Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

A splendid September day here in Maine, just uncorked a 1998 Pape Clement on the back deck.
The cork was slightly protruding, the capsule spun freely, seems very muted on the nose, hope its okay.

What a great pennant race we have in the American League East this year!
Sox, Jays, O's and even the Yanks all bunched up near first, somebody is gonna be in first and somebody, from 1 to 3 or them, will not make the playoffs at all…

Was sitting in the bleachers at Fenway the other night with two of my old law school buddies on Zander Boegarts bobble head night:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em- ... ZWgFKkc3SM

And what about the wine?

It is so amazing that they have been making wine there for what 500 years?

Yum this really opened up with about 20 minutes of air after a very closed start.

I invested in a case of this so am eager to await your prognosis Jim

Its it:

- easy
- Profound
- Structured
- Parkerised
- Full-bodied or medium-bodied?
- Ageworthy?

So my primary physician referred me for a hearing exam. I can't hear anything in the high ceilinged century old Androscoggin County Superior Courtroom, I have to use the court earphones to hear witnesses and even the judge. I met with this nice doctor, I went into the little testing room and clicked the button every time I heard a little beeping noise in the headphones, and then we checked the results… Moderate to severe hearing loss at high frequency levels, whatever that means, he gave me quite a little presentation on why I can hear vowels but not consonants, etc., etc. It was actually kind of interesting at first.

And then he pulls out the various sample hearing aid models, and I suddenly feel like I am 92 years old. (There was a 92-year-old-looking woman in the waiting room who was there with her daughter, who was probably older than me.) At that point, I decided that I wanted to kill myself. Just put me out of my misery. Then he starts the hard sell, trying to get me to buy these hearing aids based on whether I lead a "very active," "active", "quiet," lifestyle, etc., the most expensive, of course, being the $6,490 hearing aids (with AGX9 technology) for a "very active" guy like me. You can even adjust the settings in your iPhone for bluetooth type technology that pumps music, etc., into your hearing aids…. I was somehow able to wiggle my way out of the building without committing to the six grand, promising I would call him <rolls eyes> next week after I get back from Texas. All this after getting the $5,000 bill in the mail for the uninsured portion of my $23,000 cardiac cath procedure last spring. And I've put off the torn meniscus knee surgery until the pain becomes "unbearable." At least my doc told me that my Level 2 kidney disease numbers are on the low end of that category, and my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are good with the six medications I'm taking. The 16% heart blockage doesn't require a stent, at least for now….

My eyesight is going too, but that's been the case each year since I was four years old.

Of all the problems, the hearing aids were the most offensive to me psychologically. That one was yet another ignominy as I approach age 58…. I'm gonna put off the hearing aids, just like the knee surgery, delaying the inevitable march toward death, at least in my own increasingly feeble mind….

Other than that, though, life is good! Been taking some end of summer time off, going off to Teeyyyxxxasss to see Jan and Billy this week…..

Still assessing it, Ian, but it just keeps blooming during this first hour following uncorking, very positive experience so far after a concerning beginning.

And what about the wine?

We are not just a wine web site, Timmy, we are a lifestyle site….

Recommended reading:
"George F. Kennan: An American Life"
If you like biography/history, this is biography at its best.

Recommended restaurant in Soho, New York:

"King"

http://www.grubstreet.com/2016/09/king- ... grubstreet

A friend of mine's daughter is involved in it, check it out.

A fun article on Pete Wells, the NYT restaurant reviewer in this week's New Yorker, in case you've missed it:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/ ... ant-critic

Check out Costco for hearing aids.

That being said the calibration of the devices is important, not just the widget, and some of the premium the dedicated audiologist firms charge is for that perceived advantage over big box retailer.

They put on the hard sell because small expensive items easy to ship items are easy to shop on price once you have your Rx.

Once you get the technology installed, you'll be able to hear the Pape Clement speaking to you.

Once you get the technology installed, you'll be able to hear the Pape Clement speaking to you.

LoL

I mean, it was definitely a revelation to be able to hear again.
At one point he crumpled some paper (on purpose), the crispness of sound of which I have not heard probably in years.

Like everything else as you get older, it's a balancing act.
I'm finding myself having to make accommodations for my body more and more.
When I get off the couch I have to push myself off more with my arms and take the stress off my knees.
When I'm having some beers after work with my lawyer friends I have to cup my ear to hear what they're saying if the bar is a little too noisy….

The 1998 Pape Clement is understated. Especially, it seems to me, for a 1998. I saw some notes on cellar tracker talking about black fruit. To me I get that nice cherry-and-oak profile that can be so sensuous. I wouldn't call it "restrained" but it is certainly not "fruit-forward." It is gentlemanly… or, perhaps more appropriate, "lady-like." Either way, it is classy. It reminds me of my old tall-and-thin Franco-American dentist who went to McGill and my old tall-and-thin Franco-American uncle who got his PhD at Johns Hopkins and went on to teach chemistry at Deerfield. Classy. Their clothes weren't expensive but they were well-dressed, understated, unassuming, just did their job. This is the second time I have had it in the past three months, the first being earlier this summer with Michael-P in Manhattan. It beat out a disappointing '96 Ducru and a '67 Barolo that night. I would not call this wine profound. Otherwise, it has the usual Graves notes of gravel, smoke, a little tar, some tobacco. I wonder where this fell in the transition from old style to modern Pape Clement. This is nothing like the bruising, oak-bomb 2000 (which I loved). This is more like the older styled Papes (which I also loved). It is like to Graves what Duhart Milon is to Pauillac.

