See above. I made it up.
I was assuming he was buying shiners. If he’s absorbing the bottling expense, then $12 is too high.
Why did you assume shiners? Have there been any actual shiners from any of the lots?
FOMO! Enablers! I’m weak! Bought a case.
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I wasn’t thinking that deep, just broad calculations. No reason to assume shiners, I just did for the quick math. I don’t follow this adventure in detail normally. This one did intrigue me though.
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Yes with dN, but rarely.
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Thanks, Alex, I’ll take “What is a shiner?” for $300.
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What is:
Wine bottled and stored without a label?
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Cam has a fairly peculiar definition of this one
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Good point. Wouldn’t this qualify as Cam Shiny since he bottled it as is from winery?
A Cam Shiny is the same as anybody else’s wine without a label. But us collectors tend towards using the term as a winery bottling that would otherwise be sold under the brand label ( although could be private labeled too).
Bottled as is from the winery just means that Cam didn’t add his magic elixir mixing juices. It doesn’t mean that the winery would bottle the varieties in the proportions that Cam X will.
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I highly doubt it’s Opus, if the wine would make the cut as Opus they would just hold it back as they have an extensive library program, if that was not the case they’d likely declassify it to Overture. I sold the wines and that company has no issues bearing the holding cost.
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They sure do! Every year from 1979 to present! Nearly 50 years worth. Sounds like plenty? Plus, 2026 is on the vine….
From Cam:
Prior to the last year, I have never seen an ounce of wine from this producer hit the bulk market but, then again, I have never seen market conditions such as they are right now. Quite frankly, it is insane.
However, as they say, the show must go on and the name of the game today is to survive, to live again to fight another day, which these folks most certainly will.
From Wine Business dot com:
ASK AUDRA COOPER, vice president at Turrentine Brokerage, how her conversations with growers have changed, and the answer is immediate.
“It used to be, ‘Can you sell my grapes? What’s the market? What’s the price per ton?’” she said. “Now it is, 'Am I going to be able to survive the downturn, and if I am, how much loss am I going to have to incur?”
It’s a familiar conversation, not just between broker and client, but across the U.S. as all facets of the business grapple with the ramifications of slower wine sales. From unsold grapes, vine pull outs and the rising cost of farming to economic and government headwinds…
From:
Whoever & regardless it’s a Great time to be a consumer! 
I’m enjoying the heck out of it! 
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I don’t think anyone is saying this wine is exactly what made the cut for Opus, but rather bottles that might have made the cut but otherwise might just be better for them to peel off. Good wine? Sure. Opus one, don’t think that’s the idea. It’s why I’ve pushed hard on the notion of producer final blends being meaningless. If a wine can be improved to be an excellent value at $15-20, it should be done. I hope no one believes they are getting a $300 wine for $15. But are they getting a wine that didn’t make the $300 cut that is still very good and a great value at $15, most likely. Occasionally, that may be happening because of market conditions, and when it does, you hit the jackpot.
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We hit the…
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They key words are that the wine is not Opus One, but the wine may be produced by them. Big difference.
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I think it’s fair to say there’s a possibility it will taste similar but it’s unlikely to be the same wine. Assuming they have the producer guess correct.
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That’s possible, but I would be skeptical that it’s anything made or owned by Opus in particular. Fruit of that quality and prestige would be sold off before it ever got to the winery if they thought they couldn’t sell a finished wine made with it. I would be very surprised if there’s any meaningful amount of wine leftover that didn’t make the cut for at least Overture.
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I bought a Lot 80 case yesterday based on the success rate I’ve had with Cam’s Napa Cabernets. I haven’t played the game of who produced this wine because it isn’t the point to me. It’s fun to imagine that it is made by the team who makes Opus One, but that theory isn’t what drove me to buy it.
Of the 5 Cabernet lots I’ve tasted (7, 12, 24, 25, 27), each have been great values. The higher-priced lots - 25 and 27 in particular - have been by far my favorites in the entire Cam portfolio. And based on Cam’s descriptor of this lot, it matches a similar procurement that Lots 25 and 27 had - lot/barrel selections from the producer with little to no intervention.
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Really? Wine made in that volume it seems like reasonably possible there will be a few barrels that don’t make a cut. They could dump them or bulk them out. Maybe not every year, but I don’t see why not. If they make 1500 barrels, seems reasonable that 10 won’t make the cut, and maybe they’ll experiment with petite sirah and realize it just doesn’t fit the program. It seems less plausible to me that a winery making 1500 barrels doesn’t have a single barrel that doesn’t make the cut.