We get together 3-4 times a year. Trying to set up next meet in early Sept. Great group even if you’re not here!

RR is trying to sort out some personal issues and I think it’s best to give him all the time he needs to do that. I’m sure he’ll return to his jovial self soon.
i’ve decided that the world needs to become a Wineocracy. Very little bloodshed other than necessary punishment for drinking wines before appropriate drinking windows. Political differences seem to melt away in the presense of wine. Why even you Swedes are liked 😉

Yaaay.. you found our comments! Thanks for that! Not sure if I like this new design though.

Congratulation Gary to the addition to the family.
Xander Avi Vaynerchuk was it?

Congrats, Gary! Welcome little Xander!
A future Jets fan! May he inherit his Dad’s discriminating palate as well. 🙂

Good to know that you’ve been doing SOMETHING productive since you’ve retired 😉
Seriously, congratulations!
Lisa S, Castello, maybe Randall, and I are going to uncork the first of my three bottles of 2003 Paolo Bea Sagrantino at a pairing dinner at my place on September 9th. My hopes are sky high. Will let you know.

Look what I found in Stockholm. Now I’m all out of money but abgle to drinka a cab on thursday 🙂

I don’t think I gulp this one down on thursday 🙂 But I save it for your big day next year if you make it to Sweden 🙂

So yesterday I was the one that brought wine to a dinner we had for a colleague that are entering the life of retirement. I brought Chateau De Haux Grande Reserve 2005. I’d like to call it my wine since I own 10 shares in it 🙂
But first we had some Hors-d’?uvre with salmon and chili gulped down with some
Louis Bouillot Crémant de Bourgogne Brut . Then grilled beef with a French potato salad with my red wine. Dessert was a fudge pie with raspberry and blueberry topping. To that I served a Moscatel de Setubal.
But back to the Bordeaux, It was really good this day. Nice mature plums, cherry, toffee nose, mild oak, and some cinnamon. Velvet on the tongue with plum, cherry, vanilla, mild black pepper, and small, small tight tannins.
All the guest raved about it and they didn’t seem to grasp that this wine is not for sale anywhere They wanted to buy it, they even urged me to talk the Chateau even when I told them that the Chateau have run out, the stock is null. Even today the hounded me about it. Sometimes people don’t understand that wine is an entity that can be sold out.
Needless to say the colleague had a good time.
Cheers all friends on this forum.

Who? You?

Dude, Where have you been? I thought you gave up wine or something.. Hope all is well. I like Duckhorn Merlot. 🙂

Somethings seem always to vanish when IT systems get updated 🙂
I’m doing alright and glad to hear that you can find something to , at least part time. wine shop, Hmm would like to try that too.

Having delas Marquis de la Tourette hermitage 2008 this evening. Superb.
Skål

Didn’t I invite you to food and wine, even offered you to chose from my collection just a couple of weeks ago? I’ll guess you would choose another bottle then the Kronos, I’m not telling which one.
When are you arriving, all 50 lbs lighter?
About the adoption, I might have to check with Carina, but we do have a spare room.

Hilarious! Poor Anders. 🙂

Is it that you miss us or have the new Disqus layout befuddled you?

Lisa, I had a really good Pinot yesterday and thought I would share this with you and the rest of the group here. 2010 Martin Ray Pinot Noir from the RRV (Russian River Valley) Martin Ray Winery http://www.martinraywinery.com

The nose and taste were very burgundian. We had lots of strawberries and raspberries but it lacked on length, acidity, and tannins. What was there, blended very well which was a very smooth Pinot. I was very happy with this bottle of wine and would definitely buy it again. This would go well with fish or pork. I would rate this 88-89 😉

I miss everyone and I do visit here from time to time. I will have to be a little more active on the comments though.

Nostrovia!

Hi Dan! Thanks for the tip. I’ve not heard of Martin Ray.. will seek it out! Yeah, we need you to pop in here more often. BTW: Anders found your Andrew Will 07 Champoux vineyard wine (the one you raved about a while back) see somewhere below this mess for comments). He really liked it, too, and I bought a bottle as well. 🙂 Cheers!

