Is there a better Mailing list offer than this one?

WINE TALK
1

Here comes Rivers-Marie. Quite happy to see this one. 2013 should be great. Prices are still fair. I am on the list for their Cabs and Chards so this literally checks all of the boxes.

(Okay…maybe Schrader is an equal given they are so far holding the line on the their high end cab pricing…and Becklyn gets an honorable mention but not a full array. )

The offer:
2013 Rivers-Marie Napa Cabernet Sauvignon – $65/btl
2013 Rivers-Marie Corona Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – $80/btl
2013 Rivers-Marie Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon – $90/btl
2013 Rivers-Marie Panek Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – $90/btl
2013 Rivers-Marie Lore Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – $125/btl

2013 Rivers-Marie B. Thieriot Vineyard Chardonnay – $50/btl
2013 Rivers-Marie Joy Road Vineyard Chardonnay – $50/btl

2

how much was the 2012 Regular cab and Panek? did prices drop for 2013?

3

I had to go back and check last years order - prices remained the same.

4

Any tasting notes? other then what I found in their last newsletter:

…the 2013s will be further evidence of this important step. The lineup will feature for the first time a leased site in Oakville, Lore Estate, which sits in one of the greatest Cabernet neighborhoods in the world. Also we will release what we feel is the best Panek bottling ever, an improved Calistoga appellation offering and a bigger, more intense Corona

5

What’s the story with Lore Vineyard? I’m not familiar with it. Anyone have any experience?

6

Looks like AG has weighed in. Gives the 2 chards a 93 and 95. Roughly the same range for the cabs. Notes for all of them on the site.

7

Just reading AG’s notes. He is beaming for this bottling. He stated that it is one of the very best cabernets TRB has ever made. That is a strong statement right there…

8

Just looked at that on his site. Just curious if anyone else has any notes? Also he did not rate the Napa Cab at all? That has always been a solid buy for me.

Lore gets HUGE RAVES from him scoring 94 -97 stating it is one of the very best Cabernets Brown has ever made! I am all in for me at 3.

Corona - 93 - 96
Calistoga 92 - 95
Panek - 91 - 94

This will be definitely hard on the credit card…

9

From last Fall’s release:

as great as 2012 is, 2013 arguably looks better. Everything has a bit more punch and amplitude. For all the additional fruit and color though, acidity and structure are equally pumped up maintaining balance in all the wines. For Pinot, quantities are once again strong except for Summa. We were positive we had solved the low yield issue out there but apparently not. The lineup looks identical to the 2012 roster, allocations will shift a bit to reflect yield at certain sites. The Pinot mailer as usual will go out the third Tuesday of January. Early impressions of Chardonnay would indicate there will be at least one additional single vineyard bottling in 2013. Joy Road has looked phenomenal since harvesting and now evaluating it in barrel it appears all that potential has been realized. A few other sites will have to be evaluated later this summer as malo is still not complete in all wines. It has been the slowest malo year to date for Chardonnay.

Cabernet is where things get really exciting. We are now leasing the old Oakville Terraces site, renamed Lore Vineyard, which sits on the eastern slope of Oakville in the most prestigious Cabernet neighborhood in Napa Valley. Leasing it provides us full control of all the farming and if 2013 is any indication, this will be a blockbuster site. Panek, Calistoga (Larkmead) and Corona are also strong once again. The challenge ahead of us is deciding what goes into the Napa Valley bottling. At the risk of repeating myself, the vintage is so strong it’s hard to know what to declassify.

10

$50 for allocations of Ca. Chard?

11

very excited to try these. i have tried a couple of the pinots, but i think I’m going to roll the dice on a couple of the chards and the napa cab.

12

That Lore vineyard must have an expensive fruit contract. It’s got to have some sort of track record to warrant the price, nobody knows?

13

You view that is good or bad? The Thieriot bottling is one of the better chards out there with a style that is ‘slightly’ more retrained compared to the big guns. Marcassin, Peter Michael, Kistler, Aubert, Kongsgaard, Morlet are all multiples of this. Rhys is the other relative value that comes to mind but let’s hear some others. For a pedigree’d winemaker and a proven bottling, it is way worth the plunge.

14

Agreed. It’s a shame that there’s no Sonomaa Coast chard this year.

15

That was offered with the pinot last time so maybe a 2014 on the next offer?

16

We are now leasing the old Oakville Terraces site, renamed Lore Vineyard, which sits on the eastern slope of Oakville in the most prestigious Cabernet neighborhood in Napa Valley. Leasing it provides us full control of all the farming and if 2013 is any indication, this will be a blockbuster site.

17

Some 2008 and 2009 Oakville Terrace cabs showed up on LastBottleWines last year. I have not opened any yet but the CT reviews are glowingly positive. I am not sure what the retail on the OTs were but the LBW price was very modest (mid $30s). The estate was apparently sold a couple years back (Oakville Terraces sold).

18

I’m a dunce. The 2013 Sonoma Coast chard is indeed resting comfortably in my cellar!!!

19

Bud, if I remember they moved the SC chard to now come with the pinot offering. That meant there were 2 offers in a row which included SC chard ('12 and '13) so you probably got used to seeing it consistently. That move was in an effort to make room for their expanding chardonnay program which I take as a hint that we’ll soon see another SV added in addition to the Joy Road that was just added.

I’m hoping Will is going to pop in at some point and give us all kinds of new insight.

20

I hope you’re right!!!