Kistler Offering

WINE TALK
1

Received an email from Kistler notifying me that I am being offered some of the spring allocation that wasn’t initially sold out. My choices are:

2011 Trenton Roadhouse Chardonnay $80
2011 Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay $90
2011 Kistler Vineyard Cuvée Cathleen Chardonnay $100
2011 Occidental Bodega Headlands Cuvée Elizabeth Pinot Noir $100
2011 Occidental Station Cuvée Catherine Pinot Noir $100

Having never ordered from the mailing list before, I wonder if any of these are worth the price of admission?

2

Depends on what style of Chard/Pinot you like. While they have dialed back their oak/ripeness in current vintages, they are still in the “big” camp.

3

I like the chards better than the PNs. They are very well made wines and I believe have toned down their oakiness in recent years. They are expensive and I believe there are other wines in this style just as good for $20 less, DuMOL being a good example. I don’t personally like the way Kistler sells their wines where they force an expensive 6 pack on you - I also believe these are high production wines in the thousands of cases, so not sure you’re getting something truly unique, ergo the offer you received after the allocation period. That said, I dropped Kistler after last year and have moved on. Worth a try if you’ve never had one, but this isn’t a tough wine to acquire.

4

I was really interested in them too as their name is well known. Tried an Elizabeth cuvée and it wasn’t as big and ripe as I’d hope. Really disappointed how they force u to buy a case or 6pack including chardonnay. I’m being offered whateveri want now basically since they didn’t sell out. Glade I didn’t buy the 6 pack as iwould have been sorely disappointed.

5

This go around you didn’t have to purchase a 6 pack or a case, I purchased anywhere from 1 to 3 bottles of each wine that I wanted. I’m curious to see what they do for the fall release.

6

Just received the letter for the Fall Release and they are still allowing the purchase of individual quantities rather than mandatory half-case/case.

7

The only Kistler I buy these days is at auction when the price is right.
I’m still drinking the 05 chards I bought from the winery for about $60.

8

Do you still have to order a 1 case minimum (With the exception of the 5 chard/1 pinot) sampler?

9

yes, min order 12 btls or sample of 6 btls Pinot or Chardonnay

10

I like these wines on occasion but I’m done with the “hostage” ordering requirements. Also, this isn’t exactly low production hard to acquire wine. I think they’re producing 10K+ cases of this stuff. If I’m going to spend $80 / bottle on this style, I’d much rather buy Aubert.

11

I like Kistler quite a bit, and I don’t think they are worth the mailer pricing. I’m happy to pick some up at retail when the price is right.