Grgich Hills

I have had the 97 and it was very nice. I don't have my notes on it, but it was quite full and bold. Tasted young though. I remember giving it an 89-91 or so. Still, I thought it was overpriced at the time. It was over $50 here in NY.

What price are you seeing it?

Seems to be a wine that typically needs a bit of bottle time... but also seems to be a winery that has faded a bit in the past few years. The prices have come down (from what I see at stores here), but they are still too high IMO to give it a shot.

LJ

"Drink up, me hardies, YO HO!"

Parkside Church

Griffin House

I have found that I really like their 2000 chard in a sea of chardonnay that I really could do without. A decent product, but at a price point ($30) where there are a lot of bargains out there.

Dick

My wife and I went to this winery on our honeymoon a few years ago. She was 24 and I was 26. They treated us very poorly, I guess because we didn't look old enough to appreciate their oh so wonderful wine. So, Grgich Hills could make the best wine in the world but I'll never drink it. Phooey on them.

i've kind of read/heard the same thing - that the last few years (97' - on) they've kind of declined in quality... i know that perception has kept me from buying even older Grgich wines, such as a few months ago when it seemed everyone had the 94' Cab

i've never had a Grgich wine though

Back in the mid 80's Grgich made some of the best Chardonnay in Napa (well IMHO). It was pricey...$18.00

Now they still make good juice, but the competition has caught up with them and they charge far too much. They make an average Chard right now due to better competition. I recently had a 99, and it was going over the hill. The last 2000 I had was better but not as good as the previous ones I have had.

This is a wine I see at Costco for $28 all the time. I would rather spend the money on a Montelena.

I try not to be terribly judgemental here (my store sells Grgich Hills) but if I had to guess, you could do better for your money than $50ish for their Cab and $30 for the Chardonnay...But hey, I do have customers who swear up and down by the stuff...its all in what you like.

I've never been impressed with Grgich's reds. In particular, the Zinfandel has always tasted like boring, acidic, thin juice (yuck). Every once in a while, the Cab doesn't taste too bad. For instance, when the 1995 was released, I was actually impressed. I think I scored it 90 points upon release. The problem is that the Cab ages horribly. The acidity dominates and flavors fade quickly. I've had the 1995 a few times recently and it was horrible. Grgich's wines taste highly acidified and manipulated to me, but that's just conjecture.

I also had a bad experience in their tasting room. They were serving under-the-table reserve wines to a bunch of ignorant college girls who didn't know that Cabernet Sauvignon was red wine. Of course, they barely acknowledged my existence.

-Brettay

Brettay - Wow, thats rough. When Im out there in March, I'll be sure to NOT pay them a visit. lol

I don't care for their wine anymore either.
Out of 28 wineries that we visisted last Nov., I would rate them last.
I used to like their wine in the early 90's

it;s ok wine but too expensive.

there are a few wineries real close on hwy 29 that have kind of slipped lately, CAKEBREAD,HEITZ,
GRGICH, MONDAVI, FAR NIENTE,-

Dont get me wrong, they sometimes pull out a great one once in a while but i agree that the competition has caught up with them and at their current pricing they can not compete.

I agree - I think Grgich is a bit overpriced...

Parker has been pretty harsh on Grgich of late. But I like the wines. Recently tasted the Cab, Chard, SB and Zin. I liked the cab better @ $45 than others we carry at the same price range (Caremenet Moon Mtn and Murphy Goode Brenda Block, for example). I thought the Zin was gutsier and more substantial than most we carry. And the Chard and Sb, while pricey were really nice.

For what it's worth, I tasted their zin recently against Limerick Lanes, and liked it better. Looking for my tasting notes for vintages...

"We are the people our parents warned us about"
-J. Buffett

I always felt that there where better ways to spend my Cab money. They had some late harvest stuff that was pretty good, and I really liked the '99 Zinfandel.

Like rmkam said, Grgich made some fine wines in the 80's that were good though pricey for the time ( the LH JR was really nice ). If you buy any of their wines now, you are just contributing further to the Mike Grgich Croatian Retirement Fund.

Last time I was at Grgich we were a group of well lubricated Naval Officers (circa 1984) after having been at the picnic tables at V. Sattui. We stumbled into the small Grgich tasting room with the smell of sour dough bread, cheese, and wine on our breath. They kept the room open after closing for us and we had a great time and left with cases of the stuff. One guy picked this stuff called Zinfindel and he opened it in the car and was drinking it out of the bottle while we looked for a hotel. That was my first taste of Zin, (after we stopped...I was driving) and it was good. I am sorry to see both the quality and the apparent attitude go down hill...I have a fond memory of my visit to Grgich...too bad

I have been to Grgich quite a few times and have seen the good and the bad in the tasting room.The last two times it was the bad (I'll give you one chance and chalk it up to a bad day, but twice in a row, and that's it for me). The best thing coming out of Grgich now is their Violetta dessert wine, IMO....

I haven't had a Grgich Hills since the early 90s. I liked them then but from I remember I would never pay $50 for that it. At most it was worth $20.

Just had a '97 cab last weekend. Bought a case 1-2 yrs ago, this was bottle number 6, and it was the first one so far that made me look forward to the next one. I've still got 1/2 case and wish I didn't. Now, I don't typically sell wines, but if my sales pitch worked and you really want to buy some bad, then ...

I hate to just pile on, but I have to agree with the sentiment that their products are overpriced. The cabs retail here for C$100 (about US$78) and, not surprisingly, they tend to linger on the shelf and are very widely available.

20 years or so ago, Grgich was one of CA's better wineries. Their wines are still good but a myriad of wineries has passed them by. In August of 2002, we attended a Grgich tasting dinner at Henry's Evergreen in NYC. A winery representative, whose name I can't recall, poured the wines and discussed them with us, while the restaurant produced a dinner to compliment the wines. None of the wines at the dinner were poor, but none were outstanding.

Just one more sip.

I've had the '96 and '97 Cabs, and tried the '98 and '99 at the winery. They are slipping. Their pricing does not warrant much consideration.

Unlike some, I've always gotten very good treatment in the tasting room, and we're just around 30 yrs.

I've moved on to better values in the Valley, only having a '00 Violetta and a '94 Yountville Selection Cab remaining from them.

RRV

So, brocolli, Mother says you're very good for me. Well, I'm afraid I'm no good for you!