Well, I really like wiml's suggestion... any other ideas or opinions? I KNOW there are many opinions out there... I'm disappointed they aren't being posted. This dinner is for all you guys who make Vinocellar. Let's hear it!

Seriously... this is your chance before it's too late in the game!

The way I look at a dinner like this Brad is you have four basic choices:

1. A free for all (not feasible when planning a menu).
2. A flighted dinner by table like I proposed (easiest option to plan versus least amount of cost for wine - all donated).
3. Same flights across all tables via a wine swap like Board-O mentioned (very cool, minimal amount of cost but more planning involved from a swapping standpoint between all available cellars).
4. Same flights across all tables via a combination of donations and purchases (easiest option overall but most costly in a dollar standpoint in my point of view).

I'm predjudice but I'm very fond of 2 and 3 for a dinner like this. That way you get the opportunity to coordinate with the menu but everybody contributes from their cellars in some way. One of the biggest pleasures in a hobby like this is the ability to share your wine with others. It's personally gratifying.

BTW, a side benefit of what I proposed is I can almost guarantee you that everybody at a table will get at least 1 wine they'll love that night. Why? Because they brought it! If somebody else picks all of the wines for a group you run the risk somebody isn't going to be happy with the wines in the end. It does happen. Different people have different palates. Flighted by table minimizes that risk.

The Gospel according to Joe. Sermon over.

Why is option 4 more costly than option 3? One would think option 3, because it is inherently inexact, would be more costly than option 4.

Based on wiml's most excellent recap... and in my and JB's sincerest hope to put on a really great dinner/weekend.... where does everyone else's thoughts lie? Choose a number! And expand on it if you like... I'd really like to hear from more people.

Probably a poor choice of words. What has tended to happen in the past is people get tapped for out of pocket cash to cover the purchase of specific wines for the event (spent dollars tend to be more easily forgotten than pulling cash out of your wallet now in addition to other event costs). IMO that is a bit less gratifying than contributing your wine from your cellar for others to share (although much more convenient for people like me that have to travel to the event with less wine in tow). The inherent nature of swapping is less efficient n that regard. Somebody could end up swapping a $70.00 bottle for a $65.00 bottle. That's going to happen, basically no way to match up perfectly one for one. Especially since two people could pay differing amounts for the same wine.

I'm not sure I'll be able to make this since it is the weekend of the first round of the baseball playoffs and it looks like the A's have a good shot at making the playoffs (which couldn't be said two months ago when the A's were fighting for the first pick in the amateur draft).

However I'll put in my 2 cents just because I can.

1). I don't go to these dinners to taste as many wines as possible. I have little interest in the "free for alls" that some wine dinners can become. There would definitely be good wines but I'm not interested in having 15 wines at a dinner. That's what a tasting is for.

2). People going to these dinners have definite types of wine they favor. For instance you could have the Champagne Slut table (myself and winetex would head this up), the red wines only table (headed up by Anthony), and the TBird table (it has alcohol in it the bottle gets finished), and so on. (note the above has some sarcasm)

Thus I'd like to propose that the only thing the person setting this up does is organize the tables and sets the menu. Setting who gets to sit with whom could either be done with the participants help or the person in charge of the dinner could assign seats. Bill Manning has setup a couple of large dinners at ebob this way (the most famous being the Shafer Hillside Select dinner and also a Montelena dinner). An advantage of this lowers the amount of time the person in charge of the event has to spend on things. Once a table is full the table would then select the wines to bring for the dinner amongst themselves. These wines would not necessarily have to be shared among tables (but could be). The advantages here are that each person at the table will get a reasonable pour of each wine at the table. Each participant would be able to pull wines from their own cellar and food/wine matches could be done on what people at the tables like (see 2). above).

2

Very well-spoken, as always, skwid. I make a distinction between a dinner and a tasting. I've been to too many tastings with dinner and not enough wine dinners.

Agreed, Brad. This is a good discussion and I am open to all the ideas presented. My biggest concern right now is getting the total confirmed number. I'm not really concerned about the wines until we have a final number of attendees. I'd like to see how many people are attending. Jones? anthony? Board-O? skwid?

jb

Actually, I like the idea of each table setting up their own wines. Sounds like fun.

jb

i would love to commit or add my name to the maybe list but i want to wait until the wine supply issue is worked out. i am with joe. at least with his idea everyone is sure to be happy with at least one wine. actually if the table idea works out i am sure the tables can come up with a set of wines they all love.

I hope to be there with my wife, but I can't commit til about Labor Day. If that's too late, I guess we'll miss it.

I love skwid's idea (and I'm sorry to hear that you may not be going! --- I am ready for a vintage burgundy [red of course] tasting!).

I'm in favor of option 2 but will have a table preference, of course.

i wonder how we will go about setting up the tables.

i think people are getting way ahead of themselves. first we must see how many people will be attending. once we know the final count, the wines will be worked out. i see no problem with the wines. i see a big problem not knowing how many people will be attending.

I'm having trouble with committing due to other trips that are in the time frame along with moving to another city.

Right now please ink me in as attending solo. Alas moving out of town means we lose our babysitters.

I have no doubts that we can work out the wine situation. With all of our cellars little wine should be purchased for the event. I like the idea of a CSC table. That means the CSC must attend.

Unfortunately my October is already booked. I'm trying to get out to the East Coast in November however.