I actually worked at Beaulieu the harvest of 1999, and became familiar with the standards of excellence that were in place.
Your discussiona are of two wines, 11 years apart, made under different corporate ownerships.
The current corporate owner, your 2022 BV Cab producer, controls vast amounts of vineyards, several winery sites, huge tank storage, high speed bottling lines, all giving them the ability to shuffle wine around to plug into a dozen or more " wine programs" featuring different labels. All recognizable branding, yet no longer unique.
I worked for this corporate entity for 8 years, and was stunned when I first read the blend list ("the recipe") of a 250,000 gallon tank of wine destined to be bottled far from where it was made.
Anyway, the two wines you have discussed were made differently. A different spirit, different equipment, different methods, different target markets. The label design has some parallels, same BV logo, similar print fonts. But that's about it. Your taste buds know...
Totally agree, that makes the contents of the bottle a different product altogether. But that kind of information doesn't seem to play a role in how many of these well established names label or market their products, which to the average consumer sends the message that an experience they had with a product 15 years ago might be representative of that "same" product today. Capitalizing on what was once high quality without holding themselves to the same standards that were once in place. It's a shame, but not surprising in the grand scheme of things.
Some of the stuff coming out of the hilly bits on the Mayacamas range is ethereal. But land cost alone, as you point out, sets the starting price for any bottle coming out of the area so high that you really have to recalibrate expectations. Is the same money likely to get you better juice from somewhere else? Even nearby Sonoma which by no means is cheap? Absolutely.
Yeah, no question that wine of exceptional quality is made there. There’s also been a bit of the same effect seen in Burgundy where reputation inflates bottle prices far beyond what any ordinary wine drinker would consider reasonable, regardless of quality (though Burgundy isn’t nearly as guilty of using that to pretend glorified Welch’s grape juice constitutes premium wine). It’s a shame what it’s done to accessibility, but at least that kind of market pressure has the added bonus of turning eyes towards alternatives that might otherwise be overlooked.
I actually worked at Beaulieu the harvest of 1999, and became familiar with the standards of excellence that were in place.
Your discussiona are of two wines, 11 years apart, made under different corporate ownerships.
The current corporate owner, your 2022 BV Cab producer, controls vast amounts of vineyards, several winery sites, huge tank storage, high speed bottling lines, all giving them the ability to shuffle wine around to plug into a dozen or more " wine programs" featuring different labels. All recognizable branding, yet no longer unique.
I worked for this corporate entity for 8 years, and was stunned when I first read the blend list ("the recipe") of a 250,000 gallon tank of wine destined to be bottled far from where it was made.
Anyway, the two wines you have discussed were made differently. A different spirit, different equipment, different methods, different target markets. The label design has some parallels, same BV logo, similar print fonts. But that's about it. Your taste buds know...
Totally agree, that makes the contents of the bottle a different product altogether. But that kind of information doesn't seem to play a role in how many of these well established names label or market their products, which to the average consumer sends the message that an experience they had with a product 15 years ago might be representative of that "same" product today. Capitalizing on what was once high quality without holding themselves to the same standards that were once in place. It's a shame, but not surprising in the grand scheme of things.
Some of the stuff coming out of the hilly bits on the Mayacamas range is ethereal. But land cost alone, as you point out, sets the starting price for any bottle coming out of the area so high that you really have to recalibrate expectations. Is the same money likely to get you better juice from somewhere else? Even nearby Sonoma which by no means is cheap? Absolutely.
Yeah, no question that wine of exceptional quality is made there. There’s also been a bit of the same effect seen in Burgundy where reputation inflates bottle prices far beyond what any ordinary wine drinker would consider reasonable, regardless of quality (though Burgundy isn’t nearly as guilty of using that to pretend glorified Welch’s grape juice constitutes premium wine). It’s a shame what it’s done to accessibility, but at least that kind of market pressure has the added bonus of turning eyes towards alternatives that might otherwise be overlooked.