These guys aren’t farmers, sell some wine or perhaps not, they probably don’t care. Your merely buying into their vanity retirement project.
I have about 50 bottles, mix of all the wines 2011 to 2016. Haven’t tried too many.
Cheers
No one seems to complain about paying the same for The Mascot. Which is what used to be the bulk wine that was sold off from all the Harlan properties for about $15 a bottle.
Well, for my tastes I’ve found their wines to be some of the most well-crafted examples from Napa.
I’m not a buyer and have no real association with the family but was a customer of their Bordeaux business back in the day.
Lou owned one of the largest construction companies in Seattle but loved Bordeaux and started an import business, he was very passionate and knowledgeable in all things Bordeaux, he had a great palate and worked very hard to grow the company, he sold his construction company and spent all his energy in wine…
To say it was a vanity project is not very informed, yes he had money and loved wine but he knew more about the subject than the majority of people that have entered the business from the outside…
BTW… he grew his construction company from the ground up, he was a self made man, he had the same spirit about wine. He made his kids work as hard as he did, he was a larger than life guy, really he was like 6’2” and 280, but was a smart and successful business man that worked his ass off to fulfill his dream…
Now the wines…
I’ve only spoken to him on the phone and found him very open & pleasant.
There is Nothing that says good people who had successes in life can’t retire in Napa and run a winery in retirement. Our contention is probably with the word vanity. I’m not sure what to call it though when prices start somewhat fair then escalate beyond normalcy for unknown reasons. Do they pay the workers obscenely well or is it just keeping up with the Jones? It’s a common Napa story and I don’t mean to pick on this particular winery, I don’t support any of them anymore where the costs make no sense besides the answer to the question “Because I can”
I believe that their pricing model was an attempt to mimic Bordeaux, and thus have prices go up or down based on scores, demand, etc. Though it does seem that it’s more of a one way street.
What exactly are the new release prices?
Estate cuvée?
Grand vin?
Roberta’s?
For reference, the golden circle prices are:
Estate Cuvee 115
Grand Vin $300
Roberta’s $285
I will give Kapcsandy credit, however, in that they don’t require minimum purchases or three-packs for each wine.
Also free shipping, I just get two bottles of the estate cuvée each year.
No mention of the tragic loss of their winemaker in '16? I can only imagine something like that would shift perspective in the business.
what do you mean by shift perspective?
Refocus and prioritize on what is most important to them. That is a huge loss personally and professionally.
I was surprised that what was probably one of the most major, I assume painful, and relatively recent events in the winery’s history was not mentioned in the thread.
Losing Denis Malbec was most certainly a significant event for Kapcsandy…no doubt about it. I’m not sure though, Hardy, what bearing that would have on our collective decisions to purchase…or not. Perhaps some incentive to not buy due to knowing how talented Malbec was and the [relative] unknown winemaking team today?
i have zero clue what this means. are you referring to marketing?
denis made the wine. i doubt he was part of the branding of the wine.
Hardy,
I hear you - and I’m sure Denis was a major part of the entire effort. But there definitely seems to be things that have happened beyond that tragic loss that have created a sense of ‘apathy’ about the wines - and pricing is certainly one of them. It’s certainly a bummer - and as I stated above, I’m surprised based on the glowing posts I used to read about tasting with Lou and his team . . .
Cheers.
Maybe it’s apathy but not in the way you might be using the word. For me I never felt anything for the winery beyond a transactional relationship. They knew what the wines were worth and they maximized revenue based on that. Congratulations to them for creating maximum value. But the flip side of that coin is that I don’t care about them really at all. I know it’s a business first and foremost, but some businesses are interested in forging long term relationships.
Again, I always applauded Kapcsandy’s Freedom to price and allocate how they want, but it does set you on a particular track with customers.
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