Attended an offline with Board-O and spouse, Emilio and spouse, and Jcocktosten and MonaLisaVito.

For more notes, look here:

http://forums.winespectator.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=9306023451&f=3146091161&m=83560375



These are mine:

Dinner at Cafe L'Europe, in Palm Beach.

I thought that the dinner was excellent. The food and service were both excellent. Chris, our waiter, provided outstanding service; he made sure we had fresh stemware for each of the wines. No corkage charge (per the restaurant’s policy on Wednesday nights) and we were provided with a tour of the restaurant’s wine cellars (yes, plural) after the dinner.

Here are my notes, as best as I can recall them…

2001 Petaluma Piccadilly Valley 'Tiers' chardonnay

I thought the wine did not show much fruit at all, but had a strong, rich butterscotch flavor. It opened up in the glass towards the end, but still didn’t do much for me. It is going to have to take an amazing bottle of chardonnay to get me back into that grape…

2003 Linne Calado 'The Contrarian'

I enjoyed this more than the chardonnay. A stronger aroma, and better structure. Not much more to say…

1982 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage 'La Chapelle'

I drank this with my appetizer (terrine of duck foie gras). Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the wine. I tasted more earth than fruit, and it had a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. Board-O thought that this was an example of bottle variation, as the previous 82’s he’s had have been better.

1983 Chateau Lafite Rothschild

My contribution to the party. Smooth and silky, this was a very nice wine to accompany my rack of lamb. Board-O and Emilio both felt that the wine needed more time, but I thought it was showing quite well. My red wine of the night.

2002 Linne Calado 'The problem child'

After the two old French wines, this zin blend screamed “New World”. Very powerful, up-front fruit. I picked up a vanilla flavor which reminded me of Seghesio zins, for some reason. This also went well with the rack of lamb.

2001 Meulenhof Erdener Pralat Auslese

Emilio’s first taste of the wine showed that it needed to be chilled a bit more, so after a few minutes in the ice bucket this wine was brought back out. As Emilio stated, huge taste of apple; I detected no grapefruit or citrus flavor at all. Excellent structure and acidity, very crisp; after the 2002’s I’ve tasted I realize why 2001 has such an excellent reputation. The finish was amazing. This was my white wine of the night.


NV R.L. Buller & Son Fine Muscat

This dark, rich wine gave off wonderful aromas and flavor of… surprise!... honey and raisins (don’t you love reading multiple identical tasting notes?). While it reminded Emilio and Jcocktosten of bourbon, I thought it tasted like cognac, without the harshness of the high-alcohol.


A very pleasant evening with excellent company. I am looking forward to another offline soon.

Sounds like a great evening. I hope Board-O is behaving himself.

Quote:

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1982 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage 'La Chapelle'

I drank this with my appetizer (terrine of duck foie gras). Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the wine. I tasted more earth than fruit, and it had a slightly unpleasant aftertaste. Board-O thought that this was an example of bottle variation, as the previous 82’s he’s had have been better.

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Board O brought a bottle of this out to Oregon last summer and it was magnificent.

HEY! I was a perfect gentleman. Rothko, note Duke Riley's comment- and that was a 750, not a mag like last night.

It was another great wine dinner in Florida. Thanks to Rothko for picking a real winner. The food, ambience, service, and company were all magnificent. This is a truly great restaurant, but I'm sure glad we didn't have to buy any wine off the wine list.

Sounds like a fun night.

board-o hasn't been wondering around the beach in his thong again, has he?

Oh lord, I hope not!

AI - wondering or wandering???? There's a BIG difference.

d'oh

This has been a major wine week down here. Almost every place I've called allows corkage. I brought the reds down with me and bought some 2001 Frank Family Chardonnay. Tonight, we're going to our favorite bistro down here and I'm bringing a 2001 Frank Family Chardonnay and a 2001 Hartford Court Highwire Zin. I'm going to have to pay for this week with two weeks of diligence at the gym. Our son gets married in two weeks.

Note for Rothko: I was talking with my wife about having a dinner at this place next time we come down here. The food is excellent. Palm Beach Post gave it the same food rating as Cafe L'Europe, but it's not fancy like Cafe L'Europe and might not be as luxurious event as we've become accustomed to. Think about it and we'll talk later. Whatever yoiu think is fine with me. We go there twice every trip, so we'll get there either way.

I'd love to try out that restaurant, Board-O. Let's set up another offline for the next time you are down.