Wow, what a great night! First of all, Green Gables Inn did it again. I am consistently blown away by the food here. I know TJ took detailed food notes, so I'll let him expand on the menu.

Now, the wines (Pinots) were all tasted blind from Riedel Som Burgundy stems. All wines were decanted for anywhere from 40 min to 2 hours of time.

NV Colin Deleger Cremant de Bourgogne-Creamy, dough and vanilla flavors. Very nice start to the night. jb Rating 89 pts.

'97 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay-My initial opinion on this one was incorrect. I felt it was not as striking a wine as the '98 and '99 versions. After I let it open up, it showed brilliant sweet cream, pear, butterscotch and carmel flavors. Fantastic finish. jb Rating 95

WINE A: '99 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge PN-Dark brick red to watery rim. Seems mature (wrong) Loads of black cherry and sage. Nice finish. jb Rating 92

WINE B: '00 Clos Pepe Santa Rita Hills PN-Nose is wonderfully perfumed, yet the palate didn't deliver as much. Others liked this more than I did. Still closed, but showing dried cherry, oak and mineral notes. Finish is shorter than A. jb Rating 89.

WINE C: '99 H. Lignier Morey St. Denis-This one was super tight. Just didn't show much of anything. Very dark pinot with some raspberry and oak, but very muted. Went back to this about 40 min. later and the flavors intensified and the finish increased. jb Rating 87

WINE D: '97 Kistler Kistler Vineyard PN-Now, we are in business! Beautifully perfumed nose of fresh cut flowers and cassis. Lovely blackberry, dark fruits and date. Tannins are still present, but in check with a lively long finish. jb Rating 93.

WINE E: '90 Arlaud Charmes Chambertin-This wine definitely seems older. Roses and spice on the nose. Dried cherry and cranberry notes w/ a hint of Band-aid (?) on the palate. Shortish finish, but still very good. jb Rating 89

WINE F: '99 Argyle Nuthouse PN-Very dark pinot. Highly extracted and sweet. A real departure from the other wines, but I liked it a lot. Black cherry, blackberry, oak and vanilla on steriods. Tannic and young. Long finish. jb Rating 91

WINE G: '96 Mommessin Clos de Tart-I think this is the Lignier. Definitely a Burgundian nose of roses. On the palate, I just wrote "nice" and "cherry and briar". TJ was distracting me. jb Rating 90.

WINE H: '97 Seghesio Barolo La Villa (ojeffso's ringer)-I didn't guess this as a non-pinot at the time, but now looking at my notes they differ from all the other wines. Nose of violets and crushed berries. Flavors of tea and tobacco. Blackberry laced strong finish. jb Rating 91.

WINE I: '99 Archery Summit Premier Cuvee-Nose of cherry and cranberry, seems more mature. Lighter in the mouth than most, but good fruit purity. Raspberry and cranberries in the mouth. Mild tannins. Somewhat tart finish, but I liked it. jb Rating 90.

WINE J: '96 Etude Carneros PN-Wow, my wine of the night. Wonderfully perfumed nose of plum and roses. Veluptuous mouthfeel, with blackberries, dark cherries, currant and kirsch all intermingling. Penetrating length. My guess is that this is the Arlaud. This is catching a wine at the perfect moment. jb Rating 95.

We also had a '00 Muscat Baumes de Venise from Coyeux. Very nice. No rating. ojeffso brought a dessert wine that I didn't try. ttepper broke out a '93 Echezaux at the end of the night, but I didn't catch the producers name. I remember only that it had good fruit, but needed decanting as the back end was short.

Great to have TJ and mrs. TJ in the house up from MD. I sat next to TJ and feel like I really got to know him. Great guy. ttepper it was great to meet you. This guy is young, but has an excellent palate and a large capacity for wine. He went back for more Cremant at the end of the night. ojeffso and mrs., as always, a real pleasure.

Finally, LCC was the life of the party. Those of you who maligned him are really mistaken. He is a generous, funny guy. I truly hope he decides to come back here. I consider him a friend.

That's all folks!

jb

Sounds like you had some great wines there and I'm sorry I live in the midwest.

Wow, what a line-up! With my pinot obsession I would have really enjoyed tasting these wines. One of these days I might just show up with Burg in hand!

Man, I am sorry I missed this one. I would have loved to see how long it took TJ to stop giggling with excitement over these wines. I must say, I can't blame him.

We can always count on you Jersey guys to haul out some memorable wines and to have a great time!

JB,
Sorry we couldn't work out our schedule to attend.
Hopefully next time.
Sounds like a splendid time was had by all!
Keep those tasting notes coming JB. They're making my mouth water!

