I was in Berkeley for a wedding and ended up having almost a whole free day on Monday so decided to drive up to wine country. With no planning until the day of, I frantically emailed a few of my favorite producers and @William_Segui graciously took too much of his valuable time to meet with me at Mending Wall.
I was able to taste all three (yes three!) 2021 wines that are about to be released. Will said that the '21 offer will be coming in two weeks! First about the 21 vintage, just a gorgeous vintage that I heard a few times falls between '18 and '19 in characteristics. Tons of beautiful dark brambly fruit framed by French oak. In the Shifflett Ranch, I get a bit more chocolate and graphite. A nice angelica note from the French oak? Long finish even with the tannin. In the Proprietary Red I got a bit more cedar but no green notes at all this year. Again, gorgeous finish.
The most interesting news is there is going to be a third wine. Along with Shifflett Ranch and Proprietary Red, a new âOakvilleâ wine is going to be introduced. This is a single vineyard wine from âacross the road from Tenchâ. I believe it may be labelled Oakville as Will was unsure if he would be able to keep getting this beautiful fruitâbut the benefit for us is this may be priced much lower than what is in the bottle. Had a wonderful time and Will is such a awesome guy. Iâll be a happy buyer in a two weeks!
I did tell Will that I got a blueberry note from the wine. Do you remember the exact vineyard it came from? I should have recorded our conversation. The other interesting thing is I asked how long they would age it for apogee, and Will said he really likes five years as it really is the sweet spot for tasting the fruit. I always have thought of W&M as more classically styled, so was a bit surprised but will be opening some of my '18 probably when this is released.
Unfortunately I donât remember at all⌠he told me but Iâve totally forgotten. Sorry I canât help you there. Iâm also a bit surprised by the timing. I felt like there was a good amount of structure to the barrel samples of the 21. Itâs been quite a while since Iâve had a 17 but recent CT notes seem to indicate it still has plent of life left. I havenât touched my 18âs or 19âs for that matter.
Canât wait for these! Great wine and even better people behind it!
Also, looks like Will consolidated down to a single label type, with the bottom text and label color change. Seems to be the first year for that or am I mistaken?
We are pleased to announce the upcoming release of the 2021 William & Mary Wine Company wines. This offer will be extended to returning customers from the 2018 & 2019 campaigns for one week. On June 27th, any remaining wines will be offered to the wait list.
2021 William & Mary Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville
2021 William & Mary Wine Company Proprietary Red, Shifflett Ranch
2021 William & Mary Wine Company Cabernet Sauvignon, Shifflett Ranch
Further detail, including tasting notes & log-in information will be emailed on Tuesday morningwhen the offer goes live.
Should you have any questions/concerns, please to drop me a line at will@williammarywineco.com and Iâll get back to you as soon as I can.
Thanks yâall, it been a fun journey with these wines. Like everyone else, quantities are down but what we got has really turned out to be special (which wasnât the conventional wisdom early on). Prices on the Shifflett wines will remain unchanged, Oakville will be $95.
A quick correction to the drinking window commentary upstream, if I may. The hardest question, an impossible question, is âwhen should I drink these?â. A different answer for everyone, as fruit/tannin/barrel hit everyone differently. My day to day puts me in contact with a lot of wine either in a barrel or freshly bottled - once we move on to a new vintage those previous vintages are largely out of my rotation. That is a long winded way of saying, tannins donât bother me (like the end of the Matrix where all neo sees are the green letters/characters) so drinking wines on the early side are kinda what I do. I still get the occasional report on the 2014 and that one is still going strong, so I think you are largely safe to wait as long as you would on any other quality Napa producer.
Order in! Took full allocation, 6x new Oakville cab, 3x prop red and 3x Shifflett cab, wishlisted another Prop Red and 3 more Shifflett Cabs.
Edit - going to politely see if I can change my wishlist to 2/2 instead of 3/1. My better half loves cab franc / CF blends and is a huge fan of the prop red.
