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73 replies

Postscript: First Toronto Offline, 2004-01-24

F futronicMember
Well, the first Toronto offline is over, and I must say, it was one hell of an evening. I had a great time, and it was a pleasure meeting those forumites that I didn't know prior to the event.

Forumites in attendance:

Baird6869
Bowhunter1961 (not a forumite yet, but might be soon)
Carriedca
DoktaP
DrthVader
Futronic
MaverickDrinker
Oakville_Al
Slan
SmartHotelier (not a forumite yet, but might be soon)

The first flight, Bordeaux, was served with a lovely beef tenderloin, potatoes, beet puree, and some other veg. It was an excellent pair for the flight.

Wines were poured single-blind and then ranked 1-6 by each member (10 votes in total). The results were tallied; lowest score was considered WOTF.

Rank/Score/Wine

1 - 13 points - 1982 Chateau Palmer
2 - 29 points - 1994 Chateau L'Evangile
3 - 38 points - 1975 Chateau Brane-Cantenac
4 - 39 points - 1999 Chateau D'Armailhac
5 - 41 points - 1999 Chateau Lynch-Bages
6 - 50 points - 1996 Chateau D'Ardennes

Complete Tasting Notes - Bordeaux Flight

Baird6869 ran the table on the flight and guess all six wines correctly!

The second flight was Australian Cabs or blends.

Rank/Score/Wine

1 - 15 points - 1999 Rosemount Mountain Blue
2 - 38 points - 1995 Wolf Blass Black Label
3 - 43 points - 1998 Penley Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Estate
4 - 44 points - 2000 Rosemount GSM
5 - 47 points - 1998 Reynella Basket Pressed Cabernet Sauvignon (tie)
5 - 47 points - 1998 Penfolds RWT (tie)
7 - 55 points - 1999 Elderton CSM

Complete Tasting Notes - Australian Other Flight

SmartHotelier cleaned up getting 5/7 correct!

The third and final flight was Australian Shiraz. A very tasty bumbleberry pie was served with it.

Rank/Score/Wine

1 - 15 points - 2000 Pirramimma Reserve Shiraz
2 - 29 points - 1999 Leasingham Bin 61 Shiraz
3 - 35 points - 2001 Elderton Shiraz (January TAA!)
4 - 40 points - 1999 Penfolds St. Henri Shriaz (tie)
4 - 40 points - 2002 Marquis-Philips Shiraz (tie)
6 - 45 points - 1998 Merrivale Tapestry Bin 338 Shiraz
7 - 48 points - 1997 Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz

Complete Tasting Notes - Australian Shiraz Flight

SmartHotelier matched his score from the previous flight, guessing another 5/7 correctly!

As mentioned, I had a great time. A huge thanks to DoktaP for being the driving force in organizing this event. It wouldn't have happened without all your hard work.

Looking forward to the next one!
Last edited {1}
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O oakvillealMember
WHAT AN EVENING!

I would like to thank both doktap, for organizing the event and his sidekick, futronic for putting in all the effort to make sure a great time was had by all. Futronic, thanks for all the notes, I wish i could have been as dilligent as you were.

I look forward to seeing some of the pictures that were taken throughout the night as well as the next offline. Perhaps we can persuade some of our neighbors to the south to join us.

Oh, and BTW, I believe the "other veg" was green beans.
D doktapMember
Bman: The event was held in a hospitality suite at the Royal York Hotel. The adjoining room was used by one of our out of town guests. The hotel provided 2 waiters for the evening, who by the way, were absolutely amazing. Gary and Patrick (waiters) wre responsible for the pourings and keeping things "blind" until the unveiling. They were true professionals and added significantly to the event. Gary might even become a forumite.

Forumites: Speaking for myself, I had an absolute
ball. Everyone brought (figuritively and literally) something different to the event. It's always a risk bringing a group this large together and hope for the right chemistry. In this case, it couldn't have worked out any finer.
It was a pleasure to meet and get to know each one of you.

Tasting: IMHO......WOTN....'82 Palmer- still drinking well and probably a few years left.
I'd score it 92

Surprise wine of the night...
Pirramima. I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I ranked it 2nd in its flight. 91

Disappointment of the night..... '98 Penfolds RWT- I was expecting a balanced fruit bomb. Perhaps it's a bit young, but after a couple of hours of decanting, I found it to be unremarkable. 88-89

Sleeper of the night-Rosemount Mountain Blue... I like it enough to go out and buy 3 bottles. 90

After 22 bottles of wine and 1 champagne(90 Bollinger RD), I'm taking the night off to
regenerate some shocked neurons. Smile
B bairdMember
Wow, what a night!

