Joseph Bembry  
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9423
 | | 11-19-2002 04:05 PM |
| Tonight, I'm meeting my buddy Pete for a little dinner. Thinking about bringing a '01 MP Sarah's Blend and a NV Sokol Blosser Evoution 6th Edition. What cha poppin' tonight?
jb | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts: 3980
| | 11-19-2002 04:15 PM |
| Since I'm hooking up with Revlis for dinner on Thursday night to enjoy a bottle of the '99 Ojai Pisoni PN (and swap a whole mess of other bottles) and having a BIG BOY tasting with seek1 on Saturday, I'm probably going to skip the other nights of the week.
That being said, I do have to get 'back in shape' after being ill for almost a week. Hmmmm..... | | | |
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Joseph Bembry
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9423
| | 11-19-2002 04:18 PM |
| Ahh, Thursday night celebratory dinner. Sounds great. Enjoy. BTW, Short, can you make dinner Fri w/ Rev and me at Triomphe in NYC. No corkage BYO set up courtesy of Frued. Shoot me an email.
jb | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts: 12580
| | 11-19-2002 04:23 PM |
| | Everybody post TNs for all these events. There is a lot going on with you people this weekend. | | | |
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JonesWineNo1
Sommelier
Posts: 8568
| | 11-19-2002 04:37 PM |
| | I am not sure. Probably going to open up one of my new arrivals - either the 99 Araujo Syrah or Eisele unless dinner requires a white. Maybe the 2000 Goldridge Pinot from Dehlinger. | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts: 4877
| | 11-19-2002 05:46 PM |
| | tonight it will be the 2000 chateau la tourette. i will be checking out the accuracy of suckling's 92-94 barrel sample. | | | |
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Bradley Molzen
VinoCellar.com Admin
Bayonne, NJ
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5054
| | 11-19-2002 05:52 PM |
| | I was thinking about trying out a Laughing Magpie. Bought a sixpack, would like to start gauging the drinking schedule on them. | | | If you drink wine, you get smarter.... | |
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Seek
Upstate NY
Wine Thief
Posts: 2772
| | 11-19-2002 06:03 PM |
| Since I am going to be doing some damage this weekend I have pretty much made up my mind to hold off until Saturday. Of course that is not set in stone  | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts: 3980
| | 11-19-2002 06:04 PM |
| Revlis -
Do the Magpie! I'm dying to see another insider's view of this wine.
I think it's even better than the Shiraz 9 (at least more in line with my taste preference). | | | |
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Bradley Molzen
VinoCellar.com Admin
Bayonne, NJ
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5054
| | 11-19-2002 06:16 PM |
| | Yea, I saw your notes... that's what made me want to try it. | | | If you drink wine, you get smarter.... | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts: 3980
| | 11-20-2002 03:26 PM |
| I'm ready for a glass (or bottle) of vino now.
I had it in my mind that I would enjoy at least a glass last night --- only to work until 9:30 (and get home at 10:30).
Tonight I'm definitely having some --- going to Il Mondo Vecchio for the first time (ojeffso - It's good, right?)
I'll post some abbreviated TN when possible. | | | |
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JonesWineNo1
Sommelier
Posts: 8568
| | 11-20-2002 04:11 PM |
| I landed a new restaurant client so I ended up going out to dinner (the Salon room at Beaucoup at the top of Nob Hill - the Salon opened yesterday detailed review to appear in the future). 2001 Fiddlehead Sauvignon Blanc was quite fine and a good value on a list with some head scratching prices ($300 for a bottle of Dunn Napa Valley Cab?). Some sweetness from alcohol not sugar coupled with restrained lime and grapefruit. A cheapie that was surprisingly good (83-5 points) was a 2000 Bishops Peak Syrah. The wine of the evening though was the 2000 Araujo Altagracia (having an impromptu dinner party on Saturday thus saving all the new Araujo releases for then other then this one of course) Cabernet Sauvignon. With about two hours in the decanter, the wine showed a lot of up front fruit and toasty prominent though pleasant new French oak. Rolland is already making his presence felt imo with this wine. While the wine was a little short on the finish it was still an excellent and exciting California Cabernet. 91+ points. Drink now to 2010. Parker did not taste the 2000 Altagracia although he rated the 99 as a 90 (he overrated it imo). He only rated the 2000 Eisele as a 90-93. Given the performance of the Altagracia, I believe his score on that wine is probably a little light.
