Just caught wind of the fact that Otis will be in the UK at the end of Feb. Given that I just attended a great Burgundy '02 tasting with Cbmac, how about a mini-tasting?

Otis - you will be shocked to learn that you have been to my younger brother's house on at least one occasion for a forum tasting. We look alike too.

Cb - how about it? London or Cambridge? I have loads of space if you want to bring the family and stay over and am very easy to get to from Cambridge off the M11 then North Circular. We regularly sleep 12 (we're 5) here.

Any other takers? We can discuss and agree themes later.

Goo goo ga joo

[This message was edited by BirDungy on Feb 15, 2004 at 01:13 PM.]

BirDungy/cbmac:

Thank you for the invitation. It would be an absolute pleasure to crack a few bottles with you fine gentlemen!

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be in London Feb 27-29. Leaving on March 1st. So we could do it that Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

My wife is joining me for the weekend, so put us down for two.

I would be happy to bring a couple interesting bottles from the USA. Just pick your poison (pinot, cab, syrah, zin, chard, California, Oregon, Washington, etc...). Hopefully, I won't bring a corked bottle this time (still sorry 'bout that, cbmac).

Once we get down to the final details, my email is m.boersma@comcast.net. And I'm dying to know who your bro' is, BirDungy!

Very stoked!

Cheers,

Otis

Otis

Thanks for responding. Sounds like the start of a plan. I'll ping cb by email to see if he's in too.

I am thinking that the Saturday would be best as there is a medium chance that I'll be in NYC during that week and only coming back to LN on Sat morning.

Do you favour coming round to my house for dinner/tasting or do you want to dine out? I am a reasonably good cook and normally cook to match with the wines being served.

Let me know.

BirD

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

BirDungy,

My wife and I would be delighted to come over for dinner. Very kind of you to offer!

Based upon the clues you have provided (your new tag line, spelling "favour" in the English/Canadian way, and the finite number of forumites' houses I have visited), I can only deduce that you are a folically-challenged Habs fan like your little brother...grossie. (This feels a bit like "What's my Line")!

Is there a Clark Dog in London?

Looking forward to meeting you.

Cheers,

Otis

Otis

I think the fact that I changed the signoff quote specifically for the last message may have been a bit of a giveaway, although possibly subliminal. We are/were big MP fans. Very well done.

No, there are no Clark dogs in London but there's nothing quite like a F.E.B to nuke a hangover.

Looking forward to talking to cbmac about this too. Even if he's not in, it would be great to meet you, feed you and get you drunk at my place.

BirD

p.s. Mrs. B doesn't quite know yet that I've arranged this yet but don't foresee this being a problem. She's not into tasting quite like I am (which allows me to accumulate far quicker than I consume) but can keep up with the best.

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

What's he talking about "folically-challenged"?

Go habs go.

********
Yes, but I came here for an argument.

Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse.

nah nah nah na, nah nah na nah, hey ey ey ey goodbye...


nah nah nah na, nah nah na nah, hey ey ey ey goodbye...

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

A habs fan in the UK?? You got to like it!

Oakville

Most Habs fans live in Toronto... so why are you surprised?

Go Habs Go!

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

I'm impressed that Grossie was able to keep this little secret for so long. I will say though that I was able to figure it out after reading the first post in this thread. Grossie has often talked about his Brother in London and his affinity for wine.

BirDungy- You must also be one of the older Brothers who bullied Grossie and gave him such a complex.

VM

HABS BLOW!

Sorry, don't mean to hijack this thread but couldn't resist.

I think I can make it on the weekend of 27th-29th Feb. I seem to be driving up and down the M-11 on a fairly regular basis these days anyway.

At the moment I think I can bring: a 1996 Lafon Rochet, a 2002 Franken Riesling Auslese and a 1986 Ducru Beaucaillou.

Steve8 - you must have meant to have added 'hot and cold' between the Habs and blow.

Go Habs go!

Vino

Yes, I am the responsible party for having bullied grossie into liking wine so much. Don't you feel so terrible for him? Just look at the horrific impact I've had on his bank balance.

His other brother likes white zin. 'nough said.

cb - can't wait! Are you going to bring your other half? How about stay vs. go? Email me to let me know what you want to do. I'll think about wines given your suggestions.
The '86 Ducru sounds absolutely fantastical!!!!

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

Otis and cb

cb has suggested some very interesting wines to bring along so I'll lay out my thoughts here. I'm thinking of some (depending on numbers, 3??)of the following:

'75 La Lagune
'78 Mouton (last bottle - needs drinking)
'85 Pavillon Rouge or Carruades de Lafite
'86 Pape Clement
'88 D'Issan or Langoa Barton
'89 Cantermerle or Langoa Barton (haven't opened the case yet)
'90 Clos de Marquis
'94 Troplong Mondot or Lagrange (St J)

I also wanted to try some Italians and was thinking of:

'97 Tignanello or Montiano (Falesco)
'95 Sammarco Castello di Rampolla
or
'97 Bricco del Uccellone - Braida but depends on whether VinoMe ever posts his TN and then whether its drinking.

