https://nypost.com/2019/04/18/bordeaux-fire-destroys-13-million-worth-of-wine-in-france/

Pour one out for the homies.

Hitting up Calais next Friday afternoon. Been a few years since I've been there but remember enjoying it. Plan on hitting Inwood the next morning/afternoon.

I took the in-laws and kids to Inwood on Saturday and Cecil was a great host. I really liked the wines and the tasting. We will be back. If you go, make sure to let Cecil know ahead of time.

I'm glad we could sit in the winery and spend a while. Too bad the tasting room was so busy Dan couldn't spend some time with us. What a great family as well!

LastBottle.com sale blast going on today and tomorrow.

Went to the Jordan 2015 Cabernet Release Party at Kent Rathbun's (Dallas Chef who founded Abacus) house last night here in Dallas. I haven't been impressed with a lot of their cabs the last few years, but this stuff is legitimately good. We had a great time, and obviously the food was good.

Ok, "I went to"...?

Really cool, how'd you score the invite?

cecil77 said:

---

Ok, "I went to"...?

Really cool, how'd you score the invite?

---

I don't know, Jordan Winery just emailed me and I thought it looked neat? Realm is doing something similar I think in October and I am pretty sure I will go to that too. It was fun!

Quote:

---

Realm is doing something similar I think in October and I am pretty sure I will go to that too.

---

Got that as well. I plan on going, assuming ticket availability. You doing Houston or Dallas?

Ill be going to the houston one

I'll be doing the Realm tasting in Houston. They used to do this every year but it's been a while.

How about a Texags wine get together in Houston? Don't know exactly what, but at a minimum making contact at the event.

cecil77 said:

---

Quote:

---

Realm is doing something similar I think in October and I am pretty sure I will go to that too.

---

Got that as well. I plan on going, assuming ticket availability. You doing Houston or Dallas?

---

I live up here in the metroplex so I will be representing the TexAgs Wine Club - Dallas Chapter.

ILikeTacos said:

---

cecil77 said:

---

Quote:

---

Realm is doing something similar I think in October and I am pretty sure I will go to that too.

---

Got that as well. I plan on going, assuming ticket availability. You doing Houston or Dallas?

---

I live up here in the metroplex so I will be representing the TexAgs Wine Club - Dallas Chapter.

---

Unfortunately the High Plains Chapter will not to my knowledge be represented.

Anyone going to the Austin Food and Liquor (and some wine) Festival this weekend?

So the Austin Food and Wine Festival was pretty good. There was more wine this year (not all good), and the Bordeaux and Reserva Rioja tastings was pretty good. One of my friends got an entire bottle of Bordeaux from the booth because the lady pouring just gave it to them, and so we drank it and poured for others around us in line since we couldn't take the bottle home. Both the Justin and Landmark booths were very good. We got to taste through the entire line of Justin and four of the Landmark pinots. It was then we realized everything was downhill from there. I ended up ordering half a case of Pinot Noir.

Tonight's wine: a $26 Bordeaux that can age and is spectacular for the price. It needs a 24-hour decant to be pleasant right now.

Where did you buy it?

Ethel's in Lakeway. I didn't buy it though. A guy that works there brought it over and left half of it. I left it open on the counter and drank the rest tonight.

A ten year retrospective on some old school Napa cab. This was $40 on release, and I'm thinking of buying more of current vintages to lay down for a while. It's too bad there aren't more producers like this left.

And....???? How was it. I've got a couple of bottles put back.

Most memorable part of our visit there four years ago. My handicapped wife holds the door open for an old man with a can and gets ripped a new one for it. Turns out to be Tom Burgess himself!

It's drinking really well right now, and still has about 5-10 years left. I had it with lamb. You should open one of yours and find out.

I got an 09 reserve yesterday in my club shipment. I'm seriously considering upping my membership to get more of their stuff. I've just grown tired of the massive fruit forward cabs that Napa is producing now.

Back in the good ole days, I was drinking a lot of old Burgess. I loved how they held some back for consumers.

Just checked. Most were before I had a good inventory system but I did see a bunch of library Release 1996's in my notes that I drank in 2010. I really don't think I paid more than $30/40 for them.

Their regular cab is still $45, and it's worth every penny. Their current winemaker is doing some more blends and location specific wines, but she's still making the cab and merlot. They're a steal.

The library releases in the club shipments has just started this past year. I'm a fan.

Interesting read...

Organic Wine's Deadly Carbon Footprint

That is interesting. I've heard of the copper issue, especially in Bordeaux. I believe I've read they are trying to now try biodynamic practices to counter the copper and bringing in a lot of compost, which is changing the soil.......

I had not ready anything on the higher C02 emissions before.

The other knock on Organic is the lack of flexibility. Every vineyard and vineyard site is different, hard set rules don't work for all of them. Napa only has like a 10-15% organic rate. Napa is easy to grow grapes compared to other places, and even they can only hit 10-15%..... Even if their were no negatives of organic, 10-15% isn't going to make a difference.....

It's a buzzword and really has no backing, but I think the key is sustainability. Are you taking care of the land to continue farming it in the future?

I also have to laugh at how often I'm hearing about global warming and the exaggeration of it in some circles of the wine world.

I'm not making this a political debate or even arguing global warming, but people are acting like vineyards around the world are ripping out all grapes to plant more heat resistant varietals.

They continue to reference the alcohol level in wines and it creeping up in recent vintages.....Sure, some of this could be because of hotter vintages. But, I'd also imagine a lot of it has to do with vineyards letting grapes hang on the vine longer to get that alcohol level up to meet that trend in market demand......

I agree with all of that. Dan has some very interesting logic about the whole issue...

I'm part of a group of 8 headed to Napa on Wednesday. We have appointments at the wineries listed below. I received many of the ideas from this thread.


Donum Estate
Dakota Shy
Amizetta
Aonair
Italics
KrisTod
Schramsburg
Eleven Eleven
Hall
Del Dotto
Chase Cellars
Biale
Silver Trident
O'Brien

Helluva trip! Enjoy!!!

Chase is one of my favorites. If you like Zins, they have some really great ones and some really old vines. The owner Katie is around quite a bit and you will have a great time out there with Elise or Bryan as well.

klietzau said:

---

Chase is one of my favorites. If you like Zins, they have some really great ones and some really old vines. The owner Katie is around quite a bit and you will have a great time out there with Elise or Bryan as well.

---

One of the 8 going with CivE. This is our 3rd time to Chase. Agreed on their zins. We would also rank the atmosphere of the tasting near the top of our list.

Never Too Early for Tempranillo!

Inwood is co-hosting this and I'll be there. Monday 5/20 7pm at Austin Winery, 440 East Saint Elmo Road, A1, Austin, TX 78745

There will be several Tempranillos served, including several from Spain.

I will be bringing:
* 2008 Inwood Cornelius Reserve
* 2011 Inwood Colus (micro yield 100% Tempranillo, retail $225)
* 2011 Inwood Magnus (micro yield Temp Cab blend, retail $225)

This is new for us to do, but I anticipate a fun event.

How long are you going to be there? Amizetta alone is a treck up the mountain.

See you soon! Looks like a great lineup. If you have space, Larkmead is another great winery to visit.

If you need anything while you're out here, feel free to give me a shout!

Taylor
704-293-5351