mostly wine stuff

[JCF]

You guys are killing me ! Now I'm craving a good Langhe

Wine preservers ? I never open a good bottle unless there are enough people to finish it with.
If it is just a vin de table - then no big deal to just let it "age" a day solo per me

 

[jmeb]

My most recent Lanhe purchase all showed up with slightly popped corks .

Shipping f**kups happen. Retailer was great about it.

Popped a bottle testing out the new pizza oven last week. I blinded my somm friend/distributer buddy on it -- we agreed it was an unspoiled bottle that was an absolute delight for <$20 a bottle. Realize it could be bottle by bottle -- 11 more rolls of the dice....

 

[JCF]

-- 11 more rolls of the dice....

That is of course another one of the infinite interesting things about every bottle of wine.
That Antigua Classica Rioja I posted a few pages back....First bottle was very good - second made me think I was mistaken - third again was very good.
Oh - I should add so no one gets the wrong idea, not all were emptied on the same night...

 

[skibob]

-- 11 more rolls of the dice....

That is of course another one of the infinite interesting things about every bottle of wine.
That Antigua Classica Rioja I posted a few pages back....First bottle was very good - second made me think I was mistaken - third again was very good.
Oh - I should add so no one gets the wrong idea, not all were emptied on the same night...

I had this experience several years ago. 2001 if I am remembering correctly. My brother is not into wine at all. But a friend of his who was had given him (sometime in the late 80s) 4 bottles of 1978 Sebastiani Barbera (Sonoma Valley). This was not a high end bottling, but the friend had raved about it being a great wine for the money when he gave them to my brother. He found them when he moved (2001) and gave them to me. I found some archived grocery flyers from 1980 or so advertising them for $2.74/bottle.

I knew:
1. They had not been stored properly (other than laying on their side in the back of a guest room closet)
2. Barbera has great acidity and ages fairly well (even though it is not a "long ager" either--the wine was 23 yrs old at this point)
3. It is easy to make good Barbera (and damn near impossible to make "great" Barbera)
4. Sebastiani is/was a highly competent, albeit fairly large, winery
5. Sonoma Valley is a great place to grow Barbera (even though there is little planted there)

I don't remember what my girlfriend (now wife) and I concocted to go with the first bottle. We pulled the cork. And then sieved all the pieces of cork out of the bottle as it crumbled. I said oh well and poured a glass.

To this day it remains one of the most sublime, deep, generous, complex wines I've ever had. I can taste it like it was yesterday. Depths of muted red berries, graphite, smoke, flint, raw meat, pepper . . . on and on. Beautiful. Ephemeral, as its character changed by the minute. Literally brings tears to my eyes recalling it.

Bottle 2, 3, and 4? Yeah, totally oxidized and undrinkable. Sigh. I could taste some of those things^ underneath, but the aldehyde made it unbearable.

 

[pete]

Bingo,

Stoppers ordered appear to be good knockoffs of originals.

Guessed due to the "slit" opening. Similar squish, they'll get a try tonight

 

[cantunamunch]

Now I want a cut crystal rhyton. NVM all this corking business, it's libation time.

*pops off to Etsy to look for some*

 

[cantunamunch]

Did any of you notice that the stage winner doesn't get a fancy "cut crystal" pink-label magnum of Astoria like the jersey wearer does, but gets a white-label one instead?

 

[Tony S]

Did any of you notice that the stage winner doesn't get a fancy "cut crystal" pink-label magnum of Astoria like the jersey wearer does, but gets a white-label one instead?

Haven't been watching. Too busy working and skiing. Maybe this weekend.

 

[cantunamunch]

Meh light pizza wine

 

[Tony S]

Edit: Photo taken right when the wine was opened. It has a lovely subtle nose. On the palate it's still (forever?) a bit lean and mean for my palate ... even for Chablis. I'm imagining that it will cut nicely through the richness of these crabs, though.

 

[cantunamunch]

I posted a hanger on the last page. Some of you might think this has nothing to do with wine

Rhett & Link meet The Slo Mo Guys. Worth it just for the slo-mo emotion (slo mo embarassment is hilarious)

 

[skibob]

I posted a hanger on the last page. Some of you might think this has nothing to do with wine

Rhett & Link meet The Slo Mo Guys. Worth it just for the slo-mo emotion (slo mo embarassment is hilarious)

I got to sabre champagne for the first time last Christmas. I'd known a few sommeliers who would make a big deal of it and act as if it took a great deal of time (and champagne) to learn. Then my son's fencing coach was doing it at the club's holiday party (cool trick for a fencing club, right?). I said "cool, I've always wanted to learn to do that". He took about 30 seconds to instruct me, handed me the bottle, and I did it on the second try. So easy!

 

[cantunamunch]

So easy!

I know, right? Kick ass party trick. And...we drink more bubbly

 

[Tony S]

I got to sabre champagne for the first time last Christmas. I'd known a few sommeliers who would make a big deal of it and act as if it took a great deal of time (and champagne) to learn. Then my son's fencing coach was doing it at the club's holiday party (cool trick for a fencing club, right?). I said "cool, I've always wanted to learn to do that". He took about 30 seconds to instruct me, handed me the bottle, and I did it on the second try. So easy!

Next time, use a ski! (Absolutely works.)

 

[skibob]

Next time, use a ski! (Absolutely works.)

Now that I know how to do it, I can totally see how a ski would work!

 

[Scruffy]

An "orange" Grüner ?



I like me a Grüner Veltliner that's deep, rich and powerful with notes of honey, nuts and hints of preserved lemons. This was not one of those, in fact it wasn't even a bright, lemony Veltliner that one associates with a Sav Blanc or a crisp Pinot Gris. This was more akin to a kombucha or a flat sour beer. Oddly enough, I liked it, but not as a wine, esp. one that cost $27 a 750 bottle. As a $9 summer fling with spicy food okay, but I was hoping for more tonight.

 

[Tony S]

An "orange" Grüner ?

View attachment 203639

I like me a Grüner Veltliner that's deep, rich and powerful with notes of honey, nuts and hints of preserved lemons. This was not one of those, in fact it wasn't even a bright, lemony Veltliner that one associates with a Sav Blanc or a crisp Pinot Gris. This was more akin to a kombucha or a flat sour beer. Oddly enough, I liked it, but not as a wine, esp. one that cost $27 a 750 bottle. As a $9 summer fling with spicy food okay, but I was hoping for more tonight.

So, basically, Gruvy Pet Nat.

Edit: I love Gruvy too.

 

[cantunamunch]

Hah, one of the most... clinical... robot wine bars are 'remodeling'. 8 years too late guys

 

[cantunamunch]

queues at LCBO?

 

[Tony S]

<wine nerd warning>
<immodesty warning>
Over the last couple of years I've had several bottles of the Jean Biecher "Rosacker" from Hunawihr, partly because I've been able to get it for about $20.00, which is cheap for Grand Cru riesling. Pretty sure this has spanned the 2018 and 2019 vintages. Each time I've pulled the cork I've been pleasantly bemused by how classic, pretty, long on the palate, and generally satisfying the contents have been, given that until encountering this specific bottling I never remember hearing of the "Rosacker" vineyard.

Some of you (@Swede, @jmeb) are probably familiar with Trimbach's "Clos Ste. Hune." This is now probably one of the two or three best known Alsace rieslings, and likely the most expensive as well. Today I stumbled over the fact that Clos Ste. Hune is in fact an inholding within the Rosacker vineyard. Ah ha! Explains a lot! Maybe it only explains that I had not studied up on my vineyard sites, but it still makes me feel smug.
</immodesty warning>
</wine nerd warning>