Last Friday was my buddies BDAY. Party cancelled. I have seen how Charlie has been sending 150mL bottles around to share online with friends. I picked up some of these, coordinated with his lady-friend to get them in the house secretly. At 7:59 I sent him a Google Meets invite for 8pm - and 3 of us were already on the line waiting for him. He seemed more confused than surprised at first. But we had a blast tasting through some of my favorite wines together. He returned the bottles on Sunday filled with some serious juice.
CFu–don’t know if you thought of this method of staying connected, but my buddy was bummed on his bday for being isolated and cancelling his bday party - and this really brightened his day. So thank you for the idea.
His Bday wines: Chateau Font du Loup CdP blanc. All of Anne Charlotte’s wines are super fresh and not what you would think of as typical CdP. Cool site, sandy soils in la Crau. Nin Ortiz Planetes de Nin. One of the best winery visits of my life. This has some serious funk on it that I did not get in prior vintages. Priorat Grenache can have killer acid that the variety doesn’t seem to show anywhere else. 2017 Gonon St Joseph - Damn. So good already. Olive tapenade on smoked meats. Look forward to watching this wine progress over the coming years - if I can keep my hands off them. 2014 Macdonald. We tasted this wine together at the vineyard. It has gone from strength to strength. Really beautiful showing.
He returned the bottles with. SQN Deux Grenioulles Blanc. 2008 Kosta Browne Amber Ridge Pinot Noir, Hors Categorie, 89 Pichon Baron. Which turned into another fun evening.
Hope everyone stays safe and healthy and keep finding ways to stay connected!
Travis - what an awesome surprise for the b-day boy I’m sure. Some of the SD crew will be doing a share on Friday, no doubt inspired by the Fu’ster’s IG posts as well.
Still kicking myself for not visiting Priorat when we were in Barcelona last year, but have picked up a few bottles of Nit de Nin Cacador since then and the '06 was wonderful. Also bought a couple of those '17 Gonon in Tain l’Hermitage, but can’t bring myself to opening them so young! Have yet to open a MacDonald as well. Brought one home from the offsite a couple of months back, but so hard to pull the trigger.
Sad to think that we would be sharing some bottles at Hospice du Rhone tomorrow if not for C-19, but life goes on. You are a good friend for setting this up for your buddy!
I think I’m the first person to do it this publicly (on instagram especially), but i know quite a few sommelier’s who have been doing this for training purposes for awhile now, which is what gave me the understanding that it’d work.
There’s a group of us in the Bay Area that have been using the Fu method for online tasting. We’ve been doing this once a week. We rotate as the who contributes the wines. We taste blind. Round 4 is on Sunday. It’s been really fun so far! A couple of weeks ago, the sponsor of that tasting contributed the three 2015 wines from Gonon.
Sounds like a fun time, and thanks for posting the tasting notes. I’d love to do this with some friends. Do you mind sharing the source of the 150ml bottles?
I use 4oz boston rounds that are even cheaper with a tighter rubber seal, but gotta buy em in 160 packs. Fortunately, I’m going through 36-62 a week with the fiends i share with
I’m gonna guess these were folks who could pick up. That’s how our group works. One fellow has designated his house as the drop off / pick up spot. He leaves a cooler by his front door. The drop off person sends up a flare to let us know we can come by.
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