james laube's wine flights

I agree with Mark. I can't remember the last time you recommended a Napa cab in your blog that was priced at under $80. I tend to enjoy the wines that you enjoy, but I have moved on to other varietals because I am tired of paying $80 or more for quality from Napa.

It was nice to see Jim give mention to Mitch at NVCC. Golf pros seem to know about wine. Maybe Jim should expand his golf activity and get more wine tips from some other knowledgable golf pros. Golf & wine seem to go hand in hand. A short list of golf pros who are wine geeks: Jeff at Silverado CC; Steve-Indian Valley; Mark-Green Valley; Rodney-Harding Park; John-Sonoma GC; Ted-Mayacama; Tom-Kennedy Park; Bruce at Footjoy; or Ted & Mark at Titleist-all those mentioned are close to Napa and I've seen first hand their love of wine. Other knowledgable "golfing-wine people" are Jim at Kohler and Colin at Winged Foot. This could be some of the most fun research a wine writer could do , so try it before Marvin does.

I appreciate hearing about all wines, even the ones that are out of my price range. You never know when the opportunity might arise where I can try one of these wines. I seem to recall that there was a value issue of the Spectator featuring value CA wines not too long ago, seems like there is an effort on the part of WS to feature those wines.As for the golf, that just sounds like a pitch for James to travel about playing a lot of golf.

Mark and Jesse, I have to agree with Jeffery, the blogs on WS often do highlight new and hard to find wines that tend to be in the plus $50 range, however that is still a minority in terms of the wines that WS chooses to focus on. Case in point, the newest emailed copy of "Wine Spectator's Advance". The 2 page pdf offered reviews, scores, and pricing on 20 wines. Out of those 20, there were 5 wines, only 25% that were over $50. The other 15 wines or 75% were all under $36, with 2 of those being "highly recommended" 93 pointers and obvious QPR's. Of the remaining 13 wines reviewed, 7 were between $25 and $13, again great QPR, and 6 were under $10, more QPR!! As one more example, since this got me curious, the most recent "Insider" showcased 39 wines from California, Italy, and Oregon. 38% of the selections were over $50, and 62% were under $50 with the majority of the 62% falling under a price of $30. Frankly, I find both the lower priced and higher priced wines to be of interest. I love knowing that there is an amazing $75 or $125 bottle that I can put in my sights when some special occasion rolls about, and at the same time, the great number of value wines that WS focuses on allows me to maintain a great selection of everyday drinkers and even some really special gems too.There are always two sides to the coin, but to suggest that WS chooses only to focus on high priced wines, and asking where the value has gone, is in my eyes, an emotional response based on selectively absorbed information. The values are out there, and out there in abundance, if you choose to seek them out.

Chris & Jeff make great points, based on facts, not emotions. What I think is driving the thought process here is the continued difference in how all the information is presented to "us" the consumers.

Most of the videos and blogs tend to reflect the higher priced wines. I very much enjoy Sucking's videos but boy if he's not drinking a $300 bottle of wine with his rich friends we don't hear about it much.

If you want to watch videos of guys tasting $10 -$20 bottles of wines go watch Gary Vaynerchuck.

In closing, WS could probably do a better job of bringing the lower value wines to the forefront on a regular basis. Yes, they have thier VALUE ISSUE and they do print ratings for hundreds of wines at all prices. By forefront, I mean use of the video and blogs and other real time media they use to showcase these wines.

Maybe James can video his next visit to Glen Ellen for us. He probable won't have to fight the crowds in the tasting room.

Wow, what a heated discussion, and a lot of great POVs. My last and final comment (I know - we're all relieved!) is that most of the responses here are simply missing the point. No one is complaining (at least not me) on the focus on rare and/or expensive wines. And no one is saying WS does not also highlight good values. The point here is why would James recommend 'searching out' a wine that gets 92 points and costs $85. It simply does not make sense when so much other great stuff is out there. I love expensive stuff as much as the next guy, but I expect very high quality for it. Really not complicated.

Mark I am in Fishkill NY and about 5 years ago I started a wine tasting group we meet a different restaurant about every other month and do blind tastings. Do you have any intertest? Some people in the group live in your town. If interested please contact me at RJE323@AOL.COM

Looks like the first 180 to respond to this blog got 2 bottles each of the Chard! Hopefully they can continue the quality in 2007, they obviously have the integrity to do so...