Let's Give Thanks--Post A Pinot Noir TN, I'll Donate To Laura's House (11/24 - 11/30)

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, and with its arrival here in the US, I am reminded about the many weeks of great charity that many of you helped drive forward last holiday season. While I was fortunate to be first of several over many successive weeks, I want to get the ball rolling again. For a refresher of last year’s effort that so many of you got behind when I threw out the challenge, please click the thread below:

Since last year, we have seen the good fortune of Laura’s House, the charity that my wife are connected to here locally, we have seen it continue to grow and flourish, to help those fleeing violence find a safe place to go, take refuge, find safety and begin to try and heal. Even our Brig Campbell, who is also a board member, has made an ongoing weekly commitment to the charity through his time and energy. For him, we are thankful, and to so many of you that did and continue to help Laura’s House.

So to that end, this Thanksgiving week that is coming up, which is Monday the 24th through Sunday the 30th, I will once again make a donation to Laura’s House for every tasting note that is posted to this thread during this 7 day period. I want to encourage even more TN activity this year, so I wish to do $5 per note posted here, and the wine needs to be Pinot Noir. Because we have many folks here who enjoy Burgundy, and yet may not drink CA, I will make it both sides of the ocean, but it must be Pinot Noir. And, if you are willing to post a photo of you and your wine, giving me a Thumbs Up, I will make the donation $10.

Finally, to encourage some additional support to Laura’s House, I challenge all of you to not only post your note, to trigger my donation, but also decide if you can make your own donation, of any amount to the charity. If you click their link here, you can read about what they do, make an online donation. If you do make one, flag in the comment you’re part of the Berserker community, so they can see that support. For ease, here is their website link: http://www.laurashouse.org/

So, as we wait for the arrival of Thanksgiving week, in adavance, thank you for spending some time here with my thread, and hearing the request. I look forward to seeing your TN(s), and writing a check to Laura’s House after Thanksgiving.

Glad to. Please note that we have this event scheduled in New York next Monday, so we could generate a lot of Pinot notes:

By the way - how do you do that “Viewtopic” thing without the full URL?

2005 Jean Gagnerot Corton-Renardes:
Rich, elegant and masculine but surprisingly approachable. A touch of reduction on the nose seemed to blow off quickly.Dark fruited largely but a bit of cherry cough drop as well with barely a touch of garrigue. Moderate acidity and a longish finish. First Corton. While not revelatory, a very nice wine. 91.

Picture of tired me: for charity.
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2009 Anne-Sophie Debavelaere Rully “Les Cailloux”.

Little air time. Nose shows florals & black tea leaves. Palate is brighter/more acidic than I expected. Loaded up with tart cranberry & rhubarb with a return to those tea notes through the mid palate. Acidity surges on the finish leaving the palate dry & ready for more.
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Guys, I love this enthusiasm already. We start the challenge in 2 weeks…but, in honor of your early efforts, I will call your two notes GOOD! A 20 dollar head start!

Is there any limit to an ITB guy like me? I’m about to host some fun tastings in KC, and I would love to help/play/contribute.

As always, great form FM3!

We’ll play along.

Jim, I wasn’t thinking about limits when I made the post. I simply want our board members here to share great notes back here AND, ask the people you/they are tasting with this season to visit the Laura’s House site and consider a donation…along with your TNs, that would make our day.

For clarity on the TN, I do want to see some effort into the notes. Simply saying “Was good. Everyone liked it”. That note won’t move our discussion about the grape forward so I’d simply ask for the note to have some stuffing, no pun intened. [pillow-fight.gif]

Frank,
As the executive director of a nonprofit that provides direct services to people less fortunate, I applaud your initiative during this holiday season. It’s so important and personally fulfilling to think about community. May you get lots of TNs and may we all exhibit such a healthy perspective.
Regards,
Peter

I recently bought a case of the 2012 St. Innocent Villages Cuvee at about $23 per, and have already tried several bottles. [snort.gif] This pinot is lighter in style and imo more Burg like than many of the bigger richer Cal pinots I have drunk more of these past few years. Medium ruby, with tart cranberry flavors, the wine was a little closed on opening, but with air it fleshes out over and hour or two to show a medium bodied format, tart but juicy flavors cranberry flavors, nice lift and balance, and a resonable finish showing modest complexity. The price is right for popping a few at Thanksgiving. Viva Oregon. [cheers.gif]

Frank,
Thank you so much. Laura’s House and I are so fortunate that you choose to spend your time, talents and cash supporting our mission. This is truly a great time to say how thankful we are for you and Jill and all you other Wine Berserkers who help us to give families hope for their future. You are all making such a positive difference in their lives and on their behalf I wanted to let you know how much it is appreciated.
Best, Margaret.

