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What Are You Drinking Right Now?


deangold

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Tonight was Rhone night. Well, more nights are Rhone nights than any other nights. So we were going to start with a tenth of 1969 E. Guigal Hermitage, however, when we first opened it the wine was closer to vinegar than to wine. We kept the wine in the decanter hoping that a little air would help. So in the mean time we drank a bottle of 1999 M. Chapoutier Dechants Saint-Joseph. This was a beautiful wine. Plenty of fruit, and a nice balance of acid. The wine got better with every glass, and by the time we were done we wanted more.

Out of the wonder St. Joseph, we decided to give the Hermitage a second chance. We were right that the acid would burn off. It was slightly maderized, but still quite flavorful. It matched perfectly with the sleave of Girl Scout cookies that we ate for desert (the short bread type).

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2002 Due Terri Sacrassi Bianco Ribolla Tocai blend- huge, full of flavor, youthful very spicy. What a wine! From one fo the followers of Gravner.

1993 Bartolo Mascarello Brunello- just starting to smooth out and get round. Layers of earth, spice and complex bery flavors. Amazing without colbbering you over the head with massive fruit, wood or tannins. What a Wine (Thanks Maureen!).

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Evan Williams Single Barrel, 1990. Found on a dusty shelf in Daytona Beach, FL last October. Was very tight on initial opening (about 5 months ago), which is normal for bottlings that have been sitting around for awhile. Now it's opened to classic Heaven Hill caramel, honey, butter, and eucalyptus. Not my favorite kind of bourbon, but quite fine. Happy 5PM!

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Grilling steaks and enjoying a '96 Judd's Hill Cabernet. Very nice, needs some time in the glass--it keeps getting better and better. Picked this one up this afternoon at Addy Bassins this afternoon.

(They have two left.)

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Grilling steaks and enjoying a '96 Judd's Hill Cabernet.  Very nice, needs some time in the glass--it keeps getting better and better.  Picked this one up this afternoon at Addy Bassins this afternoon. 

(They have two left.)

We had that at the Judd's Hill wine dinner and it was superb! Their 99 estate was pretty killer too!

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We had that at the Judd's Hill wine dinner and it was superb!  Their 99 estate was pretty killer too!

I also picked up a couple of '99 Cabernets. They seem to have several of those. They also have a boatload of 2001 Estates, on sale! We just finished the '96....superb, indeed. :)

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Just to make a professional notation...I am totally fuckiong ripped!

2001 Albert Mann Tocai Pinot Gris, Furstentum Grand Cru followed by Poli Grappa di Moscato accompanied by Verdi's Atilla filemd at the Arena di Verona. When I get a day off, its a day off!!!

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Just drained our first bottle of Siduri, the 2004 Santa Rita Hills, that I picked up in San Francisco earlier this month. A wonderfuly balanced young wine, it's got a nice mossy, barnyard bouquet and a vibrant, sweet cherry palate. It's one of the best young California pinots I've had in some time.

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Last night the first bottle of the meager bounty we brought back from our recent Italy trip: 2003 Col D'Orcia Rosso di Montalcino. Most everything else from that shipment should probably sit for a couple years ....

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2002 Albert Boxler Riesling Reserve. Had it with some cumin based spice rub braised chicken thighs.

Damn that is a nice wine. Wish I had bought more than one bottle. I wonder if I can get Joe to sell me more at that special price?!

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knocking back a tumbler of my winter kumquat/cinnamon/corriander and clove aquavit. It helps soothe the bitter taste from the closed MayDay boycott thread.

For all the entreprenurial libationers, infused-vodka.com has a fine selection of glass infusion jars with brass taps and homedistiller.org offers formulations for sugar wash/alcohol ratios if you distil at home. The guy's "thumper still" works quite well. I recommend thoroughly cleaning any copper tubing though, lest you want to drink hooch that looks like you scooped it out of the YMCA pool.

Brita filters work well. Any home distillers out there? Anyone with an arc welder that can help me build a reflux column that would make the engineers of the Death Star blush?

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Ridge Zinfandel 2000 Buchingnani ATP Selection

From a small vineyard in the Geyserville area, big spicy, rich and now quite soft and fat. Very good with the surprisingly bad takeout from Lebanese Taverna Silver Spring (surprising since we had the same plate from the Rockville store just last Saturday and it was completely different both in contents and in flavor/quality). All accompnaied by viewing Il Trovatore withCura, Hovorostovsky, Villarroel, Naef conducted by Rizzi. NOthing like homoerotic sword play along with Cerdi's music and good, high alcohol zin!

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Ridge Zinfandel 2000 Buchingnani ATP Selection

From a small vineyard in the Geyserville area, big spicy, rich and now quite soft and fat.  Very good with the surprisingly bad takeout from Lebanese Taverna Silver Spring (surprising since we had the same plate from the Rockville store just last Saturday and it was completely different both in contents and in flavor/quality).  All accompnaied by viewing Il Trovatore withCura, Hovorostovsky, Villarroel, Naef conducted by Rizzi.  NOthing like homoerotic sword play along with Cerdi's music and good, high alcohol zin!

wow- and it ain't even noon yet. I make it a point never to watch any opera before 5:00pm.
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NV Autares produced by Mercouri Estate , S.A. Korakochori Ilias, Greece; a dry red table wine of Mourvedre & Augustiatis grapes--went very well with a North African influenced dinner. Very nice for the price ($19).

