Scattershooting

[stefan]

Scattershooting while eating left over linguine & shrimp with a tomato sauce and drinking '05 Ravenswood Barricia Zinfandel, which is worth much more than the $9.11 I paid.

Does anyone pay more than 1/2 of "full retail" these days? I yawn at any price above that....When I drink a 10 year old Bordeaux, I am pretty confident at predicting what it will be a full maturity. Not the same with 10 year old Burgundies....Why do Burgophiles hate '97 Burgundies? I have found '97 to be a very useful vintage for drinking early, although one must be careful to taste before buying...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef3Df7FUr4M is a great comment about how distributors act (Glazer's in Texas comes to mind). An ITB person wrote me after viewing it, "They nailed it. That is exactly what is happening in the market."...Got three more cases of '98 Henriot Brut this week, this time at $20....Offered Glazer's $22 for '05 Lagrange for which they had asked $27. Got turned down; they said what I offered was below their cost. Does that mean that they paid less than $27?!?!....Lucie and I returned Thursday night from Oregon, where we were visiting stefanJr, Irena, and baby Shea. Had a great time drinking wine, playing golf, and, of course, playing with Shea (who loves prewine but adores her binky dipped in pinot). If you will visit the Willamette Valley, contact stefanJr, who has taught me a lot about OR pinot....Thinking about retrieving some '02 Bdx and '02 Ridge Zins from storage. Is it time?...With the first run of the pasta I had for lunch today, last night Lucie and I drank '98 Travaglini Tre Vigne Gattinara. It smelled oxidized at first, but that went away. Too acidic for drinking by itself, the wine is very, very good with the pasta. My $10 gamble paid off...Twenty years ago, when I was young and had my health, I remembered every outstanding red wine I had tasted, and usually when and where I had drunk it. Now, due partly to degeneration and partly to drinking too many great wines, I have trouble recalling the taste of the great ones I have drunk within the last month....Never had a memory for the great white wines. Why the difference? Mr. Vino might say, "Because white is just something you drink before reds", but I don't feel that way....Did 1988, 1989, or 1990 produce the best Sauternes? There are great ones from all three vintages, but my favorite is 1988, as so many from that vintage have very pronounced minerals....If you like great popular music from years and years back, listen to our local favorite, Kelsey Taylor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdN_JMroapI ....Unfortunately, we'll miss her CD release party as it is the same night as the '89 Bdx tasting in NYC....Incidentally, the '05 Barricia is pretty good in spite of 15.5% alcohol. Maybe the high alcohol will improve my golf game (I am headed off to the driving range in a few minutes).


stefan

[Houndsong]

That video is hilarious.

[DavidG]

You certainly covered a lot in that post Stefan. Zins often do go well with tomato sauces. Good pizza wines too. '05 Lagrange goes for about $39 locally at Macarthurs, so $27 sounds like a good deal in comparison. Is it common for distributors to accept bids from customers in Texas, or do you have an inside connection? Can't comment on '97 Burgs, no experience. I do sympathize with the decrease in ability to remember stuff, but so far it hasn't hit the wine memory centers in my brain, just short term stuff like "what did I come in here to get?"

[stefan]

>>
Is it common for distributors to accept bids from customers in Texas, or do you have an inside connection?
>>

My wine merchant friend shows me the offer list and I tell him what to bid. I imagine that in Baltimore or DC no retailer would do this, but there are some advantages to being a medium size fish in a tiny pond.

Before I forget: tonight we are eating chicken sauteed with mushrooms and blackened onions while drinking '01 Amiot MSD Les Millandes. Quite a yummy combination. The Amiot is mostly pure fruit with a hint of underbrush. The balance is just right and I like the firmness in the mid palate. This is a wonderful wine to drink while waiting for my '99s to come around.

stefan

[Jay Winton]

my post seems to have disappeared. Of course, it was my greatest achievement.

[Mike Christensen]

my post seems to have disappeared. Of course, it was my greatest achievement.

Did it involve Russian porn?