is screaming eagle really worth it? is it really that good or is the price just due to the limited production??

If you buy it from the mailing list, maybe.
If you buy from a store, internet, someone else, definitely NO.

The price from the mailing list is ridiculous, I think it is now $300, and no wine merits that price. But if you are offered 3 bottles, then you sell one and the other two are free for you. I have tasted 97, 98, 01.

I tasted it once, and it definately worth $300 a bottle

At prices of $300 per glass? This is just a wine to be had by those that think it is something special, and have the resources to spend excessively! Again, its just fermented grape juice! IMHO, no wine is worth that much money!

quote:

Originally posted by latour67:
At prices of $300 per glass? This is just a wine to be had by those that think it is something special, and have the resources to spend excessively! Again, its just fermented grape juice! IMHO, no wine is worth that much money!

have you tasted it?

quote:

Originally posted by Serge Birbrair:
I tasted it once, and it definately worth $300 a bottle

Ha! I make it, and it's actually worth $1,000 a bottle. The secondary market says so, and I always trust the secondary market to give me my proper due.

I tried the 02' at the taste of Oakville a few month's ago and thought it was wonderful if I were on the list it would be a no brainer.Since I am not on the list thats a different story. So I will just have to dream about the two pours I was lucky enough to try

quote:

Originally posted by Satan:

quote:

Originally posted by Serge Birbrair:
I tasted it once, and it definately worth $300 a bottle

The secondary market says so, and I always trust the secondary market to give me my proper due.

The secondary market have run CMGI to $370 a share...I love to be a seller in the secondary market too.

serge

I do not doubt it is an excellent wine; but SE is only a 13 year old California Cab , which is so persued by the very wealthy and wannabe's, to make themselves feel really special and privileged, which results in an excessively priced wine on the secondary market, bought mostly to have what they percieve as the best wine---while impressing themselves on having the ability to acquire it.

This is much different than the 2000 & 2003 Bordeaux vintages, where the Chateaux & Negociants are playing the marketplace thru the great price fix, expertly managing supply/demand!

Anyway, if I was on the SE mailing list, I would buy it, especially when it was once selling for $50 a bottle! Still, I will not buy SE on the secondary market, paying $$$$$ for fermented grape juice, regardless of score or quality!

And----I have never tasted SE!

i think the obvious answer would be:

if you can afford it without crying, it's worth it

me, i would cry spending $300 or more on one bottle - my limit seems to be a little over a hundred with the exception of large format.

and i thought the point of it being a 13 year old cab was right on as well

and finally, no, never tried it and probably never will

IMHO, it is a wine whose quality backs up the hype, in regards to the cost either through mailing list or secondary market, well that is for each individual to decide.

red4life

Latour,
I tasted this one at the tasting,
$375 for 18 Cali cult wines with a great dinner,
my notes of the dinner are somehwere on this board.

I'd spend $300 on a bottle of it, I won't spend $1000. I'm sure LePin and Petrus are wonderful wines too,
but....at this stage of my life I'd rather persuit quantaty tasting than getting one prized bottle.

If you have a chance to try it -
don't pass on it. That's all.

Is a Bentley worth $260,000? Is a 400 foot yacht worth $150 million?

Are they worth it? Depends who you are.

Screaming Eagle is one of the best CA wines made. And, there are plenty of others that are equal in quality, and cheaper in price. Ultimately it's up to you to decide whether you want to pay the price to drink it. It's no different of an experience than drinking Harlan or Shafer Hillside or Maya (to name a few). They are all the best CA has to offer right now. Whether you want to pay up for it, or not, is a matter of what your financial limitations are.

quote:

Originally posted by dr.darkrichandbold:
Whether you want to pay up for it, or not, is a matter of what your financial limitations are.

Not really. It's also psychological limitations. I envy those who don't have them. I know I do....

I've only had the '01 but, my reaction is that it is among CA's finest Cabs right now. DRAB mentioned Harlan, HSS and Maya; I think Araujo, Pride Reserve, Karl Lawrence Morisoli and Herb Lamb, Herb Lamb Vineyards, and maybe up to a half dozen others are all relatively on par with Screagle, quality-wise. So, even at the $300 mailing list price, value wise, it isn't a great deal. (And the $900+ retail/auction price is outrageously poor value.)

However, I found Screagle to be a singular expression of CA Cab. Having tasted it only once, I'm nearly confident I could pick it out of a blind line-up. So I can understand an incredibly steep price because it is an outstanding wine and if you want that flavor, there simply isn't another option I've run across. So, I guess it really depends how important the Screaming Eagle flavor is to a person. Personally, unless I was on the mailing list, I would need, nearly, a 7 figure income to really start drinking Screagle more than once every other year (if that). But that's just me.

a

Only on the mailing list.

No.

quote:

Not really. It's also psychological limitations. I envy those who don't have them. I know I do....

Not really. If you can afford to drink it, are interested enough in wine, and you don't, I'd say something is wrong!

quote:

Originally posted by dr.darkrichandbold:

quote:

Not really. It's also psychological limitations. I envy those who don't have them. I know I do....

Not really. If you can afford to drink it, are interested enough in wine, and you don't, I'd say something is wrong!

yes, and I even know what it is. I came with $153 in my pocket to this country 26 years ago. My parents NEVER taught me the art of spending money. 5000 years of my ancestors would just turn in their graves if I spend $1000 a bottle.

Calculations that we can live to 85 and have a bottle of Petrus every day without going broke do not help. My mind just can't go over matter.

Spending money on art is easier for me, I can look and enjoy the art day after day, but I can't force myself to spend $1000 on a bottle.

Then think of a bottle of Petrus as art, it is.

Isn't a 400ft yacht a ship? You could certainly get lost on it.

quote:

Originally posted by KillerB:
Then think of a bottle of Petrus as art, it is.

That would defeat the purpose, I do not CONSUME the art. Looking at the bottle of Petrus is not the same as looking at
this
or
this
or
this

Art affects all of the senses. Music is quite obviously art, sculpture is made more interesting by the touch. Wine, along with food, is art that affects the senses of smell and taste, even touch if you consider the feel in the mouth. It can be beautifully constructed and the nuances suggest an artist's work rather than just somebody throwing it together in a recipe.

quote:

sculpture is made more interesting by the touch.

so true...SO TRUE


KillerB,
yes, wine MAY be viewd as art, but...when the bottle is empty,
the art is gone, while other forms of art are there for life.

If you are so well off financially that a bottle of Petrus every day is no problem, and you love wine, but hate the thought of spending money, you need to see a shrink. You can't bring the money with you. On the other side of terra firma, it ain't going to matter any more!

And, I personally get far more pleasure out of a fantastic bottle of wine, great food, and loved ones to share it with than any piece of art I could hang on my wall and look at every day. But, that's just me....

To each his own. I would emplore you to at least try a Petrus one day. Or a Screaming Eagle. Especially if you want to, and can afford it.

Cheers,

-DRAB