I dub this fest as follows --

the 'Green Gables Gulp & Gobble'

jb, you are just waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast at this. I have to dig out my notes and get prepared before I jump in.

But, suffice it to say that this was a truly wonderful evening.

I'll hop in here as soon as I have had a chance to collect my thoughts. But, Revlis should be happy to know that we did take a few pictures. Including one catching ttepper in a compromising -- well, one showing his consumption prowess anyway -- position. I hope that one turns out! Mu-hu-hu-ha-ha-ha!!!

I posted this over in Dining & Cooking, but I figured I better put it here, too.

This was the menu for the WS offline that was last night, Saturday, October 19th, at the Green Gables Inn & Restaurant situated on Long Beach Island (LBI) on the South Jersey shore. This menu comes to you largely by the copious notes Mrs. TJ took of the meal (almost more notes on the food than the wine for her!).

Tian (sp?) of lobster, butternut squash, zucchini, red and yellow cherry tomatoes and fennel. Paired superbly with the 1997 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay.

Roasted Black Sea Bass (with that super, always delicious crispy fish skin!) on top of a mound of shiatake mushrooms, napa cabbage and surrounded & drizzled by a whole grain mustard sauce. We probably all enjoyed this with Wine A, which turned out to be the 1999 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge Pinot Noir (personally, my #3 wine of the night).

As a refresher here in between courses, we all licked up some delicious pear & kiwi sorbet. Nice crisp flavors that paired surprisingly well.

Next was a too-die-for course-- a porcini mushroom risotto with sage, truffle oil and paregiano reggiano shavings. This course was unbelievably good. I think we had just moved on to wine D, which ended up being the 1997 Kistler Kistler Vineyard Pinot Noir (my #2, or was it #1, I STILL can't decide, wine of the night). O my god, can you say heaven?!

The next course allowed us to move on to a Roasted organic pork loin, centered with a date puree accompanied by baby green beans, port glazed whole chipolini (sp?) onions and (what I call) a Leaning Tower of whipped potato & goat cheese swirlee. This course was quite tasty. the dates & pork loin paired beautifully. And, I am sure I was not the only one who tasted a combination of the onions and the potato/goat cheese thing. Bliss. Do not ask me what wine we were on at this stage, since I don't remember. If I had to guess, it was probably wine F or G, which were later revealed to be the 1999 Argyle Nuthouse Pinot Noir and thr 1996 Mommessin Clos du Tart respectively.

We finished up the meal with this pyramid of chocolate (made with almond flour, pine nuts and, of course chocolate), it was topped with candied orange peel and paired with pistachio ice cream. While the dessert wines were nice, I didn't think they paired particularly well, but the coffee really did!

Actually, I am wrong, we really ended up the night, from a food perspective anyway, with a few trays of petit fors (sp?). There were three kinds, these chocolate drops (truffles?), tiny angel food cakes and this sort of almond crips (i think). All were crafty and delectable little touches to finish things off.

I will, of course, put my tasting notes and other comments in their proper places. But, suffice it to say that the evening was a smashing success. I only wish these things happened every weekend!

Actually, for my TNs, I think I will post them here, but I will also do as Vino Me did and split them up into their separate postings. I know many people probably do as me and scan the topic titles for what looks interesting. Some of us are indeed lazy when it comes to the search function, so, hopefully, we'll catch you all in the individual TN posts, if not here.

Thanks for the great tasting notes. I'm sorry we missed this one, but we were at a wedding. I agree completely with jb's comment about lcc. I too, hope he returns.

NV Colin Deleger Cremant de Bourgogne
I basically agree with jb. Nice vanilla cream to this one. Great way to start. We had this standing in the 'lobby' and started to break the ice (for those of us who hadn't been hanging with the Jersey Boyz on a regular basis). Nice stuff.
TJ rating -- 88

'97 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay
I tasted this over three hours believe it or not. Call me crazy. This wine was best at 2 hours out of the bottle. Here's what I got outta this sucker -- Butterscotch, bread, honeyed-something (can't explain that, but that's what I wrote and what I feel), some pineapple and even nuts (when we first tasted it anyway). This wine is superb.
TJ rating -- 95-96

WINE A: '99 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge PN
When I first sniffed this, I got some earthiness, but that was gone quickly. I sensed some really wispy violets, and then tasted some graveliness, lovely red berries and a tiny hint of blueberry. There was something else I couldn't identify. This was my #3 wine of the night.
TJ rating -- 93

WINE B: '00 Clos Pepe Santa Rita Hills PN
I got hardly anything out of the nose on this one. I thought this wine was a good bit closed. There was a woodiness to this, with some charcoal and lucious plum. Tougher tannins than in Wine A, but well integrated. I had some flintiness dancing around in there, too.
TJ rating -- 90

