I was just thinking about you, Rob, I still have a bottle of 1992 Jean-Marie Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montee de Tonerre that you left at my house last September, I was thinking of uncorking it and raising a toast to the Dayton family.

Had this tonight again with Thursday night family dinner.

Bravo! Liked it even more than last time!

So when are we doing the conention then?

Is that a go or no-go?

To my Massachusetts bretheren: Can you let me know if/when this hits the shelves in New Hempshire at that price?

Thanks,
Brother How

The Houndsong and his wife Kathy will be in the great State of Maine tomorrow for a historic wine dinner at the JimHow estate in Lewiston, Maine.

Dinner will be served on Friday night, and numerous special wines are expected to be uncorked.

More reports to follow....

That man from the Anodyne Bles Band is like a finely aged northern Medoc........

I'm planning on getting some more of this '05 Grand Corbin-Despagne at $24 per bottle.

Au contraire, Stefan, I would not think of scheduling it at a time that you and Lucie cannot attend.

Not so much the vintage, Chris, more the estate. It has been awfully inconsistent over the past twenty years.

The weather is always nice in California, Jay....

Hey I'm flexible, but I'm warning you guys, this is an issue we have dealt with before. Once we start getting later in the spring I think you're going to find there are more rather than less scheduling conflicts....

I think I did that with a bottle of Boones Farm Apple vintage summer 1974, I believe it was....

I had a 2002 Bellevue (St. Emilion) recently that was pretty undrinkable.

St. Julien was a sweet spot in 2002 but I would proceed with caution.
I have not had the GL.

Perhaps Stefan is closer to the truth when he says (paraphrasing) that 89 is the perfect score because that is where the best QPRs are.

Inded, David, and the other thing I'm discovering is that the mere fact that a Bordeaux wine is "modern" is not a disqualifier for me. I've had good modern Bordeaux and mediocre modern Bordeaux, just as I've had good traditionally-styled Bordeaux and mediocre traditionally-styled Bordeaux....

⋅  2005 Château Grand Corbin-Despagne - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (9/7/2010) Pretty unforgiving right now, not very flattering. Demonstrating sharp, eye-squinting 2005 tannins. Nothing on the nose. And I like it! A deep inky purple. 13.5% alcohol. Quite closed up...

Still having a hard time coaxing a bouquet out of it.
And it is tannic as hell....
But I like it!

My first encounter with this estate, I believe.
Beautiful inky purple color.
Nothing on the nose.
But I think I like it....

Sounds good!

Spend my days with a woman unkind Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine Made up my mind, make a new start Goin' to California with an achin' in my heart Someone told me there's a girl out there With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair At the Chicago '10 convention we talked about possibly taki...

You da man!

Yes, I can't get excited about '07 Leoville Barton at $72, either. I'm always impressed by the wines they seem to be able to access year after year, though. They get a lot of great Bordeaux and Burgundies that you have trouble finding even in places like NYC or SF. They always seem to get their shar...

Without doubt, the '95 GPL is better.

Tremendous bouquet on the '96 Ducru.
I wonder if healthy bottles from the 1988 vintage might not be the best of that 88-89-90 triumvirate of Ducru Beaucaillou.

I think some of the less good 03s might be showing characteristics of old wines without the colour degradation

I think you nailed it, Jon.

I wonder how my beloved '03 Pontet-Canet is doing these days....

⋅  2003 Château Saint-Pierre - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (9/3/2010) Seemed quite volatile. At first there was nothing. Then for an hour or two it developed nicely on the nose and palate, the nose in particular. Now it seems flabby and thin again. A pleasant, soft wine, that was ...

Thanks Gerry, yes it looks like more Bordeaux is coming but Duhart does not appear on the horizon, it seems to have been shipped east...

Race you to that lone bottle of $70 Carruades in Glen!

Thanks for the report in the name of science, Jon, I'm hoping to give it a try, haven't seen it on the shelves up this way yet. If any of the Massachusetts BWEers see it in NH I'd appreciate it if you could let me know. Thanks.

Thanks for the report Mike. I had probably about six bottles of this a decade or so ago. Probably half the bottles were musty, but those that weren't were quite solid, pretty typical Ducru.

When I saw that $715 price, PLUS a 15% discout (that gets it down to $607.50), I knew that was going to be trouble, Claudius. They had 51 bottles in stock, then it went down to 12 bottles, then it went down to zero, all in less than 24 hours. I was very seriously thinking about racing down there any...

What is the date of that event, Comte?

Obviously I don't expect BWEers to join CT just to cross-reference notes here. But there are numerous BWEers who post notes on CT who don't cross-reference them here, and I think that's unfortunate, because I calculate it takes about three to four extra seconds to do so. Phil and Eric Levine spent a...

And you still question the "wine speak" that the pundits employ??? It must be because I'm the stupidest man alive, Tom. Alex, I would say the 2007 SHL is more than just a weekday wine. I think it is a solid 90-pointer, if not presenting that extra wow factor that I've seen with recent vin...

My PJs case of 2003 Vrai Can Bouche is sitting at the bottom of a large pile of cases, Blanquito, I'm too lazy to move it. It will nonetheless be fine in another three or four years. I have a New Hampshire 2003 St. Pierre with your name on it....

One thing that amazed me when I read the McCullough book, that I was unaware of, was that Truman was never even asked to authorize the second bomb, he was on the ship back from Potsdam, they just dropped it when it was ready to go.

⋅  2007 Château Smith Haut Lafitte - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (9/2/2010) Lots of oak. Pretty good depth. I don't know what "mouthfeel" means but I think it has good mouthfeel. Nice rich deep purple/ruby color. Perhaps a little hard to assess because of the oak, b...

⋅  2003 Château Vrai Canon Bouché - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Canon-Fronsac (9/2/2010) The '03 Vrai Canon Bouche is balanced and solid, if not real exciting. Everything is in place, and I think it still has some years ahead of it, but I don't see it getting much better. It has red che...

I haven't had those earlier vintages but I think by 2007 they have fine tuned their act.
Modern but not over the top.

Damn, I just continue to be impressed by this 2003 Vrai Canon Bouche ($13 before 15% NH discount). I hadn't had it in a couple years, for some reason I was programmed to expect browning at the rim, high alcohol, imbalance, etc. This is a freaking NICE wine! Drinking with the brothers and the old man...

...in the name of science....