Received an email from K&L regarding Lakespring Wines. The wines are form the original owners, they tasted through all of the wines…and at $50/750ml regardless of bottle size (up to 6L,) well hell, why not? Anyone familiar with these wines?
Best I could do was a 1990 article from the LA Times:
Rare Library Selections: Back-Vintage Napa from 1980 to 1990
While Lakespring may not be a name familiar to most, this now-shuttered property quietly produced some of Napa Valley’s most compelling and age-worthy wines from the 1980s to the 1990s. Back in the day, the wines were getting press that was in line with names like Dunn and Heitz. We recently acquired a parcel of Lakespring’s top bottlings directly from the original owners, giving us a snapshot of a golden era of California winemaking, something that is extremely rare with this kind of pricing and provenance.
To put Lakespring’s standing in context, winemaking talent Doug Shafer cut his teeth here, working as the assistant winemaker in the early 1980s. Given their relative anonymity and the age of the wines, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but after tasting through the line-up, we knew immediately they were very special. Quite honestly, we were floored by them. The wines are pure, remarkably fresh, layered, engaging, and above all, delicious. If you’ve never had the opportunity to enjoy an old-school Napa Cab, these tantalizing expressions impeccably capture that inimitable style. Best of all, we are able to offer these reds at shockingly affordable prices. Comparable bottlings cost well into the $100s, but we have them for a mere fraction of that. For anyone who enjoys classic Napa Cabs that have been aged to perfection, these are not to be missed.
A surfeit of old-styled, pre-1997 California reds has appeared suddenly across the retail and auction markets, at very reasonable prices, and with very good bottle conditions. Many wines have shown open, stable drinkability profiles since release, with broad maturity windows and gently down-sloped aging afterwards.
I just grabbed several cases, albeit not this wine.
Take such fleeting stuff now, or forever regret the pass.
Yes, I do feel like opportunities like this are fleeting…
A month ago I grabbed two bottles of 1997 Kathryn Kennedy Lateral on auction for about 50/ea. I have wanted to taste her wines and figured it was worth the risk, even though there was a decent possibility that they were past their prime. Nope! Opened one bottle Saturday alongside a mag of 94 Lynch Bages and the KK more than held her own. One friend said it was the best wine she had ever had. Found two more bottles in your neck of the woods at the Chicago Wine Company for $22.50 (?!?) that they must have recently acquired, and they will hold them to ship. Bought 12 bottles of varying vintages (89, 94, 95, 97) of the estate cab for 55-89 each at a place in New York. I really need to stop- I only have a 148 bottle capacity for my “cellar”/fridge!