This weekend we did a 10 year retrospective. 1999 Red Burg, 1999 Barolo & 1999 Bordeaux (St. Emilion). In order of best to worst…Daniel Rion Vougeot #1, Grande Mayne #2, Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia #3.

When all is said and done, 1999’s are drinking great right now…AMM

Drank the 05 Ghost Pines Merlot – which is pretty yummy (lots of chocolate) for a supermarket buy.
Drank the Gascon Malbec with Easter dinner (a tad bit disappointing, but fine table wine)
Tonight we’re having friends over for an Easter cheese and wine party and we’ve about 30 bottles to pick from for the tasting, but haven’t yet decided. Rhones? Petite Syrahs? PVs even?

you scared me with the oak monster…. hope i don’t have nightmares!

Great show as always

QTOD. We spent the long weekend in Bucaramanga, Colombia where my brother-in-law is from. No vino there, but amazing natural beauty. We had some of the local anise flavored distilled drink.

Gary, again “kasha” is buckwheat in English. You find that pretty frequently so you should add it to your vocabulary. 🙂

QOTD: For easter we went to two wicked restaurants. One called Au Peid de Cochon … pig’s feet and L’express, both In montreal. We had two HUGE meals.

At Au Pied we drank an incredible Red Croze Hermitage. It was very acidic, it had cherries, and a lot of strong tannins. In fact I thought it was even a little alcoholic even though it was only 12.5% I don’t know if I was extra sensitive to the alcohol that day but it tasted STRONG. The Hermitage went well with my pigs feet that was stuffed with Foie Gras. SOOO decadent!

At l’express we drank Aligote. It was sooo good. It was perfect with my rabbit. And that was my easter, we ate and drank like kings!

Good show. Love the comment readings…didn’t think you’d be reading mine…lol

QOTD: I stayed home and made Osso Bucco along with Ferro with wild mushrooms and had a bottle of Turley Estate Petite Syrah 2003.

Great to see a Hermitage Blanc. Tasted a couple of straight Roussannes this weekend from WA and they were nice.

QOTD: We had a Mulderbosch SB with sushi on good friday, the Mulderbosch Rose of cab with picnic on Easter and then the Bodegas las Orcas, Pagos ValdeOrca 2000 rioja with lamb for Easter dinner. I am a fan fo the Mulderbosch wine, especially the SB, but didn’t like it as much as the Ataraxia.

But the rioja was tremendous- drinking great right now with a 3-5 more yesrs at peak. Beautiful palate structure and freshness. This winery’s 05 crianza is out now- check it out!

Hey gary!

Good thing we celebrate two days of easter here in The Netherlands, that means I can still comment on the QOTD 🙂 I had a nice easter brunch today with my family and served a La Pieve Cànevo Prosecco DOC (Frizzante) with some light Italian food. Great combo with salads and some fresh fruit!

Now I have a (completely different) question for you. You talked about the oak monster again and since I like drinking reservas, espacially from Chile, I’d like to hear your opinion on this issue: is it true that a wine can be qualified as reserva when it is not riped on oak barrels, just riped with oak (some sort of oak chips?) in it? And is that allowed in Chile only or in Spain etc as well? Love to hear your answer!

Greets,

Timo

QotD: Little bro came up to visit from college, spent the weekend with him and Easter at my wife’s family. Drank some Yeungling, Blue Moon’s Spring Ale, and some budget wine.

nice weather this weekend, cracked a Cote du Broully from Nicole Chanrion. It’s a fave, so didn’t exactly go out on a limb. How about a show on grand cru beajos?

QOTD: Saturday I was with you in San Diego which was AWESOME. Thanks for putting on a killer event. Sunday we had Easter dinner (lamb and ham) with the family and I popped:
2006 Williams Selyem Sonoma County Pinot Noir
2006 McPrice Myers Beautiful Earth (Syrah 85%, Grenache 9%, Mourvedre 6%)
Two completely different wines but both pretty darn good.

Good episode, and appreciate the continued encouragement to try new wines.

I have tried a Muscadet, which I really enjoyed and later had the D’Arenberg Hermit Crab, and enjoyed it as well, and then tried a Petit Syrah/Petite Virdot blend from Lodi that while was very tannic and needed a little more decanting (I think) overall a great week for new experiences.

QOTD – Working all weekend so new wines will wait until next week.

hmm, a musty odor that seems to disappear, disappointing flavors on the palate(except oak and the impression of alcohol), and a rating 10 points below a reputable judge – sounds to me like you just struck one of the approx 19 in every 350 bottles that you don’t think are cork tainted but actually are 😛

Renwood, unfortunately, seems to have an occasional problem with bad corks. I purchased a syrah from them, which was tainted, and returned that full bottle to the store. The clerk replaced it with another bottle from the very same case. There was no problem at all with the second bottle. The wine was absolutely delicious, and reasonably priced.

I sent an email message to Renwood, and they followed up with an actual hardcopy letter. They said that if I planned to visit their winery, I should bring along that letter, and they would give me a complimentary bottle of wine. Kudos to Renwood for showing true class!

QOTD:
The weekend is over; but we had 8 bottles of wine at my sister’s on saturday for our family seder (I know, not on the first night, but my brother had to get down from Boston, and family IS key). There were 11 of us
1. Leroy Duval Brut to kick things off; great champagne and good QPR at $29
2. Kartauserhof Gruner Veltliner Achleiten; another delightful white wine
(these are with some cheese and hummus and other light stuff)
3. A reisling my brother brought. Nice just a little too sweet
4. Anura Chardonnay 2006 very nice for $14. Great flavor not over oaked

now dinner (brisket and Chicken)
5. Chateau Plain Point 2005; great pairing
6. Pieve Del Vescovo Lucciaio; nice wine but got overshadowed by the bordeaux
7. A Syrah from Paso Robles; good wine

dessert flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream and raspberries
8. Chateau haut bergeron Sauternes 2005; just blew me away. Great on its own, but right after a bite of cake and your mouth was transported to another level

Good episode..Loved how you set the Reidel off the table just to do the OakMonster! Great job!
~GolfTurtle~

Amazing that white is only 5% of all the Rhone! Is that definitely true?

QOTD – A very nice 2004 Montagny 1er cru (forgot the name of producer unfortunately)

Also, that wine in the UK is about £30+.. have no idea how it can be that much cheaper in the US?

Nice cheap zinfandel = Ravens Wood 2006 from California, Vintner’s Blend.

Love the show….I will be enjoying a single vineyard Pinot Noir by Adam Lee’s Siduri…love it! Peace and go REDS, thats the Cincinnati Reds, not Red wine Mot (?).

Good show! Have not had that many Hermitage blancs, although I really need to try some.

QOTD – We had a bunch of company over and drank a lot of different wines. The best white was a 2002 Beringer Sbragia Ltd Release Chardonnay – perhaps on the end of it’s life, but still nice. We also had a Ladera 2005 Cabernet.

qotd: working, and tasting a new pinot I got in.

89/100

line of the day – ‘I’d be a jerk not to mention the apple flavour in this wine’

Good solid episode, Gary pumped, in form and back on the couch.