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Whats in your wine cellar?

1,259,588 Views | 10398 Replies | Last: 1 hr ago by Stan Crowch
HTownAg98
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Siduri would be another good choice.
htxag09
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AG
BSD, we made the butternut squash soup you sent us today for dinner. Wow. Can only imagine how it tastes when the bouchon chefs are making it as opposed to us. Going to have to buy that cookbook soon....
BSD
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AG
Awesome. I really, really liked that soup. My wife had the cauliflower soup at Bouchon tonight and it was really good as well.

Edit: the butternut squash soup wasn't on the menu or I would have ordered it!
dermdoc
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AG
Drank a 2009 Myriad cab last night. Ummmm
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cecil77
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AG
Napa Cab or one of the single vineyard ones? I've only opened Napa cabs so far, but only started purchasing with the 2012 vintage.
dermdoc
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AG
Beckstoffer Dr. crane vineyard
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cecil77
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AG
Can't wait to open some in a year or three...
BSD
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AG
Very nice!
dermdoc
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AG
Thank you sir. Sold our house in Beaumont so celebrating
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HTownAg98
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Had a 2012 Chappellet Signature Cabernet tonight. I'd forgotten how good this wine is for the price. Even though it's now hovering around $55, it's still a good wine for that price. I liked it even more when it was $45.
cecil77
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AG
I'm starting part time in the tasting room and Inwood Cellars tomorrow. Hope to do that several days per month. Stop by if you're in Fredericksburg!
HTownAg98
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quote:
I'm starting part time in the tasting room and Inwood Cellars tomorrow. Hope to do that several days per month. Stop by if you're in Fredericksburg!

Cool! I may have to stop on sometime.
I'd love to do something like this, but the two hour drive to Fburg makes it prohibitive.
cecil77
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AG
It's about 35 minutes for me, so not money in it. But I'm looking forward to hanging around Dan Gatlin and learning stuff...
BSD
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AG
That's pretty cool, Cecil. Have fun!
ILikeTacos
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AG
Dined at the French Laundry last night. My goodness. It was worth it.
BSD
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AG
quote:
Dined at the French Laundry last night. My goodness. It was worth it.


Where were you sitting?
ILikeTacos
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AG
quote:
quote:
Dined at the French Laundry last night. My goodness. It was worth it.


Where were you sitting?


My reservation was at 9. Seven people right in the middle of the downstairs dining room.
BSD
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AG
No way! Were you next to the table where there was a loud woman who wouldn't shut up and was crying during dinner?

We were right next to you.
ILikeTacos
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AG
quote:
No way! Were you next to the table where there was a loud woman who wouldn't shut up and was crying during dinner?

We were right next to you.


I didn't notice if she was crying but yes there was a loud woman with three men at the table behind me. My wife just confirmed that she was indeed crying,

I apologize that my brother in law and sister in law were a bit loud. We felt at the beginning of the night we might have been a little too excited for the evening, but then as the night wore on that lady next to us took the cake.

Here were you guys? I assume you were a couple? Next to the fire? In the back corner?
htxag09
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AG
I would just like to say that y'all suck.
BSD
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AG
You guys weren't loud at all. Seriously, when yall came in I was actually hoping yall would be louder to drown her out! We were the couple that moved to the table to the left of the fireplace to escape her noise. They were going to move us again but the brat left finally.

We were there for 4.5 hours! 20 courses took it's toll on me. I am still full.
ILikeTacos
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AG
quote:
You guys weren't loud at all. Seriously, when yall came in I was actually hoping yall would be louder to drown her out! We were the couple that moved to the table to the left of the fireplace to escape her noise. They were going to move us again but the brat left finally.

We were there for 4.5 hours! 20 courses took it's toll on me. I am still full.


I never even noticed you moved, but all the woman told me exactly who you were! So awesome, a texags near meet!
BSD
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AG
Yep. Almost. Was that the family? I heard "dad" mentioned a few times and something about a family pet. Yep, we were eavesdropping. Actually we were just quiet from all the food we were enjoying. We eat silently. I guess we are just soaking in all the flavors.

