Greetings and salutations from the Chespeake Bay!
I was screwing aroung at work to day when I found the website and after spending three hours in the various forums, I decided to register.

My favorite wines are as follows:

California Cabernet
Chardonnay - California and French
Bordeaux
Rhone - Chateuneuf Du Pape and Hermitage
Australian Shiraz
German and Austrian Sweet Wines - from Spatlese to Eiswein and everything in between.

I have been drinking and building my cellar for about a year now. I have roughly 125 bottles. I am hesitiant about buying futures as I am in the military and am not willing to risk ordering a case of wine and then not being able to take delivery of it.

If I had to pick what my best/favorite wines are, in my opinion, I would have to list the following five:

JJ Prum Auslese - regardless of where it is from.
Penfolds Grange and RWT - trying to build verticals of each and drink a bottle of each years vintage.
ZD Reserve Chardonnay
Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet

One quick question about decanting - what are the red wines that need to be decanted? Not focusing on age, as my oldest wine is from 1994. As stated, I have Shiraz, Cabernet, Bordeaux (both Merlot and Cab), a few Barolos, and a few California Merlots.
Does it really make that big of a difference?

Thanks,
Ski

Welcome, Ski66...

We usually only decant wines that have a lot of sediment or need a lot of oxidation. Age doesn't really matter, IMO. New wines sometimes need decanting as well as older ones.

Welcome ski!

I usually decant all the red when I can ..... young one to air it and old one for sediment.

WELCOME!!

There is a large collection of previous discussions about decanting. Check them out and it will help a lot! If anything remains unclear, ask away!!

Decanting articles and primers

Welcome Ski...are you Polish???

Enjoy the community here. We are here to serve you!

125 bottle cellar???..newbie??...I'm still trying to figure out where the sharp end of the curly metal thing goes
That may be a newbie to some but that's a lot further along then me.....
I gotta stop drinking them as fast as I buy them
Hey Futronic...saw your reply to the cellar direct from the LCBO right after I got off the phone with them. Oh well....only 3 bottles...it's a start + the few I've managed to buy off that list you posted...must...keep...hands...off...for at least a week..thanks again!

Welcome from a fellow newb

welcome

Thanks for all the welcomes.

Budman, yep, Polish and Lithuanian. Was born and rasied in the Philly region - born in Port Richmond, went to high school in Bucks County.

Welcome, ski!

welcome ski...and don't ever worry about having to take delivery of wine, somebody here will be more than happy to do it for you.

Also, we have a few DC -Metro area folks here (aka DC Cru) and we'd love to see you at one of our offlines. A formal greeting from our fearless leader will follow shortly...

It's the most frustrating thing in the world. My folsk live an hour south of Napa and I know about some really good limited quantity wines that I would to have shipped from California...but Maryland's laws are so draconian ...well, you know the story.

Always up for a wine tasting! Just let me know when and where. This summer will be busy as I am moving into a new house next week and getting married in late August! But always ask, most of the time I'll be able to make it.

Quote:

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welcome ski...and don't ever worry about having to take delivery of wine, somebody here will be more than happy to do it for you.

Also, we have a few DC -Metro area folks here (aka DC Cru) and we'd love to see you at one of our offlines. A formal greeting from our fearless leader will follow shortly...

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Quote:

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Also, we have a few DC -Metro area folks here (aka DC Cru) and we'd love to see you at one of our offlines. A formal greeting from our fearless leader will follow shortly...

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And who is our fearless leader this month?

(Ain't this a stupid way to make my 1000th post?)

Welcome Ski and congratulations on your engagement!

I would be interested in hearing about your Napa favorites.
Thanks

When I went out to Napa over Christmas, I picked up a few bottles:

2001 Peju Cabernet Franc Reserve - I think Parker just gave this a 93, it's pretty close.
2001 S. Anderson Claret
2001 ZD Reserve Chardonnay - I love this wine.
2001 ZD Merlot - only made 700 cases, and its the last year they will offer it.
1999 Silver Oak Alexander Valley (my fiancee loved it, its decent, and I think the Napa is WAY overpriced)
1997 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate.


Some pretty normal bottlings, but I had to tailor my tastes and sense of adventure with soon to be Mrs. Ski's tastes in wine.
I only had one day out there as it was my fiancee's first time to the Bay Area and I had to play tourist for the rest of the time.

When I go back I want to hit Far Niente and Nickel and Nickel. I am intrigued by the single vineyard cabernets they are releasing. I am trying to find out more about the California cult cabs, as this is an area that I am a novice in. And of course, I just found out that my parents are moving to London due to my fathers work, so now I'll just take the train through the Chunnel to France!

Welcome. There's a lot to like about this site. And being close to tj, you'll no doubt be roped in to quite a few off line experiences. Jump on these opportunities. The DC Cru (I can never figure out how to put those little dots over the "u") are a great bunch of folks.

I may be in a minority of one, but I decant young (2001 and 2002 right now) Chardonnays for a half an hour. After years of holding to convention of only decanting reds, and noticing how the back half of most of my white bottles tasted better than the front half, I concluded that air can help a white as well and have taken up the practice.

Ski-- Welcome dude!!! Welcome to VinoCellar and welcome to the DC Metro area (assuming you've just hit the area (what with the military comment)). Feel free to hang out here as often as you like and post post post away!

As for the DC Crü (the 'ü' can be made by hitting the 'alt' key followed by the 2 5 2 -- in Windows anyway), that's the unofficial name of the DC area VC dudes. Mrs. TJ suggested the shortening of my original thought, 'DC Crüe', which was paying tribute to Motley Crüe of course. DC Crü, what with all the Grand Cru and Premier Cru and so on from French wines seemed more fitting and I totally agreed!

Anyhoo, we do get together regularly, but some more regularly than others. I think dinwiddie is the only member with a spotless 'official DC Crü event attendance' record. I think it is at least once a month. I'm in Laurel, so we might be practically neighbors!!

As for decanting, I like to decant some young reds to open things up quickly. I don't have much 'old stuff' so I generally don't have to worry too much about sediment. I am sort of with Jimmyv on white wines being decanted. Younger upper end whites I do tend to do this with, while simpler whites (eg NZ SBs) I don't bother.

Welcome aboard! And, at whatever might be your inaugural DC Crü event, watch out for being the recipient of the required DC Crü-Cut. (just kidding!)

TJ,

thanks for the welcome. I'll be down the other end of the county in West River come next Friday...I love living on the Bay and had a great opportunity to buy into new construction....

I would certainly enjoy attending some gatherings with the DC Cru. However, I will be quite busy over the next couple of months. I would say that October is probably the first real month where I will be having some significant downtime, but in November I'll be out of the area for two weeks (to NJ, where I know some great wine stores) and again in January.

As for the cru cut, well, that's SOP for me. Had one since I was 14 and for the last ten years it's been mandatory.