Offensive.
the release price is insane, imho
I dont know if its partly because of the new āDomaine de la Chapelleā rebrand and disasterous launch of their latest hermitage last year, but its just a joke. Literally you could buy a bottle of Grange, and of Hermitage La Chapelle, for less than that and blend them together.
I think you could actually buy five bottles each of Grange and La Chapelle for the price of one of these luxury blends.
How much is āseamlessā worth?
Itās all relative; itās a fun project, but depends on the price. If they were selling this for a few hundred dollars, Iād buy a few - it could be an interesting blind!
I fully appreciate the commercial side of wine, but when a producer spends quote so much time being attuned to the market factors rather than the production factors, it raises questions as to their focus. The Champagne negociants have entire teams dedicated to marketing and hospitality, etc, but when smaller producers launch luxury products, I do wonder.
Tried a few vintages of the Historical and serve it as a fun curiosity. Wine wise, it is solid, kind of interesting as there is a subdued Syrah element, I would score it the same as the Alter Ego and well below the Grand Vin.
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If anyone needs to be more irked by this wine and the pricing, here is a quote from Peter Gago of Penfolds:
āItās Burgundy volume and Burgundy price.ā
So many things to object to in that statement.
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Also, from the Wine Spectator article:
āAlthough the wine will only be produced in top years, the 2022 and 2023 are already in bottle awaiting release in the future.ā
There are so many wines I could buy with $3500.
Offhand a six bottle case of Mouton 2016.
Reminds me of the ridiculous Pater Noster.
Someone served it blindly to me and some friends maybe six or seven years ago. My take was the same: a pleasant curiosity, but not something I would bother to buy even if it were $50.
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Something I learned over the years is nothing is stupid enough to interest those with tons of money. Handbags for 10.000, watches for 100.000, cars for a million or real estate for 20 million ā no problem. Luxury has no limits.
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Iām not defending the price, merely the concept. Itās fun, and every once in a while nothing is wrong with that. I am, of course, not paying $3,500 for a fun concept.
That said, Iām not angry about it - if they can find people to pay $3,500 for it, good on them, I suppose. It reminds me of the angry yelling in the Burgundy pricing thread by people who are upset at how expensive some DRC offers are, as they delight themselves in purchasing badly overpriced DRC on sale. Itās all relative and none of it is compulsory. I see great offers in my inbox daily and terrible ones - and say no to them all the time 
I ask this again because I donāt see there being a big market for this in the US, given that Aussie wines donāt have much cachet here these days (whether thatās fair or not). And I certainly donāt see it selling in the UK or France. Is this targeting the Australian or Asian markets? Iām curious what people think.
Yes, because people at Wine Paris need to be motivated to produce mindless chatterā¦
Iām wondering if they are targeting the Hong Kong/China market with this thing. Now that China has removed their tariffs on Australian wine I suspect Penfolds would want to regain their foothold and comparative dominance of that market (at least from an Australian red wine perspective). Before those tariffs Penfolds were so in demand in China they were even seeing domestic Benfolds counterfeit bottles being produced to attempt cash in on the brand.
As to the wine, Iād assume La Chapelle sees French oak. I donāt know if Iāve ever had a blend which saw both French and American oak.
Some Ribera del Duero (e.g., Pesquera) use both, and I assume as French oak has become more common in Rioja that some properties use both. Turley has used a mix, I read. I believe some Bordeaux chateaux use a proportion of American oak these days.