It would be good to get something white out too. How about:

'94 Guiraud (too young?)
'89 Guiraud
'88 Coutet or Filhot

What sayest you?

BirD

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

Given that I have been updating this and things have moved on, I'm going to start a new topic about this event so that we can keep track of updates more easily. I'll link back to here.

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

Decided against opening a new post for this. Never mind me.

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

All your possible suggestions sound excellent. If it were me, I might pick the '86 Pape Clement (to pair against the '86 Ducru) and the '90 Clos du Marquis (just to drink a top second wine from a great year). A white might be a nice third.

But on the other hand, i never drink Italians and need educating.

The 2002 Brennfleck Riesling Auslese was given to me as a present from one of the owners of the winery. It is from one of the best vineyards in Franken, the Eschendorfer Lump, but I have not tried any of this particular winery's Riesling offerings.

It will be interesting to pair against the Gunderloch that Otis said he might bring.

birDungy/cbmac,

All of these choices sound fantastic. I'd be happy trying any of them!

I'm traveling in Asia until Feb 3rd, so I'll pick out my bottles when I get back. For sure, I'll bring the 2002 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rotheberg Spatlese, per previous discussion with cbmac. Since I am somewhat thin on aged Bordeaux, maybe I'll also bring an interesting Cali Cab or Italian to fit the lineup.

Looking forward to it!

Cheers,

Otis

BirDungy/cbmac:

I'm assuming all systems are still "go" for Saturday, Feb 28th. Looking forward to it!

As mentioned previously, I'll bring the '02 Gunderloch NR Spatlese. I'd like to bring a Cali cab to mix in with the tasty Bordeauxs you guys have selected. Do either of you have a preference for one of the following cabs/blends?

1994 Mt. Veeder Reserve (made from all five Bordeaux grapes)

1997 Schweiger Cab (100% Cab from Spring Mountain district of Napa)

1999 Justin Isosceles (Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc - from Central Coast. A forum favorite)

2001 Neal Cab Sauv (see one of the dozen threads about this one)

I'll also try to fit an Ice Wine from BirDungy's "home and native land" into the suitcase, so BirDungy can express his "true patriot love in all thy son's command".

BirD: please email at m.boersma@comcast.net with particulars. FYI. We're staying in Knightsbridge.

Cheers,

Otis

I'm sure you've got everyone who hasn't been following this sibling saga, and who doesn't understand the significance of the 49th parallel, confused...

BirD, I was always sorry that we missed each other when we tried to offline in London last year (or earlier?), but now that I know you're a hoser, evven more so. I hope we'll get the chance to try again some time....

snow sucks, cold is worse.......

Otis

I'm sending you and Cb an email with details for the night including directions. Mrs. B is cool with this (just got official sign-off) and I'm looking forward to it.

In terms of what to bring/serve, I would love to try the Reislings (the Franken sounds great cb an who would pass up on a chance to sample the legendary Gunderloch wines? BTW, I am a complete German wine novice so appreciate the opportunity).

In terms of other wines, it'll be hard to find a common thread other than they're good wines. So, let's call this the London good wine off-line.

Otis - I'd be happy to try anything you recommend but like my bro', I am very partial to more aged wines. So, you decide. I'll cook something suitably match-worthy (anyone have a problem with duck?)

Cb - are you going to want to stay over?

Looking forward to it!

Last call for other LN forumites...

BirD

I came here for a good argument!

AH, no you didn't, you came here for an argument!

BirD:

Most excellent! Once again, thanks for your kind invitation to assemble, dine and guzzle at your home. Looking forward to meeting you and Mrs. BirD, as well as seeing cbmac again.

Since you like aged wines, I've decided to bring one of the oldest wines in my cellar, a 1990 Joseph Phelps Insignia. It's a Bordeaux-style blend from Napa - so it should be an interesting comparison with the bottles you've picked out.

I'll also bring the '02 Gunderloch NR Spatlese, and a Niagara Ice Wine from my recent trip through the region.

See you soon!

Cheers,

Otis

I got the email. I'll bring:

1986 Ducru Beaucaillou
2001 Brennfleck Eschendorfer Lump Riesling Auslese (Franken); this was a present from a member of the owner's family
1996 Lafon Rochet
A little Cambridgeshire farmhouse cheese

With all this wine we're each planning to bring, it would be great if other people could make it!

Carl

PS: You might want to change the date in the title of this thread to 28 February.

Well, we had a fun little tasting last night. Here are the notes.

Thanks again BirDungy (& Mrs) for hosting - everything was fabulous.