WINE C: '99 H. Lignier Morey St. Denis
Kind of tight. I wrongly thought this was an Oregon PN, for some reason. Young, and with super legs. Abrupt nose & finish. Tannins need to settle down. Not much else to say. This was my least favorite wine of the night, but it could be something better with time.
TJ rating -- 86

WINE D: '97 Kistler Kistler Vineyard PN
This is funny, I wrote down, since I knew what wines I had brought, that this was the Etude -- NOT! The nose on this sucker just rocked. It was the kind that you imagine those Warner Brothers characters sniffing in and floating on air. The kind that drifts not only deep into your nose, but back down your throat, in your mouth and hell, all the way to your lungs. Brambly fruits all over the place, light vanilla, silky smooth tannins. O yes, and a nice, nice looooong finish. This wine was very, very, very, very good.
TJ rating = 94-95

WINE E: '90 Arlaud Charmes Chambertin
Nose contained gingersnap, cinnamon & caramel (?) and was the best part about it. Maybe some molasses & wet pulverized fall leaves. It seemed a little sterile, slightly sour and astringent. There was some nice red fruit aout and about in there but it finished a bit short for me.
TJ rating -- 87

WINE F: '99 Argyle Nuthouse PN
This smelled green to me, as in not quite ripe yet. Then, after a bit, it revealed horseradish -- yes, horseradish. I think ojeffso said it out loud and it fit perfectly what I had in my head but could not find the words for. Cheries & other red berries mixed with rose hips. Nice tannins, to boot, but still way up front.
TJ rating -- 91

WINE G: '96 Mommessin Clos de Tart
Medium light color. Light red berries, strawberry coulis, some cherry, with notes off peppercorn & rocks. A hint of olive. Heavier finish.
TJ rating 90-91.

WINE H: '97 Seghesio Barolo La Villa
Blueberries & pencil on the nose followed by cherries armagnac -- this was a cherry bomb to me. Tannins were well placed. I had no idea this was not a Pinot. I feel like a dork.
TJ rating -- 89-90

WINE I: '99 Archery Summit Premier Cuvee
Lighter and tighter. Tight 'baby' berries like currants, cranberries and brambly fruits. Some hints of spice, too. Some charcoal, but hey, this was Wine I for crying out loud. Tannins leave your tongue smacking. Will be better with a bit more time.
TJ rating 90-91

WINE J: '96 Etude Carneros PN
I incorrectly thought this might be a Kistler Pinot (I had made an offering to the wine gods hoping someone would bring some Kistler). Anyway, this is kind of funny, because I thought this was Kistler and I thought the Kistler was the Etude. So, I got roses, violets and some other floral notes on the nose. Rich dark berries with bits of vanilla cream and slate. Absolutely delicious. I must say that this one edged the Kistler for me by a nose, as my wine of the night (not counting the Kistler Chard). This I find stunning. The only thing more shocking to me was that this is one of the wines I brought. Even more shocking was that this was a substitute for me. I'd been planning on bringing a Sanford 97, but changed my mind a day earlier.
TJ Rating 95-96.

Wine 'Z' was a 1993 Echezeaux
Nuts, maple-y nuts. Toasty oak with rasperry & blackberry. Nice.
TJ rating 90-91 pts.

'00 Muscat Baumes de Venise from Coyeux
I found this incredibly sweet, a bit more than I expected. I actually preferred the Sauternes, but my notes on that are really slim (ie non-existant).

So, for me, my top three were the 96 Etude, the 97 Kistler and the 99 Martinelli.

What ***I*** really want to see TNs on are those from ttepper for his special concoction......

As a lover of great Pinots that is an amazing lineup. I would have loved to try the Kistler and Etude. I hope I win a TON of money at next weeks Breeders Cup, so I can party with you NJ folks.

IW

Wow guys.

Sounds great!! More Pinot for me to drool over. My first experience was amazing, and I'm sure this second pinot tasting was amazing as well.

Send me the pictures!!! :-

So when's the next one?

At my Father's retirement dinner I got ahold of a '96 Insignia. *shiver* Whoah that was good. Somehow seemed better than the one at the Algonquin at the LG tasting. So at least I got something... although I would've preferred LBI. Had to help dad around the house today! *cringe*

Revlis, if TJ sends you pictures, dont put the one of me(you will know which one it is) up on the web page...I will send you a bottle of 96 Insignia as a thank you...

