I bought some initial releases of The Judge years ago.
Fell off my radar - now I see it is $700+/-
Granted the $200 before was not cheap, but how did it get to be $700?
Congratulations to John K if he can make that - I’m not saying it’s not worth it, just was surprised to see new price level.
How are recent vintages tasting?
I think they had to pass on the cost of the new helipad onto customers, but you can’t expect their customers just to drive there.
Not sure but he just got married to my friend Kelley last week lol
Dumb jokes aside, I don’t think that wine and the style of that wine is much admired on WB, and I expect whatever other replies there are will reflect that.
I guess they have, or believe they have, a customer base willing to pay that price now. If so, good for them, and if their customers are happy with what they are buying at that price, good for them too.
I’ve had it a couple of times, I don’t think I would be a buyer at $80 for my personal consumption, but the wine world has lots of room for different products and difference customers, so no ill will to anyone.
Been quite a few years since I’ve had it, used to show up at group wine dinners often enough. Not really my style, as an old world drinker, and I also remember more than one premox’d bottle.
Only time I tasted was @20 years ago in a lineup at our store Christmas party. Of about 12 wines is was either the most expensive or 2nd, and was by far the one with the most left in the bottle by the end of the evening.
They indexed it to Bitcoin?
What is the style?
Big.
Big and volatile. So much VA you can’t believe it. Super ripe.
I’m not surprised. As ESPN would say, what if I told you that there was a chardonnay for sale from one of the world’s great wine regions. And what if I told you it was made by a highly respected winemaker with decades of experience and praise for his vision and acumen. And what if I told you that one of the most recent vintages of the wine was effusively praised for its beauty and elegance by one of the world’s leading wine writers (AG). And what if I told you that the wine region was located near one of the wealthiest regions of the wealthiest country in the world. And what if I told you that the region was also known for conspicuous consumption at the highest levels of various luxury markets, and that only a finite amount of this special chardonnay was made. And that it was about one-tenth the price of similarly prestigious chardonnays from France. Heck, you might say that $700 was a bargain.
Sounds like the de Negoce thread.
I am only allowed to buy 1 bottle every year from the winery, and the all-in price (bottle price, tax, shipping) is $398.
I’m not sure how dated your $200 reference is, but if it was 20+ years ago, it may not be such a big price difference from today, directly from the winery.
For the secondary market price of $700, it probably has to do with the fact that I can only buy one bottle a year.
I buy very little Kongsgaard, so my allocation is likely low for that reason. I’m not going to buy cases of their regular chardonnay or other wines to get 1-2 more Judge’s.
Oof. This thread touched a nerve.
I immediately joined the club and purchased two cases of Kongshaard’s first release of chardonnay in the mid '90s after wrestling a taste from a Somm-friend. It was around $700 for the case (still not cheap at the time) and was one of the better examples of what made Napa/Sonoma chards soooooo easy to drink (who knows what he puts it in)–and the label!. This was the time of Kistler, after all, and I think Kistler was already in th ~$70 range.
The next year the cost of the case doubled. I called their head of marketing, Fritz Hatton?, and asked why there’d been such a dramatic jump. He laughed and said ‘the cost of college for the kids.’ He sounded like a circus ringleader. That same week I was at a tasting with Tom Rochioli, who spoke at length about how he loved to farm, and he didn’t understand how anyone in the area could hold a straight face and sell their wine for more than $40/bottle–I think it was '96 or '97. I immediately redirected my ‘investment’. Kongsgaard and Fritz are two of the many reasons I stopped supporting wine makers like that and started seeking out low-intervention, farm-focussed creatives. So I guess I have that to thank him for.
Welcome to Wineberserkers!
Did you buy a case of their regular chardonnay for $700 or the Judge?
Joe, thank you for the welcome. Really glad to be here!
It was 1996, you know, and a lot of wine has washed over this brain since then! I don’t recall–I just remember one option for chard at the time. But maybe the Judge was already out of my range even then! I recall getting one of his reds as well (I was in a syrah phase at the time, so maybe that?). But I don’t recall the Judge and I dropped the membership in '98. At the time, however, his wines had a pond-water weight on my palate and swirled with large, operatic artistry. And the color, the density. I’m glad I tried it when I did. Certainly at the top of what he was going for.
That’s a nice description.