Do tell....

What were the special bottles opened? Anything good? Anything bad? I, unfortunately, had a quiet holiday. Mrs. Drab had to work late, and I stayed home with baby Drab.

Hope some of you had a more wine filled evening than I!

-DRAB

So much wine.....so little time!!!

99 maya , big nose, huge body , dark fruit and firm rugged tannins pencil lead too taninic and young to be open , finish lasted long time

96 heitz marthas . typical mint chocolate, med bodied , fruit forward , moderate midpalate midium finish mdium length , nice tannins though concentrated and well balanced

1990 Perrier-Jouët Brut Champagne Fleur de Champagne Belle Epoque
big nose , huge fruity nutty body and structure , one of the best classic champagens i have ever had

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Viader 99

Aroma of mint and eucalyptus amidst black cherry.

Fairly tannic with blackberry and black currant, and clay. Has acid to last, is medium to full bodied, but tannin wall that shuts down the midpalate.

More giving 1 year ago than today. This needs to sit and see what develops. 1 year ago -92pts now 89-90+ pts. Wait several years.

99 Finca Villacreces Ribera del Duero Crianza.
Dark purple, closed, but was able to coax out the nose of beautiful chocolate and vanilla with some dark berry. Closed palate, only a little fruit comes out. Slight burn on the finish. I think this is an upper 80s wine if you like the style, but it's too young and not giving much.

There's a lot of love in the room tonight.

Since I've been dropping mailing lists left and right I've been weeding through some of the new acquisitions to see if they warrant further buying. I thought my wife and I would try the 1999 Kuleto Estate Cab and see if it stacked up.

Given that this the first Cab from Kuleto Estate, I was not expecting nearly as much as this wine subsequently offered. Its dark purple color complements the deep rich nose and palate, composed of wonderfully lavish fruits. The black currant, blueberry and plum are infused with beautifully elegant oak, sweet chocolate, pencil shavings and vanilla. The wine is very sweet as it passes over the palate without a bit of austerity or hard edges. The sweetness is not too much though, as it is tempered by the wine's great elegance and complexity. Excellent effort which drinks beautifully now.

93 points.

-Brett

A special bottle for us, at CAD$40+, we had 1997 Peter Lehmann The Mentor, with rach and leg of lamb and grilled beef filet. Yummer!

Friday was Valentines day without the kids and on Saturday we went to my parents house to celebrate their anniversary. All said and done, 1 bottle Bollinger Cuvee (Friday night), 1 bottle Varnier-Fanniere Brut Cuvee (Saturday afternoon) 1988 Heidseick Monopole Diamante Rose (Saturday afternoon), 1989 Chat. Gaffelerie, 1991 Silver Oak Alexander C.S., and a 1993 Burgandy from Nuits St. Georges (Can't remember the producer)

Sparkling notes (from memory). Bollinger: always good, very consistent, well balanced acid, fruit, some yeast/bread dough, creamier styled with lost of fizz OJ score-93. V-F: a little to acidic, with too much green apple with a twist of tart grapefruit (not overpowering but more than I had remembered, maybe it was too cold?) Top notch tiny bubbles. OJ score-91. 1988 H&M Diamante: getting tired, (had one about 6 months earlier), flavors of butterscotch and toasted almond slowly developed, very well balanced with a smooth caramel mouth feel, good nose with a hint of tar, color was slightly dark for a rose pinkish with a light caramel hue. OJ score-93.

Still wine notes (from memory) all three opened about 6 p.m. ate dinner at 7:30. 1989 Gaffelerie: getting old, color fading to (almost brownish) the edge. Nose of average Bordeaux, time allowed this to open up nicely, mellow flavors of chocolate, earth, soft black cherry started to show, went excellent with the filet. Overall unimpressed ( I think I was expecting more)great year but average bottle. OJ score-87. 1991 Silver Oak Alex. Valley: nice big red color, big nose of black fruit and typical big style CaliCabs, same with the tastes of soft cola and black cherry too big in your face here I am, good tannin integration, the more air this wine received, the softer (almost fading) it became. Not very good with the meal, more of a stand alone drinker. OJ score-89-91. 1993 Nuits St. Georges: nice red color with a hint of purple, slow developing nose of bacon fat, soft earth with a touch of vanilla and red cherries, excellent developing mouth feel of velvety tannins, subtle flavors with great structure and balance, the best wine with the meal, continued to develop complexities. OJ score 92.

Overall, a great weekend.
Now back to reality.

<Edited to correct cut & paste errors>
If loving the Buckeyes is wrong....I don't want to be right.

99 Merryvale Profile-Huge amounts of raspberry and tart cherry. Still very young and needs 5+ years to smooth out. The tannins made me pucker.
The 93 by WS may be a tad high, i'd give an 89-90.

"We can share the women, we can share the wine."

Laurent Perrier Brut and Pinky.

