Interested to hear thoughts on Morlet as their Spring offering is today…Have never had their wines but I’m intrigued since they seem a bit cheaper than the highest end Napa cabs.
They make nice wines, and I think that they’re high quality. However, I also think for the price…there are better wines for less money.
Spot on.
I tried their wines for the first time at last year’s Nantucket Wine Festival, and thought their cabs were the wines of the weekend. There are certainly other great, possibly better, California cabs in the same price range, e.g., Maybach, Greer, Realm, MacDonald, but I’d put Morlet in the same ballpark and they appear to be more accessible.
They make nice wines for some people. His wines, and most of the places he has been, are all similar in style. Kongsgaard, Newton, and Peter Michel, and he has worked with Michel Rolland. If you like that style, go for it. David and Kirk are right. I might state: you can have similar tasting wine for less money.
Great, thanks for the feedback. Any suggestions on some better Cali cabs at that price point or less? I have tended to usually go with the larger producers higher end wines (chateau st jean, stags leap, etc) and trying to expand into some of the smaller production estates.
Myriad
there is a ton of morlet in this month’s acker online fyi
I’ll echo all of this. They’re finely made wines of very high quality. Fairly rich style. Big aromatics. Very, very expensive with a rapid inflation of price over the past 7 vintages or so.
I’ve only had their white bdx blend “la proportion doree” which IMO is the best white wine in Napa, if you like oaked SauvBlanc with a rounder feel and multiple layers of complexity that the Semillon adds. Their 2014 was mind-blowing good (a perfect wine IMO), and even though 2015 & 2016 were delicious, they weren’t 2014. Hopefully, 2017 with be another 2014…we’ll see. That is why I keep buying them.
The la proportion doree is a favorite of mine also.
Chris Chew has a great deal on the 2010 in commerce corner($45).
The current release is $110.
I agree with the comments above. Morlet makes fine wine at top prices.
Count me as a fan too, particularly of the La Proportion Doree. I bought the 17, and recently picked up the 13 at my local boutique wine store, and plan on going back for the 12. I didn’t get a chance to have the 14 unfortunately.
Sure the wines are pricey, but the quality supports it. I think you can usually find cheaper wines with similar quality than most high price wines, but I also do not think that that means the higher priced wine isn’t worth getting.
The wines from Luc Morlet are consistently high quality upon release and stand the test of time. We just completed the first vertical of Passionnement last month and covered the LPD vertical a couple years ago. His new Coeur de Vallee Estate Vineyard in Oakville will be in production soon and will create the next chapter in this estate.
I’ve mostly had the Cabernet Sauvignons, and I agree with most folks here that they are extremely good, high quality wines made by a real Napa artisan. Definitely rich wines, but made with a deft touch – pretty well balanced and definitely crowd pleasers. I bought quite a bit from 2007 - 2012 so that’s what I’ve had. BTW many of these wines can be found in the secondary market significantly below release price. Not sure why, but it’s the sad truth. E.g the 2015 Estate is at K&L for $100 below release price. So if you want to sample the wines you can do so (relatively) affordably.
In 2021, they will re-release a limited amount of 2014…be ready, they will go quick.