2019 Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Elysian Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Community Tasting Note

atilathehun wrote:

92 Points

Sunday, January 1, 2023 - In advance of the January offering for the ‘21’s thought I’d check in. I don’t know if the envelope is being pushed even more extreme on the sugar scale over the past few years, maybe it’s the vintage, or maybe my palette is just maturing and growing tired of this extracted style. Used to love it. Now regret given the cost. It’s like in competition BBQ you start with high quality meat but then aggressively manipulate it with extra flavor and extra sugar designed to be an extreme representation of what the judges are eating as they only get one bite before they need to move on to the next contestant. Better blowout their tastebuds in 1 bite. I think that explains the high critic scores for wines like this. I personally found it tedious to drink more than a sampling. In that sense probably the perfect bottle to share with friends.

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15 comments have been posted

Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

1/1/2023 9:08:00 PM - Yes my thoughts exactly - moved on and happier for it. So many great wines it was an easy decision. There are other great Dr producers out there for sure
Comment posted by AGELVIS:

1/2/2023 3:42:00 AM - I’m not buying any more. Quivet is in the same boat. Cheers y’all!
Comment posted by atilathehun:

1/2/2023 9:06:00 AM - Thanks for the sanity check guys. Who are your favorite Dr Crane producers these days?
Comment posted by #1Winelover:

1/3/2023 10:51:00 AM - And they raised their prices -- yet again -- for their upcoming 2021 release. Some of my Dr. Crane favorites include: Realm Cellars, Vice Versa, Arrow & Branch, Bevan, and, Memento Mori. My ultimate fav is Realm.
Comment posted by tyfabes:

1/3/2023 7:31:00 PM - The price increases make this lineup an easy pass this year. Like ATH, my tastes have evolved beyond the these bottles from a stylistic standpoint. They certainly scratch the itch when you're in the mood for them, but that mood strikes far less often these days for me personally.
Comment posted by nrjessup:

1/5/2023 8:24:00 AM - interesting post and comment thread here, thanks all for your thoughts. i am in the same boat as you all and have begun passing on the offers since the 2020 vintage. fires made it an easy excuse but price increases and to some extent style have made it easier. i've reserved all of my Dr. bottlings and so these reads are particularly helpful. what i am curious about is what if any producers have you all replaced Myriad with at the price points? i was an avid consumer of the Myriad napa valley and have been trying to find a similar $55-70 alternative (especially since 2021 is $80 I believe).
Comment posted by City Squirrel:

1/5/2023 8:46:00 AM - Agree with all the comments here and in a similar boat while looking at my allocation today….particularly in light of what used to be $175 per for ‘19 now being $225-$275. Although its selling on the secondary for $450-$499 (almost 3x) so you can see why they may want a piece of that. If anything, curious to try the inaugural To Kalon, but surprised not to see any early CT reviews on it from some of the usual suspects.
Comment posted by tyfabes:

1/5/2023 8:47:00 AM - @nrjessup, a lot of TRB wines fit there nicely. Rivers Marie and Caterwaul NV bottles are an amazing QPR. I also think William & Mary wines are some of the best value cans out there, as well. Will's regular NV bottle I think is $65 or $70, and his Shifflett Ranch cab is amazing for a little north of $125. It's more classically styled and not an extracted fruit bomb.
Comment posted by nrjessup:

1/5/2023 8:58:00 AM - Yes RM NV is what has supplanted Myriad NV though they are creeping up in px as well. Have been on the WL for W&M since 2020, any ideas on what the queue is like there? Must be really small production stuff... I've tried DICO to replace the above and, while good, have not found it as capable. Was just curious what others are opening at this level.
Comment posted by atilathehun:

1/5/2023 9:05:00 AM - Agree that TRB seems to balance best between fruit forward and classically styled wines. For me the Rivers Marie range from $80-150 is the best value in Napa Cab. TRB himself had an interesting take on the subject of QPR on a recent podcast. He said when you buy Napa wines from producers that employ winemakers or consultants a lot of that $200-300 bottle just covers the fee to the outsourced winemaker. Best value empirically is to buy from winemakers own labels where that layer of cost isn’t present in the bottle price. So for me to solve this reality of escalating Napa cab prices I’m trying to only buy from winemakers own labels (RM, Macdonald, kinsman). Myriad would fit that bill too but the style has just gone too mass market with pricing that reflects more the crazy beckstoffer fruit pricing algo
Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

1/5/2023 10:10:00 AM - 5 QPR ‘wines’ to replace:
-Christopher Tynan one-offs
-La Pelle cuvée
-A bunch of Bordeaux - Happy to list if interested but stupid value here. Very vintage dependent
-A few SuperTuscan (Bordeaux blends)- happy to list if interested but stupid value here- very vintage dependent
-William & Mary cuvée
Comment posted by atilathehun:

1/5/2023 11:20:00 AM - Thanks Lite thats actually my 2023 project to start to understand the Bordeaux options to replace these Napa cabs. Your favorites?
Comment posted by #1Winelover:

1/5/2023 11:24:00 AM - Mriad's pricing has increased yet again!
Dr. C = $225
Dr. C Elysian = $250
To-Kalon = $275
Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

1/5/2023 8:54:00 PM - Welcome to the rabbit hole!

Bordeaux for us Napa guys is all about Vintages- I will start with recent vintages- don’t ever off until you get a bit of experience in order to better understand this vast world: 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020

When to drink them and how is another story altogether as they are not like Napa they do Shut Down/locked up right.

Any price point?
Comment posted by atilathehun:

1/5/2023 9:32:00 PM - I’m thinking Bordeaux $100-250. There’s an ocean out there so any help in that range would be appreciated. A major advantage I’m seeing in Bordeaux is the relative volume produced so you can actually get it on the secondary market without too severe a Markup which is perhaps Napa Cabs biggest fault