They probably bought it from a collector who wanted to flip. In NY, a retailer can do that only in very limited circumstances and 2017 MacDonald could not legally satisfy the requirements, but in other states, perhaps. Needless to say, I have owned all of mine since release, so I know the provenance and there is no Rudy risk.
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Yes, of course I understand that. I just donât know how a supermarket came to buy wine on the secondary market. I still have all mine that I havenât consumed yet as well as my mags and 3 liters
So, what youâre telling us, MacDonald is dead at retail?
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Nice notes. Had the '97 Grange last week and it was a lot like the '98 you describe. I would never have called it Syrah blind. More like a mature Pomerol but objectively a great wine.
There was so much wine that we had two glasses left in the bottle at the end of the night, so I recorked and ut it in the refrigerator. Yesterday was for drying out, so we opened it today. Perhaps a SLIGHT step down in complexity but still outstanding. It zseemed to have lost a bit of the sweet red fruit cherry flavor, but it took on extra heft and dark strength of character. The strength was not the kind that the tut wearing crowd hates in many other new world syrahs. Would I have called it syrah blind? Hard to say, but it did not seem like POmerol to me either. No leather, no bandaid, coral floor.
Which reminds me. What I thought downgraded the Pahlmeyer was some Bordeaux Bandaid, which I do not like. YMMV.
The contrarian view is that Constellation has brought more resources to Schrader - more access to vineyards beyond Beckstoffer. I didnât realize TRB was on the out!
Yâall are high. Schrader Cellars is TRB. Heâs all over their landing page and social media.
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No more Beckstoffer. Wines are now all to kalon blocks with exception of Wappo Hill thatâs Stags Leap
Awesome spread and great notes Jay.
Iâve had a similar experience with the 98 and also 96 Grange, although the second half of the 96 bottle opened up magnificently on day 2. Iâd shoot for an extended decant whenever I try either again.
I didnât think TRB was leaving - just playing nice.
My take is the Constellation people think things can be better - smart acquisitions (if there is such a thing) make use of cost synergies which are much more easy to identify than revenue synergies. It is a great idea to think that by controlling much larger parcels of To-Kalon than Beckstoffer owns that they can control cost, maintain quality (and perhaps improve quality if there is more access to prime parcels) and improve margins by holding down cost. I know that is their story because in talking to the Schrader staff that is one of their main talking points. Time will tell. (Constellation has 550 acres of To-Kalon - Beckstoffer only 90 acres.)
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My take on Constellation and their acquisition strategy has nothing to do with wine, grapes, To Kalon, Beckstoffer or anything appropriate for a wine discussion. It would require an extensive explanation of my view as to how CEO and Board egos combined with searching for greater salaries has driven corporate action without regard to either societal good or long term shareholder value. That would be WAY too boring compared to analyzing the difference between 1995 and 1998 Grange.
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I did a tasting in the temporary facility last Summer while Mondavi gets rebuilt. We tasted through all the Schrader, highest beauty, mt veeder, mondavi reserve wines etc. the Schrader wines were still great
I think it has a lot more to do with Fred and the Mondavis making a ton of money from selling their operations. But if your take is not supporting evil corporations that destroy the wine industry are you saying Treasury Wine Estates is all about ESG and long term shareholder value? And FWIW - if you bought Constellation in about 2010 you did pretty well even though the last 7 years has been pretty mediocre - Treasury Wine Estates not so well.
I agree - I donât see any obvious dip in quality. I stopped buying Opus One and Mondavi Reserve 20 years ago - Mondavi particularly suffered brand diffusion after being acquired by Constellation. I donât see that happening with Schrader but who knows. They also have been pushing ToKalon Vineyard - a wine that Andy Erickson made through 21 I think. Now they have changed winemakers - but to Jayâs point - I donât need anymore 250 dollar plus Napa Cabs - and from this tasting it looks like he already has enough of them!
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The short version of my take, having been in the M&A business for almost 50 years, is that corporate officers are compensated based upon current activity and current company size and growth, so their compensation increases as the company grows, without regard to whether the growth is good or bad. Look at all the companies that expanded rapidly, compensated their senior decisionmakers handily for the growth, and then blew up when either they could not handle the growth, the growth was caused by buying up unsound companies, the growth did not improve quality of product or service delivery, or some other similar reason. All you have to do is sit in on a couple of investment banker fairness opinion presentations to realize that the sellers do not drive the M&A train. It is the buyers and the search by the buyerâs decision makers of more sand more personal benefits.
But thatâs the short version.
Thank you for a much more rational reply. I donât disagree with you. My only point with regard to the current environment in Napa is the cost of the grapes (and especially Beckstoffer fruit) as well as accessibility of said fruit becomes a liability for an asset light model like Schrader. Because of the ability to source To Kalon fruit (which is what Schrader is mostly about), if there was ever a case for an acquisition that might have some synergies this would be it. Granted, if you have been doing M&A for 50 years you probably have good reason to think all revenue and cost synergies are B.S. which they mostly are - just window dressing to get a deal done. And in large part nobody ever builds a better business with professional managers than with the Founders. But to another one of your points, if the going rate for Napa Cab is 250 dollars +, and people really are getting out at that price, and you want to have some flexibility, doesnât it make sense to control your supply of grapes?