Care to guess the winery?

A while back our big (and actually pretty damn impressive) NJ wine store chain, Gary's, started selling bottles under a house label called "GF" (officially stands for "Go Figure"...but it's also the initials of the chain's owner). Anywhoo, the Official Party Line is that they contract famous California wineries to bottle some of their wares just for them, which they buy at a greatly reduced price in return for a guaranteed high volume purchase every year. They cover all the major CA varietals.

I've never tried any myself, as despite their "greatly reduced prices" they tend to be well outside my budget. But I've always been curious what wineries they manage to cull from.

I just got their latest newsletter that trumpets a sale on a bottle they're marking down from 38 dollars to 21 dollars for Memorial Day. I thought I'd post the copy here, hoping someone might have an insight as to which winery might be bottling this particular wine for them:

"The 2012 Go Figure Lot 25 comes from the Rutherford Bench, the Cabernet heart of the Napa Valley. In the great 2012 vintage, this region produced perfectly ripened, classic Cabernet fruit. While we can't reveal who it is, we can tell you the fruit comes from the same vineyards and the same winemaking team that produce the winery's own $60 2012 Rutherford Cabernet that carries 90+ point ratings from Vinous, the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker. The winery has been called “...one of the true under the radar jewels of Napa Valley.” and their Rutherford Cabernet has been labelled as “...a reliably outstanding value.”

Can anyone tell the winery from those hints?

A while back our big (and actually pretty damn impressive) NJ wine store chain, Gary's, started selling bottles under a house label called "GF" (officially stands for "Go Figure"...but it's also the initials of the chain's owner). Anywhoo, the Official Party Line is that they contract famous California wineries to bottle some of their wares just for them, which they buy at a greatly reduced price in return for a guaranteed high volume purchase every year. They cover all the major CA varietals.

I've never tried any myself, as despite their "greatly reduced prices" they tend to be well outside my budget. But I've always been curious what wineries they manage to cull from.

I just got their latest newsletter that trumpets a sale on a bottle they're marking down from 38 dollars to 21 dollars for Memorial Day. I thought I'd post the copy here, hoping someone might have an insight as to which winery might be bottling this particular wine for them:

"The 2012 Go Figure Lot 25 comes from the Rutherford Bench, the Cabernet heart of the Napa Valley. In the great 2012 vintage, this region produced perfectly ripened, classic Cabernet fruit. While we can't reveal who it is, we can tell you the fruit comes from the same vineyards and the same winemaking team that produce the winery's own $60 2012 Rutherford Cabernet that carries 90+ point ratings from Vinous, the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker. The winery has been called “...one of the true under the radar jewels of Napa Valley.” and their Rutherford Cabernet has been labelled as “...a reliably outstanding value.”

Can anyone tell the winery from those hints?

Well, Tom.....I haven't a clue since Napa Cab is well off my radar. But if you look on any one of the cases in the store,
it will identify (by law) the bottling winery (BW#12345) that you can then use to track down the bottler. That's assuming
that the wnry that made the wine also bottled it.
Tom

But if you look on any one of the cases in the store, it will identify (by law) the bottling winery (BW#12345) that you can then use to track down the bottler. That's assuming that the wnry that made the wine also bottled it.
Tom

Wow, talk about learnin' sumpthin' new every day. That's great - thanks Tom!

But if you look on any one of the cases in the store, it will identify (by law) the bottling winery (BW#12345) that you can then use to track down the bottler. That's assuming that the wnry that made the wine also bottled it.
Tom

Wow, talk about learnin' sumpthin' new every day. That's great - thanks Tom!

Yeah, Tom.....I use that frequently to track down the producer of made-up label wines at TJ's.
Often, you can just tell from the town where the wine was bottled. If it says Napa or AmericanCanyon,
then $'s to donuts, it's a FredFranzia wine.
Tom

Yeah, Tom.....I use that frequently to track down the producer of made-up label wines at TJ's.
Often, you can just tell from the town where the wine was bottled. If it says Napa or AmericanCanyon,
then $'s to donuts, it's a FredFranzia wine.
Tom

Great stuff - thanks again, Tom!

Round Pond fits the price point, reviews, and location pretty exactly.

It's Round Pond (saw discussion elsewhere)
Which is a legitimate $50 wine.
But I'd have to point out "from the same vineyards and wine making team " is very much not the same as "same wine."

Round Pond fits the price point, reviews, and location pretty exactly.

I was thinking the same thing. They own a LOT of vineyards, much of their production is sold anyway (or bottled into a supermarket level wine)

Could be Franciscan. Or Beaulieu; not as strong as they used to be and selling bulk generates cash flow. Freemark Abbey

People not ITB might be surprised by some private label wines being sourced from some extremely high-quality labels and vineyards.

I believe someone used the TTB site to track the bottling # to confirm Round Pond.
But I am not at all surprised that many wellknown wineries sell in bulk or sell bottled wine to private labels.

I just think it's important to realize that "same vineyards" and "same winemaking team" don't mean same wine, though lots of come-ons for these private label /"Mystery wines" etc want you to think that. While certainly it does sometimes happen (a winery with an oversupply sells off a portion of its flagship wine as shiners rather than dump on market) usually this is wine that was never intended for the flagship wine. I have no idea if Moueix sells off anything from Dominus in bulk, but if they did I'd be damn certain that the prime juice went into Dominus, the next best parcels went into Napanook, and the rest was what was bulked out. Second wines are generally from "same vineyards" and "same winemaking team." And there can be third (or fourth) wines.

Second wines can be great, but they aren't the same. As for negoce from a great source, it's pretty well known that '99 and '00 Potel RSV are sourced from DRC- I'm happy to own, but no illusions that DRC didn't get rid of the parcel they felt substandard. .

I;d say you have a pretty good read on it, Dale.

Some wineries...even many...use extremely sophisticated logistics predictions for their various and sundry wines, and at times some barrels and tanks have to be emptied and bottles filled.

If a brand segment or one sku, is not at the projected running rate for shipments, it is the easiest thing in the world for someone to call a broker, say Ciatti, to put together a deal for x amount of wine. Let the buyer tinker with it so they think they have sufficient input to make it "their" blend; sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect both sides, and then roll those pallets right out the door. Problem solved and the wholesale or retail or restaurant client is warm and friendly to the winery.

Fred Franzia, on the other hand, is more like "Got an order for 10,000 cases of Chardonnay. Bottle Tank #237 and slap a Chateau XX label on it."

Gary’s GF wine project has three levels or tiers “Going Forward”, “Go Figure” and “Grand Finale”. “Going Forward” wines are exactly as Dale stated, Gary just buying a wineries “excess bottles” or “shiners”. “Go Figure“ wines are “commissioned “ bottles, and “Grand Finale” wines are “commissioned” individual barrels of wine.

Salute

this 'nudge nudge, wink wink famous winery we can't name' promotion is quite common here in UK, mostly for supposedly downgraded classed growth Bordeaux.

But what is it really worth if the winery isn't proud enough of the wine to put their name on the bottle?