Oh, and one more thing. Special thanks to Bill and Manlin for slaving away all day feeding everyones faces. They both went above and beyond the call of duty.
A great event. Thanks for hosting Philip and to Bill/Manlin for all their hard work. A chance to put faces and names together over great food and wine!
Couldn’t agree more with the comments above. I had a blast getting to put faces with names I know so well. Thanks to Phillip for being such a gracious host and to the meat department for using those grill skills.
Oh, and I heard it was T-Bone’s birthday! Happy Birthday T-Bone!
T-Bone is so shy. He got all flushed when we sang to him!
Thanks to everyone or making this event spectacular. Landreth for coordination and grilling duties. Phil for hosting. Manlin and Fremont on the assist. My bar crew of Michel and Zach for helping pour and going on meat runs. Bryan for sending us such incredibly awesome meats. And most of all thanks to everyone who showed up and brought such spectacular wines. Great to put faces to names of such great fun folks. I will post a wine list when I get it together later on.
OK all, here is the list of wines I was witness to. I think I got only about 80%, maybe less. I do know I missed most of the case that Bryan Flannery sent for instance which was several bottles each of Sullivan, Morlet and Vineyard 7&8. I completely failed writing down the Barbaresco maker so I could use some help there. There were several Sauternes bottles as well I remember sipping later on but didn’t scribble down. Also, I’m sure I got the bottle format wrong on a few of these as well so point them out as found. Only 3 corked bottles that I know of which is pretty good but the 63 Dow’s Mag was especially painful.
1963 Dow Porto Vintage (Portugal, Douro, Porto) - Magnum - CORKED!!! [suicide.gif]
1970 Taylor (Fladgate) Porto Vintage (Portugal, Douro, Porto)
1970 Fonseca Porto Vintage (Portugal, Douro, Porto)
Personal highlights of the wines I tried were:
1995 Corton-Charlemagne
1988 Mt Eden Chard
1989 ZH Tardive
2004 Into The Dark
2004 Roda 1
2000 Pape Clement
1989 Meyney
1995 Gaja
1986 Spottswoode
1991 Montelena
2001 Donjon
1999 Lafite
1990 La Conseillante
Surprise of the night was the 2004 Martinelli which smelled just like a Pinot to me. Terrific wine.
Special shout out goes to Bowden who went above and beyond the call of duty going back to the hotel to get me some of the leftover '68 Unico which is a birth year wine for me. Though I think he was just taking the opportunity to drive Phil’s wheels. Cheers Meathead!
It was really great to meet so many that I only knew from an avatar.
Pretty big party.
Leo. Thanks for your generosity and incredible positivity.
You really are a piece of work. It was wonderful to get to meet you.
I think the highlight of the party was seeing you with your shirt off and that huge bottle of Taittinger.
A great 85 Corton Charlie from Jadot BTW. I love that wine!
Big thanks for the invitation and acceptance. Bill Landereth cooked all day and night. Phil. You were so nice to allow such
a large undertaking in your house and brave too. The bar guys did an exceptional job. Scott did the dissecting of the meat as it came off the grill.
Great job on that Scott and lots of work.
Chris Freemont was his moral support. (Great to be with you again Chris.)
Lots of great people and an excessive amount of wine although we managed to run out somehow.
Bryan is such a gem. It was great to have him there.
OUTSTANDING AFFAIR!!!
Kudos to Phil, Bill, Manlin, Freekmount, Flannery, etc., etc… It was amazing to meet everyone, eat such killer food and drink such killer wines.
Special props to Dan McNiff @ Centennial for making Zach and I aware of their Berserker discount and Riedel loaner program. Mucho appreciado Senor Dan!!!
Unreal evening. Everything said so far has been true … just wanted to add my two cents on that front. A real pleasure to attend. Hard to believe how cool it was. I think I’m still processing it. An awesome, unforgettable night. Well done all around to our planners and most kind and generous host!