Either way probably works.

It's been pretty quiet on this thread so I hope there has been a lot of pre-event planning and driving because there is a distinct lack of pre-event taunting. I'm only a mile or so away so not much to do here. See you all there!

Yeah, I've been busy. I'm just waiting for Ali to finish making herself beautiful and logged on to see if anyone else had cancelled.

I say we just pop and pour - that way we minimise bottle variation.
I don't think sediment will be that big an issue.

I know Randy is decanting his Matches, but that's fine by me as he's doing all three of them.

Post mortem: PERFECTO! The woman Alison is hypothetically going to fix me up with sometime in the future is HOT!!!!!!!!!!

Lion and Compass is MY kind of place for this sort of event. They were inexperienced with the wine glasses but tried very hard, everything else was perfect.

As for the cabs, there was a flight of very good cabs, very interesting, and then there was a flight of OMFG wines. I was surprised and gratified to find out I agree with Rovani on Quilceda Creek. Also, being a Santa Cruz Mt. denizen, I was pleased but not surprised to find I am starting to understand Ridge Monte Bello on a three-dimensional level.

Bressler 2000 (not served tonight) was a very classy wine but mostly trappings, nothing dramatic with the fruit, and I dropped off the list. Well, the 2002 (served tonight) has all the trappings intact, but now it has the fruit to match, and it's darn near a perfect wine, and so pleasing yet elegant. Bravo!

The "extra" wines were ridiculously good, i confirmed I love Muller Catoir Burgergarten Spat, I confirmed I do not love anything Christoffel, I confirmed I love Sauterne(s?), and winetex has a killer palate for fairly obscure Champagne (and fortunately for TCA). A very well organized and smoothly run mega-event and I wouold be happy to attend an identical event with the exact same people with a different wine line-up. Rhone?

Pride Res Cab 2002 is a very confused young wine with a great future someday. Switchback is sheer extraction and not in the same class IMNSHO. Insignia screams California. Dunn HM 1990 was poured in two bottles, one OK I heard and the other quite oxidized, on Thursday it was a young racehorse chomping at the bit.

Leoville Barton 2003 started out classier than the Cal wines but after an hour the fruit of the Cal wines was simply better and the Bordeaux-ness of the Leoville was kind of been-there-done-that.

Our Nigerian cab driver who is grossly overqualified brought Schon and me to a hookah bar after the dinner. He correctly advised me to bring the next date I have to Santa Cruz. Leland thought I was just desperate. He doesn't understand the difference between high standards and abject groveling. Neither do I.

Well thanks for coming everyone! Ali and I had a great time.
I don't think I've ever attended an offline where there was so little wine left over!
Thankfully everyone showed up and there were 30 of us.

I pulled an extra Insignia from my cellar to ensure that we had three bottles.

The restaurant provided a couple of Piper Sonoma Blanc de Noirs.
In addition, Winetex had picked up some champagne - Bruno Michel 1996 I think - and Patrick Liu had some 1985 Heidsieck. Sadly one of the latter was badly corked; having tasted the first bottle and even I could tell

The hors d'oevres were really good, especially the tuna tartare which went very well with the bubbly.

Unfortunately we lost the score sheet for flight #1, but I'm pretty sure that Richard jotted them down so hopefully he can confirm the numbers.

The wines, in the order poured:
Ladera Lone Canyon (my #1)
Match
Bressler (My #2)
Jones
1990 Dunn Howell Mountain
Switchback Ridge (voted #1 overwhelmingly)

The Switchback was easily spotted as a Foley wine, it was thick and chocolatey. I can see why everyone liked it, it's just not my style.
A very peppery nose developed on the Ladera. It was spicy like a syrah or a zin. I liked it a lot and need to get some more! A couple of other people were surprised by how well it showed.
I've never been a big fan of Jones, but I thought this was the best I've had. Certainly has the structure for the long haul.
tlily nailed the Match recently; its bright sweet fruit make it a great "cocktail wine". Initially I really liked it, but as we went on tasting and the other wines opened up they showed more complexity. Still very good though.

Flight 2 (scored first/second)

Justin Isosceles Reserve 2/2
Pride Reserve Claret 9/8
Ridge Monte Bello 3/1
Quilceda Creek 3/4 (My #2)
Phelps Insignia 10/7 (My #1)
2003 Leoville-Barton 1/4

What a flight! Probably the best set of six I've ever tasted. Picking a favourite was very difficult indeed as the styles were all different.

I had the Justin and the Pride transposed. Both were a little sweet for my liking. On the first pass through I guessed the Ridge as Leoville Barton - but then got to #6. Is this bretty I asked? No replied Richard, it's French.

Clearly the Insignia and Pride were the favourites, but what a tough crowd.

The sauternes showed beautifully alongside the creme brulee, which did not as it had been brulee'd well in advance and had gone soft; that was the only low point for the whole meal for me.

Quote of the night:
Me: I wouldn't mind, but I've had this menu for three months and I still don't know what I want.
Waitress: Are you ready to order, or would you like another month?

I hope you all had as much fun as we did - see you next year!

Thanks to Dave Tong for superb organization. The evening was a treat from start to finish.

This was an offline that proved that flying across the country for wine is well worth it. And there is nothing like good Internet wine talk during my breakfast this morning...

The starter bubblies were better than nice: the 1985 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc de Millenaires (what a shame one was corked!) was very good and the 1992 Bruno Michel Champagne Cuvée Millesimee was good. These two champagnes were a yin/yang of champagnes: completely opposite styles and tastes but both good.

