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Okay, so this has clearly and unintentionally become a discussion of winery vs. vineyard vs. production, etc. The point of the tasting was NOT to get lost in those details but, rather, compare and contrast Syrah from the PacNW.

Thanks for breaking this open, Chris!

Nice notes, and looks like a fun and educational tasting. I am more and more convinced that Delmas is making some of the best syrah in.....the area. Ha! What's the, "in.....the area" all about? I agree, they're excellent. I haven't had any aged examples, though, and I'm genuinely curious ...

Haha, whoops! The Delmas wasn't my wine, so I have no idea where the winery is...I assumed in Walla Walla. I should've been more accurate, though, with the SJR Vineyard. Edited. Thanks, Chris! It's tricky, though, becuase the Delmas fruit is in the Walla Walla AVA, but the fruit for the Matello was ...

FIVE SYRAH, BLIND (FOUR WA, ONE OR), PLUS TWO REYNVAAN NON-BLIND - (4/3/2021) Since this was the first time getting a lot of family together in quite some time due to Covid, we decided to throw together an informal outdoor Syrah tasting. The weather was bright and sunny, but cool with a slight bree...

D'oh!! This is the one of the current Chardonnay release that I DIDN'T buy! Sounds great.

Popped one of the Dauphins last night and quite liked it, but it wasn't very similar to the wine in the O.P. I'd love to do a side-by-side with that wine and this, and some others, but that takes me back to my sourcing problem. I liked this a lot, though, and it's a buy for the $13 I paid. Good rec...

When I think of "lighter bodied" (note: not light bodied, lightER) with an emphasis on savory, I can't think of a better match than Reynvaan . There are quite a few available under $75 at retailers whos ship to CT. I've never had one because they are so pricey but always wondered what the...

When I think of "lighter bodied" (note: not light bodied, lightER) with an emphasis on savory, I can't think of a better match than Reynvaan . There are quite a few available under $75 at retailers whos ship to CT. I'd be interested in who those retailers are. I saw Reynvaan on shelf rece...

When I think of "lighter bodied" (note: not light bodied, lightER) with an emphasis on savory, I can't think of a better match than Reynvaan. There are quite a few available under $75 at retailers whos ship to CT.

Nice score! That ought to be drinking really well right now.

Great! Thanks, Andrew. It was around $75 OTD as I recall.

Anyone had this? Grabbed one on a lark today...

Popped one of the Dauphins last night and quite liked it, but it wasn't very similar to the wine in the O.P. I'd love to do a side-by-side with that wine and this, and some others, but that takes me back to my sourcing problem. I liked this a lot, though, and it's a buy for the $13 I paid. Good reco...

Love that label...very classic and appealing. Sounds like a nice wine, too.

I absolutely LOVE the Sumo mandarins. What I don't love is how damn expensive they are! When I buy citrus fruits, I tried to buy ones that are "heavy in the hand". That means juicier. I bought one Sumo and had no idea what it cost . When I bought the second one , I bought it at a differen...

https://i.imgur.com/qpGA8Vul.jpg First time trying, and I'm not glad I bought some based on this thread. I didn't take formal notes, but it was delicious. Oddly enough, based on the discussion, my palate was ready for an even more rustic wine, but this straddled the line very well: good fruit, cert...

That looks amazingly delicious, Alex.

And, Milton, those eggs look outstanding and a dish MADE for Champagne!

I absolutely LOVE the Sumo mandarins. What I don't love is how damn expensive they are!

Wow, that looks amazing. Nice, Andrew. Flannery Hangers last night...grilled over charcoal, with grilled zucchini and pan fried Yukon Gold spuds. Salted for 24 hours: https://i.imgur.com/Dhdv0NIl.jpg Resting: https://i.imgur.com/AfBp5Pfl.jpg Paired with this: https://i.imgur.com/qpGA8Vul.jpg

John Morris wrote: ↑March 25th, 2021, 12:54 pm Please report back, Brandon!

Will do. Picking them up today.

Good stuff, Arv, thanks.

John Morris wrote: ↑March 26th, 2021, 9:14 am
JViolini wrote: ↑March 26th, 2021, 8:52 am I had a 2011 Grenache 2 weeks ago and I let it slow ox in the bottle for about two hours. My tasting note was basically it's like eating tapas & berry pie while you have a bloody nose & gave it a 94. ...
Tasting note of the year?

Seriously! That's awesome.

Cellier des Dauphins Reserve CdR might be worth pursuing. 60/40 Grenache/Syrah, $13 (at K&L, at least), and one of the few CdRs I’ve tried recently that I was compelled to reorder. Maybe my taste is just changing, or I’m just buying the wrong stuff, but lately I’ve found a lot of CdRs I’ve open...

Super helpful, Victor.

That's odd. My guess is that you're right: cork surplus from the 2017 vintage. Why waste them on a low-margin CdR I suppose?

Yep, good choice for a slightly riper (but by no means over the top) CdR Exactly what I was thinking given the request. I think of Beaucastel and Charvin as more for old world palates. I personably drink a lot of these, the CDRs are excellent. Yes, the Coudolet de Beaucastel is usually a pretty den...

Thank you all...great suggestions so far! Relating to the posts immediately above, I have a TN in CT on the 2010 Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône Les Deux Albion and liked it then. I can't find any of the Charvin in the Seattle market unfortunately, as I'd really like to try it. I think some of the earlie...

My wife and I just drank our last bottle of the 2018 Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Côtes du Rhône Cuvée des Galets. We both loved it. I can't find it anywhere and even other vintages are scarce. So, my thought was to ask you all about wines you might think are of a similar profile. I like some CdR, do...

Nice TN, Jay. I've only got a magnum of 2001 left and the last bottle I had in 2016 was great but, like your wine above, didn't show much age at 15.

Nice to see Two Vintners get some mention. Nice notes, Tom. I've never had those two wines from them. But I have had their mega-high alcohol Zin...and liked it! From their site, "Big, bold, unapologetic Zinfandel!"

Eric Ifune wrote: ↑March 23rd, 2021, 2:41 pm MD 20/20 is fortified, not from fermentation.
Some Fino Sherry can be unfortified and reach 17+%.

Eric, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Dave knows that. Just a hunch.

I grabbed a bottle of Old Scout Bourbon last week and had a bit over the weekend. Good stuff! It's a relatively inexpensive bottle and was tasty by itself. Apparently there is a Single Barrel bottling too, but this was just the regular stuff. Recommended.

JDavisRoby wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2021, 9:26 pm The only good ending for this story is Ramon was doing an airplane bottle Chardonnay blowout challenge and these wines ended up in the plane’s thunder bucket.

I still can't read, "thunder bucket" without laughing. Marc B!!!

Have 3 Mascots in my cellar and popped one not long ago. Not my thing. To me, the Napa MO of "22 months on french new oak" and picked ripe makes every single wine there taste pretty much exactly the same. I don't see a lot of variation. Wow did you edit quickly before I got what you wrote...

Ramon is due for a surprise next time he logs into WB!

Jason T wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2021, 12:33 pm
Brandon R wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2021, 11:05 am I'm flying on the wrong airlines! I've never had a granite tray table.
Looking at the background... bottle might have been handed out by flight attendant but pic doesn’t look like an airplane cabin.

I had the same thought, but it appears to be an airline style cup!

Fun TN. This is the exact wine and vintage that got me really into wine back upon release. A co-worker to was a wine nut shared some and it knocked my doors off. I remember really liking their S2 Cab back then as well.

I'm flying on the wrong airlines! I've never had a granite tray table.

I must be the only one but, WTF IS THIS THREAD ABOUT?!? Did someone, a first time poster, come on an ask about hangover cures or something? I must have missed it. That, or I'm a moron...which is entirely likely.

Andrew Kotowski wrote: ↑March 16th, 2021, 4:09 pm Have been busy the last couple of weeks!

Nice scores! I've never had that Early Times...how do you use it? What's the price point?

Forgot to take pictures but, truth be told, it's not exactly the most photogenic of dishes. It was fantastic and the five of us darn near finished the thing off. This was the recipe, which I followed directly with one exception: I thought I had beef broth but didn't so used chicken. https://www.thew...

I made a cottage pie (my mother-in-law and kids don't like lamb...almost grounds for disownment) last night to bake and serve for dinner tonight. The version was a shot-in-the-dark recipe that had good ratings online. Ground beef (I bought chili grind), onion, garlic, several herbs, and corn/peas/ca...

Ryan, I totally connected with your descriptor of, "the smell of the packing up camp after you just put the fire out." Awesome way to describe what, for me, brought back an immediate sensory recall.

Oh well...didn't notice that. Happy to have some regardless.

On Friday, I had a smaller but still outrageously delicious 12 oz. Flannery CA Reserve ribeye. After being salted for 24 hours on a rack in the beer fridge: https://i.imgur.com/mlOSNcZl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/xNRjeaol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ImA039Tl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/WSKi8mhl.jpg I went cast...

Nice TN. I bought a case of this and a case of the 2014 Mr. B after all of the praise for the latter wine here. What I don't get is the "$11" or some everyone keeps talking about. These were $16.50 per bottle. Don't get me wrong: they're fantastic and worth every penny, but you're saying y...

As Ron noted above, we swapped some wine and tasted blind. It was a very fun tasting and I realized that nearly all of the blind tastings I have done were with the same region. I tasted Ron's wines first and will echo what he said. Here's a quick snapshot of the two wines: https://i.imgur.com/aopAhy...

cabernet sauvignon is my wife & I's favorite Washington is a big place. Napa is a small place. One is a state, the other a region within a large state. This point isn't new to anyone on this thread, GregT. Napa was used in the OP because he's referring specifically to Cabernet and blends and th...

Those are indeed BIG SALADS (love that episode). Do you use those for lunch through the week, or guests, or...? I like blanched broccoli in salads occasionally too, which it appears to be above.

This does sound fun. I haven't tasted in Napa since the 90s so I'm not really familiar with the current state of wines there. That being said, I do have two candidate Napa Cabs in the cellar with WA Cabs from the same vintage: CA - Stag's Leap Artemis 2007 WA - Abeja, Cougar Crest, Rulo, or Tero Es...

G. Bienstock wrote: ↑March 11th, 2021, 12:37 pm I have been enjoying 2016 Terra Blanca Arch Terrace CS, unbeatable for $8 on closeout.

The Terra Blanca Arch Terrace lineup is very strong for the price!

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