That’s me, with limited resources this is exactly what I’m looking for.
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Outside of the Elivette sale, I have found 20 different “unicorn” sales the past year or two that were 50-80% off. Most of them came from Wine Berserkers so they are not hard to find.
That said, I completely agree with you that Cam’s wines vs. grocery store wine is a great deal. For me, I have plenty of $15 wine from early de Negoce wines and decided to expand my wine collection past $15 wine. When I compare my unicorn sale wines to my de Negoce wines, I find the unicorn sales to be better wine and absolutely worth the extra money over de Negoce but I am happy with my de Negoce purchases.
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Is it possible that all purchases of CamX wines have been made by readers of this thread?
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Imo if you don’t open 200 bottles of wine a year (we do) then Buying 30-40 cases of any one thing is crazy.
When you bring out X to your dinner your friends or family are not going to say “oh that’s lot 7, we had lot 1 last time”. lol
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It’s fairly elitist, though i get it, to be concerned about saying lot 7 or whatever to your friends and worrying that makes some sort of bad impression. The companies selling $300 wine are literally surviving on that. So is Pappy Van Winkle. For the pappy man, it’s the same distillate, same barrels, just different final product selection. Largely the same as what is happening here unless Cam says it is the final producer blend.
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Not a bad impression at all. I just think it’s odd to basically have only a cellar of labels that say Cam X.
Every time i come to your house and you pull Cam X whether red, white or Rose then I’m going to start wondering if you only read one author too. Ect ect ect
If you start explaining lot#’s I’m going to get bored quick.
I’ve bought 20+ cases. They will be gone within 2 years. I’ve no interest in following a wine I don’t know what it is for 10 years.
If I like it how do I buy the next vintage?
I do very much like buying good wine for Tuesday pizza and Sat afternoon bbq though. I could care less what it tastes like in 2035…
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Very fair. I think it’s great to have a producer you love and buy successive vintages. That isn’t possible here.
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That’s why Weller 12 is called poor man’s Pappy
I feel the opposite. Especially on the 2023 cabs. Seems they have the guts to age exceptionally well. My consumption of cali cabs is slow, so with 1/2 case buys of a number of cuvées, this will go 10 years for me as an intermittent pull. That lines up to my expectations as to optimal drinking windows.
To each his own.
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Pedantic hat on. Poor Man’s Pappy is a mix of Weller 12 and OWA107. Weller 12 itself is just called Weller 12.
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I expect that these cabs that Cam is selling that he says are “well over $100” will be at peak in 9 or 10 years after vintage. I’ve read many dN tasting notes for very young wines and they were usually not that good. I’m collecting wines that are age-worthy; if I was going to drink my wines 2 or 3 years after purchase, I would buy the many wines that are designed and made to drink when young.
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Agree Norm. Forgetting price point, they will do better as agers.
More pedantic rejoinder:
Weller 12 is “Poor Man’s Pappy Lot B” down to the aging, grain bill, abv, etc. It’s literally an issue of which barrels at the B. Trace facility are showing best - often a matter of location in the warehouse - that determines which gets labelled as which.
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W12 is indeed the same juice as Lot B, but Poor Man’s Pappy is a pretty well defined term within the bourbon taters and that’s (most commonly) 60% OWA107 40% W12.
All the way to custom labels some people print to their bottles.
Poor mans MacDonald…60% lot 7, 40% lot 12?
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I was in for 150+ cases of de negoce, really enjoy them. Solid Napa cabs and Washington cabs. Some good Syrahs and Chardonnay, great Zins (although more hit and miss), and very fine Pinots. When I factor in price, overall excellent QPR. Excited about this new venture (FM), but need to slow down. Still have plenty of DN cabs left, drinking more Pinot, and have been buying more Berserker producer wines. My cellar and palate love diversity.
In the 80’s and 90’s, drank with a group that used to do a Napa Cab under $20 night once a month. Drank some very good wine that usually increased in price over the years, most now $50+, some much more. With Cams projects, feel like I am reliving those days, 30 years later, more consistently good wines, and many much cheaper than they were in the 80’s.
Times are extremely good, we ar fortunate.
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You need to tip your UPS guy with wine or Cash!!
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This is very true. Elivette sale, Underground Cellar liquidation etc. These “unicorn” sale deals happen often enough it’s hard to call them unicorns.
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Well, they aren’t 2-3x per week like these deals are. The main difference is buying aged stock. Obviously these producers are trying to make back some margin. It’s a very different situation. Either way, it’s not 2023 and it won’t go in forever. Eventually the herd will be culled.
so many great consumer opinions here 
and no wine to chat about
Buyology 101 
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