I have a couple mags of 2018 Marine and 2018 Durant.
I truly doubt that the Eyrie would suck. Every wine that I have had from Seth so far has been very good.
That said, is he raising the bar on new world Chardonnay? Not by himself. He is a laser focused and idiosyncratic guy who is putting a ton into play in the wines he makes. So is Ken Pahlow. And while others may be less idiosyncratic, thereās a cadre of producers raising the bar for Chardonnay in the Willamette Valley.
For me, Seth is unquestionably in my top tier of producers. But I havenāt seen separation between his wines and my other top 5-6 producers when Iām tasting the wines.
But I donāt see anyone here raising the bar by themselves. I do see Oregon Chardonnays that will outperform considerably more expensive white Burgundy wines that are well above Sethās prices. Compared to many of those wines Sethās wines are a steal, and are often better wines (IMO).
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I worked in fine dining for years, and the most financially successful restaurant always spread the menu price points out significantly. I canāt speak for Seth, but I would wonder at whether the Eyrie is simply there to tell people who can only understand quality through pricing that Sethās wines are great and, in his opinion, as good as other wines people pay $300 for.
Itās a single barrel, 300 bottles total, and in a global world that is a rarity. For those that want only the best that Morgen-Long produces, heās made it easy. For those that enjoy Koosah or Durant, those are easy options and considerably less money than the Eyrie.
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When we release our $75/bottle Sauvignon Blanc in a couple of months I want no guff from any of yāall. Made even less than a barrel of it as well (18 cases).
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$75 weed and cat pee flavored wines! Man, that Damy barrel must have been expensive!
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you should just line price it with Screaming Eagleās and set the OR market.
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Ken: Every Friday is āSchool Spiritā day. And donāt forget the 100th day after bud break is āDress like an Old Personā day.
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There are some that believe that by raising prices, you āraiseā the āimplied qualityā of a region. Weāve seen it down here in SBC - you have some very high quality producers making wines in the $40-$60 range that are killing it quality wise - and others charging $80-100+ for wines that many, but not all, would find āsimilarā or āsimilar enoughā that the extra costs may not be warranted based on whatās inside the bottle.
Interesting times indeed . . .
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It was.
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I think the risk the consumer perceives (rightly or wrongly) is that the fervor of those regional marketing groups or break out price producers will ultimately raise the price of the region over all and thus remove the wines they enjoy from the price bucket they are comfortable with.
For example, I recently listened to a podcast with Laurence Feraud, Domaine Pegau, where she mentioned that her efforts lifted pricing for CdP.
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Who are your other top 5-6 producers?
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To clarify, Iām not saying that Seth is single handedly raising the bar for Willamette Chardonnay. He is one of several producers that are. For my palate, I would put Seth on the same plain as producers like Walter Scott and Craig Williams X Novo X Omni Chard. I do think his wines are unique, but I agree - I donāt see a clear separation, and I would be hard pressed to pick a clear favorite producer. I wish Seth would charge less for his wines, but itās not my call. Ultimately QPR isnāt the only reason I buy wine, and for now Iāll continue to support Seth.
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Walter Scott
Evesham Wood/Haden Fig
Morgen-Long
Martin Woods
Evening Land
Lingua Franca
White Walnut (Chris Mazepink)
The problem with this is that in any given year, there are plenty of other producers that can outperform the top tier.
Crowley Four Winds-Tyson Crowley isnāt the mad scientist Seth is but Four Winds is a great site and Tyson has put out some wines that can equal just about anything else.
Cristom-just hired Daniel Estrin from Littorai a few years ago. Heās a great addition and doing some great things with the Chardonnay program.
Bethel Heights-a more tradititional style, but Ben Casteel makes great Chardonnays
Division Wines-they make a wide range of different wines but the Chardonnays can be elite and it would ve crazy to walk past them.
Grochau Cellars-John made killer Chardonnays from Bunker Hill, and I really like his Pearlstad offering.
Violin-donāt sleep on Willās Chardonnays. Theyāre excellent, usually in a steely style that I like.
Arterberry-Maresh-Anyone remeber that Jimi Maresh guyā¦pretty great wines.
Is Seth out performing most of my second list? His wines fit my personal palate preference, so Iād choose his wines pretty quickly if given the chance. I love, and envy, his focus on still Chardonnay. Even as I focus more on Chardonnay than Pinot Noir, I still split my brain by doing bubbles and still wines. Dabbling in Riesling a bit, it all spreads a person a bit thin.
And at $70-120, his wines are not over priced even if others are less.
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Having tasted all these producers, I wholeheartedly agree these represent the best of Oregon Chardonnay, with one missing pieceā¦ Marcus is being deliberately modest, so Iāll say itā¦ add Goodfellow into that top list.
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Agree. These are in my top tier too and I love the list Marcus gave. Will have to find some White Walnut - havenāt yet tried these.
A bit off the original topic, but thought it was worth mentioning one other. Although not pushing things forward or evolving in recent years like some of the others mentioned, for me at least Cameron has been a standard bearer for Oregon Chardonnay for a long time.
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Thing is, assuming input costs simply rose with the broad rate of inflation, then costs are up over 20% in just the past four years! (I used FREDās CPIAUCSL, but other inflation series tell the same story.)
Regarding Marcus_Goodfellowās list. Thank you!
I wonder what it would look like on a QPR basis. Iād think Vincent would have to be in a top list.
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My own personal bias against the term QPR (I my humble view it is meaningless). I opened a 2017 Vincent Tardive Chardonnay the other night and it was nothing less than exceptional. Slightly rambling but I am buying more Chardonnay from Oregon than anywhere elseā¦Never would have thought that.
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Some of them are a bit pricey Marcus. Some are reasonable.