At the winery pre-coffee today. I’m always prone to typos on the phone, but that one does change the intent a bit more than most of my mistakes…
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I’ve found newer roumier to be more accessible early, and found some surprisingly soft prices on the bonnes mares lately, which is still expensive but at the ~1k price point is actually a bit of relative value compared to some other producers given the quality.
You won’t hear any contrary debate from me, Howard! I think you know I love love love those vintages. So glad you turned me on to older vintage LLC, so excellent!
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Its been a few years, but Limerick Lane was one of my first I dropped. 100% pricing related.
The latest was Spottswoode; also pricing related. When I can find the wine aged at auction cheaper than new releases by over $100 a bottle it is time to make a tough cut.
Any of the other wineries I stopped buying from was strictly due to trying to reduce my overall buying volume and cash outlay into wine with a very full cellar.
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You mentioned this was a palate shift, not as familiar with Hexamer, but Donnhoff is a favorite, what drove the switch? Is it across the lineup, or for specific ripeness/styles?
Hexamer GG can be had for low $40s, its a steal.
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Was some 5 years or so ago that I was requesting more and receiving less. Never got what I wanted, and was on the list 15 years. No Magnums (n)either.
Raising prices then made my decision easier.
Also, and this is a soft fact, never received my opportunity to visit the estate although this was promised. Not whining, just saying.
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I can’t think of another winery that is currently making good wine in the Mosel that I have such consistent luck from the 1920s to the present. Would love your thoughts?
I still enjoy Donnhoff and would never speak ill of the wines. I love Hexamer’s wines and they’re a lot less well known than Donnhoff. So the biggest reason I switched completely to Hexamer was that I wanted to make sure that Hexamer succeeds. Me buying 2-3 cases in a year won’t keep them in business, but it does make me feel like I’m doing my part.
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The Hexamer wines are beautifully made. They are criminally under the radar.
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With two exceptions, mine are not producers:
- Expensive white Burgundy: too many horrible and expensive premoxed bottles drove me away for good.
- Saint Emilion: the style change from around 20 years ago, plus the increase of ABVs
- Sauternes: we just don’t drink enough anymore
- Montus (Madiran): anything since I think 2003, because of the high ABVs
- Ducru-Beaucaillou: like top white Burgundy but worse in a way - I never got over their scandalous behaviour about the flawed bottles in the late 80s to early 90s. Unlike the Burgundy producers, I think, the Bories knew perfectly well that they were selling duds. Then the prices went up so I never felt like going back.
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Wow, never even heard of this producer. We need to seek them out. I buy Donnhoff mostly. Prum got pricy at the Kabinett level.
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So great along the entire lineup, it’s probably one of the most consistently excellent producers in my humble opinion. I finished up a bottle of the 2023 Chardonnay last night. Popped it the night before, such an excellent vintage expression, lots of yellow citrus fruits, white florals and fruits, and just a hint of matchstick. Got a touch of diesel on the second day. I swooned.
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I mentioned elsewhere that I came upon Hexamer back in 2001. Had a very interesting visit in the fall of 2003 (post heat wave but mostly pre-harvest). Harald is an excellent winemaker but sadly under recognized.
Interesting topic as I have stopped buying wine from several producers for a variety of reasons.
The reasons differ.
One reason, as others have identified, is that I have many bottles from that producer. Enough actually is enough.
For a few, my tastes have changed and I replaced wines from producers that align more with my current interest.
In some cases, I bought from wineries as part of my general exploration of wine. I bought ‘new to me’ wines from producers during the annual January WB sale extravaganza. Some I continued to buy; others were a one-off.
And of course, some wines topped the purchase price level that I arbitrarily set and adjust, from time to time.
I will add that I feel a touch of melancholy when I receive a new offer from a winery I have supported for years and I decide not to buy.
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Very much this. It’s not FOMO. It’s more like I feel like I am letting them down, especially now when things are tough in the industry.
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In my case, it was because of the rise of the big, extracted Bordeaux that I moved further away. I got had so many times following a certain critic’s advice after he lost the plot (IMHO). It wasn’t so much the “new” wines that fooled me, but my old favourites after they went on steroids (and which I unwittingly carried on buying).
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but now the dust has settled on all that period, I’m actually grateful: without the rise of the porty fruitbombs, I would never have discovered Loire reds.
Same. I recently stopped purchasing from two wineries. I really like the owners, but I feel I have too much wine in my cellar. Their wines are reasonably priced, too.
Interesting topic. I have been buying wine where I cared about the producer since 2008 when we moved to Washington. I started using CellarTracker in 2009, so have a pretty detailed record of purchases with lots of ways to slice and dice. We sampled and joined a boatload of wine lists/clubs allover the US west coast with most in Washington, a few in Oregon and California, and that peaked around 15 wineries, with probably 25-30 lists over the years, now at about 10, but actively buy from maybe 4-5. Many of those we tired of the process/obligation more than the tiring of the wines, but TOO much wine is also a main push back.
Of those we stopped buying that had been highest volume (my definition of “Top”) mine really only 3, and those reasons are:
Steppe Cellars - winery closed shop in 2014. Still have a few bottles that I need to check in on one soon.
Maison Bleue - winemaker moved/changed vineyard sources, then sold, then left. We opened an old wine recently that was really singing.
Cooper - we moved further away from the winery, so one main attraction, dinners and other events, were no longer accessible, and while the wines are still ok, not special, and replaced with others.
Unstated so far but maybe some of this palate shift is buying wines that you like, rather than wines someone else (reviewer) likes. We all know that the primary market-moving reviewer in the 90s and early 2000s liked big, extracted wines. I’ll admit that back then I bought some things that he liked and it turned out I did not. Some of which have been name-dropped upstream here.
I’d much rather have a Mosel Kabinett or a Langhe Nebbiolo than a big, extracted CalCab, 100 times out of 100. Points (and price) be damned, I just like the wine more.
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