I have bought zero 2020 from Napa, dont care if they are $10 or $300. The problem for me is that if this was such a difficult years it should be reflected on the price, but no, they want to sell the wine at the same price as the 2018 or 2019. It showed a lot of integrity on the part of the producers to skip 2020 completely and they have my admiration and will continue to support them.
Another great video, interesting and informative. If the wine was not up to their standards, they should have sold it to a lesser label to protect their reputation for excellence.
TCA does not come from bad corks, what happens is it comes from a bacteria that lives in some corks that comes into contact with Chlorine or Chloramines, that is then broken down by the bacteria into TCA. It means the winery is using water with chlorine somewhere in the process.
He is not a critic, he is a wine merchant. His scores are totally inflated. Having his own scoreboard is legal, but it is the reason, why I don't buy from him. If he wants to sell a wine, he gives it a high score. If the winemakers want a higher score, the margin has to be right.
Great & interesting video. I appreciate your candor and sharing your personal experience working with Seagrams. I hope there is a part two to this video. Maybe try the less expensive Ridge Estate Cabernet and let us know if you detect any smoke taint. Like you said it is a business at the end of the day, but I would imagine the reputation risk (and corresponding monetary loss), especially for a brand like Ridge, would out weigh the upfront loss of not selling the wine. Thanks again for sharing 🍷
Lytton Springs is located in Sonoma while Monte Bello is in the Santa Cruz Mt. Sonoma had little smoke exposure while Monte Bello had smoke in the air most of August and September. Napa suffered the Glass fire in September while some of the producers harvested their grapes before that fire. No one escaped smoke in Santa Cruz during the 2020 vintage. Many wineries did not release wines from 2020 in the Santa Cruz appellation.
this is fascinating in many ways but from winemaking perspective, how interesting is the fact that, aromas in the vicinity of vineyard are actually transferred to wines…
@@jonathandavis9507The ash can be wash off the grapes but the volatile compounds enter the grapes thru the vegetation and grapes and is only activated during fermentation. Sometimes the volatile compounds are released upon pouring the wine and the process of drinking.
Great video. Could you possibly touch on crop insurance and how farmers get or do not get paid. Just came back from Napa and Phelps told me the did not release any 2020 reds. Not sure if they sold off their fruit to a 3rd party or not.
Wild fires are an act of God so this probably not covered by insurance but wineries insure their buildings and winemaking equipment. While grape growers might belong to an association that has group insurance for lost crops.
I'm not at all surprised about the possibility of a wine company, regardless of name, selling tainted product any more. I love wine and spirits and I know that independent whisky sellers and distillery expressions too will happily sell their poor quality decisions and products to the public and hope they can get away with it. Whisky, even very expensive whisky, can have sulphur taint from the barrels. It all costs a lot of money so they will make it back by flogging it to the willing public. I'm extremely sensitive to that taste and can't stand it. Very desirable distilleries will hope to get away with it by an uncritical mass. We are talking about flawed whisky that costs £100+.They are selling crap for top dollar and it's a disgrace. Ridge are knowingly selling this poor quality stuff for $275 retail and hoping to get away with it. It's only a minority that will get their money back. Glad you contacted Ridge in advance Tom but not the bit surprised they never responded. The entire thing is just the crappy corporate world we exist in now. It's a business as you say so let's hope that consumers are now aware that this company sucks and look somewhere else for their business.
I’ve moved away from California wines over the past several years as I find the Italian reds and French Burgundies are more to my taste. But having bought many Ridge wines in the past and even a few visits to their winery, I’m very disappointed to hear that they released this wine with the Monte Bello label. If I do come back to California reds I think I’ll steer clear of Ridge.
Very evident in alot of napas, duckhorn was a go to of mine but 2020's r horrible with the smoke taint. I just stay away from anything with that vintage all together.
Didn't you and the other companies take the very same risk BV was taking by selling that bad wine to consumers? Also, arent you selling a bad product to your particular customer and in trun your customer selling a bad product to theirs? None of this is a good thing.
I didn’t sell BV wines I was called in to consult on the matter. I recommended them to either sell the wine off in bulk or to mix in with some of their bulk wine they produce. This would dilute the defect to a point it would be in perceptible to detect. Wine writers gave good ratings for some of these wines. In the end the accountants made the call. Can’t say I agreed with them. If you want to point fingers, well there are hundreds of 2020 wines from California, Oregon and Washington State that are in the market and that are smoke tainted.
All 2020 wines are tainted, you need to avoid 2020 as a whole, 2021 was also a terrible vintage, so bad nobody got any grapes 2022 was normal, 2023 was the wettest coldest year on record in like 50 years was a great vintage. 2024 seems to be on trend to be average.
I have bought zero 2020 from Napa, dont care if they are $10 or $300. The problem for me is that if this was such a difficult years it should be reflected on the price, but no, they want to sell the wine at the same price as the 2018 or 2019. It showed a lot of integrity on the part of the producers to skip 2020 completely and they have my admiration and will continue to support them.
I liked your analysis but this isn't Napa, this is Santa Cruz Mtn.
