What are you drinking?

[skywatch]

I’m familiar with this label, but I’ve never had it myself. From some website: “Famille Perrin Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Sinards Rouge is a powerful and complex French red. With intriguing aromas of black cherry, lavender, and a touch of herbs, this Chateauneuf-du-Pape intrigues the senses. The palate delivers flavors of dark plum, garrigue, and well-integrated tannins, creating a wine of depth and structure, perfect for pairing with hearty stews or grilled meats.”

How was it?

It's one of my favorite wines in the world. CdP in general has the combination of big ripe density and elegant complex earthy herbal-mushroomy fragrances.

[Raza]

It's one of my favorite wines in the world. CdP in general has the combination of big ripe density and elegant complex earthy herbal-mushroomy fragrances.

That sounds delicious!

[Fantasio]

How was it?

It was really good. Maybe I should get a couple to take home.

[happyscrappyheropup]

We roasted a lovely leg of lamb for our birthday friend (his 72 bday, used to work in the wine biz) along with pearl couscous, tzatziki and wild fresh porcini puff pastries. They brought a beautiful Champagne rosé and a magnum of a rare and very powerful Italian Merlot. We offered up a horizontal tasting of two wines from the same vintage and same vineyard, Ridge Montebello and Santa Cruz (their second-wine) from 2007. The Santa Cruz was perfect, herbal, soft tannins yet also acidic and place-typical - it had many of the same grapes as the Montebello, but they aim the Montebello for longer aging and more intensity. These did not disappoint. (We used to get futures for these, a local winery which became famous, but now we would not buy these wines at modern prices - we like our bargains, and we share these with people who can appreciate the profile.)

Attachment 133116

We recently finished the last bottle of '99 Montebello that we bought many years ago as futures when we visited Ridge. I'm sure that '07 was drinking nicely and would likely go much longer.

My wife and I don't exchange gifts, we buy a nice bottle to celebrate the holiday. These were the two this year.

[Raza]

I had a glass of a Turnbull with dinner last night, I’ll grab the exact vintage.

[skywatch]

These same friends we had over for a birthday dinner on Monday, invited us over for Christmas dinner last night. (Neither of us have kids or nearby family, so we take care of each other.) Our wine-industry friend likes to play "mystery wine" games with me, to see if I can guess the source. I had never tried the one in the middle or to its right before, but I was able to guess year and appellation at least. (You might recognize the tiny black label, as a wine that once sold a single bottle of 1992 vintage at a charity auction in 2000 for $500k.) The 2000 Ausone St. Emilion was elegant, smooth, lightly floral like dusty rose petals, beautifully well-balanced in every way. The 2007 Screaming Eagle was a revelation in Oakville technical perfection, but I would say lacked the precise sense of place that the St. Emilion showed. Still, lovely dark licorice/anise notes, dark chocolate and hints of cedar and dusty oregano, but so balanced and centered it was hard to nail down. We truly appreciate the opportunity to taste wines like this.

[happyscrappyheropup]

Sounds like some great friends.

[skywatch]

Sounds like some great friends.

I would say so, indeed. We met 20+ years ago as invitees to a small wine tasting group of industry insiders and foodies, back when I was making wine and writing tasting notes for wineries. This group included 20 or so professional winemakers, distributors, retailers, sommeliers. People came and went as their careers took them closer or farther from the SF Bay Area. Our friend's wife was CFO at a major pharmaceutical company, and they left the Bay Area for Carmel when Roche bought the company and she got the proverbial parachute. When we moved to the coast 3 years ago, they were almost our only good friends here, and we have gotten closer since our arrival. We consider ourselves very fortunate.

[Fantasio]

Haven’t tried much beers here, but this caught my attention while grocery shopping. Nice rich colour and smooth taste.

Edit: Ooops. Didn’t notice when buying that it’s 7,5% and 0,75 lit.

[geoffbot]

Lemongrass tea before my massage. Rock and roll.



I'm going raving tomorrow mind.