Then it was off into big cab time. The quality of the wines was extremely high so there were no losers in the flights.

Drafting off of Dave's notes here are my thoughts on Flight 1. I'll follow with some TNs but here are some brief impressions. And a brief disclaimer that I don't drink a lot of cabs so I had not tasted too many of these wines in the past nor follow the wineries, etc.

The wines, in the order poured:
Ladera Lone Canyon - nothing much going on for me with this one
Match -our table had a slightly off bottle; not a great showing
Bressler -Me likee, my clear #1 and I had no idea what it was
Jones -good but nothing distinctive
1990 Dunn Howell Mountain -DOA, it was much better Thursday night
Switchback Ridge (voted #1 overwhelmingly) - (My #2) Very good but very obvious, so Foley, smacks you in the face


Flight 2 (these wines changed a great deal from when they were poured)

Justin Isosceles Reserve -I thought this might be the Pride when poured but then it changed. For me it ended up with stewed prunes on the nose
Pride Reserve Claret - (My #1) I guess I liked this Foley. Complex and balanced.
Ridge Monte Bello -Started off with too much alcohol then developed a green streak; needs 100 years
Quilceda Creek - (My #2) blueberries, bacon, Different from the other wines and very good
Phelps Insignia - i thought this might be the LB at first but then both wines changed
2003 Leoville-Bartonit was a close call between the Insignia and the LB but after a while some pencil shavings came out

It was interesting how the individual bottles showed at each table. A result of the bottles or of the people tasting at each table? Both??

And the wines at the end: It is a good day in life when you can drink Sauternes out of a magnum (thanks Saut!) - the 1986 Raymond Lafon Sauternes was a winner. I didn't catch what the German wines were but the Muller Catoir was tasty.

It was good to meet some new people. Ya'll were a fun group.

*****************
Shannon

Great organizer + great location + great people + great food + great wine = GREAT TIME!

I also would like to thank Dave Tong and Alison for organizing this. And to thank the missing VC'ers who could not make it and sent bottles anyway. (Wow, you guys are the best!) And to Scottj and Winetex for traveling 1/2 way acros the country to attend.

We enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and meeting new ones. And of course, we enjoyed the wine too. We hope to see you all again!

Thanks!

I took some pictures and posted a link to them in the Post Event Fun area.

First of all... THANK YOU, Dave Tong for organizing such a wonderful, successful event. Just reading the thread one can see that it wasn't easy, but it came off without a hitch and I think all attendees were thrilled with the company, the wines, and the venue.

The Lion and Compass did a great job! What they lacked in atmosphere and experience they more than made up for in enthusiasm for service and the quality of the meal. It isn't easy pulling off 30+ meals on time and with high quality and the food was really, really good. Dare I say "excellent"? Sasha's lamb was superb!

The wines... Not a dog in the bunch.

First Flight:
I ranked the Switchback as "winner" and number 1 for the first flight but also noted that it was not so clear cut after the food started. Where does that unique fruit come from in the Switchback? Discounting the 1990 Dunn (which was tired after being open for a few days) most of the wines were quite similar and yet the Switchback had an extra "something" that was unique. In such a setting, I often score for the different wine. However, while I can understand the Switchback scores and enthusiasm, I would also find such a wine tiring in most settings. I chose my own wine as second. (Yes, I was pretty sure that it was mine too. In fact, I had all the wines pegged from the first flight except had the Jones and Bressler switched.) Once the food started, the Bressler and Jones excelled, probably because of additional varieties in the blend. The Ladera just wasn't ready, but ultimately could be the class of this bunch.

Second Flight:
Interesting. I was in the definite minority as I rated the Justin number 1. I really liked the minty, almost medicinal nose of this wine. I found it intriguing. Insignia was perfect as expected: My number 2. Quilceda Creek and Ridge kept changing positions for me. The Pride, like the earlier Foley wine -- Switchback -- was great but tiring and by this time such a fruit bomb got my 5th place vote. The Leoville just didn't interest me at all and was a DISTANT 6th place.

I enjoy this tasting format ONCE A YEAR but honestly, it does a disservice to all the wines. All were superb. However, each bottle does end up being wasted as it is more like seeing some sort of punt, pass, and kick competition between Super Bowl Champions. Everyone does well but each deserves a special, center-of-attention place at our tables.

Dave, thanks again for arranging this. Great wines, great food and great people. And Cal won (nice of you to arrange a TV in the bar).

Quote:

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And Cal won (nice of you to arrange a TV in the bar).

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UCLA alumnus sticks out tongue at you.

Eh, hopefully we can beat USC for you this weekend Winetex. I'll be opening up a nice bubbly to hopefully celebrate!

Sounds good. Go Cal!!

Quote:

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Second Flight:
Interesting. I was in the definite minority as I rated the Justin number 1. I really liked the minty, almost medicinal nose of this wine. I found it intriguing.

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I am not a fan of Justin.
"minty, almost medicinal nose"... you mean like toothpaste ?
So you smelled it. Did the stuff show up in the taste? Eucalyptus?

I think their wines are "rough". I've never had anything of theirs close to "smooth". Please don't use their wines, Randy, as a model for something you do.

If you do you had better watch out for TBird!

I kind of like eucalyptus in some wines but didn't care for the stewed prunes I smelled in that Justin once it warmed a bit. It started out OK but went off the cliff in a hurry.

While the first flight may have been an orchestra at full fortissimo the Switchback carried a baseball bat. The first thought that popped into my mind when I tasted the Bressler was "swanky".