QOTD: Tried like 15 different years of the Foppiano Petit Syrah.. Some of them were terrible and tasted nothing like the year before or after.

One of the best wines I ever had was the 97 BV Tapestry & one of the worst wines is the 98 BV Tapestry! What a difference a year makes, it just goes to show you that mother nature is the maker of all wines!!

Compared the 2001 Don Melchor against the 2004 Don Melchor. The 2001 was bland, nothing to it. In fact, I believe it has had heat problems somewhere in it past. The 2004 was a very nice wine. I would recommend it to everyone.

QOTD – Pesenti Vineyards Zin – I think it was in 2001 when Turley took over. Tasting the wine between 2000 and 2002 it was amazing to see what could be done with the exact same vines with Ehren Jordan’s viticulture practices implemented. Not that Pesenti’s 3 generations of winegrowing had been bad, but it was an amazing transformation – even in the first couple years after Turley took over.

QOTD: I would have to say a few of the pinots from Papapietro.

GV – I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of Scotch and once you’ve tasted it, you’ve tasted it. Each barrel tastes completely different from the next, so to get a consistent flavor from year to year different barrels must be selected for blending to get the “same” flavor every year. That said, it’s becoming more and more common to find single barrel bottlings. Depending on the size of the barrel there may be 150-400 bottles that taste alike, but otherwise, there is no other scotch in the world that tastes exactly like that barrel, even if the scotch was aged the same amount of time in the same warehouse, etc. So, you can taste differnt Laphroaig 10 yr old. or different Macallan 18 yr old., etc. or even find bottlings of different ages, different finishes.

QOTD: Never really drank two different vintages of the Same Vino,
side by each……but me “pal” doesn’t seem ta like Dehlinger Chardonnay
as much as he once did……….

QOTD: Chaddsford (PA) 2006 Pinot Noir is mere shell of the 2005 vintage. The 06 just lacks the complexity and strength of flavor that was so good in the 05.

Fun show, I like the firday Head-to-Head’s.

’04 Barrel Monkeys Shiraz, McLaren Vale, Australia: Beautiful fruit, silky tannnins, hints of blackberries and smoke. 95 points (what can I say, it was a good night 🙂 )

’05 Barrel Monkeys Shiraz: Alcohol bomb. WAY overripe. Disgusting amount of residual sugar. No structure. Reductive on the nose. I tasted this head on with a Yellow Tail cab-merlot, expecting it to destroy the YT… and it actually lost to it. The YT had acidity that this wine lacked. Heartbreaking. 49 pts.

Hi Gary,

I agree with David Roberts in the comments section, reg. Bottle Shock, a very very good flick. I give it 94 points and indeed, talk about an event that changed the wine world as we know it… just for that reason, all the vayniacs and their friends should go see it… And I do think it’ll bring California Chardonnay back in fashion, especially if made like Chateau Montelena likes it, holding back on the oak and nice steely minerality and beautiful acid backbone. Very, very burgundian… and that style has always been like that… not suprised to see the french judges completely baffled there…

health!!

RR

hey, boo birds and other negativites… bottle shock is a movie, not a documentary… just enjoy it, you’re not Roger Ebert…

QOTD: Probably 2004, 2002, 2001, 2000 and 1989 Chateau La Nerthe Red C9dP where 02 weather in southern rhone was awful.

GV – Good stuff. Bottle Shock – my wine club went to a viewing in Boston. Not so good. The female character was simply the worst – she had no impact or reason. The dialog wasn’t very well written either. Rickman saved it and when the movie dealt with the competition, it showed the most promise. QOTD – I had both the 1999 and 2000 of the marginal Ch. Martinet. The 1999 was solid for an off-year, but the 2000 far out-paced its price or reputation.

side question: Bottle Shock was great, particularly after traveling to Napa earlier this summer. I can see why some critics didn’t like it, but it entertaining and did capture something about wine – a passion that many feel and live.

Qotd. A saumur Cab Franc 05 and 06 (Les Niveres; i think it might be exclusive to the wholefood chain we shop at in the UK) . The 05 was big rich black fruits and had a wonderful terroir driven crumbly soil like character that i find hard to explain. It was (for our heavily taxed wine market at any rate!)a fantastic bargain at £5.49 (so about 9 bones as gary would say). I raved about this wine for weeks. Then the 06 came out and was a completely different beastie. Much lighter, pretty acidic, tight, but with pleasant refreshing red fruit characters. Not a bad wine but not one i would buy again. Such a HUGE difference! 2005 Loire reds! Amazing! 06… not so much!

Bottle Shock: Yup, saw it last weekend! I’ve been waiting for it for a while, so I was glad to see it… I wasn’t expecting it to be a stellar movie, but I was kind of hoping for that. So I was a bit disappointed, though it was definitely entertaining. I was just hoping it’d be a bit deeper than simple entertainment. I think if I wasn’t as into wine as I am I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much (similarly, the Transformers movie was probably a typical action flick that I hate, but since I played with Transformers my whole life growing up, the movie kicked ass!).

QOTD: I dunno… off the top of my head, perhaps the Selvapiana Chianti Rufina. I scored the 2004 91 points, and the 2005 86 points. Another is Armida Zinfandel PoiZin; 2004: 90 points, 2005: 84 points.

David

Wait…did you just insult us non-lurkers?

QOTD: I’ve had some verticals but the one that really got me was the 1982, 1990, 1997, 2000, 2003 Cos D’Estournel. The 1982 was BY FAR the best wine of the bunch. The 1990 was second followed by the 2000 and then the 1997. The 2003 was larely unimpressive since it tasted nothing like the others.

A big thankyou for your time and education.

QOTD – I have not yet tried this exercise. I am sure at some point I will, but I am still learning the different styles of the grapes.

QOTD: Prince Michel LeDucq… I have had several “LOTS” of this and 88 was the best of the lot. I remember not liking the 94, we are turning the way back machine on now though, maybe it was the 96 I didn’t like. I didn’t take notes back then and it is hard to get these days. I don’t even think the winery has it anymore since Jean LeDucq died a few years back and the winery was sold.

Mini QOTD: Haven’t seen Bottle Shock.

QOTD: Ordered a case of 2005 Ridge Three Valleys, shop accidentally got 2006. VERY different. 2006 was brighter, with a more red fruit character, less of the dard berry/sweet spice than the 2005. Both good, just different.

I am a big fan of the Riojas!
QOTD – I like to drink mini verticals from time-to-time. I guess the most recent that I did was a Buehler Cab mini-vertical and the 1997 was getting very tired while the 2002 was rocking.

Not sure about tasting experiences but I have noticed extremely big price differences in the space of just one vintage. We’ve all seen that of course in the 04-05 bordeaux vintages!

Short & sweet…the show, not you Gary! I like the mini-vertical concept, need more!

QOTD – Chateau Musar Rouge. The 1999 was earthy, dark & complex, while the 2000 was lighter, fruitier and a whole different beast.

love riojas, wish i was a baller and could try these ones. but alas i am not, but i did go to the jet/giant game: go JETS!!!

I was thinking about that QOTD before asked. I was thinking about a couple of examples while I was watching (I’m still catching up after vacation).

QOTD: 2004 and 2005: Domaine Jaume Vinsobres Altitude 420 Cotes du Rhone. Really enjoyed the 2004. The 2005 is nice but I liked 2004 more.