Well, thanks for the tip Lisa. It only took me two months to catch this. 😛

I went back and just read his take on the Andrew Will 07. I was glad to see how well Anders liked it. The 07 is a true work of art. I’m going to go see if I can buy some more Andrew Will this week.

Yaaay! Glad you saw it, Dan. I have one bottle of the o7 Champoux.. it was all I could find – in small, upscale market a couple of blocks away. I bought the 08 Sorella from Wine Library last winter. Anxious to try them both!

So you guys talk about me 🙂
I wish we could do a wine tasting together someday. How is the question.
Look out for some reviews soon. I’m about to take some wine classes and do some serious Cdp 07 tasting soon.

Skål systrar och bröder!

Anders: The most outstanding wine on the list is the Quilceda Creek, and it’s
from Washington State. At the time of release it was $115.. and 94 pts Wine
Spect. Current auction price according to Wine Spect is $212. The Stag’s Leap should be good (more mineral and earthy style). Good year, too. I think
the Shafer is a good bet . Don’t know about Paradise Hills but 2004 was a good year. Oakville Cab sounds decent and ’97 a good year.
Avoid these vintages: 1994, 1998, 2003., And 2001 was hit/miss. Let us know what you get (if anything). Cheers. L

🙂 The Harlan is a steal! Just looked up in Wine Spect online 2010 article: 97 points and auction price per bottle was $945. “Drink now until 2020” Oh..the lovely Corison cabs – Wow! I would skip the other cabs mentioned. Oh yes, the Princess must comment on the pinots! Beaux Freres from Oregon is a great producer. If you like Bergstrom, you will like these.I looked up the 98, 99 vintages and they scored very well, but at least 5 yrs past drinking window. May still be good, but they’ve probably lost some fruit. Domaine Drouhin is a good producer and I’ve heard good things about Laurene, but also past drinking window – still, might be interesting though. Pinot noirs from Calif. more than 10 yrs old are risky. I had an Etude 2002 recently and it was very good but lost some fruit. Kistler and Patz & Hall chards are wonderful. These vintages scored very well on release but about 5 yrs past drinking window. The Jayson is a good producer (2nd label of Pahlmeyer, which I love) and probably a good bet being a 2006, but drink it now. What can I say? They are not from Burgundy and thus aging potential is limited in my opinion. 🙂

Had a great evening Friday night. Went to a Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery wine tasting. http://www.spottswoode.com The event was held at MK Restaurant in Chicago. www. mkchicago.com There were horderves served during the tasting and lots of good socializing.

The wines of the evening were as follows:

2011 Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc
Very good wine. I was very surprised. Great fruit and lots of it on the nose. The palate was exceptional. Good acidity, great fruit, grapefruit-apricote-green apples, very good structure.
2010 Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon
Not to my liking on the palate. Pretty closed yet on the nose and the taste just didn’t pop. Maybe it was still to young and from what I was told it is one of their lesser Cabs.
2010 Field Book Rhone
This is their Syrah which was too big and over the top for my palate. A lot of Alcohol that brought the heat. The oak and alcohol didn’t leave much for the rest to shine through. Not being a Syrah drinker this just fortified why I don’t enjoy Syrah/Shiraz.
2009 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Very good. Good dark fruit on the nose. Black Raspberries, Blueberries and Currant. Good melding of the tannins, acidity and fruit. Still a little young but still drinkable.
2004 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Now this is where my socks got knocked off. I was blown away. A very good rich nose with a mix of dark fruit and chocolate. A medium bodied wine with good black berries, cassis, good vanilla, and spices. The tannins and acidity was very smooth and the wine was long on the finish. This was my hit of the evening. I kept coming back for more.
1992 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Imperial
What an exceptional bottle of wine. This was so smooth and easy to drink. The nose had earthy notes with dark fruit, oak and spices, very nice. The dark fruit, spices, hints of chocolate and licorice. Very smooth well balanced cab. This was a great bootle of wine but I still liked the 04′ better.

Love the review, Dan. I’ve wanted to try their SB for a long time and dying to try one of the cabs! Thanks for great review.