Anybody buying Peay?

Anybody buying Peay on the current release?

Where would you place their style among these Pinot & Chard producers: Littorai, Rhys, Ceritas, Rivers Marie, Scherrer.

Never tasted Peay, but guessing they are closer in style to the front end of that list…

Light but some concentration of fruit. Andy makes nice wine but it’s pretty far from R-M in style. I guess I’d say it’s most like Littorai from that list.

I agree with this. Nothing like Rivers Marie at all, which I find unbalanced on the fruity side. Not as lean as Ceritas. Rhys prominent use of stems make them very different. I’ve only had Scherrer zins so can’t comment there. I’d speculate the winemaking philosophy would be similar to Peay, but the terroirs are different (RRV vs True Sonoma Coast).

I’ve been buying Peay for over 10 years and have visited the very remote vineyard for a chat and tasting with Nick Peay. I think the estate pinots in particular are consistently fantastic, but all the wines are well crafted.

and to clarify, Vanessa (Nick’s wife) makes the wine…Nick farms the vineyard…Andy sells the wine and manages the business

Sure, when I find them on closeout.

Oh, I didn’t know that! I’ve met him a few times at various events and made an assumption. Really cool.

Peay is truly a family business!!

This.

As compared to Littorai chards, I think the Peay have a little more noticeable, but still very judicious, use of oak. When you are in the mood for that style, Vanessa’s chards are hard to beat for my palate. They are less incisive than Ceritas imho, and pair with different kinds of food ( a Peay estate chard pairing with a leek salmon pasta is fairly sublime). I can count the Rhys Chards I have had on one hand, but they have always seemed to me to take the oak up a notch further than Peay.

… and they last a good long time.

Grabbed a handful of Pinot.

I went for the whites… chard and viognier. My cellar is way over-pinoted.

I went for the three SV Pinots. I don’t drink enough Chard or Viognier to bother.

I’d like to grab a couple, the pickup party always has some yummy bites and they have other wines available for sale that day. I’d also join in on the they tend to compare to Littorai PN, not sure on the Chard level as I have little experience with both (and many of the other producers mentioned Chardonnay)

Where have you found it on close out? Last night my dad opened a 2011 Peay Scallop Shelf that was tasting very nice and convinced me to add Peay to my regular purchases.

I like Peay. My first time was a bottle of scallop shelf PN that was pretty epic, subsequent bottles merely very good.

Peay wines age well. Had a 2005 Les Titans syrah last night… tasted quite young for almost 12 years old.

Consistent buyer. Scallop Shelf is beautiful. Littorai is close, and definitely less ripe than RM. maybe a bit riper and less concentrated than Rhys or Kutch, but lovely aromatics.

I find the Chards good but not great. The Scallop Shelf Pinot, however, which I have back to '06, I find to be a special wine: darker fruited, yet light on its feet (as are all Peay), complex and minerally. (Sort of in Pommard land, if I am allowed to say such a thing.)

FWIW I have been purchasing the pinots since the first commercial release and they age well, particularly the Scallop Shelf. Bryan, if you like the 2011 you should look to back-fill (if available) some of the stronger vintages, i.e. 2007 and 2010. I think the 2007 has years to go. 2011 is nice but due to the weather doesn’t have the depth of some other vintages. I had an '06 a few months ago that could age another 5 years plus. The wine integrates over time and the secondary characteristics are impressive.

Cory

I have bought at retail and off of restaurant wine lists. I love Peay’s wines but at $40 for the Sonoma Coast and $55-60 for the Scallop Shelf pinots, I start thinking about how many Oregon pinots provide the same level of quality with a very similar flavor profile and drinking window for much less money.
Thread drift; I think “Scallop Shelf” along with Fred S’s “Shale Terrace” are the most suggestive/alluring names in domestic wine marketing at the moment. Sex pheromones of wine, if you will.