Overall, I believe Parker's preliminary rating of the California 2000 Cabernet vintage is suspect. Oftentimes he tastes a number of vintages all at once. Tasting a typical 2001 and then tasting the 2000 version imo tends to lower the rating of the 2000 because the 2001 is just so unbelieveably fine. I myself believe I may have fallen prey to this phenomenon now that I have been tasting some 2000s that I had a year ago by themselves now. Some 2000s are quite good and worthy of cellar selection (2000 Jones is spectacular, 2000 regular Stag's Leap Wine Cellars is surprisingly good and I am seeing that wine for prices in the mid 30s, I liked the Fay as well just to give a few examples off the top of my head) | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts: 3980
| | 11-20-2002 06:32 PM |
| Well - I squeezed out at lunch time to hit Morrell's Wine Shop (unfortunately I didn't go to the Wine Bar!).
Morrell's actually has a pretty good selection of splits, albeit expensive.
I settled on a 1999 Etude Pinot Noir (for $25). I'm looking forward to it. | | | |
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Joseph Bembry
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9423
| | 11-20-2002 06:56 PM |
| Actually, last night my buddy brought the wines (rare, but he wanted to). He did a nice job. We had:
'01 Yalumba Viognier
'00 Mulderbosch Faithful Hound
'00 Covey Run Late Harvest Riesling (Didn't like this one)
TN's are in proper place for the Yalumba and Mulderbosch.
Mrs. jb is back in town, so tonight I may open some '01 Melville Estate Chard or '00 M. Colin Puligny Montrachet La Garenne (WS94).
jb | | | |
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Joseph Bembry
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9423
| | 11-21-2002 06:40 AM |
| Went with the '01 MP Sarah's Blend tonight. TN in proper place.
jb | | | |
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stemor
Collierville, TN
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5564
| | 11-21-2002 06:40 AM |
| Well, just your typical night in Memphis.
Armmar and ojeffso showed up at my office at 3:00, talked for a while, then headed for the restaurant. Met up with a co-worker and Latour67. Had dinner and wine. After dinner, went to Latour's house and had some more wine.
That's pretty much it.
Oh, the wines.
1) 2000 Cap de Faugeres (ojeffso)
2) 1998 Lengs & Cooter Shiraz (ojeffso)
3) 1994 Ridge Montebello (stemor)
4) 1990 Chateau Clinet (latour)
5) 2000 Spring Valley Uriah (stemor)
Chris, our waiter/sommelier/overall great guy was beside himself with the wines, because we were pouring him a decent glass of each bottle. And it was good.
Then, back to Latour's house. After much discussion and a thorough tour of the Ch. Latour67 catacombs, we settled upon:
6) 1992 Leoville Las Cases
7) 1998 Antinori Tignanello
8) 2000 Inniskillin Riesling Ice Wine -- Okanagan Dark Horse Estate (SENT BY MISHY, via stemor, thru the Seattle Soiree. Thank you, Mishy!)
So, it was a pretty good night.
| | | Cheers, y'all | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts: 12580
| | 11-21-2002 01:44 PM |
| Not a bad line-up @ all.
Stemor: Ridge M.B. is 1 of my all-time favs. Do you have a lot of them?
How was the '94. I had that about a year ago. "WOW".
I think that for the $$$ (on futures), hard to beat it. | | | |
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stemor
Collierville, TN
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5564
| | 11-21-2002 05:08 PM |
| The '94 Ridge was one of only two that I had. I bought them last fall at a local wine shop (talked the guy down to $75/each for his two bottles). I've been eager to open them ever since. Last night, what with Jeff and Charles (Latour67) Mathis at dinner, it seemed like the right kind of people to open it for.
It was awesome -- perfect cork, no sediment, black as night. It looked very young and took two hours of decanting in a magnum decanter (to maximize surface area) very well. It was just starting to fully open when we finished it off.
The '90 Clinet was ranked higher by the group, but the Ridge made a respectable showing. | | | Cheers, y'all | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts: 12580
| | 11-21-2002 05:12 PM |
| | I have a lot of Ridge, but only had 2 or 3 so far. Want to give it time. These need time. But, every time it is a "WOW". | | | |
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ojeffso
warren, new jersey
Wine Lover
Posts: 4877
| | 11-21-2002 11:25 PM |
| | stemor-the lengs and cooter was the 98 reserve. the ridge montebello was excellent, a 94 point wine imo. the 90 clinet was outstanding, just more complexity than the ridge, a 96 point wine imo. the only wine that was lacking was 92 leoville las cases, but we drank it right away. | | | |
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