Two more seats filled. Down to four available seats.
Work is getting in the way of my drinking! Unfortunately, I need to be in Phoenix that afternoon for a meeting and there is no way I can get a flight back in time to make this. I apologize, but Jennifer and I will need to skip this one. If anything changes I’ll let you know. Have fun!!
Brian:
We will miss you and Jennifer. Please let me know if things change.
Bruce
Unfortunately I am going to have to miss this dinner. I was really looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing some old friends. Sorry for the late notice. Hopefully I’ll catch you next time!
We will miss you Aaron. For those confirmed and anyone lose interested, this event is on for Tuesday. Perhaps the slightly smaller group means we all get to taste from each bottle - a good thing - instead of forming two flights.
Bruce
I may be stuck at work all day and not be able to make this. A little unsure right now, will update closer to the end of the day.
Danny:
Just let me know. I hope you can make it as we will certainly have some nice wines out to taste.
In route! May be a few late!
My +1 is stuck with a client but on a lighter note I will have two bottles too open.
Looking forward to some wine in About 30 minutes. Scott, sorry about the +1 but you’ll tell her all about what she missed.
It was a fun night. If I had thought it through, flights might have given us more to savor in each taste. Laurie wasn’t feeling so good towards the end and I left my notes on the table. There really wasn’t a dog in the bunch and two I brought were liked by most: '10 Williams Seleym block 10 Mass Selection and a Sea Smoke Ten '07.
Mike I am curious how the remnants of the '00 Clos Pepe taste today. I gave it a good score but one person claimed it was corked.
Scott’s Mt. Eden was drinking nicely at the end of the night as was the '05 KB Amber Ridge. I loved the Tantara but it was gone before I got more. Anyone recall what vintage it was?
Hope everyone made it home safely.
Nice people and a good line-up of wines. My feeling wasn’t that we needed flights, we just needed a wider stylistic variance. For me RRV and SLH/SRH/Central Coast pinots share a lot of the same characteristics, at least in a setting like this with 16 wines. I might have thrown Sonoma Coast or Mendocino up against Central and you probably would have had a little more give-and-take. As it was, though, we had plenty of data points and certainly wine from many of the top producers, so it was definitely a fair fight.
That '00 Clos Pepe was really corked–both Kens had it on their scorecards that way. 
I didn’t get the vintage on the Tantara either, and it got my highest score, along with the Loring '11 SLH. Which was funny, given that I probably wouldn’t buy either of those, based on my preconceptions about their style. But both were very balanced and stood out with me for not standing out, if that makes sense.
Your W-S was third on my card, along with the '06 Arcadian Francesca which I expected to like more (since I brought it). It felt pretty closed down for an '06, but this was my first time with that cuvee. I had the '05 KB Amber Ridge fourth (still a big bruiser of a wine, but there’s a lot of quality in that vintage), followed by the '10 W-S Westside Neighbors (needs 3-4 more years at least) and the Mt. Eden (loved the spice, but it was a little wonky on the balance side).
Big surprises for me were both Zepaltas Nunes '09 and '11, which seemed too acidic. They were pretty young though, and I trust Ryan’s winemaking enough to believe they’ll come around.
Others on the low side of my score sheet:
'09 KB RRV was a hot mess (literally)
'07 Sea Smoke Ten was way too tight when I tasted, and could have used a day in a decanter. Couldn’t taste anything but darkness.
'07 Bien Nacido was also way out of whack
'10 Foley which tasted of “dark plums and fire” according to my scribbles
'10 Walter Hansel RRV which was really flawed–tasted like VA (fizzy nail polish remover)
Ken,
I’m glad you and June could come out last night especially given the drive. Thanks for the reminder on so many of the wines I forgot about. The Hansell was the second wine I tasted last night and it’s funk was apparent from the first smell. IIRC, I liked the '09 Nunes much more than the '11 and I really did not like the Bien Nacido. I didn’t think much of the Loring when tasted blind, but I liked it more when unveiled - curious!
By the way, the WS was not a Westside Neighbors, but was an Eastside Neighbors’ bottling.
The '07 SS had a little left in the bottle and I took it home. I’ll see how it is tonight.
Thanks for putting this together for us Bruce, it was nice to see everyone and meet new people!
My favorite was the Williams Seleym block 10, and definitely think the Hansel was flawed. Iirc the Sea Smoke and the Arcadian were my other two favorites, I guess I must have the palate of a yak because I did not think the Clos Pepe was corked, and thought it was pretty good (there were pieces of cork in the bottle) when Mike opened it tho.
I think the Mt. Eden was way too young and will come around along with the Zepaltas.
Hello Everyone,
I apologize for not making it to the dinner though I agreed to attend. Work was crazy and I completely forgot to leave.
Promise it won’t happen again. I am in LA until end of Jan if there is another offline.
Thanks again.
sounds like a party