Folks, to bring everything full circle, Margaret is the Exec Director for Laura’s House. Last night, I simply shared with her the decision we had made to repeat the effort again this Thanksgiving. She maintains a WB account to visit on occasion, which she did this morning. The help you make, the effort you put in here, you can see that it does matter.

We’ll certainly raise a lot of money this month, even more with Falltacular (that you can find in the Offlline Planner) in February. Both of these events provide more help to allow the shelter to do its work, to let Margaret and her staff succeed.

It’s only a $7.50 donation if the picture is sideways.

2014 Woodbridge Pinot Noir. 72 points.

I discussed this with Frank via PM & he approved. We are going to raise the stakes a bit. Just for posting a TN, I am going to enter you in a raffle of sorts.

Once this campaign ends, I will take all the names of posters who left TN’s & put them in a hat, draw one & that person is going to receive a case (12 bottles) of rare beer from my cellar. I will guarantee that there will be a bottle of Westvleteren 12 & one bottle of Cantillon lambic. For those who don’t know, those are almost impossible to buy in the US. The more TN’s you post, the more chances you get to win.

The only caveat is that I can only ship to US residents, if someone out there has the means to ship internationally, & can help then we can certainly open it up.

The beers will not be hoppy/IPA’s or anything we have to stress out on freshness with. This will be a mixed case of beer to flourish in the cellar.
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I have been meaning to post a note on this fantastic bottle of wine and now it’s for a good cause…thanks Frank! Not much of a writer or note taker here but this really impressed.

I was lucky enough to buy a 6 pack from Todd on commerce corner and after the first bottle i’m glad I did!

2007 Biggio Hamina Cellars Pinot Noir Deux Vert

My first Biggio Hamina pinot and one hell of a bottle! Floral on the nose, earth light barnyard, bright cherry, herbs and some darker fruit very complex with brilliant acidity and some grip, some percentage of whole cluster I don’t know? all wrapped in a nicely balance package from start to finish. I thought about this bottle for two days. Very well made wine.

this is a very nice cause so I will try to get back into my old TN mode… It has been a while.

With some grilled pork rib eyes dry rubbed with a Moroccan spice rub and at the last minute olive oil. Oven roasted home “fries” with sea salt and olive oil. Home made heirloom apple sauce still warm from the stove. Salads for the different tastes at the table… The grandkids like simple romaine and Newman’s while I like chopped ice berg with home made blue cheese. An assortment of olives, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, and local ciabatta bread.

This is a new Pax Mahle venture and based on this early sample I find it highly promising. Bright red ruby color. A bit muted on the nose at first but really opened up with the decanter. Nice five spice, some black tea, orange peel, and red fruits. Lots of red raspberry and some cherry on the palate… More black tea. Wonderful texture…very silky… Still some grip and acidity that says this will be even better in 2-3 years. 12.7… But not at all thin or shrill. This is very good and I will be going back to get more for the cellar and table. And a beautiful label illustration too by the way.

Cheers, Bob

Good on you, Frank. I will definitely be in for a TN and I’m going to follow your lead with donations to a few local charities. For New Yorkers who may be interested in doing the same, I’m going to donate to a few charities mentioned in NY Mag’s list of top charities:

http://www.safespacenyc.org/safespace/

Great thread, thanks for doing this, Frank.

What’s this 2 weeks away crap?! I’m posting a note tonight! And I’ll match your $10 for my note, assuming there’s an easy way to do so (PayPal?).

Edited for clarity.

This is the first of the virtual tasting series, Alan I sent you a PM, we’ll have a schedule through the rest of the year. Kyle & Alan, if you’d like to host a week let me know via PM and we can lock in a week and theme. Someone want the week of New Years and Bubbles Theme?

See here Virtual Tasting Series: Compendium 2014 - WB Charity - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers