Ghostwriter Wines

Is Kenny still making the Ghostwriter wines? I’m on the mailing list but haven’t gotten an offer for a few vintages. Also noticed that Ghostwriter is not mentioned at all on his main Hobo Wines site. All his other labels are.

AFAIK. Some 2016 pinot noir and chardonnay are in my neck of the woods and the 2014 Bates Ranch cabernet just hit. Had a GREAT bottle of 2011 Woodruff, but it was my last. Need to get more of that, thanks for the reminder.

The Ghostwriter wines have never been available via the Hobo website. At least not since I have been buying them which goes back a number of years now. I thought that was because they are two seperate businesses. When we visited Hobo in Fall of 2016, Kenny poured us a Ghostwriter wine and talked about it as if he was still making it. There was no talk of it going away but that was two years ago now.

I had the first release of the Bates Ranch cab and loved it. Didn’t know he was still making it, as I thought it was a one off type of wine. Going to reach out to him and see if I was dropped from the list for skipping a vintage or something. Thanks for the info!

Really like these wines. Agree on the Bates Ranch Cab. I think I recently saw it on the shelf here in Santa Cruz - if anyone wants send me a PM.

I’ll pile on the praise of the Bates Ranch! Great news on a new vintage. The '13 was a showstopper.

Yeah, the first CA cabernet I’ve bought a full case of since 1991 Montelena.

I bought a 6 pack of Ghost Bates 2013. I can’t say I was overly impressed with the one bottle I drank but will let the other bottles sit for a while as I assume aging will bring out the qualities other posted about. Fairly priced for a higher tier CA cab.

It is very much a throwback style of savory, chewy mountain cabernet, more like the old SCMV Bates or old Dunn/Togni than anything else.

Hi there,
Yes, Kenny is still making the Ghostwriter Wines. I can send you a list if you’d like. Email me at lynn@hobowines.com

I’ve had Togni from the 90s and Bates is nowhere near that quality today, IMO.

I find the texture and particularly savoriness like those early 90s Togni (they had to replant in 1996, IIRC, and I think that subtly changed the wines). Those Togni wines may have had an extra gear, it’s hard to say. I think the similarity could be down to older vegetative material as Kenny doesn’t mark his wines so much, stylistically. I think it really stands out from other wines, YMMV.

Happy to buy the other 5 if you want to sell them to me.

There is a sweet 6pk available on the website now with $0.01 shipping.

Great people and probably the best bang for the buck in all of California wine IMO