Arnot-Roberts Spring Release

If an offer letter goes out and there’s no thread on WB, did the offer even happen?


Cabs are now 90/90/100, which I think is consistent with last year. Really like these but it’s getting steep. Not bothering with the Syrahs any more, although they’re well done.

2017 Old Vine White

64 year old dry-farmed white field blend of Sylvaner, Riesling, and an assortment of other obscure varieties planted in fluffy white volcanic soils at the base of the western flank of Mount Veeder in the Sonoma Valley. Whole cluster pressed, fermented with native yeast in stainless steel, and aged in neutral French oak barrels for 10 months. 5 barrels produced.


2017 Ribolla Gialla, Vare Vineyard

Ribolla Gialla is alive and well in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley thanks to George Vare, who fell in love with Ribolla Gialla in the early ‘90s while traveling in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Northeastern Italy and took cuttings from Josko Gravner’s heralded vineyard in Friuli, signaling the first arrival of this ancient variety in California. Whole cluster pressed, fermented in stainless steel with native yeast, then aged in neutral oak for 10 months. 8 barrels produced.


2017 Clary Ranch Syrah

Planted in 2000 in sandy clay-loam, six miles from the Pacific in the heart of the Petaluma wind gap. Fermented 100% whole cluster with native yeast and basket pressed to neutral French oak barrels for 10 months. 10 barrels produced.


2017 Que Syrah Syrah

Planted at 850’ elevation in 1994 above the town of Occidental about four miles from the Pacific on the Sonoma Coast. Fermented 100% whole cluster with native yeast and basket pressed to neutral French oak for 10 months of élevage. 4 barrels produced.


2016 Clajeux Cabernet Sauvignon

Planted in 1999 in volcanic soil at 400’ in the Chalk Hill AVA above the Russian River Valley. Fermented 30% whole cluster and basket pressed to 20% new French oak barrels for 22 months of élevage. 5 barrels produced. 5 barrels produced.


2016 Montecillo Cabernet Sauvignon

47 year old dry farmed vines grown at 1,700’ above the Sonoma Valley in volcanic loam. Destemmed and fermented with native yeast, then basket pressed to 20% new French oak barrels for 22 months. 6 barrels produced.


2016 Fellom Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

36 year old vines grown in Franciscan shale and sandy loam over serpentine in the Santa Cruz Mountains at 2,200’, on the top of Montebello Road above Cupertino. Destemmed and fermented with native yeast then basket pressed to 20% new French oak barrels for 22 months. 10 barrels produced.

Weird thing…I love the wines.

I almost never drink them.

The chards are fantastic. I’ve only had 2-3 of the cabs because I’ve only been on the list 4 years or so, so they’re all babies.

I’ve had the trout gulch, really good.

Got some que Syrah and a bottle of the old vine white to try.

I had a cab a few weeks back that to me wasn’t worth the tariff. The local whole foods has a syrah I’m going to grab and see if its any better. Then I might pull the trigger. AG loves the syrahs

I am lined up on 2017 Trout Gulch Chard, not sure how many to grab. The other Trout Gulch, Ceritas, is almost twice the price

These seem to be regularly available at retail, correct? Is there any discount for purchasing directly?

Cheers.

Some will trickle into retail, but it is very hit or miss given the low production. Prices without shipping are comparable, sometimes retail is a few bucks higher than release or the same.

Bought a handful of bottles from them last spring and we opened a syrah just to see what it was about and found it very austere and not enjoyable at a young age. Do these calm down by a significant margin?

Yes. One of the reasons I have not been drinking my bottles is that I prefer them by a wide margin with several years of bottle age.

To those who buy off this list–given that retail pricing is frequently the same as (if not better when a retailer does a sale) than the list price, why do you buy from the list? Even those who are in states where the retailers don’t carry A-R, I imagine there are out-of-state retailers who ship and can still provide pricing at the same or better price as the list.

I find $40 shipping on a 6 pack hard to swallow.

This surprises me about a number of wineries. They offer the ability to purchase - but no discounts. I get it - but if they do make their wines available at retail and similar to release prices, and you can save on shipping, it seems to me the reason you’d purchase direct is either (1) to get wines that do not make it to retail or (2) simply to support.

Just wondering how others feel about this.

Cheers!

Try looking at a UPS ground quote for a 20 lb package. This is reality.

True indeed. When I ship 6 bottles to most of the midwest and to the East Coast, it’s going to cost me a min of $30 but usually closer to $40. This takes into account both shipping costs and shipping materials. It sucks - and this day and age of ‘free shipping’ on so many things, I understand the frustration, but it’s a reality. Now if I charged $100 per bottle, I could probably ‘give a bit more’ on shipping charges . . . [snort.gif]

That said, I have seen some shipping charges that I know are much higher than what 3rd parties charge. That I would take issue with . . .

Cheers.

For the sake of full information, I just did a UPS quote for what would be a full 6 bottle shipper from Napa, CA to Enfield, CT. I have no way to see if a volume shipper gets a better deal, but the quote for ground shipping came back as $56.

For their larger production wines which are widely available, there is little reason IMO to deal with shipping when I know I can get it for the same price in a store nearby. If I really want limited production, large format, or otherwise unique offerings I guess I will suck it up (although at times I’d rather just apply that shipping premium to an in-store purchase of another bottle or two). I don’t know at what level a winery like A-R would be able to achieve volume shipping discounts (a couple years back I saw they had a volume of 6,000+ cases). Ridge has great shipping rates but at over 100,000 cases I’m sure FedEx is more than happy to give them a discount.

not sure if they’re shipping direct or using a third-party shipper but that will have an impact on their pricing as well. If using a third-party shipper, they often times can get pretty discounted rates.

Great shipping rates often means the winery is subsidizing them. For the same total “out the door” price, consumers are happier if less of it is for shipping.

-Al