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mostly wine stuff

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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20160911_185757.jpg Boy. $11.99 and just about the prettiest raspberry juice you'd ever want to drink. I'm thinking slow grilled chicken quarters. Steve Berardi. Good man!
 

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kimmyt

My Rack Is Bigger Than Yours
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4AOar20.jpg


My ski room/wine storage. A little ghetto, but it works (ignore the ski boots, they are long since retired and put out to pasture). I went to Sonoma and bought a bunch of bottles last fall, then promptly got knocked up. I've been slowly opening them now that I'm no longer incubating a little human. Lots of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Yum.
 

Lorenzzo

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I use a French audio streaming service (Deezer) that bleeps out obscenities.

Does that mean French wine is also filtered?

Kimmy, I happen to love your wine cellar.
 

skibob

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When buying French wine, be careful. You don't want to end up with a case of this:

clape1.jpg


HINT: You use the name of the proprietor with French wine, and you ignore the "e" at the end when pronouncing it.

By the way, very good wine, just be sure you don't buy 12 bottles of it. You don't want a case of the Clape.
 

Jilly

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Wine of friends? Although it does state Rhone. Probably like Marie-Ellen magic elixir we had from the 45 gallon drum in Tignes-Val Claret years ago. You brought your own container, sold by the litre.
 

mdf

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We were out in California last week and the Lungomere restaurant on the Oakland waterfront had a barbera-cab blend from Preston of Dry Creek on tap. It was excellent, and so was the restaurant.

Btw, Preston was one of the original "Rhone Rangers".
 

mdf

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Tonight was our 29th wedding anniversary. We had Tresor, a cab, petit verdot, malbec, merlot, cab franc blend from Sonoma. Too dark for a decent photo, so here is the left overs:
20160912_220211.jpg

The food was good but not outstanding. The wine was wonderful.
 

Jim McDonald

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Al Giorno! Yeah, I went to high school with him, but man he's gotten fat.
 

Mendieta

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Al Giorno! Yeah, I went to high school with him, but man he's gotten fat.
He should have kept skiing!

So far , all three blends in the thread are either Rhone like (that languedoc is essentially a GSM with the Mourdevre substituted by Cinsault) and Bordeaux like. Here in CA , the best terroir for those is Paso Robles for the former and Sonoma/Napa for the latter IMHO.
 

mdf

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The barbera cabernet blend I mentioned struck me a new invention. By the way, Ispelled the restaurant wrong -- it is Lungomare. Highly recommended.
 

skibob

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We were out in California last week and the Lungomere restaurant on the Oakland waterfront had a barbera-cab blend from Preston of Dry Creek on tap. It was excellent, and so was the restaurant.

Btw, Preston was one of the original "Rhone Rangers".
They do a great job with Barbera as well as Rhone varieties, which are a natural fit for Dry Creek Valley IMHO.
 

skibob

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He should have kept skiing!

So far , all three blends in the thread are either Rhone like (that languedoc is essentially a GSM with the Mourdevre substituted by Cinsault) and Bordeaux like. Here in CA , the best terroir for those is Paso Robles for the former and Sonoma/Napa for the latter IMHO.
Best Grenache I ever made the grapes came from Orland (yes, that's in California!). Own rooted 60 yr old vines, unknown clone. Sadly, he ripped out the vineyard (50 acres of it) and planted almonds last year . . .
 

Mendieta

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Best Grenache I ever made the grapes came from Orland (yes, that's in California!). Own rooted 60 yr old vines, unknown clone. Sadly, he ripped out the vineyard (50 acres of it) and planted almonds last year . . .
That is preposterous. But wait a minute. Are you a winemaker? And isn't everything grafted these days?
 

skibob

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That is preposterous. But wait a minute. Are you a winemaker? And isn't everything grafted these days?
I am a winemaker. And almost everything is grafted. But not absolutely everything. In sandy, alluvial soils you can get away with own-rooted vines. Northern Lodi is well known for this (also made wine with 120 yr old cinsault a few years from northern Lodi). These by Orland were an oddity, but absolutely amazing. He had 700 acres of vines altogether, but he couldn't get paid jack. He had one block of the grenache that he farmed for premium wine that were bought by a variety of high end north coast wineries but in small quantities. He also made his own off of this block. But the rest of his stuff was being bought by the likes of Gallo, the Wine Group, etc. for barely more than the cost of farming. And not all of his grapes were as precious as the grenache, but that stuff was fun. And cheap by north coast standards, even though we were paying 3-4 times what his big customers were paying.
 

Mendieta

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I am a winemaker. And almost everything is grafted. But not absolutely everything. In sandy, alluvial soils you can get away with own-rooted vines. Northern Lodi is well known for this (also made wine with 120 yr old cinsault a few years from northern Lodi). These by Orland were an oddity, but absolutely amazing. He had 700 acres of vines altogether, but he couldn't get paid jack. He had one block of the grenache that he farmed for premium wine that were bought by a variety of high end north coast wineries but in small quantities. He also made his own off of this block. But the rest of his stuff was being bought by the likes of Gallo, the Wine Group, etc. for barely more than the cost of farming. And not all of his grapes were as precious as the grenache, but that stuff was fun. And cheap by north coast standards, even though we were paying 3-4 times what his big customers were paying.

That's one cool gig! Of course, one of the toughest industries to make a dollar (besides, ahem, the ski industry). But both are so much fun. I don't make wine, but I'd love to. It's one of those things in the bucket list. We'll see. I do go to try some of the Alameda/Oakland urban wines, sometimes with my buddy from across the street. Talking to the producers is always fascinating. At Avila, I always stop at Peloton Cellars. I love their Shiraz. But who am I kidding. With the Euro so low and the dollar so high, most of my wines are from the old world (I tend to prefer their flavor profile, too).
 

skibob

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That's one cool gig! Of course, one of the toughest industries to make a dollar (besides, ahem, the ski industry). But both are so much fun. I don't make wine, but I'd love to. It's one of those things in the bucket list. We'll see. I do go to try some of the Alameda/Oakland urban wines, sometimes with my buddy from across the street. Talking to the producers is always fascinating. At Avila, I always stop at Peloton Cellars. I love their Shiraz. But who am I kidding. With the Euro so low and the dollar so high, most of my wines are from the old world (I tend to prefer their flavor profile, too).
If you are ever up for tasting good wines in a fun/funky setting on the peninsula, check out an old friend of mine:

http://www.waxwingwines.com/

Scott basically retired from big time winemaking to raise his kids, which I admire and envy greatly. When they are in school, he makes a little wine, doing all the work pretty much by himself. Great guy, great winemaker. Get on his mailing list and get invites to fun events.

I tend to prefer old world wine styles (which you can find in the US sometimes). Scott definitely leans that direction as well. Not as cheap as some good imports, but he definitely is not in the stratospheric camp that riddles the CA wine landscape.
 

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