Beneath the Label
The nuance in Napa is that unlike the rest of the world, there appear to be tiers of 100 points. Large swathes of estates achieve them in the great years thanks to the simply perfect climate. Then there are those that achieve 100 points even when nature doesn’t throw them an underarm set up. Hundred Acre sits in the latter.
Critic Score: 100 Points – Robert Parker
He described the Hundred Acre style as like Latour, but on steroids. 100 points are almost metronomically hit.
Region Rating: Vosne Romanee – 96E
A climactic high point in the early 2000’s for the valley.
Drinking Window: 2018-2045
The weather imparted superb levels of both sugar and acidity, combine this with a well-constructed set of tannins and you have a wine capable of eating up the decades.
Production Volume: sub 1,500 cases
Average production levels for the boutique burgundy-esque region.
Summary:
As always we are looking for top performance across all vectors. This wine clearly has this and with the already low levels of production needed to give the wine an air of rarity straight out the barrel. Compounding these observations, the 2007 vintage sits in a decade when the weather was more tumultuous making this a unique stand out wine and one collectors wishing to drink this era will gravitate toward. That said, this wine is still a relative newcomer and as such has not fully matured in terms of global demand.
“Latour on steroids”
Robert Parker
Money Matters
Brand Power: 80/100, rank 51st in BiBO Brand Power Metric
Only recently have top Napa estates moved beyond supplying only their loyal mailing lists. A recognition that to be truly great the world over must lust after the brand and enjoy the wine.
Liquidity: 55%
These wines are still seen as value alternatives for the likes of Screaming Eagle and Harlan. They attract a Napa lover who can’t quite bring themselves to open their prized Screagle.
Inter-Trade Price Volatility: 16.8%
With low production volumes, price transparency is low making this wine volatile. However, like top Burgundy, this is frequently positive volatility, with a 36% increase from release as it only now enters into the drinking window.
Summary
Clearly, this is a wine with room to improve on the financial vector side of the scoring. However, the estate’s owner is doing everything he can to alter this. The presentation of the wine is impeccable, the design of the case, the bottle, the literature, everything screams of a brand on the move.
Position for Profit
While carrying an almost start-up, newcomer like quality, the relative global awareness is yet untapped and as such the desire and audience for this wine has not yet reached its peak. When you combine these two together you have a wine that offers a great deal of upside potential while being securely underpinned by true quality.
I think this is an interesting wine to speculate on, but it is certainly only that. A “punt” to bolt onto a stable well formed portfolio.