Review: 4 Wines from The Caubleist Website, 2026
If the name Ian Cauble doesn’t mean anything to you, you haven’t immersed yourself in the world of high-end sommeliers enough. He was a central figure in the 2012 documentary Somm, in which he swallows his pride and smiles genially as he fails the Master Sommelier exam — though he subsequently passed and made his way into the world of ecommerce.
Cauble’s first website was SommSelect, which we wrote about in 2014. SommSelect is, remarkably, still around — but Cauble’s follow-up, the awkwardly named and impossible-to-type, The Caubleist has risen as a sequel. What’s the haps with The Caubleist, he asked, typing as methodically as possible? It’s a similar idea: Cauble hunting for great values on exemplary wines and selling them to direct to you.
Wines are sold by the bottle — there’s no subscription here to deal with — and the selection is small but varied. If I have any complaint about the website it’s the limited search function. You can’t search for a wine by name, just drill down by region and grape. A keyword search seems pretty doable in 2026.
The Caubleist sent us four recent selections from its shop so we could gauge for ourselves how solid Cauble’s picks our. Thoughts on each of the quartet follow.
2023 Evesham Wood Pinot Noir Willamette Valley – Evesham Wood is one of the most reliable blue chip pinot producers of Oregon, making this one a bit of a gimme. As pale as pinot gets, this 13% abv offering is pure fruit with lively notes of cherry and strawberry backed up by a sprinkle of rosemary and, given time in glass, some baking spice. Silky and largely absent of tannin already, it offers an easygoing sipping experience that belies its ample complexity. Criminally underpriced. A / $34
2022 Rovellotti “Valplazza” Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo DOC – Shocking soft for a nebbiolo, this wine features a bright strawberry character that is soon tempered by notes of green tobacco, rosemary, and sage — followed by mineral-heavy notes that evoke wet gravel, then anise. Curiously sharp throughout, with notes of rhubarb and an odd green onion quality that take the finish in a unique direction. B / $34
2000 Vieux Chateau Champs de Mars Johanna – Not a typo. Merlot-heavy Bordeaux from Castillon-Côtes-De-Bordeaux. Dark purple in color, nearly opaque. Age has not been completely kind to this wine, but it’s still hanging together despite an aggressive balsamic note that is running riot over the attack. Decanting is clearly in order, but even ample airtime only does so much to temper the experience. Earthy and driven by anise and creosote, the wine smolders with wet forest floor, mushroom, and green herbs, but feels sharp and quite acidic, not always in the best possible way. Nonetheless, it’s hanging in there and remains drinkable, but you’ll need a refined palate and a carefully planned meal pairing to make the most of it. This is no longer listed on the Caubleist website (not even as “sold out”). B- / $58 (elsewhere)
1982 Moselschild Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese – Also not a typo. This 44-year-old sweet riesling is shockingly alive, and I even got the cork out in one piece using a two-prong cork puller. The whopping 8% abv wine is moderately sweet and full of fruit — apricots and some peach, namely — with a clear layer of exotic spice underneath. Cauble pegs it perfectly in his tasting notes as saffron, giving the experience a floral character that meanders its way toward lime leaf on the finish. Indeed, as Cauble notes, it’s not specifically a dessert wine, but pairing it with an entree may be tricky. Asian or African fare — anything spicy — will probably work, especially if seafood is on the menu. The petrol-laced underbelly may turn off some enthusiasts, but as a study of what mature riesling can offer this is hard to look away from. It’s also a steal for a wine of this pedigree. B+ / $85
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