This is the most age Ive had on a Kelley Fox wine so far. I have a couple problems with this bottle. 1) I only have one. 2) now every time I open a younger Kelley Fox, I will remember how good this wine was with a little more age on it and wonder if I should wait. In all seriousness though, this is a base level wine that has gracefully aged 9 years and is exactly what you hope her young wines will evolve into when you taste them young! Its elegant, light, bright, complex, energetic, and aromatic.
whatever the BD deal is this year, I am definitely gonna be hitting the refresh button to make sure I catch it.
That’s impressive not only given the entry-level wine, but also the vintage. I’ve enjoyed the couple of her wines that I’ve tried. Definitely need to try more.
it is so hard to do because theyre made in a way that theyre so bright and energetic young too.
Two BDs (11 I think?) ago I bought a 6 pack of the Hyland Coury clone (which was a steal then too) thinking “oh well since I have 6 ill DEFINITELY be able to age a bunch of these”
I have 2 left. its just so hard to keep away from them. but there was a noticeable complexity bump from the young mirabai in this '13 bottle. so stay the course if you can!
or, you know… look really hard at auctions. which is what I resigned to doing lol
I even picked some 2019 up from JJB recently for $34. Not sure where they came from, but I’m guessing a retailer (perhaps one liquidating) and not the winery, but who knows.
Yeah, you’re totally correct. Last BD I bought the 2 pack ('13 Momtazi Vineyard & ’13 Mirabai Vineyard) and looking at my notes they averaged $69 shipped. I didn’t realize there was such a difference between the 2 although I don’t see the Momtazi on the website.
Not sure what you mean here about the vintage. I love 2013 and numerous of my favorite WV producers made excellent wines. Kelley is a fan of the vintage, as she is of 2011 and 2007.
My average price to date for Mirabai is less than $35. Momtazi isn’t a single vineyard wine though which is why there is a price difference, its declassified fruit (originally from Maresh and Momtazi vineyards, now from Maresh and Weber). Kelley doesn’t get fruit from Momtazi vineyard anymore which is why it isn’t on the website, I think when she couldn’t get it anymore she started getting Weber vineyard fruit. (Note: I did look back though and see that the 2013 BD offer did definitely have a price bump compared to current releases, but I would have to guess it was more from the Momtazi than the Mirabai)
Come to think of it I dont know that Momtazi Vineyard bottlings from Kelley ever made it north of the $70 mark either. it was always the less expensive bottling when compared to the Maresh bottlings.
Yeah, I’m pretty new to OR Pinot, the earliest vintage I have a decent amount of is the 17. I had an 05 Balcombe recently and it was stunning so now I’m trying to figure out how to backfill. It’s tough because there isn’t much on the market, so I’m waiting patiently for library releases and auctions… I missed the big PGC library sale from a year or so ago.
The 2013 wines were probably priced higher as library wines that were in relatively short supply. The last Momtazi designate was the 2017, I think, and was $60 on release. There was also a declassified Momtazi called Ahurani that was a similar price to the Mirabai.
2017 had no regular Momtazi - it was all Tir or Ahurani. However, in prior years, she made Momtazi Tir, Momtazi, and Ahurani. Tir was a specific parcel at the top of Momtazi. Since 2017 was the last year of Kelley Fox getting Momtazi fruit and she needed to move her actual winery location away from the Momtazi vineyard, I don’t know if that impacted her bottling decisions.
its tough. some show up on Winebid, but its not typically the stuff I am curious about, with the exception of some Big Table Farm and some Bethel heights on occasion.
FWIW: the people at Patricia green are awesome. when their releases come out, try emailing them and asking and see if there’s anything they can do. last release they helped me track down a couple of 10 year old bottles they still had available.
I tasted extremely broadly when the wines were released. I think it’s fair to say 2013 was a challenging vintage. Yes, there are some nice wines, but IMO, almost nothing as good as the same wines from any vintage from ‘07-‘12 or anything from ‘15 onward. I also like 2007 and 2011.
As you said, it is opinion. The only producer I directly know who doesn’t like 2013 is Arterberry Maresh. They must have picked wrong. Not all vintages show great on release. Recall that 2007 was slammed on release and there is now a huge thread devoted to how good the wines turned out. The 2013s I’ve had recently have been really great (echoed other people’s TN). I have enjoyed them more than the 2012s at this point. And 2009? Huh.