I think the purple is finally starting to fade from my teeth!

Thanks again to Larry for organizing such an amazing night and to Jay for the designing the program and placements. Also to everyone else in attendance for bringing such great wines. It was hard to rate most of the wines as almost all of them were outstanding (but it sure was fun!).

Looking forward to next time.....

baird6869
bmanbmanMember
It's not easy, the Pirramimmas are listed under the producer, A.C. Johnston, with nary a mention of Pirramimma for some reason. Use the Vintages search function, type product name as Johnston, and country of origin as Australia, and they will appear. But there is almost none left of any of them.

snow sucks, cold is worse.......
C carriedcaMember
Well I finally made it back to Ottawa.
I must thank all of you for the great time and especially DoktaP for organizing all of this.

I had a ball, and I hope our non-forumnite friend who joined us, will do so again in the future. Avo and Paul are a great addition.
Quitea few discoveries were made while tasting the wines. I had passed on the Mountain Blue, now will have to go looking for it. Same for the Pirramina. And the Reynella basket pressed Cab is going back to the LCBO. I had bought some on release. I was seriously dissappointed with it.

All in all, great evening. Looking forward to the next one.
D doktapMember
carriedca: I'll pass on your comments to bowhunter1961 and smarthotelier (Paul and Avo).
They're great guys and on the ride home commented on what a great group we have here in Ontario.

I think there are 2 reasons we did not have the Dead Arm. One, as pointed out, we all have several. Two, I think we all thought somebody else might offer it. I was going to bring a bottle, but brought the TAA instead so we could contribute to the boards.

Baird6869: Both my tongue and teeth have a slight purple hue. The kids in my practise will like it since I look like Barnie!!

I'll be passing on comments to the manager of the RYH in room service expressing my gratitude for sending us their finest wait staff. I'm sure that we all agree.

For those wishing to attend any future offlines, just continue to read the forum and let us know.
For those wishing to bring significant others in the future; now that we've "broken the ice", it would indeed add to the fun. Smile
S slanMember
Let me add to the mutual admiration by agreeing wholeheartedly that it was a terrific evening and I was delighted to meet in person everyone I hadn't previously met (which was everyone except Futronic).

I will definitely count myself in for the next one and perhaps Mrs. Slan will join us as well.

Many thanks to DoktaP and Futronic for all their hard work!
bmanbmanMember
I wish, PE. Toronto is 5 hours at top speed on an unpleasant truck-filled highway, so it's do-able in a weekend, but just. And to her eternal shame, my wife does not drive, so I'd have to do it myself. But she's saying she will join our son when he soon turns 16 and begins his driver edu., so maybe that will change! It wasn't so much the distance as the fact that we are quite broke at the moment, and hoping to hit Toronto in March during the winter school break.

VM: carriedca and I have gotten together for coffee, but not yet wine. Perhaps because a two person offline would seem so forlorn. One of the very first forumites, PandA2 (number 6 as I recall) is from Ottawa, but seems to have disappeared forever.

snow sucks, cold is worse.......
F futronicMember
quote:
Originally posted by Vino Me:
Sounds like a wonderful event. The list of forumites attending this event is also impressive. Toronto should be proud (now Ottawa is another matter).

Have you come up with a catchy name for the Toronto crew yet? Perhaps a contest is in order.

VM


It's been another long, cold day here, so I think we should be called the "Ice Winos". I'm definitely frozen solid right now and it will take me a few hours to thaw out.

Slan,

My camera is not a digital, so my photos will have to wait until the roll is finished. If carriedca or drthvader want the pictures posted online, I have lots of webspace and can host them if they were emailed to me.
C carriedcaMember
Uh! Small problem.
I've downloaded the pictures to my home PC. After supper I went back (and it is very dry in my house, I need to setup a humidifier, too much static buildup with the carpets) and when I touched my mouse, I got a huge static shock. And guess what...I fried my mouse/PS2 port. I need to get my computer fixed.

So it make take a few days before I get the pictures to you.
M maverickdrinkerMember
Sorry for the late reply!

I had an absolute blast at the offline and am looking forward to seeing you all at the next offline.

I think I can make a March offline when BMAN is in town. Perhaps we should start planning this?

There is a slight correction that needs to be made. We actually enjoyed the 2000 Mountain Blue. Ms Mav drank the last 1999 that I was saving for the offline and thus, I had to trudge to the LCBO to get the 2000.

I guess that this is a blessing in disguise as there is tons of 2000 Mountain Blue on the shelves.

Thanks again for a wonderful evening and can't wait to see you at the next offline. I'll be sure to clear the "whole" evening for the next event.

Now....where's that Screwpull?
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