Was Caymus always manipulated or in those years was it quality?

Was at FW Food Festival yesterday (great event foodwise for sure). Caymus had a booth and I tried some Waking Fool. Unpleasant aroma and I couldnt finish even my sample. I wasnt even trying to winesnob them. But I am too old for bad wines.

Much better in those years I haven't liked it since, at least, the 2012 vintage.

Doing an anniversary dinner. I recall asking last year on this thread and everyone advised to do a wine pairing (we were at Aubergine in Carmel and honestly the pairing was stellar down to the 120 year old port).

This year we will be again in Bay Area so I wanted to do something different because we have hit most every part so I went with Woodside, (plus I will be working in Palo Alto which is a hop away).

Start at Thomas Fogarty Winery which is decent wine but stellar views. Then we go to a cool looking restaurant called The Village Pub. Did not see a pairing option.

Should I bring your own. A few considerations: I have a Scarecrow, a 2000 Elivette I just got, The Mascot, or maybe Purple Angel.
They have a 100+ page wine list so options aplenty (including an 85 Caymus, Cecil). So we could even do half bottle white and half red because I know my wife (2017 Altagracia and a Merry Edwards Sav Blanc or something similar).
https://hub.binwise.com/print/WineList_PDF.aspx?ListId=221&locationId=68


Side note, anyone been to FOgarty Winery or even town of Woodside?

That is a great list. I'd use the opportunity to try something you may never come across again.

like a 1979 Spring Mountain?

Objective Aggie said:

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Doing an anniversary dinner. I recall asking last year on this thread and everyone advised to do a wine pairing (we were at Aubergine in Carmel and honestly the pairing was stellar down to the 120 year old port).

This year we will be again in Bay Area so I wanted to do something different because we have hit most every part so I went with Woodside, (plus I will be working in Palo Alto which is a hop away).

Start at Thomas Fogarty Winery which is decent wine but stellar views. Then we go to a cool looking restaurant called The Village Pub. Did not see a pairing option.

Should I bring your own. A few considerations: I have a Scarecrow, a 2000 Elivette I just got, The Mascot, or maybe Purple Angel.
They have a 100+ page wine list so options aplenty (including an 85 Caymus, Cecil). So we could even do half bottle white and half red because I know my wife (2017 Altagracia and a Merry Edwards Sav Blanc or something similar).
https://hub.binwise.com/print/WineList_PDF.aspx?ListId=221&locationId=68


Side note, anyone been to FOgarty Winery or even town of Woodside?

---

I live in the Bay Area, so I do know Woodside some. I'm in the South Bay, so don't get up there much. If you bring your own, make sure it's worth it as corkage is likely $85 or more. Village Pub is a Silicon Valley/Bay classic

QBCade said:

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Objective Aggie said:

---

Doing an anniversary dinner. I recall asking last year on this thread and everyone advised to do a wine pairing (we were at Aubergine in Carmel and honestly the pairing was stellar down to the 120 year old port).

This year we will be again in Bay Area so I wanted to do something different because we have hit most every part so I went with Woodside, (plus I will be working in Palo Alto which is a hop away).

Start at Thomas Fogarty Winery which is decent wine but stellar views. Then we go to a cool looking restaurant called The Village Pub. Did not see a pairing option.

Should I bring your own. A few considerations: I have a Scarecrow, a 2000 Elivette I just got, The Mascot, or maybe Purple Angel.
They have a 100+ page wine list so options aplenty (including an 85 Caymus, Cecil). So we could even do half bottle white and half red because I know my wife (2017 Altagracia and a Merry Edwards Sav Blanc or something similar).
https://hub.binwise.com/print/WineList_PDF.aspx?ListId=221&locationId=68


Side note, anyone been to FOgarty Winery or even town of Woodside?

---

I live in the Bay Area, so I do know Woodside some. I'm in the South Bay, so don't get up there much. If you bring your own, make sure it's worth it as corkage is likely $85 or more. Village Pub is a Silicon Valley/Bay classic

---

One more thing…. If you're going to buy a nice bottle off their list - call ahead and have them decant it for you in advance or even double decant if you prefer. They should do that no problem. Just don't be shy to be prescriptive.

QBCade said:

---

QBCade said:

---

Objective Aggie said:

---

Doing an anniversary dinner. I recall asking last year on this thread and everyone advised to do a wine pairing (we were at Aubergine in Carmel and honestly the pairing was stellar down to the 120 year old port).

This year we will be again in Bay Area so I wanted to do something different because we have hit most every part so I went with Woodside, (plus I will be working in Palo Alto which is a hop away).

Start at Thomas Fogarty Winery which is decent wine but stellar views. Then we go to a cool looking restaurant called The Village Pub. Did not see a pairing option.