Despite the crazy woman, who we felt would have been better off at Joe's Crab Shack, we really enjoyed our meal. We did the extended menu with a 2013 Kistler Chardonnay half bottle and another half of 2000 Saint Chamant champagne. The champagne was very toasty with a touch of sherry flavor that went well with the food.

We did a kitchen tour after dinner. We saw the new kitchen area that was being constructed and went back to the shipping container temporary kitchen. The maitre'd (forgot his name) said they plan on either selling the old kitchen (which I put in my bid right then and there of $1) or using it as a training/test/educational kitchen somewhere down the road.

Next year will be a big anniversary so we will be taking our own wine, something special.
BSD
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AG
I am a very fortunate person. At dinner tonight with old friends,they opened a 1937 Chateau d'Yquem.







We also had a 1999 Yquem. Check out the difference in color.



We also opened this beauty:



What a night!
cecil77
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AG
Taste?

All good?

What's the progression of the flavor profiles?
Chipotlemonger
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BSD
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AG
All three were amazing. The '37 was phenomenal and we were so relived when we opened it and it wasn't vinegar! The nose, the taste, the experience...all magical. I had a small glass of each, which I was okay with!

The '59 was stylistically different than the yquems. Less sweet and more botrytis. Very good. The '99 was a baby. Still sweet with more Semillon/Sauv Blan coming through. It could age for years and years.
ILikeTacos
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AG
After this weekend in Napa I realize I have so much more respect for collectors now...
BSD
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AG
quote:
BSD, got the email that rivers-Marie is releasing their Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Which do you prefer?


I heard this weekend that the Summa old vines is "so good".
BSD
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AG
So I finished two books on wine this month so far, both Christmas presents. One was simply titled Domaine de la Romanee Conti by Gert Crum. This was about the history of the Domaine and the winemaking process. Very informative. The next was Shadow in the Vineyards, which was the extortion against the Domaine. That had a lot of history in it as well but dove in deeper to the people of the current staff. Both were a good read and I'll hopefully be able to regurgitate some of that info when we open a bottle...next year.

Now, inspired by the story of the '37 Yquem, I just started "Wine and War"
BSD
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AG
I'll type up some thoughts from my Napa weekend shortly.
aggiejumper
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AG
Once I find the time, I'll do a quick recap of my trip last week to Napa too.
BSD
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AG
Some quick Napa notes (nothing formal)

Thursday

We arrived in Wine country and stopped to see one of the two men behind MacDonald, Alex MacDonald. His brother wasn't able to join but Alex welcomed us in and made us feel at home in their cottage in the To Kalon vineyard. We visited with them about a year ago so he showed us the property to see what they had done since we left, and to taste the 2013 cab. For those unfamiliar with MacDonald, they own about 15 acres in To Kalon and for years they've sold all fruit to Mondavi for the special bottlings (more on Mondavi at the end of this writeup). But then came along the young brothers, who realized they had something special and started buying some grapes from the family at market prices. It was an instant success with the 2010 release and they aren't looking back.

They have 3 sets of vines: the 60 year old vines, 40 year old vines, and 20 year old vines, each planted by a MacDonald from a past generation. Now it is their turn, and new vines will be planted in a small area by the cottage. It was raining so we walked the 60 year old vineyard and listened to stories (history of Opus One who has vineyards across the gravel road from the cottage was interesting and how the initial wines were too good so Mondavi took those grapes and then Opus fell off...also how they planted too close to get more yield at the expense of quality) and farming talk. Such a great time but there was wine to be tasted...

And oh was it good! The '13 is easily the best they've made and was my favorite cabernet of the trip. Luscious, full, round, and layers and layers of flavor. I'm pretty damn fortunate to be on this list and I'll savor every last drop that I can enjoy!

Sixty year old MacDonald vine:



Sixty year old vineyard with Honeybee the Dog sniffing around:



Dinner was black truffle rissoto at Bouchon: no wine.


Friday

The day started off with Model Bakey English Muffins (a must when out west) and then on to a morning tasting with Mike Smith of Myriad/Quivet. Mike had mentioned that his Quivet partners from out east would be there tasting with us and through chance, so would Mr and the future Mrs Aggiejumper.

