19th hole - MacDonald 2016 and 2017 vintages

So after an afternoon of some challenging golf at my club, was blessed to have one Alex MacDonald provide bottles of his (and of course his brother Graeme’s) 2016 and 2017 vintages as post-round libations. Both bottles had been double decanted for almost 24 hours prior. The 2016 reminded me a lot of the 2012 a few months before that vintage’s release - - - a bit reticent on the nose, but oh so supple, plush and beautifully structured on the palate. The 2017 was noticeably more expressive on the nose, but the palate was tight with the tannins letting you know this is a real youngster. While the ‘17 was still very enjoyable, it definitely needs another year in bottle before getting released to those lucky enough to receive an allocation.

For those who aren’t aware, the 2016 release next month will have a $10/bottle increase compared to the past several vintages. Unfortunately for the thousands of people on the waiting list, the increase to $175/bottle won’t have much, if any, impact in bringing new list members into the fold.

What club? So you played golf with Alex?

Unfortunately, wasn’t Augusta National!

We played at Sequoyah CC in Oakland.

Golf notes are useless without scores.

Huge +1.

I only got to play with Alex twice this month. #humblebrag #61kallday #thxforthe3literAlex

What’d you think of the 2017, though?

ERPark wrote:
We played at Sequoyah CC in Oakland.

Nice course. Played it once as a teenager. Not a lot of flat lies, from what I remember.

Ed

Nice course. Played it once as a teenager. Not a lot of flat lies, from what I remember.

Ed

Yep, plenty of opportunity to practice every manner of non-flat lies on basically every hole.

I grew up playing Green Hills, in Millbrae, which is very similar. Apologies for the thread drift!

Ed

So when’s the vertical party?

I offer to host at our club if Alex will bring the bottles.

Played GHCC a few times. Reminds me a fair bit of Peninsula CC just a few towns south of there.

So the elbow is good?

???

Only a bogey. No big deal.

Didn’t you have a tweaked elbow a while ago?
I might be thinking about myself…

Wow, quite the memory! Yes, I did have some form of “golfer’s elbow” awhile back. Doctor referred me to a physical therapist, who advised I needed to do some strengthening exercises that differed from my occasional gym routine. Pain subsequently went away.

Golf game still in need of some work, but my index has gone down recently.

Speaking of scores, Wine Spectator reviewed the 2016 vintage in the August edition and gave it a score of 96.
Thanks to this board, I signed up early which has allowed me allocations since the 2013 vintage. Long time lurker!