Anyone like this vintage? signed up for their mailing list recently and got an offer to purchase one bottle at 215+tax/ship
That price for a second wine is obscene IMO.
No interest from me at that pricing point. Get four bottles of Drinkward Peschon or Hayfork instead.
I wouldn’t drop that for an 09 Maiden; just checked W-S and it is “available” at $175. Bottom line is you have to figure out how much you’re willing to spend for the wines you follow. You’ll have people answering this question who don’t purchase American wines. I’ve drank Harlan Estate but not the Maiden and because of my age would rather pick up an aged Mondavi, Pride, Diamond Creek, Ridge, etc. Good luck!
THIS + A MILLION
Harlan, btw
I haven’t had the '09. But the '05 Maiden was superb. I don’t think all second labels can be treated the same. Just saying.
Yikes… prices have really spiked on this one. Agreed though, at $215+/btl, it’s an easy pass. So much great Cali Cab out there, this is way out of the ballpark.
Well, doesn’t seem that outrageous compared with others that folks go crazy over, including HSS . . .
I think it’s because The Maiden is a second wine whereas HSS is a first wine if you will.
Shafer should make a bottom of the hillside select as their second wine
Which says nothing about how either one tastes… ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Hillside not-selected…
No 2nd wine for Shafer… They do a half point better with a 1.5nd bottle (which I happen to like better more often than not…)
Never understood the prices of second wines, it is stated that these are the second class grapes.
I cant believe that second class Harlan grapes are better that first class HSS for approx. same price or better than Ridge MB 's for less than half if u buy futures
So is, say, a nice ‘trophy’ producer secured grapes from ‘other’ vineyards and started selling off these wines at ‘higher than expected’ prices, they would, as a practical matter, not be as good as ‘first’ wines?
Interesting . . . .
If I remember correctly the Maiden is declassified barrels of the Estate wine. The Matriarch bottling is from purchased fruit that did not make it is in the Bond SVD’s.
At $175, give me a Schrader, Greer, Dalla Valle. At $215 HSS or Ovid. The Harlan Estate with several years on it can be an amazing wine, but the pricing has passed me up.
Completely agree. There may have been a time when second wines (in Napa or Bdx) made some kind of economic sense, but that time is long gone.
I have not had a Maiden in about 7 years. When I did, it was side by side with the Araujo Altagracia, which is Araujo’s second wine. The Maiden was significantly better, but not as good as the top bottlings of many other high end producers. Unless it has gotten much better, I would not pay anything close to that price.
point of reference, I bought the 2002 in September 2005 for a shipped price of $109. My notes indicate my offering allocation was reduced to 1 by the winery (due to the demand). You asked for what you wanted up to a limit and they told you what you got. I still have my lone bottle, so no input on wine quality.
To be clear, I think they are younger vines, culled barrels, etc. that did not make the winemaker’s cut to go into the flagship estate wine…not necessarily ‘second class’.
Having said that, I think the offering at $250 as a ‘value’ play at roughly 1/3 the price of Harlan Estate is laughable. What Bill is doing is creating a false mystique, IMO, of buying in to a premier product since the big boy is $750+ a bottle now. The noobs in the wine world get the privilege of ordering a lone bottle for bragging rights among the local crew. I was guilty of that years ago, but at a much lower price point. As always, the will sell through and continue to increase in price as vintages come and go.
Interesting. A friend who recently stayed at Meadowood (a hotel in Napa that is owned by Harlan?) mentioned that the room had a wine fridge, with a full bottle of Harlan Maiden for sale for $175. I have no idea what vintage, but that is starting to sound like a great deal for “mini-bar” wine.