Just got into Littorai mailing list and have to decide which wine to buy:
I did taste the 2008 lineup in the winery (except Suma) and enjoyed Littorai very much, especially their 2008 Thieriot Chard. However I was deterred by the price tag (compared to Rivers Marie). Is it worth buying those same vineyards again since I already had RM?
Maybe I should just buy only vineyards designates which Littorai has?
Littorai 2008 Rivers Marie 2008
Summa $80 Summa Old Vine $60
Thieriot Chard $60 Thierot $45
Have you tried the Rivers Marie wines? I ask because I think of them as different styles. I like both of them a lot, but, unfortunately cannot afford all of the Littorai single vineyards so I buy a one or two along with the Sonoma Coast and Les Larmes pinots. And I typically buy all of my RM allocation, which in the past few years has been about a case of wine IIRC.
I have only tried RM Sonoma Coast Pinot. If RM SC and Suma are similar in style, then I have some idea as to what to buy. How about Chard?
thanks
Littorai is a more structured wine that really struts its stuff with some age. Rivers Marie is less structured, more fruit-forward and drinks earlier than Littorai. I like both, but it depends on which style you prefer and when you want to drink the wines.
Agreed about the big difference in style. At the moment I can’t afford the Littorai but I do like the wines. But the usually need lots of time by Cali standards.
Jason
I’m on both mailing lists – add me to the list of folks whose sweet spot is to buy the Littorai Les Larmes and SC, but go all-in on the Rivers-Marie. Not only is the pricing a factor in favor of Rivers-Marie (and TRB recently threw in free shipping for everybody, too), but you’re required to buy 3-packs of any single Littorai bottling, while with Rivers-Marie you can cherrypick it any way you like.
They’re stylistically different, as others have noted, but if you like both, as I do, Rivers-Marie still comes out ahead for me for the above-listed reasons.