OC Offline: Syrahs of the World at OPH, March 21

In what is likely the first thread started from Panama, lets see how the Syrah varietal stacks up and test it from around the world. I know we are Pinot’d out from 'tacular, and there was a lot of Syrah there, but those were all CA versions. What about France (oh god), Spain, Argentina, Australia, Washington, California, and wherever else you can find a bottle that well expresses the terroir of the Syrah grape.

The excuse is that my Swedish friend Anders will be visiting. Weak, but it is there.

Details: Saturday March 21, 4 pm at OPH. Pot luck on the food (and the wines), BBQ and kitchen available (Clara does not know this yet so be gentle). And lets hope for sun, or at least dry. PM if you want a map.

While a wine list is not required, I am willing to update this post to keep a list if you send me your selections. Same with food and RSVPs. I am not much on attendance limits, but expect it will top out pretty moderately.

Any thoughts to doing this in bags? :puzzled:

YES :dance:
Eldon and Clara Gath: 2005 Lillian, White Hawk Vineyard (CA); and 2003 Cirrus Engelbrecht Els Vineyards (South Africa); and another hole-filler TBD from (Australia)
Anders Hogrelius (+1): (Australia)
Gerry Frayer: 2005 E.Q. Syrah -San Antonio- (Chile)
Charlie Fu: 2006 Rudius Spirit Rock (CA)
Mark & Francine Hubbard: 2004 Two Hands Bella’s Garden (Australia)
Nicola ?:
Paul Burns:
Chris White: (Argentina)
Mike and Dana Stoneking:
Frank Murray: Tentative
Cris Whetstone: (USA or Spain)
Jim Burk: Carlisle (USA) and/or Dead Arms (Australia)
Jay Selman: Probably probable
Robin Miller:
Glenn Murlin: 2005 Ampelos Epsilon (CA)
Kriss Reed:
Steve and Teddie Christle:
Rob Wynn: (Australia)
Francine Haight: (Australia)
Gale Silkowski?:
Marilyn Sherman: (South ?)
Monte and Diane Murbach: (2005 Duck Pond Cellars Wahluke Slope, Columbia Valley, WA & CA)
Mike and Carol Miller:
Mark Jones & Brad:
Mike Meagher: Hopeful, VinoV White Hawk Vineyard
Gregg Greenbaum (+1):
Veronica Castro (+1):

WINE LIST :grand:
2005 Lillian White Hawk Vineyard CA
2003 Cirrus Engelbrecht Els Vineyards South Africa
2006 Rudius Spirit Rock CA
2005 Ampelos Epsilon CA
2005 Duck Pond Wahluke Slope, Columbia Valley, WA
20?? VinoV White Hawk Vineyard CA
2005 E.Q. Syrah -San Antonio- Chile

BAGGED
Yes: 6.5
No: 4 (including Nicola)

Thanks for dropping some OPH love over here on Wine Berserkers Eldon. Welcome to the board!

I can go bagged or not bagged. It’s your shindig so I say go for what ever you like dude! I’ll use most of my month to figure out what to bring as per usual.

Eldon pops in, and throws out a huge Offline. Typical.

I, unfortunately, will not be able to attend this one, as I will be in lovely Atlanta for a conference…

Sorry Todd. We will miss some of your French syrah.

And by ‘we’, I know you mean ‘you’, as you can’t get enough of the stuff!

Actually, these onlines are the perfect opportunity for me to dump all my CA syrah plonk to make room for more of the stuffy, bretty French stuff.

Ten days to go, and we are certainly looking good for a fun event. Probably we will end up with about 30-35 people when the dust settles. Anyone else?
Nice weather would be good.

OPH???

Original Pancake House
Old People Home
Our Panamanian Home

One Particular House

Count me in! Don’t know the wine yet…

Good try!!! Very clever actually.
Jimmy Buffett - One Particular Harbor (or House) - you know it, you understand. You don’t know it, sorry for you!!! But, you will understand next Saturday. [imnewhere.gif]

Welcome aboard. The wine is SYRAH!!! Duh! Ever heard of it?

Well boys… how was it??? I was jealous of those attending this offline. I would love to party at Eldon’s house. Cool pool party!!!

Eldon & Clara,
thanks for hosting a great event!!
Dana and I had a great time and the food and wines were outstanding. It was great to see everyone and to meet some new friends.
Your place is awesome and really lends itself to an event such as this one. I will have some photos up shortly, and there are some nice shots of the days festivities. Thanks again and look forward to seeing you soon.

Awesome shindig again Eldon. A ton of fun. Lots of great food and some damn nice wines. Thanks for putting the show on and thanks to everyone who came and made it great.

Love Mike’s new avatar. We’ll see what else comes out of that camera. Should be entertaining to say the least.

Fav wines for me:
01 Ridge
99 Minervois (didn’t catch the maker)
Vino V White Hawk - 03? 05?

Also memorable were:
06 Cabot Aria’s
03 Mitolo Reiver - the one good Aussie
03 Arcadian Evan’s(?)
05 Lillian
Ampelos
…and probably a couple others whose names escape at the moment.

Eldon and Clara,

Outstanding party! Oops, I mean “offline event”. The food, the wine, and the company were just top notch and I had a great time! Really excellent display of Syrahs. Good seeing everyone! A special “thank you” to Clara who seemed to be always on the go and un-accepting of any help. Again, thank you so much for your generosity and hospitality. I am surprised that in addition to all you provided, you still ended up giving me THE BIRD! In the light of day, I somewhat dread seeing the bird photos. Mike, Dana, have I told you lately what a WONDERFUL couple you are???

Glad I was able to fix the typos I made on that “other” board.

Here are some photos of the night. There are a couple that are out of focus due to the condition of the photographers.

Thanks to everyone for coming and bringing such great wines and foods. This group can sure cook. I seem to have missed out on the Ridge, but testing the VinoV and the Lillian against each other was fun. Both won. I took a photo of the dead soldiers this afternoon. An amazing number of bottles, and I think I only actually had one-third of them. Nice photos Mike. Thanks.
We have an HDR stem. Anyone lose one?

Hey - it is possible that I have successfully posted the few photos I remembered to take. The most historically relevant are the bottles so those of you who care can remember what was here.

http://gallery.me.com/egath#100008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I too liked some of the Australians, including the absolutely delicious Journey’s End, Arrival Shiraz; Rob’s sparkling shiraz; the Two Hands Sophie’s Garden (03); and both of the Mitolo’s. Actually, it would appear that I managed to taste more than I recalled earlier, and I think I liked everything.

Off topic, but since I was posting, here are some Falltacular photos.
http://gallery.me.com/egath#100015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;