Anyone got suggestions for decent to great half bottles of Cali cab’s ? the only one ive seen is the Monte Bello
Why dont more wineries make them, they are common for Bdx releases
Conn Valley always has them.
There are actually several wineries that produce half bottles. Here’s a few domestic Cabs or Cab blends besides Monte Bello. Hall, Stags Leap, Opus, Ramey, Justin, Dominus, Whitehall Lane, Cliff Lede, Diamond Creek, Macaymas. That’s all I can think of at the moment.
Just to get you started, link here.
Pricing is terrible, but it should give you ideas on where you can look.
Maybach
And it is the only one I would be willing to buy because there is no significant uncharge to it.
They just aren’t as popular as you’d think.
Front labels often don’t fit the half bottle.
Back labels need to be printed to reflect the 375ml
Don’t fit on the bottling line - or inefficient to stop and change over - so done by hand
Shipping is expensive, as a percentage it is higher to ship to 375’s
And retailers don’t like them, people don’t want to pay more than half price for half the wine, and customers don’t demand them. It’s really hard to sell them when you take them out to accounts.
We stock a fair amount of half bottles, but they were geared towards our cigar bar customers. Carrie put some of the half bottles in the wine room and we found a lot of people DO like half bottles for those nights you just want one more glass of wine. Our cigar bar customers prefer Dashe Zin, followed by Hall Cab, Stags Leap Artemus Cab and Hall Merlot. We have a couple red blends that do well along with Sineann Pinot and the big surprises, Sineann Pinot Grigio and a couple of Sauvignon Blancs.
The issue for retailers and restaurants is the shelf life of a half bottle, just like it is for a lot of Beaujolais. We have cold storage which helps but those retailers that maintain wines at room temperature, whether it be 68 or 80 degrees, shelf life is limited.
If you want half bottles and the local stores don’t have them, check your local restaurant wine lists. If they are showing some out of vintage half bottles AND store them well, ask if they want to unload them at a reasonable price. It’s a win win. My brother-in-law used to go restaurant to restaurant and buy all they wanted to sell and roll them over. I would buy all the older cabs from him for $3 to $5. Pop, pour and drink quickly. Now it would probably be $20 to $25.
Switchback, Beringer PR
Paradigm.
Staglin estate
Montelena
Switchback and Maybach are the ones I have purchased, but since I bought a Pungo a couple years ago, I don’t really need small format bottles any more.
I have purchased Switchback, Montelena Estate, Beringer PR, Monte Bello and Phelps Insignia in half bottles. Duckhorn also makes half bottles of their Cab and Merlot. They can be hard to find and expensive, but they are out there.
Thanks,
Ed
Save two old half-bottles.
Open a full bottle of any wine.
Funnel half of it into each smaller bottle.
Plug them with corks, and place in the refrigerator.
Done.
I did this for years…works really well.
As clever as slicing a pizza and saving some for later, when you do not wish to eat it all at once. So ingenious…
No wonder that I found mortgage credit tranching to be fascinating.
I picked up a bunch of A to Z Pinot Noir for $3.99 per half and have been doing this as the bottles are screw caps.
L’ecole No. 41, from WA state, bottle worthy QPRs
The stupid irony is that I assemble a small collection of good wines in half bottles, then I’m reluctant to open them because I don’t have that many and they’re hard to find. Which completely goes against the point of buying half bottles.