Why is Oregon chardonnay so expensive?

WINE TALK
61

Jim, you’re so cute when you’re gruff. flirtysmile If only you could lose the hair.

[resizeableimage=400,300]http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/abletree/images/frenchpremiere.jpg[/resizeableimage]

RT

62

I haven’t read every word here, but has anyone else tried the St. Innocent 2014 Freedom Hill Chardonnay? At $26 retail, this is one crazy-good wine. At least I think so (and I just followed up this impulse with my wallet). Lemony honeysuckle, lots of great mouthfeel, full and balanced. Lingering aftertaste. I tend to be sensitive to acid, and this one is not giving me any problem (hey, it’s 5:00 somewhere).

I felt this way when I had my first Ceritas. flirtysmile

63

I’ve not had the St Innocent, but I really enjoy Walter Scott’s Freedom Hill Chardonnay. Your post further proves the absurdity of this thread’s title.

64

What people think of as expensive or inexpensive can be a function of perception rather than reality.
I see people selling Trousseau for $30 when nobody could give it away at $15. It became hip, so now it’s a bargain at a higher price.

To some a $50 Napa Cab is a bargain whereas a $50 Sonoma Pinot is expensive.

An English friend used to say that behind every big sale is a big argument. In the '70s many california wineries staged blind tasting of their cabernet and a host of first growths. In this situation one does not have to win the tasting, merely do well. The Napa cab at 40% the price of the first growth becomes a bargain.

One problem w Syrah sales is that the wines are compared to Cotes duRhone reds and Australian Shirazes, not to Hermitage and Cote Rotie.

The secret to selling Chardonnay from Oregon, in my not so humble opinion, is to look at white Burgundy as a benchmark, not at Calif chardonnay. Get your wine compared to Meursault, not macon Villages or Sonoma Cutrer.

St Innocent wines are way under priced.

65

I couldn’t agree more.

66

When does the Whistling Ridge White come out this year?

I picked up a Durant chardonnay today ($24 at Vinopolis, I hope that’s not insulting), so if I ever get to have my Expensive Oregon Chardonnay taste off (my 5 month old daughter is a monster, it might be years from now), I’ve decided I’m going to pit the 2014s Vincent, Goodfellow Durant, and Cameron WV against another monster - Rombauer. I know it’s nearly apples and oranges, citrus vs liquid buttered popcorn perhaps, but I can’t wait to taste the differences. Normally I open bottles with my wife, my friend, and his girlfriend, but that’s a helluva lot of chardonnay to drink. I might ask Vincent to come over to help us polish some of this stuff off, especially since something red is going to be opened after we whack down the chardonnay.

67

That’s a great price from Vinopolis!

I can’t help but believe that the Rombauer will stand out…

The 2015 Whistling Ridge Blanc is due in July. I will see if there is any of the 2014 in Portland, I know Tacoma Wine Merchants got the last of it.

68

I think it is time to start seriously drinking OR Chard. I’ve pretty well stocked up on PN and I really do not like much of anything else these days. Vincent’s was impressive and I get a few and love them. I need to get beyond that whites are for wusses and real men drink red. [wow.gif]

69

Careful Grandpa Gris. You are one of the kindest people here, but wusses is combination of wimp and puss - puss being short for pussy, a pejorative for vagina. We can’t have that sexist talk of wimpy vaginas any longer on this board any more, not in my thread at least. It’s like yesterday, I was talking to the owner of Beaverton Triumph about putting some luggage racking on my Bonneville [before buying the Goodfellow Durant Chardonnay (staying on topic)], and one of us used the term sissy bar. I realized we probably can’t say that either.

70

Better watch who you say “rack” to also. [snort.gif] This used to be the one hobby you could tell a female wine collector that she had a nice rack and NOT get slapped. [smileyvault-ban.gif]

71

I have a friend who sold barrel racks. She used to say she had the nicest rack in the valley.

I would like to subvert this thread a bit to talk about the issue of what people think is expensive and what people think is a bargain.

