The sweepstakes red winner at the 2012 S F Chronicle Competition was the McGrail Vineyards & Winery 2008 Livermore Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $36.00. Loved the glass of it that I tasted in the sweepstakes round, but had never heard of these folks before this competition. Anybody been following them? Any insights?
Lori and I used to be in their club, more for the local events than for the wine. They haven’t been producing wine for more than a few vintages. Their estate vineyard grapes went to Wood Family for years while their winery was being planned and built. Now they have a gorgeous winery & event facility, a pretty decent neutral-oak chardonnay, good petite sirah, and specialize in cab, and make an insipid rosé they will proudly tell you over and over again is made through the process of saignée.
They release estate cab 4 ways, one in Hungarian oak called A Jo Elet (the good life in Hungarian) one in American oak called The Patriot and another in French Oak, then the Reserve I believe is a blend of these three.
I’m glad to see them doing well and proud to see Livermore get some accolades. I’m sure this will bring some Bay Area people out here to taste.
Honestly we dropped the club because we thought they were using the events as too much of a profit center, and regarding the wine we thought the quality in bottle wasn’t up to the price. Then again we’re not really cab drinkers, so when we decided the events were too expensive it was easy to walk away.
Similar to what Larry said, I’m not really a cab drinker but have had some shared with me over the last couple years with some folks who are in the Mcgrail club. I think it was the reserve that I tried each time. Glad to see Livermore getting some props though.
I think, in general, Mcgrail is considered one of the best vineyards in the Livermore Valley. Larry P would kow better than I would, but that is the impression I get without ever having tried their wine (outside of a Steven Kent bottling which fell apart before I drank it).
I picked one of these up tonight at a local shop because of this thread reminding me. Just opened it up not too long ago. A big blast of vanilla with some intense red cherry and licorice. A bit of stucture to support all of the fruit with some rather chewy, mouth coating tannins. Has enough freshness to keep it interesting. Blind I’d say folks would have a hard time saying this wasn’t from Napa. A crowd pleaser for sure.
We have neighbors who are fond of the reserve bottling so I’ve had it a few times. Can’t remember the vintage and never took formal notes but Tim’s impressions are spot on based on what I remember. Dark fruits, more than generous dose of oak, big tannins. If you like that style, and I do occasionally, it’s worth checking out. I wouldn’t join their club at $36/bottle (if that’s in fact the price) but YMMV.