Some really good recommendations, I would say McPrice Myers makes terrific wines and their blends are in the mentioned $$$ range. I wouldn’t call them the next Saxum but for about $40 or less they are really enjoyable.
hey, you hit submit before I did 
From my perspective I think the Denner’s are the best wines for the $$. The 2010 Syrah was I think about $36 for club members and you get free shipping. Bedrock is great but I don’t think you would ever confuse with Saxum. Some of the Carlisles are close though. Booker, Torrin, Epoch are all in the $70-80 range with shipping and although Eric makes some big wines at Booker I don’t find they have the complexity to justify the price.
Im after the unknown wines, the ones that WS don’t review. I recently found Dark Star and there club shipment is $130 for 6 bottles, very well made boutique wines.
Do you think that Saxum/Alban etc have just gotten expensive because of fame or does the juice really live upto it ?
+1 to most.
from the AW, ROAR, Sandler offerings i’ve had recently, i’d say Ed’s wines are the most non-Saxum like of the bunch (stylistically).
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Steve,
Took a flyer on Keplinger because I couldn’t find pricing on her website . . . and yes, Tablas is a different style, but give em age and they build in structure and complexity for sure - and they’re ‘balanced’!!!
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
So I guess I took this to be in the price range the OP asked for, what wines are out there they overdeliver for the $$$ and are still accessible . . .
I love Terry Hoage’s wines as well, and should have included them, along with McPrice Myers. One I left out is Qupe - yep, different style but man o man, worthy of storing and enjoying for decades . . .
Cheers!
McPrice Meyers and Herman Story are wines you should try, while I hesitate to call them “new Saxum” they are much more in that Paso theme than many that have been mentioned here.
I will.
I am glad that your limited parochial palate does not appreciate the wonderful flavor and texture and aroma of Saxum. In the world of chaos theory, it keeps the price down, so keep telling people how terrible and spoofulated it is because the new price is getting up there into serious money. However, I am still a buyer, as I have been since the 2004 vintage.
IMO- there are alot of wineries that are similiar in style- akin to the similiarities one finds among producers in the CnP region. Is there really a winery that is the same or better for half the price? Maybe but certainly there will be in the near future as producer Darwinism is a staple here in the US given the commercial culture we have.
RP really pushed the JBV at Saxum as a hallowed site. If this in fact a difference maker, then the bar is higher. While I like the JBV-based wines, I am not sure it is the best/only great site in this region as perhaps this is a bit of a random walk on geology discovery given the youth of the region?
I really appreciate the style of Denner’s Sryah. I think Torrin competes with Saxum for quality and intensity (although higher prx point than requested in OP). Epoch is a of the style but a step down to me. My current quagmire is Booker- I am currently finding them more disjointed, with more heat, and thinner. It may be a bad bottle streak that I am on but I am starting to question this. Advice/reassurance appreciated on Booker…
Sans Leige should be in this company, no?
Here’s my reassurance:
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2007 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (8/4/2013)
Popped and poured and then drunk over an hour. Great body, smooth, berry flavor strong but not overpowering. a bit of smoky chocolate. Needs more time. Maybe I can keep my hands off the next bottle for 5 years, but I will probably space the remainder out at two year intervals to watch it develop. I predict that this wine will continue on an upwards slope for the next decade, perhaps longer. After an hour of air, there was a bit more pepper spice. This is a truly outstanding wine for the pro-flavor brigade. We had this at an outdoor BBQ on the beach in Bermuda with assorted grilled meats and fish. It did not need to food, but worked well with it. (94 pts.) -
2007 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (11/5/2012)
One hour decant. Oh, the dreaded 94. Not quite a 95 point religious experience allowing one to commune with a supreme being, but pretty darned close. We drank this by flashlight with a grilled Flannery rib cap in a house that had no power for a week and that plummeted to 52 degrees in the kitchen. This wine definitely warmed my heart. Very complex for its age. There were two layers of fruit - some cherry, some deep blackberry/raspberry - meat juices, and light smokey wood. So maybe the smoke was from grilling the Flannery, but I don’t think so. Extremely smooth and approachable. The mouth feel was like creamy velvet without any creamy velvet flavor. Finish was moderate to long. This is a sexy wine rather than a brawny wine, if you get my drift. Will space out the remainder maybe one every year or two for the next 5-10 years to watch it develop. (94 pts.) -
2008 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (4/7/2012)
Popped and poured as the opening wine at our second Passover Seder. We cooked dinner for 120 people and I supervised the kitchen and service, so careful attention to an ordinary wine meant the wine was going to go to waste. I decided to grab something exceptional when I rushed home for 20 minutes to change between cooking and serving. This was the first Saxum that I saw so I grabbed it. It did not disappoint. Uber-flavor with cascading fruits - blueberry, cherry, raspberry and plum. Not a significant oak component. One of the other guys who had some of it commented that it didn’t taste like a lot of wines where the winemakes add oak chips to the barrels to increase the oak flavors. He’s got a medicore palate and even less knowledge about winemaking, but he as right about that. If you want to go searching for oak, you could find it, but why bother with all the other great flavors. There was light spice and nice meatiness. There was a very nice mouth feel and fantastic breadth of flavor. There was a very nice, smooth and long finish. I gave a glass to one of our volunteer assistance chefs. She came back and thanked me for it three times and said it was the greatest wine she ever had. (95 pts.) -
2008 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (9/15/2011)
WOW. Let me repeat myself. WOW. Decanted for about an hour into a very wide decanter and then drunk over the next hour, with two ounces saved in the glass for a test taste the following morning. This is a cascade of flavors. There’s some heat on the nose, but the rest is all red fruit. My first impression after tasting it was chocolate! Red fruit. Pepper. Coffee. Meatyness, perhaps from the Mourvedre. Very smooth and drinkable. Very dark without being black. This wine fills the mouth and coats everything with taste, taste and more taste. The finish is long. The following morning, it’s just as good, with the fruit winning out over the chocolate and coffee after sitting in the glass for 9 hours. Lover this wine. And by the way, it has a killer label. Other than the Saxum Bone Rock with the dinosaur skeleton, this may be my all time favorite label. (96 pts.) -
2005 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (2/24/2011)
Opened but not decanted two hours before pouring.