Should I bring your own. A few considerations: I have a Scarecrow, a 2000 Elivette I just got, The Mascot, or maybe Purple Angel.
They have a 100+ page wine list so options aplenty (including an 85 Caymus, Cecil). So we could even do half bottle white and half red because I know my wife (2017 Altagracia and a Merry Edwards Sav Blanc or something similar).
https://hub.binwise.com/print/WineList_PDF.aspx?ListId=221&locationId=68


Side note, anyone been to FOgarty Winery or even town of Woodside?

---

I live in the Bay Area, so I do know Woodside some. I'm in the South Bay, so don't get up there much. If you bring your own, make sure it's worth it as corkage is likely $85 or more. Village Pub is a Silicon Valley/Bay classic

---

One more thing…. If you're going to buy a nice bottle off their list - call ahead and have them decant it for you in advance or even double decant if you prefer. They should do that no problem. Just don't be shy to be prescriptive.

---

the somms would eat that **** up, too, as they would recognize you care about wine.

HTownAg98 said:

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Most of the time it's picked at a high brix which results in a big flabby white wine.

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so true, but when it holds its acid it is so damn good.

How much '22 Bordeaux have y'all tasted? Getting some offers on some of the classified houses and wondering if it worth it to buy a few.

bularry said:

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How much '22 Bordeaux have y'all tasted? Getting some offers on some of the classified houses and wondering if it worth it to buy a few.

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Personally 0. Sorry, not much help

21s are my youngest

None for me but they get great reviews. I'm a big believer that you can always pick up aged Bordeaux at auction, so I rarely buy the young stuff.

WTSO has 2012 Firefly for $14.99 Flash sale. Pretty hard to beat that price for a decent Napa older cab.

https://www.wtso.com/

Question for the aged wine folks. How confident would you be in a 1976 Insignia? I haven't had Napa wines that old, but this one looks to be in perfect shape. $600

Price is too high for what it is IMO. The uncertainty is a given. It could well be a very nice wine right now (or even nice "for its age") and it's always a fun experience to drink old wines. Opened a 1980 Georges Latour Private reserve and it was enjoyable and amazing to even be that at that age. The late 80s early 90s Caymuses lately have been really good for the most part.

That Phelps may well be very good, cellartracker shows quite a few excellent reviews. But again, sans assurance of provenance, you just don't know - and that's part of the fun.

The $600 price may reflect some notion of collectability since it's such an early vintage of Insignia, but that being said the only bottle wine searcher lists is $1,250 - so maybe it's a great deal.

Summary: Buy it and let us know!

I am hesitant for Napa wines that old. We had the 1980 georges de la tour this summer. It was good but not my favorite but I definitely defer to Cecil, cade bsd and others on this page whose palates are way more developed than mine. It's entirely possible I just didn't appreciate the tertiaries enough. I have one more in the cellar which I am looking forward to opening. For reference I bought the two pack at auction for $230. I felt I got decent value at this price.

Is anyone here familiar with Annulus Cellars and their wines? I'm heading to Napa next month and it was strongly recommended to me by someone whose opinion I value, but looking at their website the few wines they make seem more like traditional big Napa Cabs which isn't exactly my thing.

I feel like Georges de latour is one of the best quality good priced Napa cabs out there. When we went to BV a couple years back I was surprised at how reasonable it was compared to other flagship wines from other wineries. Especially given its pedigree. I feel like $230 for a 2-pack of 40+ y/o Napa cab is a pretty good deal.

Agreed. I think it was decent value. There's many worse deals to be had in the wine world. At this stage for me though I'm liking the 20ish year old spot for most new world stuff. The elivette 2000 posted above was a very good bottle, much better than the 2012 and 2013. At this point with kids still at home and many fiscal responsibilities I'm looking the best wines at the lowest cost and while I enjoyed the 45 year old georges de la tour I won't be hunting down more.

See, I had a bottle of 2000 Elivette from last bottle and thought it was past its prime. I'm wondering if my palate hasn't acclimated to aged bottles yet. I've only had a handful over ~15 years old. I need to try to branch out and taste some more.

Last night:
2010 sans liege "adversary" - needed long decant but very good once open
2004 massena "eleventh hour" pop n pour and super good right out of the bottle
I've had good luck with a lot of these midrange bottles with some age on them.

Really wish I had bought more Elivette from LB. At that price it was like a daily drinker.

Anyone bought a surplus they want to unload?

Chipoltemonger, always appreciate your range and diversity!

Bigag's link is still active…… could try that

https://lastbottlewines.com/products/spring-mountain-vineyard-red-blend-elivette-spring-mountain-district-napa-valley-2013

Interesting, I had a bottle a few weeks back, loved it, and clicked the link to try to get more and it gave me a 404 page.

Thanks for posting, I'll grab a few more!

Is it me or is there no add to cart??