On Sunday night, December 28, Vitis Vinifera returned to his old hometown of Denver, and joined us for a wine tasting (we had to fit the tasting in between Avalanche games on Saturday and Monday). Even though BYOW is illegal in Colorado, Free The Grapes arranged for a BYOW dinner at a restaurant in Cherry Creek. This was the second annual visit of Vitis during the holiday season in what we hope will continue to be an annual event, if not more often.
Our other special guests for the evening were jonnlisa (both of them) who drove down from their winter home in Breckenridge.
Also joining in this dinner were Free The Grapes and wife, thetwood, benthewineberg and wife, Mrs. mbansek, Vitis’ father Bob, and davidandrose (both of them). A great time was had by all, with impeccable service from Nathan in the private dining room upstairs. We believe Nathan would even allow us to come back in the future, since he received tastes of all of the wines, and a tip that probably exceeded the price on the two most expensive bottles we tasted that night!
The wines tasted were:
2002 Vino con Brio Viognier 1999 Inniskillin Reserve Meritage 2000 Chateau Vieux Paquillon Montagne Saint-Emilion 1997 Robert Sinskey Meritage2001 Behrens & Hitchcock Petite Sirah 2000 Chateau Canevault Fronsac 2000 Sine Qua Non Incognito 2000 Patrick Lesec Selections Rubis CnP
1999 Shafer Hillside Select 1990 Dalla Valle 1989 Gruaud-Larose St. Julien (from magnum) 1995 Monbousquet
2001 Vino con Brio Sangiovese
Not tasted blind. Unfortunately, as the night went on, the notes became sparse. For this wine, I wrote down exactly nothing. I will have to pull a bottle from the cellar at a later time.
2001 Vino con Brio Matzin Late Harvest Zinfandel
Not tasted blind. Once again, I have no notes on this one. I believe Vitis mentioned that this one may be in some bottle shock too, but I am not sure. I do remember enjoying this, but the Dow and the Buller outshone it. Another one I will have to pull from the cellar at a later date.
1994 Dow Vintage PortNV Buller Calliope
Not much, if any, wine was left over at the end of the night. The meal and tasting lasted somewhere between four and five hours, all of it enjoyable. We look forward to the future returns of Vitis and jonnlisa, and hope that anyone else visiting Denver gives us a shout to get together to taste more wine.
Mike