First of all, a big thanks to j bembry for organizing a wonderful tasting. The Green Gables Inn was great in every way, from the charming guestrooms to the amazing food. It was really great to meet the faces behind the posts. Within minutes of meet j bembry, my guest and I were handed a refreshing glass of Champagne.

My notes aren’t great but here they are..I'm a lover, not a writer...

97 Kistler Vine Hill Chard: My first taste of Kistler was met with a buttery flavor. Great to taste a CA Chard. that is not overly oaky. Unfortunately I drank it right away as others left some to open...Had a whiff of j bembry's glass after 1+ hours and the nose was much improved. Good stuff.

99 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge PN: Full bodied, meaty and smokey, but lacking on the finish. I thought that it was an older wine, woops...

00 Clos Pepe Santa Rita Hills PN: Great nose...I liked this better than the 99 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge PN, I think the group was 50/50 on which they preferred.

99 H. Lignier Morey St. Denis: Dark in color, nice nose but that’s it...Didn’t enjoy drinking. I saved a few sips to see what if it needed time but after 2+ hours in the glass it didn’t show any better.

97 Kistler Kistler Vineyard PN: I got some coconut on the nose of this great Pinot. Lots of fruit with an awesome finish...very nice.

90 Arlaud Charmes Chambertin: My first look at this wine led me to believe that it was one of the bottles that I brought, I was right. Very foggy looking. I got some smokey and liquorice flavors from it.

99 Arglye Nuthouse PN: Sweet and green flavors from this wine. Couldn’t find the horseradish that some of you tasted. Nice.

96 Mommessin Clos du Tart: No notes..sorry

'97 Seghesio Barolo La Villa: Tasted like a Pinot to me. Smokey, earthy, cherries, a bit dry. Nice twist ojeffso...

99' Archery Summit Premier Cuvee: Got lots of berrys from this wine. I remember saying that it tasted like a Merlot to me..Not sure where that came from.

And my WOTN: 96 Etude Carneros PN: A great nose with lots of fruit and a long finish. Wonderful.

Wine "Z" was brought out of hiding at the end of the night when I was hungry for more wine. Some of our guests said no to another bottle but once it was opened everyone had a taste. It was a 1993 Echezeaux Grand Cru Domaine du Clos Frantin Albert Bichot.

Both of the dessert wines were tastey. I liked the Muscat over the Sauterne, maybe we drank the Sauterne too young...?? I think it was a 89 Chat. Latour la Blanche(SP)???

Thomas Jaehnigen, here you go: My "special concoction" Humm...Light red in color, no real aroma, very light bodied, more water than wine...I thought it was a 98 Arbor Mist but the finish was longer. Really needed a good stir to get all the flavor. LOL

Again, it was great to meet all of you, thanks for a wonderful time. Hope to do it again soon. My lady friend(Mrs. ttepper) also had a wonderful time and thanks you all as well.

JB,
Thanks to your TNs, I was lucky enough to put in a late bid on 2 bottles of 1997 Kistler Vine Hill Chard. Won both!!!
Thanks again for the notes. Looks like TJ concurs with your assessment as well. Lucky me

for a little difference, i decided to change the manner in which i rated the wines. i broke down each wine by the following six categories;

color
nose
fruit concentration/balance
flavor
mid palate
finish

97 kistler vine hill chardonnay-drank this over three hours. at its peak between hour 2-3. intoxicating. 94 points

99 matinelli blue slide ridge pinot noir-nose and concentration were a 91. flavors, mid palate and finish were an 88. too young for me, needs time.
89 points

00 clos pepe santa rita hills pinot noir-very good nose, excellent concentration and mid palate. very young, this should get better with time. 90+ points

99 h.lignier morey st.denis-excellent color, nose and concentration. after that everything is as tight as a drum. way too early. 89+ points

97 kistler kistler pinot noir-best nose so far. finish very good, but not up to the other categories. still best wine so far. 91 points

90 arlaud charmes chambertin-cherry color, but a bit cloudy. obviously the arlaud. best nose so far, but flavors and finish fall slightly short. 89 points

99 argyle nuthouse pinot noir-first wine that i rated 90 plus in all categories. best nose so far(i know it sounds familiar). best wine so far. 92 points.

96 mommessin clos du tart-all categories except flavors get 90-91. this wine still needs time. still tannic and a bit closed. 90+ points

97 seghesio la villa barolo-excellent in all categories and very consistent. i brought it, but had no idea this was the ringer. 91 points

99 archery summit premier cuvee pinot noir-again excellent and consistent in all categories, but a step up from the previous wine. 92 points

96 etude carneros pinot noir-92-93 in color nose and mid palate. 94's in other categories. best flavors and finish of the night. 93 points

two things were very obvious to me as the night progressed. air time is very important with young pinots and the ones with more time in the decanter tended to show better. second, opening a pinot at its optimum window is also critical as the 96 etude was drinking much better than its younger counterparts that had received higher ratings from the professionals.

