Announcement just received via email, the Keefer Ranch 2006 Pinot Noir is now available.  Price is $42/btl, limit is 4 bottles, shipping is $10 bucks to California.

I'm a buyer.

Can't pass up the opportunity to try one of my favorite vineyards directly from the growers. I'm in for 4.

In, of course.Â

Subject is wrong, this is the 2006 vintage.

On the fence here. Feel like I should be both limiting my purchases these days (Shane and Bressler coming up, too) and buying less Pinot.

Ordered 3.

You are absolutely right - unfortunately the software doesn't let me edit it

I ordered 4.

2006 Keefer Ranch Estate on-line ordering.

Don't miss it if you can!

Pinot Noir seems to be the equal opportunity grape in California.  Anyone can hang out a shingle and be a winemaker.  There are good and bad elements to that.Â

... and even the newcomers can ask for $40-$50 a bottle!!!

...which is why it is important to look for pedigree.  Keefer fruit and Ed K. as "mentor" puts this on the high end of "start-up" options for me. More so than money managers who decided to pursue their dream. I'm in for 4.

JimmyV is 110% correct.

IMO this is a new "must buy" in the CA Pinot world!

First, any Pinot, new or old, has to have good fruit.  The Keefer fruit has proven itself year after year and it is not a good fruit;   It is great fruit!  It could be argued that one could not find a finer vineyard in Sonoma County.

Second, the reputation of the people behind the label.  Marcy Keefer and her daughter are no strangers to wine.  And Craig Strehlow has been diddling with wine for a long long time.  Add the fact that Ed Kurtzman (aka world's greatest winemaker) is consulting and the fact that it is being made a Freeman Winery (a first-class operation - many of us will be there this February for our VC dinner) and this wine has very little chance of not being amongst the very best.Â

Look at Kosta Browne.  It was brand new and untested but several of us tasted some of the stuff pre-release and made a strong recommendation to get on the list.  Many of you did and are damn happy about it.  I can't say that this is going to be the same but I will say it is one of the best wines that I have tasted this past six months.

Sign up on the list.  That doesn't cost anything.   Buy a couple of bottles.  IMO it is certainly worth a hundred bucks for a couple bottles of wine.  If it turns out you like it you can buy more, maybe.  At least if you buy a couple of bottles this year you'll surely be offered some on the next round.Â

You gotta know I am not posting this to try and make Marcy Keefer any money.  I'm posting this in the spirit of this wine community.  This is what the forum is really all about;  learning about things that otherwise you'd know when it is written up in some wine magazine.  You'd learn about it the same time as the other 672,000 subscribers; not exactly on the ground floor.  This forum is your key to the door of the ground floor.  And it is stuff like this that is inside that door.

Gawd, that's korney!

E pluribus vinim unim (i.e. WTF)!





Marcy Keefer, Craig and Julie Strehlow

Actually it appears to me as if there is no need to sign up for the list, the ordering doesn't seem to be restricted - anyone can pull up the page and order. I would assume once an order is placed then you would obviously be on the list from then on.

Anyhow, Keefer is one of my favorite Pinot Vineyards, Marcy et.al. are salt-of-the-earth folks, this is "the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind".

Not korney at all. Precise and insightful.  This is the time of year when we all take stock in what we bought over the past 12 months; what we should have bought; and what we shouldn't have bought.  It is amazing what percentage of my wine purchases come from recommendations from this board compared to what I bought 10 years ago. Back in the stone(d) ages, I relied on shelf-talkers and magazines. This internet thingee has us on the cutting edge of "the next big thing". Problem is, anyone can tout a start-up as the next Harlan. But once you get to trusting the "right" people, (coupled with some common sense and knowledge of the industry), mistakes are fewer and less costly.  My biggest purchases in 2007 were almost all wines that I came to know about here. Bressler, Kosta Browne, Aubert, (although I take some credit for that. The guys at Wine Library wouldn't let me out of the store without buying their remaining 3 bottles of their initial release allotment. I tried it and reported back here and brought some to a couple of off-lines); August West; Radio Coteau; Wesmar; Jones Family; Match; Sea Smoke, plus many other new wines such as Sojourn; Ketcham; Rhys; Maybach; Sandler; Jean Edwards and now Keefer were all wines that I learned about here.  Yes, it is hard to wade through the hype, but this board is invaluable when it comes to "honest" and "trustworthy" insight. 

I guess it is korney, but allow me to take this opportunity in the season of caring and sharing to say thank you all for your input and insight.  This is indeed the internet used for its highest purpose.

If you are looking for Ed and Keefer (I am not), why not just buy the Freeman?  Color me skeptical.  Sure, this board and eBob supply a continuous stream of recommendations, but before you know it you'll be on 20 Pinot lists.  For now, I am content to buy KB, Aubert, Rhys, and Rivers-Marie.  That's probably two too many, but better safe than sorry.

Because we're interested in a different take on what the vineyard can express?  One that comes from the tenders of the vineyard itself?

BTW, Craig is the winemaker for this wine, Ed consulted on the project, so this doesn't exactly equal "Ed and Keefer".

That said, I am not trying to talk you into buying - that's your choice, and I totally relate to what you're saying.  I'm just explaining why I am particularly interested in this project.   And yes, I probably am on 20 Pinot lists - this is a bad thing?  I am not obligated to buy, but it does allow me to pick and choose.

Dave,

I hear you.  There  aren't any dogs on your Pinot list.  I just wanted to the part of your post that reads:

"Anyone can hang out a shingle and be a winemaker.  There are good and bad elements to that."

In a post about Pinot in general this would be a very relevant statement.  But when it is in a post that is about a particular wine I just wanted to be clear that IMO the statement really is not applicable because Ms. Keefer and Mr. Kurtzman are not just "anyone".  They are indeed two of the industry's most respected people.  I just wanted to point that out.

Bad thing?  No way!  Variety is the spice of life!

I'm not sure that came out exactly the way I meant it.