Another great video, interesting and informative. If the wine was not up to their standards, they should have sold it to a lesser label to protect their reputation for excellence.
TCA does not come from bad corks, what happens is it comes from a bacteria that lives in some corks that comes into contact with Chlorine or Chloramines, that is then broken down by the bacteria into TCA. It means the winery is using water with chlorine somewhere in the process.
Lobenberg in Germany gave it a charming 100 / 100 ...
He is not a critic, he is a wine merchant. His scores are totally inflated.
Having his own scoreboard is legal, but it is the reason, why I don't buy from him.
If he wants to sell a wine, he gives it a high score. If the winemakers want a higher score, the margin has to be right.
Yeah if I am shelling out close to 300 bucks for a bottle of wine damn well better not be tainted. Informative vid thank u
Fascinating. I’m not buying Monte Bello anyway, but it’s great to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Great & interesting video. I appreciate your candor and sharing your personal experience working with Seagrams. I hope there is a part two to this video. Maybe try the less expensive Ridge Estate Cabernet and let us know if you detect any smoke taint. Like you said it is a business at the end of the day, but I would imagine the reputation risk (and corresponding monetary loss), especially for a brand like Ridge, would out weigh the upfront loss of not selling the wine. Thanks again for sharing 🍷
From my understanding the Ridge Estate 2020 shares the same smoke flaw as the 2020 Monte Bello.
I know that I have had a couple 2020 Lytton Springs from them that I havent noticed an issue with
Lytton Springs is located in Sonoma while Monte Bello is in the Santa Cruz Mt. Sonoma had little smoke exposure while Monte Bello had smoke in the air most of August and September. Napa suffered the Glass fire in September while some of the producers harvested their grapes before that fire. No one escaped smoke in Santa Cruz during the 2020 vintage. Many wineries did not release wines from 2020 in the Santa Cruz appellation.
this is fascinating in many ways but from winemaking perspective, how interesting is the fact that, aromas in the vicinity of vineyard are actually transferred to wines…
It’s not aromas it’s literal ash that’s covering grapes.
@@jonathandavis9507 all aromas are essentially ash, just different sizes of particles…
@@jonathandavis9507The ash can be wash off the grapes but the volatile compounds enter the grapes thru the vegetation and grapes and is only activated during fermentation. Sometimes the volatile compounds are released upon pouring the wine and the process of drinking.
Great video. Could you possibly touch on crop insurance and how farmers get or do not get paid. Just came back from Napa and Phelps told me the did not release any 2020 reds. Not sure if they sold off their fruit to a 3rd party or not.
Wild fires are an act of God so this probably not covered by insurance but wineries insure their buildings and winemaking equipment. While grape growers might belong to an association that has group insurance for lost crops.
very informative video. I am avoiding 2020 and wait for 2021 I guess
Great content. Hopefully they will reach out to you and we can get a follow up video. I’d be interested to hear what they have to say.
I'm not at all surprised about the possibility of a wine company, regardless of name, selling tainted product any more. I love wine and spirits and I know that independent whisky sellers and distillery expressions too will happily sell their poor quality decisions and products to the public and hope they can get away with it. Whisky, even very expensive whisky, can have sulphur taint from the barrels. It all costs a lot of money so they will make it back by flogging it to the willing public. I'm extremely sensitive to that taste and can't stand it. Very desirable distilleries will hope to get away with it by an uncritical mass. We are talking about flawed whisky that costs £100+.They are selling crap for top dollar and it's a disgrace.
Ridge are knowingly selling this poor quality stuff for $275 retail and hoping to get away with it. It's only a minority that will get their money back. Glad you contacted Ridge in advance Tom but not the bit surprised they never responded. The entire thing is just the crappy corporate world we exist in now. It's a business as you say so let's hope that consumers are now aware that this company sucks and look somewhere else for their business.
I’ve moved away from California wines over the past several years as I find the Italian reds and French Burgundies are more to my taste. But having bought many Ridge wines in the past and even a few visits to their winery, I’m very disappointed to hear that they released this wine with the Monte Bello label. If I do come back to California reds I think I’ll steer clear of Ridge.
Very evident in alot of napas, duckhorn was a go to of mine but 2020's r horrible with the smoke taint. I just stay away from anything with that vintage all together.
👍
Didn't you and the other companies take the very same risk BV was taking by selling that bad wine to consumers? Also, arent you selling a bad product to your particular customer and in trun your customer selling a bad product to theirs? None of this is a good thing.
I didn’t sell BV wines I was called in to consult on the matter. I recommended them to either sell the wine off in bulk or to mix in with some of their bulk wine they produce. This would dilute the defect to a point it would be in perceptible to detect. Wine writers gave good ratings for some of these wines. In the end the accountants made the call. Can’t say I agreed with them. If you want to point fingers, well there are hundreds of 2020 wines from California, Oregon and Washington State that are in the market and that are smoke tainted.
All 2020 wines are tainted, you need to avoid 2020 as a whole, 2021 was also a terrible vintage, so bad nobody got any grapes 2022 was normal, 2023 was the wettest coldest year on record in like 50 years was a great vintage. 2024 seems to be on trend to be average.