TN: Browns suck - Wine Don't (Seahawk edition) SHL, Pride Reserve

WINE TALK
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BROWNS SUCK - WINE DON’T (SEAHAWK EDITION) SHL, PRIDE RESERVE - My Basement (12/21/2015)

and we’re back. After a one week respite of good football, the Browns were back to their old form today. The started the game with great play calling, a nice intensity and a 7 minute touchdown drive. Then, they never went back to that. The defense was totally unprepared. Time to break out some good wines. I narrowed it down to two, and said, WTF, we opened them both. Hey, its almost Christmas. As for the wines:

  • 2003 Château Smith Haut Lafitte - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
    Pop and pour, this really took about 3 hours to hit its stride. Ruby/purple. On opening the nose had cassis, cigar box and a ton of barnyard funk. I like that quality and it was at the limit for me. The wine was good but had drying tannins. I scored it around 88. At about the three hour mark, the barnyard had 80% blown off. What was left was classic Bordeaux nose. Cassis, black cherries, cigar box and a touch of funk. On the palate, this put on some weight. The tannins softened and the wine unwound. Dark cherries intermixed with tobacco and a slight forest floor notes. Reasonable acidity for the vintage. The drying quality was gone. In short, a very nice aged Bordeaux. Give it plenty of air though. (92 pts.)
  • 2009 Pride Mountain Vineyards Reserve Claret - USA, California, Napa Valley
    I have a few, so I thought I would check in. Though these take time, they usually are more approachable than the Reserve Cab. This one was very approachable. It did improve over the few hours it was open though. Purple in color. The nose has dark cherries, plums, dark chocolate, tobacco and pencil lead. On the palate, this is soft but with enough structure to hold together all the components. Lots of dark cherries with some milk chocolate notes. Plush is a good word to describe it. Showing a nice complexity as it unwinds in the glass. Nice finish. This is not flamboyant, very elegant, but clearly California. Great wine with a long life ahead. (95 pts.)

Next Kansas City on the road, now where is that bottle of Screaming Eagle… :wink:
Posted from CellarTracker

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I’ve been reading these all season, it’s been fun to follow the good wines vs bad football. I thought Johnny actually looked solid most of the game but agree on the defense. Sadly my wines matched the defense first opening a corked Italian red followed by an oxidized Markko chard, finally the third time was the charm with an always solid Bedrock.

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Hire a new coach, lose a lot of games, fire coach
Hire a new coach, lose a lot of games, fire coach
repeat, repeat, repeat

I like Pettine, but when you’re background is as a D coordinator, you have the highest defensive payroll in the NFL and your defense is near the bottom of the league maybe we need to repeat again.

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At least you’re drowning your sorrows with some decent stuff, Loren. Thanks as always for the notes.

Best,

Mike

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Drank up my 2003 SHL because it was so good, just like the Hawks have been lately.

Have been disappointed in Danny Shelton this year, he was such a stud at the UW.

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Like you were going to roll into Seattle and get a win…I’m sure that’s why you planned good wines.