Cult wines, whether they be from the Napa, Ca region or from Bordueax, France have loyal followers  all whom are willing to shell out big bucks for the product.   And then there are the waiting lists to get these wines.  Some of the wineries have waiting lists where the hopeful new member might have to wait over seven years to finally be able to order the wine.   But are these cult wines really worth it?

Maybe I was lucky and beat a bunch of people to getting on the wait list for Harlan Estate.  I only waited three years.  I found out I could now order Harlan Estate wine just a few days ago.  I was very happy to finally be "IN".  After reading the nice write up on the winery and wines I then got to the order form.  You could imagine my surprise when I saw that it would cost me $350 for just one 750ml bottle.  Now I have a decision to make.  Do I pass on this or give it a try.  Most of me wants to pass on this, and I might.  I just can not imagine spending $350 for a bottle of wine.   I have to ask, is a $350 bottle of Harlan better then a $50 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that is more financially friendly?  Yes it is better, but is it $300 better? Absolutley not!

Let's say you get a cult wine.  Harlan, Bryant Family, Colgin or Screaming Eagle($500/bottle).  These are all $300 plus wines.  What are the chances of you really opening it?  If you do open it and pour it with friends, how are you going to pour it.  Will you feel more relaxed and at ease with this wine or a more "common" wine?  My guess is you will feel much more at ease with a more common lesser priced wine.

Cult wine producers have a great gimmick going.  They produce small amounts, form a waiting list and thrive off of the reviews by Robert Parker and other popular wine review guides.   These wines are some of the best wines the world has to offer, no doubt and the reviews more then back this up.  With each 95 point or better rating they get, it seems more people get added to the cult wineries waiting list.  And of course, with each 95 point or better usually comes yet another price increase.

I have tasted a few cult wines, I have been lucky enough to have that experience.  Some of the ones I have tasted have been Shafer Vineyars, Hundred Acre and Lokoya.  While none them are near the $300 a bottle mark yet, it is only a matter of time before they reach it.  These 3 wineries have all received high Robert Parker ratings of anywhere from 97-100 points.   Are they great wines.  Oh you better believe they are.  Are they worth anywhere from $150 to $190.  No!

There are plenty of fine quality wines available at half the cost of even the "lower cost" cult wines, like Shafer, Lokoya and Hundred Acre.  And some of them are very close in quality to the liquid gold that the cult wineries are selling.

Now I am as sure as I am writing this, that a bottle of Dunn "Howell Mountain", Philip Togni, Trefethen Reserve, Chateau Montellena and Dominus wines will age just as longer and probably longer then these cult wines.  You can have a choice here.  Three bottles of Dominus with a little over $50 left over or one bottle of Harlan.  Or how about four bottles of Philip Togni and $30 left over to one bottle of Harlan.   How about five bottles of Dunn to one bottle of Harlan.  Harlan makes a stunning wine, but it will cost you an arm and a leg to see how it develops over the years.  It will cost a wine lover much less to see how these other wines develop over the years.

Then of course we have the exotic Bordueauxs.  Well, considering some of them go for over $1000 a bottle just for futures, you will have to understand why I am limiting their coverage to this small 3 line paragraph.

Cult wineries are great marketeers.  They would not be where they were without some brilliant minds.  Are they really worth the huge price tags?  No.  But only you can be the judge of that.  As for me with my being able to order Harlan, I think I might just pass.  There are just way too many superb wines for well under the cost of one bottle of cult wine.  Cheers