K&L seems to be leaning more in to white labeling. There certainly could be some deals, but its also another sign of the troubled market.
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A Thrilling Debut: Anonymous Wine Collective
Introducing the Anonymous Wine Collective—a bold new project from K&L in partnership with some of the most iconic, critically acclaimed wineries in the world. This is not just any bulk wine with a fancy label. These are serious, vineyard-sourced wines crafted in collaboration with top-tier winemakers. Some will be one-time opportunities, never to return. Others will be ongoing partnerships, allowing us to work closely with legendary producers vintage after vintage. With our first three releases, I’ve personally walked the vineyards, and I can assure you: these wines are the real deal.
By securing commitments up front—sometimes while the wine is still in barrel or even on the vine—we’re able to offer these world-class wines at pricing that would otherwise be unthinkable. In return, our winery partners get discretion and guaranteed support. You get phenomenal wines at insider pricing. These labels may be anonymous, but the quality is unmistakable. Learn more about this thrilling new release here.
–Ryan Woodhouse, K&L Domestic Wine Buyer
Vintage
Item Name
Retail
Link
2023
Anonymous Wine Collective Napa Valley Chardonnay (Elsewhere $70)
I’ll never really understand why people go for this kind of thing, but Cam has proved it can work. I’d rather just know what I am buying than take a chance on mystery wine that *might be a good deal. There is no free lunch. I’m told.
Interesting. From a minute or two of Googling I see that Chateau Montelena fits the description of the Chard, and that they just purchased a new vineyard this year. Pure speculation, but I wonder if there’s a connection there…e.g., the vineyard purchase came with wine in barrel that didn’t meet Montelena’s quality standards.
The details on the site on the cab imply the grapes are from Beauliue Vineyard #3 (whatever that is today). Not my sort of thing, but I find interest in how these things come to be
Ryan, the main wine buyer, lives up in Napa and has developed lots of strong connections with the community up there. I’m sure this will be successful, especially with the great customer service K and L has offered for a long time to make sure they have happy customers.
We’re an anonymous wine collective. We take turns acting as sort of executive winemaker of the week, but all the decisions of that winemaker must be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting…
…that Montelena couldn’t sell at the price they prefer to take.
I too am skeptical of these sorts of programs. The idea is certainly fun but if there really was some diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered, the chances of it being sold off in bulk to a wholesale type of program are very narrow. I can only imagine K&L’s being as much of a mixed bag as all the others of the type.
The upshot of programs like this right now is with the downturn in the wine economy the average wine going into these is likely to be of a higher quality than it was say 5 years ago. Followed by diminishing returns as wineries close and vineyards are ripped up.
Folks have had success using chatgpt to guess private label wines in the past, so here’s the results for these:
2023 Anonymous Wine Collective Napa Valley Chardonnay
= 2023 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay
Summary:
The references to the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting, classic non-malo and minimal oak winemaking, vibrant mineral profile, and Oak Knoll vineyard sourcing all point directly to Chateau Montelena. The pricing discrepancy and one-off bottling nature of the Anonymous Wine Collective label further support this being a relabeled Montelena Chardonnay offered at a fraction of its usual price.
2021 Anonymous Wine Collective Central Coast Pinot Noir
= 2021 Rhys Alesia Pinot Noir (Single-Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains)
Summary:
The combination of Santa Cruz Mountains origin, limestone soils, fruit from a historic single vineyard, whole-cluster native fermentations, and restrained French oak use points clearly to Rhys Vineyards — most likely under their Alesia label. The “Central Coast” AVA designation serves to obscure the specific vineyard identity while keeping the price accessible.
2022 Anonymous Wine Collective Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
= 2022 BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Summary:
This wine is most likely an existing finished wine, either:
The 2022 BV Georges de Latour Private Reserve, relabeled as “Anonymous” due to overproduction or strategic offloading. OR
A barrel selection from BV that didn’t make the final cut for the flagship blend — still fully vinified and aged to high standards.
The Yountville vineyard component (15%) may already be part of the BV blend or added pre-bottling by the original winery. Either way, the winemaking quality, prestige vineyard sourcing, and price alignment all strongly support BV as the origin.
The industry is hurting. Producers don’t want to devalue their brands by discounting excess inventory or tonnage. So, its a creative solution. Is it the same wine or did the producer select the best barrels for themselves?
Given the harvest-time heat spike in 2022, I would be more interested in whether the picking and winemaking decisions handled the heat spike well or poorly than on whether the fruit is BV or Beckstoffer.
Summary: