What lists are you dumping in 2012

WINE TALK
21

Domaine Serene and Archery Summit. [berserker.gif]

22

I don’t get Archery Summit at all! Visited them during Thanksgiving 2010 and tasted through a number of 2007’s that were some of the lightest most expensive pinot’s around. They do smell good.

23

List free for the past 3+ years. I still enable friends, but that assistance is down to Rhys and John Thomas with perhaps an irregular bottle or two from a couple of others thrown in on a whim. There’s so much good to outstanding wine available these days that there’s plenty of happiness to be found in listlessness.

RT

24

I’m not sure “dumping” is the right term for what I am doing, but I have not purchased any wine this year due to changing circumstances. I may well get dumped from the lists I am on, but I guess I will see.

25

Copain, for the same reasons as everyone above, though I’ll probably purchase a few here and there from them if they let me do so.

On the fence about Lillian and Quilceda Creek. QC allows you to stay on if you order anything once ever four offers (there are two offers per year), so I may just slow-play it while I consider further and get a few more experiences with the ones I’ve bought as they age. I like Lillian wines, and Maggie seems awesome, but I’m just not finding as much utility for syrahs in that style and price range.

I’ve been more inclined to reduce my orders from many of the lists to lower or minimum levels rather than outright drop off, for a number of reasons: (1) I’m much more of a diversity guy about wine than I think many others on this board, and I’d rather have 5 each from 5 producers I like than 25 from one of them; (2) I think I catch a little less grief from my wife for making orders regularly from wineries that she likes, or at least is accustomed to me ordering, than if I tried to cherry-pick bottles of those wines here and there from retailers; and (3) I’m being a bit wishy-washy and hedging, not wanting to cut producers I love loose.

26

i’m also not aware of the back story behind this… anyone have a link/thread?

27

Jim I’m list free, liberated and choosing what btls I want to buy from here on rather than marrying a producer. I’ll cherry pick the producers and vintages going fwd. NO more list for me!

28

Well said, who needs to commit to a winery???

29

Down to only 2 lists - Carlisle and Rhys. Have dropped a bunch over the last 3-4 years and I don’t miss them.

30

I have dropped a bunch over the years, but still have much work to do on this front. As for Copain, I was also considering dropping them as a result of the marketing mess, but an '06 En Haut changed my plans on the spot. Folks who like the new style should really stick with this winery regardless of the marketing. The only list I have dropped this year is Maybach. Looking forward to Ceritas tomorrow. Envoyer is getting more and more of my wine budget and I’m glad, but as a result I need to make some hard decisions regarding the number of list I’m still buying from. I guess time will tell how successful I am.

31

We’ve been struggling with this for over a year now. Too much wine, too much money (plus shipping to Mass overhead), a passion for variety and neither enough time to drink nor enough space to store it all. I am having a hard time dropping off lists but what I am hearing here is encouraging me to cut some ties. I put together this really nerdy spreadsheet with weightings and all kinds of parameters and I still can’t muster up the will power to stop ordering. Like I said though, this thread is giving me some inspiration and I am going back to the sheet and reviewing right now. I am thinking of staying on: Anthill, Copain, Pott, Rivers Marie, Rafanelli and Zepaltas. Which means dropping of about 10 lists but our cellar has become a bit out of balance with CA Pinot anyway. This will afford us the opportunity to add more variety from other regions.

32

Search on copain and Jim and the stories will come up. I’m not savvy enough to repost the links. Don’t think I’ve ever heard the official story of why he’s gone, and probably never will, but seems lots of drama around them the last few years…

33

This is a hard one for me, as I really want to support the smaller guys, but the truth is I have bought way too much wine, and now have un-balanced cellar - in my opinion - with far too much american pinot as well as reached full capacity of storage in my basement. Throw in my palate has changed to more old world - it was inevitabl - and I have to make some tough decisions. Currently am on:
Anthill
Cayuse
Copain
Bedrock
Copain
Ojai
Rivers Marie
Peay
Rhys
Wind Gap
Clos Saron
Cabot

I will probably just keep Rhys, Anthill, Rivers Marie,Bedrock and Cayuse. - But may have to cut those 5 producers down to 2 - ugh! to start to make room for my future purchases of Burgundy and Nebbiolo.

34

Dropped all but Rhys in 2011 and straggling into 2012.
I still buy Oregon wine, but all at retail in Portland, including Thomas.

What did I buy in recent years that was dropped?
Copain
Anthill
Kutch
Rivers Marie
Windy Oaks
Wind Gap

At one time there were many others - Littorai, William Selyem, Rochioli, Inman, Carlisle, Thackrey, etc, but I dropped those 3-5 years ago.
Thats not to say I will not buy certain CA wines - I like the Wind Gap Sonoma Syrah for example, but I can find it cheaper at retail.
Will likely continue to buy the odd Swan wine too, but while usually direct from the winery, I never bought it via the club.

35

Alex - don’t be so fast on dropping Cabot. John just started making RIDICULOUS Pinot Noir, and apparently he’s doing a bunch of other varietals this last vintage, even some whites. It’s not just a few bottlings of Syrah anymore…

36

Absolutely agree Todd, John’s Pinots are a thing of beauty.

37

I am waiting on a 2010 Anderson from a mixed 6 pack that I am hoping will ship soon, so when I receive that I will try - I am looking forward to it. I have spread the word on Cabot to my small circle of geeks - just had the Syrah Aria 06 again with friends and Peking duck (that is becoming a habit) and they both liked it very much with 2 different takes on it, but both enjoyed. I find the Syrahs wild, and would love to fast forward 7 to 10 years to see how they age, as I think they could be quite elegant in their advanced years.

I’ll do my best to keep the Cabot line-up in there. [cheers.gif] I am finding it painful to consider dropping any of them, quite frankly.

38

Bob-I talked to Alexandra on the phone who took my info and passed it along. Believe she is from Silver Springs. As for Copain, I can’t even access their web site, a condition that has been going on for two years. Everytime I talk to them they acknowledge the problem, promise to solve it and so far nothing.

Cheers,
Curt

39

Yeah, Copain’s website rarely seems to work for me. If you try to purchase on there, at some point along the process, you inevitably hit a dead end. I had to call last time and do the order over the phone.

Regarding Cabot, do you need to be on their list or club in order to get the pinots, or can you just buy them from the winery and/or at retail?

40

I went and looked for an answer to my question regarding Cabot pinots. There are none out there at retail (at least yet, it looks like this might be the first vintage for them?), and you can buy them on their website, but only as part of a large bundled order with a bunch of other wines.