Roy,
Thanks for the recommendation. You have done a great job explaining why this wine may be one of interest.
Two quick questions:
- Are you in the business?
- Do you have a business relationship with the wine you are recommending here?
Thanks,
Matt
Really?
Roy is a winemaker, works for Seven Stones, and has grown ITB with Aaron Pott as a mentor of sorts. He is a Napa-whore, who promotes Napa first. If he is a shill its for vineyards that exist on alluvial fans.
Sorry about the file size! I reproduced the cover page (300dpi) directly from the magazine and that accounts for the MB, I felt it was part of the story 
Got one today too. Hope it means Iâll get an offer! I feel like I signed up pretty early, but itâs hard to tell.
Got the letter in the mail today. It does say the release will be on a first-come first-serve basis, but maybe they are sending the log in details via email in waves?
The full website is up now, and the history section has some great photos from the early 1900s and more detail about the land. Really hope Iâm able to purchase.
Got my letter today too.
I guess weâll see.
And Alex MacDonald confirms that they DO ship to my hayseed state.
Iâm in if offered
Thanks Kris,
I have read Royâs posts in the weather report thread but was unfamiliar otherwise. He seems to know more than most but I would hesitate to try and act on the recommendation if he were directly involved in the project. I honestly canât say I know Napa cabs well enough other than to say that I donât like Rutherford dust.
Best regards,
Matt
i have roy to thank for several of my favorite cabernets.
Got my letter today, very nice. Hoping I make the initial allocation list!
I signed up on 9 July and got my letter this past week; like everyone else, Iâm hoping to get an allocation. I havenât been excited about a Napa cab in quite some time but this one has piqued my interest. Iâm definitely in for whatever they offer me.
Despite the optimism and all the good stuff going for MacDonald, itâs hard to refute this basic logic. Although itâs a super place to start, thereâs a lot more to winemaking than excellent vines.
I hope they become the next Screagle, ScarecrowâŚor whatever, and that the early birds laugh all the way to the bank. Nevertheless, there is SO much excellent wine in the world with established track records at comparable or lower prices. I pretty much gave up on Cali Cabs after the 90s. If the minimum tariff for an excellent entry Napa Cab is now $150, more power to the producersâŚand I doubt Iâll be returning soon.
RT
AG referred to Ric Formanâs 2010 Cabernet as one of the wines of the vintage. Itâs suggested price is $85.
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Received the letter the other day as well. Signed up on 3/3/13.
It did not mention when they would offer.
Does anyone have an idea?
Cheers
Where did you get the idea that âthe minimum tariff for an excellent entry Napa Cab is now $150?â Just because this one wine costs $150?
Of course, we all have our subjective view of what âexcellent entry levelâ wines from any region are â I guess I could say the same thing about Burgundy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Spain, Bordeaux, Australia or elsewhere if I only considered the most expensive wines in those places to be âexcellent.â
Chris, I have no idea what the âminimum tariffâ is or should be for excellent entry Napa Cabs. I donât follow Napa Cabs closely enough.
This MacDonald is a Napa Cab and itâs my understanding that itâs their first offering (thus an âentryâ in to the market). Sources in this thread have opined that the wine is âexcellentâ. If I have to pay $150 for this âexcellent entry Napa Cabâ and canât get it cheaper (it would need to be much cheaper for my palate and pocketbook) then I wonât be signing on to the list that could potentially allow me to buy it. If other producers follow suit (and I have no idea if they will or wonâtâŚand imagine there are plenty who would like to), I wonât be buying those either. Simple enough?
Again, I hope the wine is a success for all concerned. If they can sell out for $150/bottle without a track recordâŚgood for them.
RT
So a guy walks into a new release Napa Cab thread and⌠oh wait, youâve heard this one before? 
I have to wonder why there is such debate about release price and who will/wonât purchase? Who actually enjoys paying $150 for wine? But if consumers are willing to spend that, then prices only have one choice in direction until consumers speak with their wallets and stop buying. Nothing new here.
When you consider the vineyard, I guess this would be equivalent to the 2009 Maison Ilan Chambertin, first vintage for a new producer, but from a vineyard with a long history of producing superlative wines, and commanding a price tag (high $100 range?) that reflects the source.
On my trip to Napa last week i had a discussion about pricing with one of the small production high end wines that i am still buying. Not a lot of customers are really needed to support this release. 94 Cases is only 376 3 packs. I have no doubt they will have no trouble selling out.
No âtrack recordâ? In France, to a much greater extent than California - the vineyard is the track record.
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I really want to try this wine. But at a potential $150/bottle, I just donât know that the value will be there when I can get many other Napa cabs that are excellent, but at a much lower price. That said, I wish them well and agree this lot will likely sell out quickly.