In the eternal battle of good against evil, I firmly plants the flag of the pro-flavor brigade for all to see and taste. My label itself lets you know that I am no namby-pamby Bored-dough that struggles between whether it wants to have less flavor or less alcohol. No! Not me, I shouts from the roof tops. I am the child of the new world - well-made, with flavor, balance and power. I will not shrink from the battlefield. I will ooze cherry, and raspberry, and pepper, and chocolate. I will integrate my grapes together into a seamless, smooth and outstanding, bordering on extraordinary, sensory experience. You will start with fuit wonders on your nose and will end with a great feel in your mouth as I last long after you have swallowed me. You will remember me as we vanquish the lesser combatants. My oponents will claim that it is unfair for them to show their wares on the same battlefield as I because I am too mighty. Woe to them if they cannot stand up to me. Doth that not prove their inferiority. I have vanquished them in the past, and I will vanquish them in the future. (95 pts.)
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2006 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (12/14/2010)
This is a great wine which for some reason did not make it into my CT database. Popped and poured at a client’s Christmas party and shared with a couple of bank directors. 100% syrah. Red fruit, cherry and raspberry. Not a lot of spice. After about 45 minutes it added some noticeable chocolate notes. Was this a slutty red wine? Maybe, but who cares? It was delicious. Great balance, no negative characteristics. Went very well with filet mignon but not well at all with truffled wild mushroom risotto. I had an interesting conversation with one of the other guys who tasted it. I asked his what he thought. His response was “It’s good. It’s very good. This wine has . . . [long pause] balls.” As Abooboo knows, that’s my signature description for a good powerful wine, but I had not used it at all that day. Slutty with balls? I know that sounds a bit weird, but this wine had both great power and wonderful smooth finesse at the same time. Love it! (94 pts.) -
2006 Saxum Syrah Booker Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (1/13/2010)
After all the fuss on the wine BBs about the 2007 Booker being sold out in minutes, I decided to open a 2006 to see what all the fuss was about. I brought it to Morton’s yesterday and had them decant it about an hour before we got there for dinner today. By the time we poured it, it had been open for about 90 minutes. WOW. Let me say this again. WOW!! If the '07 is better than this, it will be an extraordinary wine. The wine was in excellent balance with strong flavor and some but not a lot of acidity to balance the alcohol, which is very high at 16.6% ABV. The color was very dark. The nose was light cherry with some coffee. The palate was red fruit, coffee, chocolate and a bit of spice. Although 100% syrah, I did not note any classic syrah pepper, which could be a function of youth. The mouth feel is very nice, meaty and velvety at the same time. The finish is long, and then gets longer. This is wine on steroids without the risk of shrinking testicles. As I have said to Michel Abadababood, this is one of those wines with balls. If you only like faint, light hearted 25 year old red burgs, then this wine is not for you and you should not buy it, then I am very sorry for you, but it’s OK, because it’s more for me. (94 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Larry’s list is a good one. Torrin, Hoage and Keplinger are north of $50 but all make outstanding wines. Larry didn’t list his wines - Tercero, but they represent really good value for excellent wines. I have heard good things about Nicora, but have not tried them.
For those interested in Jaffurs, I love the wines. Today is the last day for their futures program with the wines 15% off. Its a no brainer for me! The basic Syrah is a great value and single vineyards are all under $50 even without the discount. Go to their website to Order. (No affiliation, yada, yada).
Not been mentioned yet, but I’d suggest the Paix Sur Terre wines has being where Saxum was some yrs ago.
Tom
Larry’s wines, Tercero, which I first had this past February at Falltacular, are surprisingly good despite Larry. I also had a nice bottle of Sonkin Cellars when the owner was in New York.
ORDER IN !! Full Boat !
Jay- perhaps I was ambiguous. I meant the Booker made wines (not Saxum). I can see you love the material, do you really like their blends as well?
I’m going to echo a previous poster’s sentiments and suggest sans liege. different inherent business model than saxum (no estate vineyard) but I think the style is similar. for me, saxum is not about balance. this is a good thing. when I want balance i’ll go elsewhere.
Looking at an allocation of
6 x 750 JBV +1xmag
3 x 750 Paderewski + 1 mag
and 3 x 750 of Terry Hoage
Wondering what to buy… got a few days for all except the mags (those will go fast and are first come first sold)
Anybody tasted these?