Ok, let's go through Ian's checklist, I'll rate each category on a scale of 1 to 10:

- Easy: 8
- Profound: 3
- Structured: 3
- Parkerised: 2
- Full-bodied or medium-bodied?: Medium bodied. 5
- Ageworthy?: Drink now and over the next ten years.

I'll give it the same 92 score that I gave it when I drank it with Michael-P.
A lovely, classy wine.

Clearly a wine I would like.

And Jim, it is amazing that when we first met, in 2001 in Chicago, you were appromately my actual age. We all know that getting older got it's part of health issues. But hey, for me, you're still the 42 years old, Father of BWE,
I met in 2001!

I'm actually 42!

Nic

Hmm that's right, Nic, I was even younger than you, at 42.
And I am older now than Stefan was at Chicago '01.
It's weird, psychologically I am still the age of the young 26-27 Nic and Whuzzup I met back in 2001.
Physically, I'm feeling every bit my 57 years.

This is definitely a Jean-Nicolas Maltais (think '90 Haut Bailly)/Comte Flaneur kind of wine….

Can I just say...

Holy crap, Nic, you are old!!!

(Edited to add: I didn't realize how close we are in age...)

JimHow wrote:Recommended reading:
"George F. Kennan: An American Life"
If you like biography/history, this is biography at its best.

I read the autobiographical Sketches from a Life by George F. Kennan as a freshman in college and I was quite taken by it.

Who is the youngest active BWE member? Do we need a recruiting effort to stock the minor leagues?

" I wonder where this fell in the transition from old style to modern Pape Clement. This is nothing like the bruising, oak-bomb 2000 (which I loved). This is more like the older styled Papes (which I also loved). It is like to Graves what Duhart Milon is to Pauillac."

I think it was about the time of the Rolland-Magrez inflection point Jim. Until recently I thought this wine was just after the change in style, but reading notes like yours it seems more old school than new school PC.

Seems like I should retrieve my case from storage later this year. This wine sells for a pretty penny btw.

Sippin' Champagne in the pool should perk you up, Jim. Maybe Lucie and I will do that today as a warm up. I have not been in the water since breaking my foot a couple of weeks ago. (On the golf course, no less. On hole number 12, just when Lucie and I had started to play pretty well.)

Broken foot on the golf course…
Jesus.
Well we'll just have to drink some champagne

Jim,

I feel for you. I started noticing my hearing loss, also high frequency, when I was in medical school in New York. I had to sit in the front row to hear the lecturers, and, once I was in the wards, it was damn near impossible, largely because no one was ever speaking directly to me. I got evaluated, got hearing aids, and have been wearing them ever since. My wife, incidentally, is an ENT, so I do get a discount on my hearing aids.

But honestly, once you get over the shock to the system of having hearing aids, they can be a new lease on life. Things that were progressively unclear achieve clarity and you will, within a few weeks, become totally accustomed to them. At the ripe age of 39, having worn HA for more than a decade, through multiple cities, Orthopaedic residency and practice, and some aggressively single and social times, I can tell you that they don't turn you into an old man.

CostCo is not a bad option for hearing aids, but you may be best off with a better audiologist who can really tweak the HA to your needs. I prefer Oticon and Siemens but every major company makes a variety of products, all with mini BTE (behind the ear) models. Avoid CIC (completely in canal) models unless your hearing loss is profound. PM if you have any questions.

Thanks for the perspective, Noah, I'm sure I'm only delaying the inevitable.
I'm guessing I'll take the plunge in 2017.

So I read this review in the WSJ last week and your post made me think of it. The first few paragraphs hit very close to home:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/life-in-the ... 1472839500

Ha yeah I read that article as well, it all sounds very familiar.

I told my buddy Ray we are going to develop a plan to be billionaires by age 70.

Man, the Red Sox are getting spanked by Cleveland!

Yeah, way to show up Porcello and Price.

Rangers getting stomped too, Hamels and Darvish, wow. Guess the playoffs are a crap shoot.

Last winter Bill Belichik docked around and the Pats lost the last 4 out of 6 games of the regular season.
It was still a great year, they got a bye in the first round, but they lost the home field advantage to Denver in the AFC championship game and lost by a missed extra point. If the game were played at Gillette the Pats would probably have ended up winning their fifth Super Bowl championship.

Likewise, this year the Sox lost 5 of their last 6 games of the season while they were docking around celebrating Big Papi's final regular season games. Cleveland has like the best home record in the league. And now we're paying for it. Xander Boegarts looks completely lost out there.

Maybe they docked around, maybe not. My feeling is that've got flat and tired at the worst time. The last two-three weeks they can't hit at all. It's not a function of attitude or choice, they just sock right now.