I got told to get a pink 'un so I got a pink 'un. A little too heavy on the strawberry milk-shake for me but not an unpleasant fizzy pink thing. I've had much better vintage champers for the same sort of money.

My thumbs have gone weird.

We had the 2001 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. Wonderful, delicious wine. I'll post tasting notes separately when I get a chance, but I'd say it's a good 92 point wine and fabulous QPR at just $15/btl.

mmmmmmm.

Long legs, voluptuous body, very smooth with a nice long finish. I had to keep coming back for more.

Unfortunately, I left my wine at home.

[This message was edited by stemor on Feb 17, 2003 at 02:08 PM.]

N/V Charles Ellner Brut Rose' Champagne- 94 points
1999 Talley Pinot Noir Rincon Vineyards- 91 points

I posted TN's on each of these.

VM

Had planned on busting out a '99 CSJ Cinq Cepages and a '98 Chateau de la Gardine CDP, but the wife didn't get back into town until 8:30 Friday night!

Had to make due with some CSM Canoe Ridge '99 Cab.... which wasn't too bad, but it ain't CSJ...

RRV

What you must realize is that there is no spoon...

Had the Queen's favorite cab franc from Pride, '98 vintage. Plus a freakin' corked bottle of 1996 Trilogy, which was my last.

Cheers!
And remember: Life's too short to drink bad wine.

1988 Dom Perignon. After 15 min. it was glorious. The wife was swooning. OOOh Lala!

Ciao

Enoselsa

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese"

Wife and I ended up going w/ the 1997 Raymond Generations. Definitely ready to drink; soft and smooth... nice fruit and decent finish. She loved it. Had with heavily marinated steak and mac n' cheese!!

LJ

God gave us things on this earth to enjoy. Do not abuse them, and do not allow them consume you.

97 Mondavi Stags Leap District. Had this with grilled tenderloins served with roasted wild mushrooms, stuffed bakers and asparagus. The wine was decanted for about two hours, and during this times the tannins softened nicely, it was a medium to full bodied wine, still nicely fruity and very smooth. It went very well with the meal!

'99 Viader
'00 Two Hands shiraz
'99 Shafer relentless
'99 Crocker & Starr cuvee
'01 Chalone pinot blanc

all were incredible

------------------------------

Just because you are a character does not mean that you have character.

TBird-

It has been almost painful keeping my hands off of my bottles of relentless!!!!!!

RRV

What you must realize is that there is no spoon...

On a mini-vacation to Hilton Head Island:

'99 Raymond Reserve Chard - Very nice apricot, orange zest, sweet oak. Also nicely priced at $14 retail. 90 pts.

'99 Gallo of Sonoma Chard - Still a great CA chard for $11. 89 pts.

'99 Etude PN - had this at two different restaurants - $76 and $48 respectively. Deeply concentrated ruby/violet color, classic CA PN notes of briar, cherry, cola, oak. Very nicely done - 91 pts. (92 pts. @ $48 ).

'99 King Estate PN - Oregon PN done well enough as usual. Clear, mid-depth ruby coloration, just a little light on the finish but still nice. 85-86 pts. $37 @ the restaurant (same one that charged $76 for the Etude ).

'96 Truchard Merlot - Deep, supple, smooth, oaky, chocolaty, curranty, yummy. 91 pts. $36 retail and still a good supply left for April's trip.

'99 Chehalem PN - Didn't see the vineyard designation so I'll apologize upfront. Deeply extracted colors, tight flavors right now show some promising intensity. Should be fantastic in a couple years. 89 pts. and rising. $58 at the restaurant.

'01 Garrettson Viognier - Deep golden color, sweet apple, orange blossom, and a slight petrol hint. Good acidity and balance, mid-length finish. Didn't get the (restaurant) price, but I'd go 86-87 pts.

'00 Pouilly Fuisse "Domaine Pouilly" but didn't get the producer. Clean, pure clarity and citrus fruits, minerally-oaky finish, nice. $35 at the restaurant, 86 pts.

Also managed to come back w/a couple '96 Truchard Merlot and a '96 Deloach OFS Cab, and spied an extensive stash of '96 Penfold's Bin 707. Some great wine shops on HHI.

...hey, chief - you gonna finish that bottle?

1994 solaia. man, this is why i love super tuscan. gorgeous aromas of cherry and berry with the unique earth of tuscany that cal cabs don't provide. at $190 in a ristorante, not too bad considering that release was $99, i've seen much worse markups. and dame frankie is definitely worth every drop. she was worried that we wouldn't finish the bottle..........HA. never fear, not a drop was wasted.

Bah Humbug! (or the Valentine equivalent)

We went to a show and were going to meet some people afterwards for port and dessert. However, we ended up with a flat tire in a raging snowstorm and missed the party altogether.

So much for amore....

In defense of wine, recall that everything depends on who drinks it, its quality and on the company. Once these conditions are favorable, you might ask: “Who drinks wine, if not a sage?” Omar Khayyam