This one doesn’t seem to be consistent with the text in the FP e-mail, which states:
“I don’t have definitive proof, but I’m 95% sure this was the final vintage ever made of this wine. There are no entries in CellarTracker past the 2018.”
The CT entries for this wine (well, for all the L’Ecole Merlot/Cab Franc blends) include vintages subsequent to 2018. Either the FP e-mail text is not correct, or it’s not this wine. Not sure which is the case, but FP is usually pretty careful with their Redacted text…
Incorrect. The L’Ecole doesn’t have the right alcohol % and the offer specifically states it’s from ONE estate vineyard. Paul Z would also give much stronger hints that it was L’Ecole to stoke demand.
As you are a well respected WA winemaker, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on a question that your post here reminded me of…
One of my critiques of my home team WA wine industry is how poorly I perceive they do, overall, in the $15 to 20 range, especially reds. Lots of good Rioja, Italian Sangiovese, etc in that price slot.
Then, Morgan comes along and makes a wonderful, consistent, Columbia Valley syrah that FP sells at 20. Syncline has their GSM that comes in similar. Cadence Coda used to be there, but now it’s priced up. Other than that, the pickings get slim for WA.
What do you think Morgan is doing that lets him play in that market? And why can’t more wineries replicate that?
(I’m really not trying to be snotty here. Legitimately curious how it looks from an insiders perspective…)
Appreciate the kind words. I like to think there are some pretty good deals to be had out there, but many of them have jumped up in price above $20 due to supply costs going up for us small producers. Rich at Saviah Cellars makes The Jack, and that is a great value. Va Piano used to have Bruno’s Blend but he discontinued that for reasons mentioned above. We make the Spellbinder Red Blend (shameless plug here… it was Wine Spectator Top 100 this year) and we had to raise that to $25 a couple of years ago because of glass and label/printing costs going up, not to mention fruit costs. We make that wine using fruit from our estate blocks in WW and Red Mtn. and Horse Heaven Hills. What used to be $8000/acre is now $12-15,000/acre. Farming costs have gone up, labor, gas, you name it! Hard to put that juice into a sub $20 bottle.