I have never had this wine, but I have heard some good things about their wine making ability. I can get the '99 for $31.99/each. WS rates this wine 90 pts and to drink through 2009. Is this a good buy?

What I find very interesting is that the production from the '97 vintage has almost TRIPLED. In '97 they produced 364 cases. The '99 vintage they produced 935 cases. What do attribute this growth in just a 2 year span? $32 seems like a good price for a limited production cab from Napa. Should I bite?

IW

I suppose I should have put this post in Wine Conversations or Buying/Selling.

[ 10-14-2002, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: italian wino ]

IW,

That's a pretty good price. I think I paid close to $40.

The '99 Spelletich Cab is a very fruit forward enjoyable cab, with an expansive mouthfeel that makes it exciting to drink now. I'm not convinced that it has the structure to age until 2009, but should be enjoyable for at least another 3-4 years. I concur with the WS 90 pts rating.

This winery really pushes ripeness to its maximum possible levels. Their '00 Zin is an incredibly over-the-top jelly sandwich.

Cheers,

Otis

Otis,

Thanks for the info. I have found this wine in California. I have yet to find out whether they will ship to me. If they don't would you be interested in a few bottles at the $31.99 plus shipping price? I am sure they would ship to Chicago. If you want to email me I can be reached at

justinhome@msn.com

IW

I don't believe my tasting note is still available, but this was one of the first wines that really started to turn me off of the '99 vintage early in the spring. Way over acidic for my likeing, but that is just my opinion.

I just bought 6 of these from Wine Library for $34.99 each and I thought that was a good price for this. I really like this wine! As others have already pointed out, it is very "fruit-forward". In fact, when I first tasted it, I thought it was very unbalanced with the fruit overpowering everything else. However, after a couple of bottles of this over the past 6-9 months I have found it to benefit immensely from an hour (at least) of decanting after which it comes into much better balance. I have not found it to be very acidic at all. Those that don't like wines that are powered by their fruit and, dare I say, sweetness should probably pass on this one. I would give this 2-3 more points than WS did.

IW: email on the way...

-O

I thought I would bump this up. I am going to be opening my first bottle this friday. Merris, I will take your advice and decant for at least 1 hour before drinking. I will share my thoughts afterwords.

IW

IW
Hope you enjoy! I will look for your tasting notes.

I wouldn't hesitate at $31. It's a fantastic wine. I would almost liken it to be the little sibling of the '99 Justin Iso. Very fruit forward wine. Nice extract, dense and long on the palate. I too did not think it to be very acidic. Not very tanninc though (Unlike the Justin), so I don't think this has much of an aging potential. I've had 3 bottles of this in the past 3 months and all three have tasted consistently the same. Very nice wine...I also would have given it a couple more pts. than spectator did....92, maybe even a 93.

-DRAB

While I wouldn't call it fantastic, I would echo DRAB's comments. I thought it was quite good, and the price is very good.
Stealthman: might the bottle been bad?