Jbrembry,

Good notes and wonderful night I gather. What you metioned on the decanting time is quite interesting, as a novice I wonder if those points given by WS and WA have a standard operating procedure ie decanted for 2 hours all of them but then for some of the wines especially the younger ones it would not do them justice ? Or are they able to taste thru the tannins and unearth the jewels ?

I wonder ??

Cheers,
LRnW

First of all, LRnW, I need to get you some Kistler. You might have to change your handle.

I may be wrong, but I think the pros taste wines from the whole bottle and at different times of aeration. They then compile their notes and make a determination based on their findings. I know that the Lignier is a much better wine than it showed. It needed at least 3 hours of decanting and the decanter it was placed in was very small. Thus, there was not a lot of air actually getting to the wine. I agree w/ ojeffso that the Pinots at the end of the night all showed better because of their extended time decanted. Unless I decanted then all an hour before we arrived, there was not much more that could be done. I didn't get the wines until everyone arrived.

jb

Had that risotto the tasting I was at... that IS to die for. Possibly the only time food has completely overshadowed the wine, IMO.

Great notes, all. ojeffso, you are a tough grader, or rather, I suppose a goodly bit more experienced. I do agree that the longer the time in the decanter the better. What was funny was, I was considering decanting my two bottles in the room, but decided against it since I would then know what was in my two decanters and thus it would've potentially tainted my thoughts on the wine.

Oh yes, and LRnW, you do need to try some Kistler Chard. I was a devout ABC guy until I tried some Kistler and I am a total convert.

By the way, I never really did comment on the evening itself, just the wine and the food.

Perhaps the best thing about the whole eening was that we got to hang out and chat with jb & Mrs jb extensively (they are both super wonderful people, any chance you get to hang with them, please, drop whatever plans you have and do an offline with them, you will not regret it), and a nice bit with ttepper & friend, too (both super nice and very kewl -- I was especially impressed with the young ttepper's wine consumption ability).

I was also able to chat a nice bit with ojeffso & his wife Gigi in the morning, picking up some nice wine tips and, more importantly, Italy tips. Great fun.

My only regret is that I did not get to talk as much as I would have liked to with LCC and his crew. We did get to yack for a bit, but not NEARLY enough. Next time, I sit next to him. And, for those of you who want an opinion other than jb's or Board-o's on 'What is LCC really like?' -- dudes, this guy is just too much fun and a great guy. I think perhaps that people just misinterpret his posts and read things into them. He is the Cool-inator. To hang out with LCC is to have a great time.

I can't wait for my next offline. My 'official' offline count is now 5. Mu-hu-ha-ha-ha!

Hey, I thought ojeffso did a good job of entertaining with some facts from that "interesting" book.

'97 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay: It was a great 1. Loved it. Thought it needs more time. But, a 95+, indeed. Have few more of these. It will be interesting to see how it improves/develops.

1 day soon I would like to try the '97 Cuvee Kath. I imagine it will be even better.

'99 Martinelli Blue Slide Ridge: I was a little disappointed & surprised when we revealed the Wines. I expected more from this Wine. But, as ojeffso pointed out & I tend to agree that it is probably because it is young & needs time. I will re-visit this Wine in a couple of years. And compare/re-evaluate it. Will be a good test.

W/O TNs since I forgot the list @ the Restaurant. My favorites were (in that order): Etude, Kistler, Argyle, Arlaud, Seghesio (the faker---funny).

All Wines (as usual) were very good (around 90+). Only a few stood-out. Great time (laughs & all). Nice to meet T.J. (will play musical chairs next time, so as to get to know new people better), & ttepper.

Great as usual, until next time.

Oh yeah, FOOD was Excellent. Pass it on to the Restaurant-folks, j.b. Good job.

JB and TJ

OK, will look for a bottle of Kistler(as I see almost unanimous support of this vineyard in this fora) and try. Any year and specific bottling recommendations? I suppose it will have to be served at around 17 to 20 Celsius to do it justice.

Cheers
LRnW

Every bottling is very good. Almost all the single vineyard wines are great/borderline-great. My favorite is the Vine Hill from '99/'98/'97. Durell is always excellent. As is the Kistler Vineyard. Good Luck.

jb

jb

Thanks and will try. BTW how is it priced there?
If it is as good as you all put it I shall enjoy it.

Cheers,
LRnW

I am on the Kistler mailing list. Most bottlings cost between $60-70. Pricey, but IMO, worth it.

jb