Also, had these at Grill 23 in Boston on Saturday night. Not typical steakhouse fare, but god damn were they delicious.
buy_dont_lease I’m a club member at Le Cadeau (tasting room in Dundee, vineyard on Parrett Mtn)—sort of similar to Penner-Ash and I think you’d like both of those. I’m also a club member at De Ponte which also seems like a good mix of delicate and fruit forward. I think Domaine Serene is also in that style. I think Colene Clemens would fit. Beautiful property.
I was in the same boat for our first trip out there so we did a tour through Backcountry Wine Tours. They provide transportation in/out of Portland and set everything up with 3-4 different vineyards. We liked them so much the first time that on a second trip to Portland with a group of 6 friends I set up another tour with them. They ask about your preferences as far as boutique wines, high end, less expensive, etc and choose wineries based on your answers. I highly recommend if you have the time while you're there
And since Rabid mentioned Coleen Clemens, shameless repost of one of my favorite pics I’ve taken from our first trip
Anyone have any strong opinions on decanters? This one is Amazon's Choice but I really don't know much about qualities or characteristics that make a difference. Is this about the right price?
I have this one, nothing fancy but does the trick, and the ball stopper is nice in case you don't finish in one sitting Sagaform Wine Carafe with Oak Stopper
I have reservations against spending too much on a decanter. It just needs to be something that allows a big surface area. It is great if it looks nice but I'm only willing to pay so much for that.
As long as you understand that the additional expense is just because you think it looks pretty, that’s fine. Don’t spend that money thinking you’re getting some technologically superior device.
Was at the Cincinnati Wine Festival this weekend and had a Macedonian wine called the Vranec Terroir Gran Reserva. Maybe the most unique and delicious wine I’ve ever had and right around $80 a bottle. 17% booze. Would highly recommend if you can find it.
Yeah, was told you need to cellar most several years and then decant 2-4 hours. A buddy said they were outstanding when doing that. Had a Syrah and then the last Pinot they did.
I’ve heard that about them. The only bottle (Syrah) I had didn’t seem that way but a 1 bottle sample doesn’t tell much.
I'm certainly not drinking it all the time, but I had a chance to try some recently and when put against something like Tribute to Grace which is about 10% of the price and stylistically more to my liking, I just don't think I'll go back to that well.
Going through the process of booking a trip to Napa/Sonoma in July...currently spending 3 nights in Napa, 2 in Sonoma. Any particular winery recommendations? I have a passing knowledge of wine (have done tours in Tuscany and Priorat) but definitely no expert. Love reds, esp. cabernets. Was planning on Cakebread/Caymus at the very least. Considering the wine train as well. Flying into Sacramento (seems better than Oakland on a Monday?). Will be heading to SF/Yosemite/Coast/LA after wine country, v excited.
If you're looking for one that is great but not necessarily a 'cult' wine, would recommend Black Stallion. Was there about 9 months ago. Reasonable tasting fee and great service
I'm going to be in DC next week. This looks pretty cool but hard to get to from my hotel and I have an early call time the next morning.
Went to Soter last Memorial Day and loved the North Valley stuff we had. Found this on the shelf here in town for the first time and bought them out
For anyone else that spends all the money they used to spend on wine on diapers, baby formula, and summer camp, Costco has Erath for 10.99 and H3 8.99.
Anyone ever tried Tribute from Benzinger? Was given a couple bottles by a friend who generally knows his wine well. Couldn't find a whole lot online about it. Lists for $85 on their site, but never seen it anywhere. Deciding whether to open for a nice dinner this weekend, but hesitant given that I have never tried it.
I have an unexplainable desire to try Orin Swift Blank Stare.....also what is an acceptable alternative to traditional wine glasses
Love gsm blends. Never had them and only been to Paso a couple times. Hmm. Will have to check them out.
How do y'all save wine? Like I only want half a bottle today and want to save the rest for later in the week....
Not if your only use is to preserve a bottle for a week or so after you open it. Vacu vin will be fine for that.
I picked one up used and love it. But not so much for “wanting to keep half a bottle for a couple days from now.” I use it to pull a glass (or even just a taste) from a nice bottle that I won’t drink again for months. I found it has encouraged me to really try a lot more wine. Rather than worrying about whether I should open a nice bottle barring a special occasion, I now find myself grabbing glasses of wine from all sorts of nice bottles because I can do it one glass at a time. Just last night for example we had a couple over for dinner and between the four of us we probably had some amount of wine from about 12 different bottles. As opposed to maybe 2-3 different wines if we had opened whole bottles.
Just put the cork back in and put it in fridge. Works fine for 1 night with any wine, 2 nights with big bodies.
Made the mistake of letting some of 16 and 17 Rose's cellar too long. Sigh, just not what they should be.
I made a tomahawk ribeye for the family tonight so I pulled out a 2009 Pride Vintner Select Merlot. It’s very good.
you got one but this reminded me that people who have amex plat should lean on the concierge for reservations at some of these places, Kellers got a partnership with Amex so they tend to have good pull Noma sold out 4 months of reservations in sub 60 seconds but the concierge got me one no problem (Redzepi is also partnered with Amex)
Keller also has a partnership with Chase. If you reserve with a Chase CC you get a few added accompaniments to the meal. I have a card from there but I rarely use it and wasn't going to risk losing the reservation to get my tock updated with that card.