I had one bottle of 400 I think early this year and definitely didn’t detect any of these things, though to be fair I don’t have a super sophisticated wine palate. Recent CT reviews, while only a handful, are fairly positive and don’t indicate any issue. I also find it very hard to believe Cam would sell something where he detected any smoke taint - would be incredibly stupid, especially one so highly touted / one of the 100s lots. All that said, perhaps it’s possible that there was some impact on the wine that is only perceptible to certain palates? Wine is so subjective and everyone experiences it differently so I imagine that’s possible.
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My wife opened a bottle of 400 by mistake a couple on months ago and I ended up having a glass on day and on day 2. I thought it was certainly young and not ready to be opened yet but didn’t get a negative smoke flavor to it myself. Then again I also like black coffee, cigars and scotch with peat/smoke so to me that might be a positive flavor for my palate… After the first bottle I planned to keep these for a couple more years before opening any more 400.
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Thank you all, interesting conversation on #400!
from the original sales pitch:
Now, I know what you’re thinking, and you can rest assured, this wine is not smoke-tainted. Trust me, I wouldn’t be offering it to you if it was. The wine is fantastic, I promise. Normally a well-over $200/bottle single-vineyard-designate surrounded by the likes of Screaming Eagle, Bond-St Eden, Rudd Estate and Joseph Phelps “Bacchus” vineyard, Lot 400 2020 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon is yours today for just $299/case! Just 300 cases to go around, folks, it’s giddyup time!
Hmmmm……
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OG N.100 2019 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon
PnP. Smooth with a subtle black licorice bouquet. Rich, Fleshy and Supple (low acid). Great flavors and excellent mouth feel. The lack of acidity is made up for with the great tannins and oak components.
Very nice Rutherford, $16/b!!! 
Ready to enjoy!
with Rack of Lamb
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The original source, Bevan, said he bulked out all his 2020 reds, we know the vineyard was covered in smoke. Smoke taint is a subjective thing, I wouldn’t call it “tainted” either as its far from the worst offenders. But clearly something happened that made Bevan bulk it all out, and in 2020 from the valley floor, we all know what Occams Razor would suggest it was.
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Yep! Bulked out.
The (blind) description of grit and ash, doesn’t sound very yummy.
Thanks for the input.
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Its not horrible to me. Its just good, not great. It lacks balance and that finish is slightly off putting.
So I wouldnt call it smoke tainted, perhaps just smoke affected. In your scale, its a single yum.
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Ok, thanks!!!
The sales pitch made it sound more like a triple Yum promise……
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OG N.123 2017 Napa Valley Merlot
4 years in the bottle. Bottle #1 of 1, PnP.
This excellent Merlot seems fully ready for consumption. Nice quality cork for the long haul, if you’re interested in additional aging?
I would love to have another 6 bottles of this balanced Bordeaux beauty. Got only one in a nice trade for Cote d’ Or.
$120/case Napa Merlot, extremely fine bargain!
with cast iron pan Roasted Chicken (lots of seasoned butter under the skin!) 
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This was discussed earlier in the Offer thread
Jul 16
So you are saying 400 is made from whatever is leftover after this?
Interesting that they left off the next sentence after the “not affected” note which is “Yields were dramatically low after we diligently sorted through the clusters and were forced to combine the remaining unimpacted fruit into small lots and individual barrels that we blended to create this triumphant wine.” I didn’t know you could visually sort based on smoke.
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OG N.64 2018 Calistoga “Hillside” Cabernet
Happy Birthday #64, now 4 years in the bottle! This is a special favorite* of mine.
Rich deep black fruit and leathery flavors, complex nose, balanced in spite of a big 15.6% alcohol, very nicely oaked and a solid triple Yum!
Drinking just fine now without a decant. However This can age a very looooong time.
I strongly believe that the best is yet to come. 15 glorious bottles remaining.
with smokey grilled Prime Tri-Tip
*celebrating 
SPX@ATH ~6,000 
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OG dN Lot 193 2019 Red Hills Cabernet Sauvignon
PnP. This delicious wine is ready now and has great fruit, oak, with nice balanced tannin. Super Yummy, this wine may be the Ultimate Cellar Defender Cabernet! Whether a double or triple Yum! / 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% new French oak, 14.8%. $120/cs. The ultimate $10 QPR?
with Sunday night leftover Pot Roast
Completely agree, I bought 447 because of my appreciation of 193. i hope there will be more offers from Red Hills, Lake Co… 193 was a great QPR as Cam originally promised!
Ditto Steve!
I also bought a case of #447 based on my appreciation of #193.
Nice wines @ nice prices. Lake County Red Hills, diamond in the rough???
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447 is one of only 2 new offerings I’ve bought this year (mostly due to wanting to reduce wine inventory after buying so much previous years). I’ve had 2 bottles and really enjoyed them, awesome QPR and a throwback to early DN IMHO.
Notable that it’s one of the very few “value” cabernet offerings since the ownership change. Almost every cab offer now seems to be $25-30 which makes it a lot easier to pass if you don’t need more wine! I know there’s been inflation over the last 4 years but still seems a bit excessive to jump from a typical $15-20 premium offering to $25-30+, and there are hardly any $15 and under ones anymore. Hopefully they mix it up a bit and/or we get the occasional blowout case sale or big bottle shop discount (Black Friday?!). But then again, it’s been really nice to watch my wine inventory fall for most of this year, such an odd feeling…
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HA! I’m glad you said that! Me too! It’s been fun throwing out the empty shipping cases and having some room to move around.
From almost 90, Down to only about 70 cases now. Yikes! 
#518 is arriving soon……
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Anyone tried 207 lately? I opened a bottle last week because my wife needed something to cook with and drank the rest over two days. It was really good. Not as good as 77, but totally believable that it’s the same source. If any of the haters held on, I’d give it another shot.
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Jonah, I’ve had this experience for the last 6 bottles of 207 over the past 9 months. It’s good stuff. Especially at 8 or so bucks a bottle.
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was not in a great place 1-2 yrs ago but most recent were fine in the last several months.
I opened another bottle this afternoon. If you don’t hear back from me it was at worst quite good.
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