What's in your glass today?

[BrightonCorgi]

21 hours ago, LLC said:

Great.

Cork looks marvelous for the age.  Such a shame to open seeing how well it was holding up.

[LLC]

7 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Cork looks marvelous for the age.  Such a shame to open seeing how well it was holding up.

I have more 😉

[SirVantes]

Still my favourite of the Octomores. They got the early ones very right. 

[LLC]

[Nevrknow]

Blantons. What’s left. 😁

[JohnS]

3 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

Blantons. What’s left. 😁

Time to re-stock!  (You know I would! )

[Nevrknow]

11 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Time to re-stock!  (You know I would! )

Problem is finding it! 😁

[SirVantes]

You approach these old bottles with trepidation, but it was so good 

[Ken Gargett]

9 hours ago, SirVantes said:

You approach these old bottles with trepidation, but it was so good

that should have been exciting. i have a 71 biondi-santi lined up for about two weeks time. 

[BrightonCorgi]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:52 AM, Ken Gargett said:

that should have been exciting. i have a 71 biondi-santi lined up for about two weeks time. 

I'd be excited to try it.  Barbaresco's age a little quicker than Barolo, but I would expect that one to be a hit.

[Ken Gargett]

6 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I'd be excited to try it.  Barbaresco's age a little quicker than Barolo, but I would expect that one to be a hit.

i've seen the 1969 when i visited the estate - was angelo's first - which was a bit special. and somewhere i have a magnum of the 78 which was the one the book was written about. but agree - in general barbaresco will age a bit quicker, but i never think of gaja as typical barbaresco. which is probably down to how good they are at publicity.

[SirVantes]

12 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I'd be excited to try it.  Barbaresco's age a little quicker than Barolo, but I would expect that one to be a hit.

Yes, in my experience Barbarescos mature a little quicker, probably partly due to the shorter barrel/bottle aging requirements.   But this one was shockingly vibrant, with very little of the mushroomy character you get with nebbiolo in its tertiary stages, with fruit and acid still present and correct.  Excellent.

6 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

in general barbaresco will age a bit quicker, but i never think of gaja as typical barbaresco. which is probably down to how good they are at publicity.

I never think of Gaja, or Giacosa, as typical, but more because of the price tag!

6 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

somewhere i have a magnum of the 78 which was the one the book was written about

The book is a great read.  A Sori wine is always special, but a 78 San Lorenzo in magnum would be something extra.  I hope you remember correctly where that "somewhere" is!

[Ken Gargett]

15 minutes ago, SirVantes said:

The book is a great read.  A Sori wine is always special, but a 78 San Lorenzo in magnum would be something extra.  I hope you remember correctly where that "somewhere" is!

yes, i am a bit excited by that. i sort of know where. just might take an effort to dig it out. back and bottom of the cellar. 

loved the book. a chef and i were doing food/wine stuff in asia and i had to go to a wedding in monte carlo in the middle of it (same bloke that wrote the opinion article on sports sponsorship, by chance). so i took some extra time to visit some wineries. chef tagged along as had nothing else to do at that time and had some great contacts at some of france's best restaurants (had worked at troigros as one). got an invite to Gaja. brilliant visit (and the following unch at one of the local restaurants is still one of the great meals). but the chef, being a chef, had no idea of punctuality. drove me insane. so we are an hour late arriving at Gaja - i was furious. Angelo was sitting on the hood of his car waiting for us. so embarrassing. found out later that was the day he had to go to Tuscany to sign the contract for the vineyard there - knew he was an insane driver and i had fears he'd drive even faster and the headline next day would be - 'rude aussies cause passing of great winemaker'. thankfully not. Angelo was the first person i ever interviewed when i first started writing. i was lucky. 

we had a brilliant visit. they showed so many amazing wines and to try the very first wine Angelo made when he took over was more than special. as we went around, we did not realise that they were taking notes and apparently, if we remarked positively on something, they assumed it was an order. i must have said how wonderful it would be to have a mag of the 78. imagine the shock when these wines turned up in Australia! the chef had mentioned a lot of wines and had a massive order. as he owed me money, still does and fat chance of seeing that again, i simply added the magnum to his bill.  

[SirVantes]

In defiance of conventional wisdom - Barbera with age. Super. 

[BrightonCorgi]

Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night.  I served some odd ball's.

 

[Ken Gargett]

6 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Had a couple of friends over for dinner last night.  I served some odd ball's.

 

love the last two especially. 

[BrightonCorgi]

31 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

love the last two especially. 

Have you had many Inglenooks?

[Ken Gargett]

10 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Have you had many Inglenooks?

a few. not many lately. we used to see them reasonably regularly out here but that seems to have changed in recent years. always been decent but i don't recall one that really thrilled me.

for me, the american cab which has always been the one that blew my socks off is harlan. and a few of the heitz martha's vineyard. litteroi, ridge. plenty of others i guess if thought more about it. 

 

and yes, i am fully aware that this is an abysmally light post which does no justice to the wines. 

[BrightonCorgi]

4 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

and yes, i am fully aware that this is an abysmally light post which does no justice to the wines. 

Inglenook is one of the most iconic oldest of Napa wineries.  Louis Martini, and Sebastiani made wines like the french and many back to this one and older are holding up well.  In this case, the wine had an amazing candied nose like an old madeira or colheita port.  Delicate yet the fruit still coming through.  Cork came out in one piece and looked great.

I kind of doubt any Clos Saron (CA) wines make to Australia.  Hard enough to get here.  Funky style wines.  Early brand to be low/no sulfur yet the wines hold well.  I don't have many of the Crasto Old Vine's left.  I think the Old Vine are off years for Maria Teresa.

[Lamboinee]

I highly recommend just about anything from bardstown these days. Especially the limited releases. Last bottle of the prisoner.... Still a few fingers left for the holidays! 

[VictorEremita]

On 10/22/2022 at 9:24 PM, LLC said:

That sounds delicious 

[LLC]

Did our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with my wife, daughter and son-in-law. I bought some bottles of the 2018 Penfolds St. Henri a while ago and decided to try one with the Prime Rib dinner. Very good but will really benefit from age. I won’t be rushing to drink the remaining bottle. 

[Puros Y Vino]

Paired this funky cider with a baked brie.  Tasting notes on the cider are blue cheese.  Very odd but enjoyable. 

[Ken Gargett]

11 hours ago, LLC said:

Did our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with my wife, daughter and son-in-law. I bought some bottles of the 2018 Penfolds St. Henri a while ago and decided to try one with the Prime Rib dinner. Very good but will really benefit from age. I won’t be rushing to drink the remaining bottle.

for me, 2018 is one of the very greatest of all St H. 10, 12, 18. go back further, 08, 04, 96, 90 and so on. amazing how they are all even numbers?? 

stunning wine. and yes, will age very very well. compared to the 17 Grange - they were released at the same time - i think it is an even better wine, and about one eighth of the price. 

[LLC]

Great wine with dinner. Best wine I’ve had in a while. Later on New Year’s Eve some rum with a Siglo III from 2011.