saut 
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1396
 | | 06-29-2009 02:46 AM |
| Waiting with baited breath... | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-29-2009 10:25 AM |
| it was really good :) | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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tanglenet
Oakland, California
Wine Drinker
Posts: 4171
| | 06-29-2009 12:49 PM |
| As far as I can tell, everything went smooth. Seemed well attended with lots of great producers there.
The only thing I didn't understand was the motorcycle cop roaring around the building towards the end of the show. Since the building is on a pier over the water, his riding ability must have been pretty good as he only had about 5' of space to navigate. Saw several cops outside towards closing. Probably to keep heavy drinkers from driving? | | TN posted on Cellartracker"
I drink no more than a sponge." François Rabelais
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-29-2009 01:21 PM |
| Tangle - the motorcycle cop was just rousing people to clear the area - seemed to work pretty good :). We definitely had much more of a police presence this year, with them being more aggressive at closing than last year (a good thing for us, as we are always eager to clear people out once the tasting is over, which is always a challenge). I think their motivation was just to keep order with a crowd this size, with the drinking that goes on.
I understand there were two arrests also - one idiot was staggering to his car, got in to drive off - the cop told him he could not drive, so this genius responded that he sure could! To which the cop responded by arresting him for DUI. Brilliant. | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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tanglenet
Oakland, California
Wine Drinker
Posts: 4171
| | 06-29-2009 01:26 PM |
| Eric any info on the event? I was talking to Craig from Sojourn, and he mentioned that the # of wineries and attendees were both up. If so, that's great news! | | TN posted on Cellartracker"
I drink no more than a sponge." François Rabelais
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-29-2009 02:02 PM |
| No final numbers yet, but yes - both were up from previous years. I'm guessing we had about 3500 in attendance.
A reflection of the economy: our ticket sales were great (at $50 bucks, I think people recognize this as one hellova value), but our auction did poorly, with many lots not even getting the opening bid. | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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Pete
Left Coast
Wine Bottler
Posts: 3358
| | 06-29-2009 07:34 PM |
| Every day is a Pinot day..... | | | I am having an out-of-money experience | |
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R8der
Livermore, CA
Wine Thief
Posts: 2505
| | 06-29-2009 07:43 PM |
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Posted By Pete on 06-29-2009 07:34 PM
Every day is a Pinot day.....
Word! | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-29-2009 09:09 PM |
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Posted By R8der on 06-29-2009 07:43 PM
Posted By Pete on 06-29-2009 07:34 PM
Every day is a Pinot day.....
Word!
but rare is the day you can taste over 500 pinots in one place... | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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Winetex
Austin, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12844
| | 06-29-2009 09:32 PM |
| Hence the taxi line outside! :) | | | |
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R8der
Livermore, CA
Wine Thief
Posts: 2505
| | 06-30-2009 02:36 AM |
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Posted By Eric White on 06-29-2009 09:09 PM
Posted By R8der on 06-29-2009 07:43 PM
Posted By Pete on 06-29-2009 07:34 PM
Every day is a Pinot day.....
Word!
but rare is the day you can taste over 500 pinots in one place...
I'll make it there some day....but I'm really not big on crowds. Hearing that you had 3500 kinda scares me off.....and I could never drink 50 wines in one day much less 500. Congrats on the great turnout though! Chris
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tanglenet
Oakland, California
Wine Drinker
Posts: 4171
| | 06-30-2009 09:58 AM |
| I discovered a "new" winery (for me): Failla. Owner and winemaker is Ehren Jordan. I only tried the Keefer Ranch but I preferred it over the 06 Freeman Keefer, the 07 Keefer (their own label) and the 07 Siduri Keefer blind. Really good juice. | | TN posted on Cellartracker"
I drink no more than a sponge." François Rabelais
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-30-2009 10:27 AM |
| Tanglenet, I still have some '00 & '01 Failla Keefer, we will have to find a time to crack them open and you can see how these develop :). Failla is the winery that turned me on to Keefer years ago. | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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tanglenet
Oakland, California
Wine Drinker
Posts: 4171
| | 06-30-2009 11:50 AM |
| Cool! | | TN posted on Cellartracker"
I drink no more than a sponge." François Rabelais
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-30-2009 01:04 PM |
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Posted By R8der on 06-30-2009 02:36 AM
I'll make it there some day....but I'm really not big on crowds. Hearing that you had 3500 kinda scares me off.....and I could never drink 50 wines in one day much less 500. Congrats on the great turnout though! Chris
I hear ya Chris, and I'm right there with ya, I'm not fond of crowds either. That said, if I do say so, I think we've got the layout down pretty well to allow for smooth traffic flow and avoid a feeling of being crowded in. We emphasize wide, open isles, and plenty of room for people to get out of the flow.
In any case, you of all people need to make it to this event! | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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Winetex
Austin, TX
Master of Wine
Posts: 12844
| | 06-30-2009 02:07 PM |
| Congrats on an event well done!
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JimmyV
Central Connecticut
Wine Connoisseur
Posts: 5701
| | 06-30-2009 08:30 PM |
| When are you taking the show on the road to NYC? Put me down as a "pourer" for a winery that needs an extra hand. I'm sure Ed Kurtzman or Michael Browne could use some extra help! (Of course, if you'd rather have me as a paying customer, that could be arranged as well! | | | Beta testing a new signature. | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts: 9963
| | 06-30-2009 09:04 PM |
| Jimmy, we're talking about it. We took it on the road to NYC a couple years ago, and lost our shirts, but we may have some other venues available to us that would make it a possibility again.
Meantime, Pinot Days Chicago is still on for Nov.  | | | Pinot Noir: It helps build strong bones. | |
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Randy Wigginton
Master of Wine
Posts: 11566
| | 07-01-2009 09:15 PM |
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Posted By R8der on 06-30-2009 02:36 AM
I'll make it there some day....but I'm really not big on crowds. Hearing that you had 3500 kinda scares me off.....and I could never drink 50 wines in one day much less 500. Congrats on the great turnout though! Chris
Chris, give me a break! I think we had 50 wines at the last Pinot-fest friday night dinner!
And 50 wines is about average for a DavidN event  | | | |
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saut
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1396
| | 07-02-2009 11:25 PM |
| So is anyone going to talk about the wines? Any great finds besides Failla? Or are the best wines a secret until everyone can get on the mailing lists? Where are the tasters? | | | |
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