We started off with the '14 Quivet syrahs and some of the Pellet and Kenefick cabs from '13 out of the bottle. We then moved back to the barrel room for some more fun. We tasted some '14 cabs, a zin for the McGaugh family label, and then a taste of the '14 Dr Crane Reserve, which was outstanding. It was good to see Mike and the time spent chatting with everyone there was loads of fun.

Wine barrels:


Next up was a visit with Roy Piper. Knowing that the Aggiejumpers didn't have another appointment until 2:00, I asked Roy if they could join us. Roy, being the great person that he is, didn't hesitate to open his doors to them. Roy makes one wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon with fruit from Moulds Vineyard and George III. The '13 was beautiful. Great mouthfeel, fruit, and balance. We tasted some decanted wine out of the glass and then gave the decanter a vigorous swirl to open it up even more, and it was singing! He then poured the '10 which had different proportions of vineyards in it for a very different, yet still very good, cab. Tasting with Roy are so unique. It's you and the owner/winemaker/salesman. Anything is on the table. When we were there he had received an email from a wine publication asking to taste his wines that very day and he was scrambling to figure out how to accommodate them, as he didn't have any more bottles at that office. It was fun to be part of it. We talked for quite some time about everything in general and finally had to leave to get ready for dinner.

Wine at dinner was a half bottle of 2000 Saint Chamant champagne and 2013 Kistler Chardonnay from Vine Hill Vineyard in Russian River Valley.

No pics from Roy's tasting.

Dinner menu:



Saturday

Just one tasting: Realm.

We met Diedier at the caves at Ch Boswell and proceeded down to the tasting area amongst the barrels. They were out of the '13s at the caves (dammit) so we tasted the 2010 To Kalon and Farella cabs. We also tasted an '09 Falstaff (70% Cab Franc). Diedier told us lots of stories and we just BS'ed for a while. Then we walked over the the '14 To Kalon barrel. Wow! What a wine. I have a feeling this will be a good one. But wait, there's more. Realm just started acquiring fruit from the Houyi vineyard on Pritchard Hill so we pulled some out of that barrel. That should be a great wine, too. As we were about to head back to the table, our host (in the finest of French accents) said "*****it, let's taste the Absurd" and I didn't resist. This was amazing, truly amazing. I'll put it up there with the MacDonald from this trip. I can't wait to taste it out of the bottle someday.

Dinner was steak frites with the 2007 Realm Dr. Crane cab.

Realm tasting area:


I wish I could have come home with this barrel:



We drove up to Dr Crane vineyard for a pic:


Then we drove into the To Kalon vineyard (Beckstoffer area, not Mondavi) just east of MacDonald's home.



At that point we thought we were done. Our plan was to drive south to a friends house to taste Yquem (see earlier post). But after tasting some Beckstoffer To Kalon from Realm, and MacDonald's To Kalon, I wanted to know what Mondavi's To Kalon tasted like. As Alex MacDonald told me, it's a big vineyard and not every cab with its name is of great quality. Beckstoffer owns some land above an ancient creek so the soil and rocks there are prefect for growing vines. But the Mondavi area is vast. For purely academic purposes, I talked my wife into the visit.

Ugh. My mistake.

Mondavi has two "To Kalon" wines, the To Kalon from vines near the winery (not available for tasting but available for $300/btl) and a Reserve wine from To Kalon which is made from grapes all over, which we tasted. It was a good wine if it cost $20-25, but not $100+ which is what they charge. It didn't have the complexity, length, or depth as better wines from the area. Like I said, it was academic. At least the tasting was comped. (The I block Sauv Blanc was good but not $100 good and the 2001 Sauternes style wine wasn't bad...they poured heavy. My wife and I just had 2-3 sips of each and dumped the rest).

After a quick stop at a buddy's house to pick up wine to take home, the Napa component of the trip was complete it was off to the magical Sauternes dinner.






cecil77
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AG
I'm pouring in the reserve room at Inwood Estates in Fredericksburg this Saturday. Stop by if you can!
ILikeTacos
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AG
BSD thank you for your notes. We didn't get the Chef's Tasting Menu, just the normal options. I will say this I was blown away by the "Oysters and Pearls". It might be one of the best foods I have ever put in my mouth.
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