For example, ten years ago nobody would have sold St Aubin for $40. Now people stand in line to buy Pierre-Yves’ version. Lodi mataro for $25?? Same thing. Ten years ago it would have been laughed at and now Teegan has got people drooling over it.


The question is : can the ORCA’s --the people making chardonnay in Oregon— charm people the way Teegan does?? Ultimately the wine has to be the charmer. Personality only goes so far.

72

To me, there is a different between whether a wine is expensive and whether it is a good value, worth the tarriff, good QPR, etc. I read Scott’s original post as referring to the former concept.

While $20-30 for a bottle of wine is expensive to the majority of people around the world, I struggle to see how anyone frequenting this board would consider that price range expensive. Views on what is expensive, just like QPR, are of course personal. For me, I consider anything over $100 expensive. I rarely buy anything over that price point and virtually all of my purchases are in the $17-75 range.

As for OR Chard, the producers I buy from frequently charm me (both with their wines and their personalities). I think their bottlings - from the lowest to the highest price points - are absolutely worth the tarriff. For me, some are screaming deals and the rest are very fairly priced IMO.

73

Honestly I think only the OP has suggested that OR Chardonnay is expensive, and no one has agreed. The issue for me is just whether I really need to buy more Chardonnay. I mainly buy Chablis, a bit of white Burgundy. I would gladly try some of my preferred OR PN producers’ chards, but I don’t tend to come across them in the market locally and never feel driven to search them out. I may remedy that in the future, but it would likely be as an “add-on” to a pinot order. Still, one has to start somewhere.

74

Speaking for the OP, I can say that I started this thread in considering that Oregon makes at least near world class pinot, and tons of examples can be found for ~$40 up here. Even if you don’t think Oregon makes near world class pinot, many people still think $40 spent in Oregon is better spent here than $80 in Burgundy. I’ve only been back up in Oregon for two years, and honestly before someone posted the Oregon Chardonnay Symposium thread earlier this year, I probably could not have name one person making Oregon chardonnay. Therefore, when I started to browse online for good Oregon chardonnay, what with summer coming up, I was taken aback at the prices I FIRST uncovered, prices for Clos Electrique, Arterberry - even Trisaetum’s chard costs more than most of their reds. I found this surprising because of the axiom that reds are always costlier to produce, but more importantly that since I couldn’t name one person making Oregon chard, I assumed or presumed no one was making anything close to near world class chardonnay, or that certainly Oregon didn’t have the respect to command such prices. And then I got of tons of good suggestions from this and other posts, so there, that’s the deal, or was the deal.

75

I wasn’t trying to be overly harsh Scott, and you’ve been very clear and open to new ideas throughout the thread. No harm done, and a good list of wines to try as a result.

76

Unfortunately, there is not a wide assortment of Oregon wines, red or white, offered here in our St. Louis market – at least not the Oregon wines that I’m typically interested in purchasing.

77

Absolutely.

I actually think Oregon generally offers good to excellent value in Chardonnay compared to most other cool climate areas.

[rofl.gif]

We have very different definitions of “outstanding”. I find plenty of joy in quite a few Burgundies in the $20-$35 range, but I wouldn’t call any of them outstanding.

78

I’d agree that outstanding burgs in that price range are pretty thin on the ground. But Louis Michel Chablis Montee de Tonnerre is in that zone, as are a number of other really fantastic Chablis from various producers, even the standard bearers are priced way above that.

And I’ll admit to vast ignorance about the better wines of the Macon. Most of the ‘better’ examples that I’ve had served by friends weren’t really my cup of tea, so I just have put any effort into exploring them.

79

Tasted a very nice chardonnay from Crowley at New Seasons today. Definitely worth the $25.

80

I had a 2014 Walter Scott Willamette Valley last night that was superb, and definitely a step above the Bourgognes (Carillon, Morey, Pernot, Girardin, Roche de Bellene) we have been drinking. Tight and racy, with lemon curd and a hint of matchstick in the nose, and lemons and granny smith apple on the palate. Good weight and great finish. This was in that sub $25 category though, unfortunately, now sold out.