart. I like Green Valley & Marin Pinot Noir, as well as most Oregon bottlings. The Adelaida HMR and most Morgan PN’s are to my taste, as is Presquile.
I say all that to say this: I don’t really care for the Sea Smoke. Maybe my “likes” will be helpful in determining my tastes.
is SS still a flipper wine? i think u might get some takers at cost… i’m not sure you can flip it for much…
What do these run now? About $85/per?
Southing - $60
Ten - $82
Chard - $60
not hot
BTW, was looking to sell at cost and not to make a profit.
I always liked Foxen’s expression of Sea Smoke better.
I’m a long-time Sea Smoke buyer, going back almost to the beginning (I still have one bottle of 2002 left, and I think I got on the list for the 2004 vintage). I’ll try to answer your question as best as I can figure:
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The wines are excellent quality. There are also few if any other wines that your non-WBer non-geek friends and company will enjoy as much as Sea Smoke, and it’s a type of wine that works well with most occasions and food.
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They are not in fashion here on WB and probably among your geekiest of wine geek types, so don’t expect any high fives for buying or drinking them on this board. I imagine a pretty decent number of WBers buy and enjoy Sea Smoke, but you won’t see many TNs or much discussion, and if you see a TN, more likely it will be from someone who tried one and didn’t like it. I don’t say that to complain, but just as an observation.
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I doubt they are hard to sell for around cost, but I wouldn’t expect meaningful flipper upside like you would have had 8-10 years ago. They aren’t the new hot thing to the same degree now, the prices have slowly crept up over that time, and their production has gradually increased over the years (I believe so, at least).
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They basically offer wines once per year around April, though they might offer a few magnums or some side project like the sparkling wine or some magnums in the fall.
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The pinots benefit from some patience, but don’t require long aging. I recommend holding most of your Southings and Botellas for 5+ years from the vintage date to see them at their best. I’d recommend holding Ten for probably 7+ years from the vintage. But they are all drinkable younger, particular with some extended aeration. They also age quite well – I’ve had their pinots at 10+ years old a number of times and they are great, going strong.
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Sea Smoke made a bigger, though not huge, style of pinot during the big pinot craze of the mid 2000s. But from the 2007 vintage forward, in part as the California pinot industry corrected back generally and partly due to a new winemaker from 2007 forward (after Kris Curran departed to Foley and then on to her own labels), the style has moved back more to the middle. Since that time, alcohols have been in the low to mid 14% range for the most part, I think, and acids are a little higher. There is medium use of oak, and higher use on the Ten.
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I personally think the thing to buy is Southing, and, if/when you can get some, Botella. Ten is pretty expensive, has a lot of oak, and needs a lot of time. I’ve tried Sea Spray twice and it’s definitely not my thing, and I don’t think it’s gone over very well generally from what I’ve seen. Buy some Southing, maybe try one younger with some aeration, then try to get enough to hold off for a few years.
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I think the QPR on the Botella is excellent, and on the Southing is good if not a screaming bargain by any means. But of course QPR is highly subjective, and that’s just my opinion.
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There isn’t anything touchy-feely about the customer service. No events, no personal notes or phone calls to you, no ability to visit and taste, etc. But it is very transparent and efficient, and when you need to reach out, they are responsive and good to deal with.
I hope that is helpful, and all of it is, of course, just my opinion from my experiences, and others will certainly feel differently.
I just picked up my first bottles at a local wine store of all places. I got both a ten and a southing for not much more than was listed above.
Haven’t tried them, but found it interesting I could buy them locally for a comparable price.
No more, they cut them off.
I know Brig the last vintage was 2011. Very sad.
Just remember to not flip the ones I’m buying from you! 
Not.
Haha! Remember sea smoke is the original "California Grand Cru! "
Have to admit that Chris lost me early in his post - so we have many Board members who buy this wine, but none who are willing to post about it?
Don’t own any, and other than Apsara I am on no mailing lists, but this did strike me as a little strange.
To me, it’s almost like Loring or Kosta Browne - on the Parker board, there was literally a feeding frenzy whenever the new release was ready to drop, and now nothing?
I have some extra of the '07’s if anyone wants to swap