My first thought as well. It gets mentioned a moderate amount, but somehow, it doesn’t seem to catch the collector’s buzz that other wineries offering similar style and quality, less proven track record for aging, and 150% to 200% the price attract.
To me, they’re kind of like the Descendents or the Ramones. Lesser bands like Green Day came in their wake and got insanely rich in on the sound those pioneers created.
Or like Vince Young in the NFL. He got to the league just before they realized what amazing things you could do with a QB like him, then troglodyte Jeff Fisher convinced everyone he was a bum and ran him off, but very shortly afterwards teams realized that Colin Kaepernik, Robert Griffin, Russell Wilson and others could actually star in the league if you just gave them a chance and tried to build around their skill sets, even though they weren’t tall sluggish white guys like Kerry Collins who could grow roots in the pocket and launch the 7 yard out pattern with a super tight spiral.
Bachelet-Monnot and A. et P. de Villaine - Burgundy
Coudert - Beaujolais
Lorenzo Accomasso and G. Mascarello - Piedmont
Georg Breuer - Germany
Ernest Burn - Alsace
Love, love, LOVE Herman Story. And the other label in that wine-making family, Desparada, is also coming along very nicely.
Herman Story, Bedrock and Carlisle have been the top three producers in my cellar for quite a few years now, with the latter two getting plenty of (well-deserved) praise and chatter here, while I’ve only seen Story mentioned a few times.
Will also second Ojai as someone making some lovely stuff, at good value, across the board. I’ve had really mixed results with Jaffurs. Some awesome stuff, some awful.
Ramey? Rasa? Alban? I’m guessing the first and last may be too “mainstream” at this point to warrant shout-outs, but I’m sort of surprised Rasa isn’t talked about more.
Staglin
Keller Estate, very balanced Pinots that aren’t over the top.
Hess Collection, the Mt. Veeder cab is almost a bargain.
Pine Ridge, I had an '01 Stag’s leap this spring that was outstanding.
Umm, Vince Young sucked as evidenced by his 46-51 TD-interception rating and 74.4 passer rating. He’s the football equivalent of a winemaker who gets great grapes and then mucks it up with too much oak. And the wines are bretty. And corked. And smoke-tainted. And…
Pavelot. The last of the affordable burgundy. Delicious young and age-able.
Dublere. The “other” American making wines in Burgundy.
Beyond just naming wineries, I’d be curious as to WHY we don’t think these producers get the love we feel they deserve. E.g. price, no longer the “hip new thing”, associated with a wine club vs. limited allocation, etc. Thoughts?