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04 soter north valley pinot noir. new release from the vineyard. it is a second label for fruit that is not quite good enough for the beacon hill or mineral springs pinot. it is a little young but is showing a great deal of promise. lush fruit, and velvety mouthfeel are my initial impressions.

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Tonight I tasted the entire portfolio of Feudi San Gregorio. It is hard to say what was the wine of the night. The 2001 Serpico was the best tasting, but a quarter of the price the 1999 Taurasi Riserva was almost its equal. The two other stars were the Cutuzzi Greco di Tufo and the 2001 Privilegio Tiano di Avelino Pasito.

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Santo Domingo Albarradas Single Village Mezcal earlier. Really interesting stuff. Spicy and a little citrusy/peachy almost with an almost cognac-y sort of back in the nose (sort of like I got from Cuervo Reserva de Familia, but less forward in the mezcal). Neat! I like it.

Also: Boo on Virginia ABC for not carrying 'Crema de Mezcal' anymore. Still, got me to try something new.

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Last night a TsingTao at Chinatown Express.

Night before Albert Mann Gewurztraminer 2001 Steingrubler: fat silky with a lighter spice element that I woould have expected but a softer and silkeir mouthfeel in return. With a bowl of won ton soup from Full Kee Wheaton

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Last night a TsingTao at Chinatown Express. 

Night before Albert Mann Gewurztraminer 2001 Steingrubler: fat silky with a lighter spice element that I woould have expected but a softer and silkeir mouthfeel in return.  With a bowl of won ton soup from Full Kee Wheaton

Was that the recent Parker rated 98 point Albert Mann Gewurtz dean?

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Was that the recent Parker rated 98 point Albert Mann Gewurtz dean?

I am pretty sure if it was recently rated it was probably the '04 which just hit the states. This is the now lovely 01. But I wouldn't know as Parker scores are a thing unknown to me! However, the '01 Furstentum is even better but a leaner and racier delight. I have a bit of that left as well.

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i'm so ashamed... i'll try to make up for it tomorrow night at dinner.

It's alright, you're among friends. My current stock of beer, now depleted, came from 7-11. It was $2 cheaper than the Sam Adams' Wheat Beer. At the time, that really spoke to me. It happens to the best of us.
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2003 Vel Aules by Poggio Gaggliardo

This is quite a wine. First off its old vines Malavasia Nera and Colorino. The vinification method is taken from an 18th century winemaking text. The grapes are grown basically in the biodynamic method. No sulphur, yeasts or any chemical additives are used. No filtration or stabilization is allowed. The wine is fermented in wood vats in a cellar at the winery. Windows are opened to the nigh sea air (the winry is above the Tuscan coast) which cools the fermenting grapes and quickly brings the fermentation to a stop. In the following spring, the vats warma dn fermentation (both primary and secondary) finish quickly. The wine has an explosive fruitiness loaded with earthy and spicy overtones. While the nose is fairly funky, the flavors are incredible. Only 200 cases were made in 2003 and 2 cases have found their happy home at Dino. We have about 6 bottles left at current.

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2003 Vel Aules by Poggio Gaggliardo

This is quite a wine. First off its old vines Malavasia Nera and Colorino. The vinification method is taken from an 18th century winemaking text. The grapes are grown basically in the biodynamic method. No sulphur, yeasts or any chemical additives are used. No filtration or stabilization is allowed. The wine is fermented in wood vats in a cellar at the winery. Windows are opened to the nigh sea air (the winry is above the Tuscan coast) which cools the fermenting grapes and quickly brings the fermentation to a stop. In the following spring, the vats warma dn fermentation (both primary and secondary) finish quickly. The wine has an explosive fruitiness loaded with earthy and spicy overtones. While the nose is fairly funky, the flavors are incredible. Only 200 cases were made in 2003 and 2 cases have found their happy home at Dino. We have about 6 bottles left at current.

Is that the Toscana Vel Aules ? How much per glass/bottle ?

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Is that the Toscana Vel Aules ? How much per glass/bottle ?

Its from Montescudaio (sort of by Bogheri). Its $80 a bottle. Its a touch expensive for what it is but it is also totally unique. I just love it and I forgot how much till I drank it last night!

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Mastroberardino "Grappa Novia" Grappa di Taurasi. Aglianico grapes. Oh god this is good. Like eating almost-ripe sauvignon blanc grapes. This may be my favorite (non-stagionata) grappa out there; certainly the best one in my bunker.

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Thanks to a customer who didn't think it was earthy enough... I had some of Moccagatta Barbaresco Bric Balin 2001. Huge, tannic as all get out, spicy, red fruit galore. I hoped they enjoyed the cab the wound up drinking as much as I enjoyed their castoff.

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