Sounds fun, but your list has almost nothing to do with the wines mentioned upthread. One common wine in yours and the first 15-20 posts is Educated Guess. Not objecting to your list, just that it has little to do with, “…suggestions from this thread…” I know you mentioned your own personal ideas, so I get it.
FWIW, here is the list in order of what was suggested upthread, in order:
Ramey Napa
William & Mary
Charles Krug
Elyse
Calluna
Lewelling
Frank Family
Duckhorn
Educated Guess
Buehler
Pezzato
Anderson’s Conn Valley
Hall
Caterwaul
Saunter Swagger
Neal Family
Rivers-Marie
Pride
Turnbull
Jean Edwards
Barnett
Robert Craig Affinity
Stereophonic Untrue
Frogs Leap
James Cole
5 Likes
Educated guess, Amici, Chappellet and Mt Brave came from this thread. I wasn’t explicit enough, but I did want to throw in a few from France/Italy and South America/OZ. Didn’t end up finding such a super Tuscan.
Beyond that, I was limited to a local Wine Shop, and B-21 (1 day shipping inside Florida) as I wanted it to be practical for my in laws. I did actively seek out several others from the thread, but I also didn’t want to send them on a W-S goose chase.
FWIW, The ones I did specifically seek out were Caterwaul, Elyse, Pride, Hall, Duckhorn (not merlot) and A few others I didn’t think were great fits like W&M, Dico, frogs leap, etc.
Edit: Beringer, too came from here. Frank Family they used to belong to the wine club and un-joined, so I didn’t want to do a “retread” for them.
4 Likes
Got it. Definitely difficult to source from one retailer.
1 Like
I’ve enjoyed both. Howell should be in that price range still though.
Add spring mountain winery to the list.
1 Like
Howell was > $100 last time I was there in February 22’. NV was still $75. Both are very good though. NV is a blend of the Veeder and Howell.
Yeah this was the hard part. It was frustrating as I thought suggestions like Elyse and Caterwaul were probably really good, but the shops that had them in stock also didn’t have tons of other stuff that was a good fit — little more speciality type places. So I pretty much picked B-21 based on breadth of what they had, and just got everything from this thread that 1) I thought might be a fit and 2) they stocked. It’s also very convenient for us in FL as even “ground” shipping gets here in 1 day.
At something like 70/30 Merlot/Cab Franc, it will be interesting to see where the Canon lands in their reviews. You may teach them something about their own tastes.
That’s kind of the goal, as well, of course. Personally, I have called cab-dominant blends merlot-dominant and v/v many times before blind tasting. It’s a difficult distinction, and having no preconceived notions is always interesting.
I’m hoping that playing with multiple elements (flavors, texture, etc) may teach them something about their own tastes, as you say. As much as possible, my goal will be to encourage them not to choose wines that “most resemble what they think they like” and just pick the wines they like the best. To that end, I also decided to break it down into single flights of 6 over a couple weeks, and then a “championship flight” with all their favorites. I don’t want palate fatigue to set in, which IMO always makes the biggest wines stand out the most.
Week 1 - Flight 1
I Coravin’d ~150ml into Pyrex bottles and labeled them by number about 2 hours before tasting and then capped them. Tasting was double blind for my in laws and single blind for me as I knew the wines but my wife poured the order. Wines poured at ~55F.
Here’s my very brief notes and scores. In laws picked #1 and #5 as their favorites. I’d guessed they’d pick the Tor and the Shafer.
-
2018 Penfolds 389 Cabernet-Shiraz (57% Cab, 43% Shiraz)
Hint of green?
Not super complex, but very drinkable
Balanced, well made wine, but kinda unremarkable
91 points
-
2019 TOR Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
More brambly and dark fruited
Finish goes bitter
Little bit hot
90 points
-
2019 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Nose gives nothing
Inoffensive and no hard edges
Party Wine
86 Points
-
2019 Clos Apalta (70% Carmenere, 18% Merlot, 8% Cab and 4% PV)
GORGEOUS fruit
Very nice kind of saline, savory element
Nice structure
Well balanced
Long
94/95 Points
-
2019 Shafer One Point Five (83% Cab, 12% Merlot, 3% Malbec, 2% PV)
Jammy but still nice purity on the fruit
Dark fruited
Nicely structured
92 Points
3 Likes
I am not a big Napa guy, but I am a bit surprised these weren’t mentioned so far, when discussing widely available crowd pleaser.
CrossBarn Napa Cab - Right at your $40 mark
Larkmead Napa Cab - This is just under $100 at this point at a few places.
I would also add another nod to
Anderson’s Conn Valley Cab
and
Anderson’s Conn Valley Estate Reserve Cab
1 Like
Interesting results for Flight 1. Looking forward to seeing what your in-laws prefer and if you find that you learn something that you didn’t know about their preferences.
2 Likes
With the Beringer you need to use the RESERVE bottling…Big difference
Chappellet Signature cab would be an excellent candidate.
3 Likes
Really? I haven’t seen that. I have to shop where you shop! Detert <$100 is a steal!
3 Likes
Good suggestion! Surprised no one (myself included) thought of this one before
2 Likes
Well I am never in the cool kids’ club so I am always buying secondary.
Yes it was 95 per bottle for the 19s I believe not including the east bottling
