Larry,
Keeping this in the legal arena, people hire famous lawyers with great track records for defending their (sometimes guilty) clients, but there are no guarantees how a judge or jury will decide and suing defense attorneys due to a guilty verdict isn’t very successful.
Frank,
Great point indeed. But if the lawyer was ‘negligent’ in his or her defense and tactics, the same thing would happen, no?
If the accusation is VA, won’t the lab test show that, making this somewhat of an open and shut case?
BTW, doesn’t Potelle have a winery on 29? Unless Malbec had some rationale for it, why wouldn’t they pay him to come to their own winery where they have more control?
Potelle had a place up on Mount Veeder but I seem to recall that they sold it some years ago but am not sure.
Thanks Nathan, it’s always a pleasure.
Frank - Understood. I guess the question lies in whether or not $200 is really aspirational in today’s Napa Cab market for a winery’s top-level wine. Given the investment in a big name winemaker and assuming the cost of fruit was higher than other wines from Potelle, plus the likely higher than normal packaging and marketing costs, $200 doesn’t really seem like a stretch. Potelle’s current Cab is listed for $95 on the website - the Zin for $65 (that’s worth a chuckle or two…)
It seems to me the larger offense is labeling this wine ‘cult’ - with slightly above middle-of-the-road pricing and assumed lack of rarity.
Plenty of Napa Cab grapes get sold at prices which assume a $200 retail selling price. It isn’t as if they wanted a $500 wine. It’s quite usual to expect to be able to sell a finished wine at $200. With appropriate fruit quality and this guy making the wine, it should be pretty easy to ensure.
I decided to look it up, and I was right. It faces 29, but has an of 1200 Dowdell Ln in St. Helena.