I thoroughly enjoyed my only bottle of 2019 Materium. It was the wine I most enjoyed in the last year, so I really wanted another bottle today.Since it’s not easy to get addtl. bottles at anything close to release price, any recommendations on a wine that will scratch that itch for a similar ($200ish) or lower price?
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Do you like really young tannic cab? I agree it’s a great wine, but I honestly can’t recommend spending that much and opening a young bottle. For $200 I would be looking at back vintages… if you want big and bold you could find a vineyard 29!
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I had it three days ago with a 3-hour decant and it was very good. And with very amenable tannins.
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Young big and bold Cab, yes- tannic…I would say the 2019 vintage of Materium was pretty balanced out of the bottle ( not true of all vintages of Materium). Happy to find an older vintage of another wine though, Vineyard 29 is a good call.
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This is an interesting question. For what it’s worth, I would either look at a wine from the same vineyard (Weitz) or the same winemaker (TRB).
In terms of vineyard, I know of at least two other wineries that source from the same location: Carter (under the Weitz name) and Turnbull (under the “Leopoldina” name). I think the Materium generally has more depth and polish, but the Carter and Turnbull are both made in similar full-throttle style. I am sure there are others that source from the vineyard, but these are the two that come to mind.
In terms of winemaker, TRB has a hand in so much around Napa that you almost have to be more specific. His wines have a somewhat consistent tasting profile, although I think some of his efforts are more tannic than the Materium (e.g., Schrader, Rivers-Marie). I’d recommend trying something like a Riverain (coming from Tench Vineyard, which is also eastern Oakville) or, to state the obvious, the Amoenus (which is less hard to find than the Materium).
Best of luck!
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I agree with the Riverain Tench tout, the 2018 was one of the richest wines I’ve experienced. I think young Bevan Tench, EE, and Calixtro are similar to the Materium.
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Having had all three, Carter Weitz and Turnbull Leopoldina are good proxies, but Materium is daddy to both.
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