Hello, any thoughts on the 2023 Memento Mori flagship cab? $900 for 3-pack before tax and shipping. 1st time to be offered. Pass or buy? Thanks!
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Thatâs obviously a very subjective question, at least concerning the cost. With that said, 2023 is being widely regarded as a very, very good vintage for California Cabernet, so itâs very hard to believe a top winery like Memento Moir didnât make an outstanding wine.
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Certainly if you believe in this winery 2023 will be the vintage to own. FWIW I bought some but I have kind of acquiesced to the fact that $250 to $300 dollars a bottle is the entry point for many of the Cali Cabs I am looking to drink. Whether it is a value proposition to you depends on what you are looking for and whether Memento Mori meets that need at a price point that makes sense to you. There are some other wineries that are a bit lower price point that make some compelling wines. I like some of the TRB wines (Outpost and Marie Rivers) and Mowe is making wine from grapes that used to go into Spottswoode (Spottswoode is 285 and Mowe is 175). I recently had a couple of bottles of Detert CS - reminded me a bit of some older Mondavi Reserves for obvious reasons! Someone may chime in about how Memento Mori compares to some of these wines - I donât have enough experience to really tell you that.
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The 2023 is awesome, but not $300/btl awesome, at least in my opinion. Just saw an offer for the 2024 priced at $450 a bottle, definitely not going there.
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The Flagship ($300) is a different wine from the Estate ($450).
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$450 per bottle seems a bit excessive to me.
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Thatâs because Hayes sets the price 
You are correct, still not going there ⌠But I do want to say this is an amazing winery to visit, gorgeous piece of property!
I passed on the recent release - just too much crazy expensive wine out there. The estate is a new bottling which is AFAIK sources fruit exclusively from their estate of 17 acres. Hard to swallow the 150 dollar premium considering they made their reputation on a bottling that now has become the âflagshipâ bottle.
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FWIW I bought the 2023 estate last year (same 450 price), our wedding year after all. Grapes from the Estate used to go into Harlan and Dominus. Passed this year, no regrets. Have gotten two emails after the release window closed to see if I wanted to purchase, so I think theyâre seeing more people passing at that price. Itâs a tough pill to swallow year after year. I am getting a bottle of the 2023 from my offsite soon to try and see if the hype is worth it or not.
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This is interesting. I thought both Harlan and Dominus were estate wines only, so itâs interesting they are purchasing fruit from a different vineyard in a completely different appellation. Does anyone know what theyâre doing with these purchased grapes? Do these go into their second wines? Or are they supplementing estate fruit with purchased grapes in their main wines?
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I was gifted a bottle of the 23 Flagship earlier this year. Being more of a Bordeaux and WA State guy for my Cab fixes, I had zero bottles of Napa Cab until this bottle. It appears to be a very generous gift and in about 7 to 10 years, Iâll take this for a spin. Fun Fact: In HBOâs The Penguin with Colin Ferrell, there is a bottle of Memento Mori sitting on a room service tray. its never mentioned on the show, but its safe to say that somebody on set was a big fan as you wouldnât just drop a bottle of this producers caliber for just a prop piece.
Sam seems really aggressive in raising his prices and having âluxuryâ brands. Maxem, Arkenstone, etc.
Iâve been a MM buyer for a decade, and full disclaimer that I know many of the team personally.
The Flagship is consistently a fantastic bottle of wine. Sam has the magic touch when it comes to blending those top shelf vineyard sources. For my palate, there are only a few Napa wines that I would put in that tier (Scarecrow, Greer, Realm Farella, Fait Main Las Piedras, Mowe, MacDonald, Kinsman, and a couple others). Iâve only had the â23 Estate once, and yes the price point is tougher to stomach, but I do think itâs worth the price of entry (but that vintage needs several years to fully settle and begin to strut its stuff).
Thatâs my $0.02, for what itâs worth.
Got two more emails to purchase the Estate today alone⌠interesting FOMO strategy!
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