I get the feeling that this wine is not very good-relative to other vintages.
IIRC, it was the 2005 vintage that marked the beginning of their trouble managing a booming mailing list with demand far exceeding their modest supply. The previous vintage Parker blessed (cursed?) the Wight bottling with a 96+ rating and remarked about the great value these wines represented. With a single WA issue, Lewelling found itself quickly moved on to the “radar” of many Napa cab drinkers previously unaware of the winery’s existence.
As with previous years, there was no quantity limit on what you could order for the '05 mailer. I faxed my order (no online ordering back then) for two cases as I had done previously and didn’t give it another thought. That is, until I got the phone call telling me they had to cut my order in half. They’ve been wrestling with the problem ever since. I don’t envy them this problem as it seems that any way you look at it, short of massive list attrition, there is going to be a group of unhappy campers.
Parker on the 2004 Wight: “The more limited production, spectacular 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Wight Vineyard is one of the vintage’s most stunning efforts. It reminds me of a top vintage of Screaming Eagle…it’s that good.”
Nothing like telling people you can buy Screaming Eagle-like wine on the cheap to spike demand…
Nick; I have tasted the wine a couple of times and have to disagree with you. I do believe that there has been a stylistic change a few vintages ago but I do not feel it is as pronounced as you seem to think. I hope you have better luck with your next bottle.
Cheers!
Marshall ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
The very reason I bought this release, I sure hope its different than recent vintages.
I dunno, Marshall, even after the egregiously overripe 2007s, the next couple of vintages weren’t much better, and the '06s and '05s were starting to taste quite pruney to me in recent years. The antithesis of the “old school” cabs that vintages before 2004 represented. And the alcohols for recent vintages are consistently above 15.5%. Today’s email made reference to “slightly lower alcohol”, but I noted that the tech sheet linked in the email, while showing things like pH and total acidity, etc., for some reason left off the alcohol. Kind of odd they’d include those other number but leave off the final alcohol, don’t you think? Leads me to think this is still well over 15%, which for me is a strong correlation with a style of cabernet I simply don’t like very much.
For a second I considered pulling the trigger anyway, based upon the less-ripe profile of the 2011 vintage. But ultimately, I sent the email to the trash. I hope the wine turns out to be good, really.
The '98 Lewelling was very Bordeaux like, and a real success in the vintage. Expecting the '11 will be the same and I took all they offered. It was not surprising to see Lewelling not release a reserve and sell all their 2011 wine at a stunning price. They are great people and have held their pricing like nobody else. It will be very interesting to see what the rest of Napa does in 2011 with their high end wines. The last time anybody declassified was in 2000, a long time ago.
I agree there has been a stylistic change…possibly to grab points but I really liked the 2010’s when I have tasted them. I am hoping that the 2011 is in a more restrained style.
Cheers!
Marshall
I was lucky enough to taste the 2011 with Dave Wight on Monday.
It’s certainly a more old school Napa cab in style, with great acid, lighter fruits (more red than dark) and maybe even a hint of green olive in there somewhere. A very lovely wine, that at 42 dollars is a steal in Napa to my mind.