OK, that’s the fussiest thing I have ever heard. But I’m not surprised, i’ve seen your workout posts! ![]()
![]()
Oh - and I AM fussy about what I am wearing at wine dinners! I won’t enjoy great wine in a beautiful setting if I am dressed like a slob. ![]()
What brand?
Dude! So many things I agree with wholeheartedly.
Mix of stuff, Lululemon, mizzen, some mtm t-shirts from son of a tailor.
On Sarah’s comment about caring more about producer than vintage, I think this is a different kind of caring (or fussiness). I am more interested in pursuing particular producers rather than vintages because I am interested in how they do what they do and that means caring about how they handle the particular conditions of different vintages. As Sarah says, this doesn’t mean I don’t notice the differences among vintages (for what the producer does in different vintages, you have to notice that), it just means there is something that interests you more.
Idk, I opened that bottle of 2001 Faiveley Mazis last night from 375 because we just wanted to have a glass of wine, and I have relatively limited selection of 375s. I’m jealous of those people with Rousseau 375s.
The wine wasn’t bad and I was happy to have something, but sort of reinforced my thoughts on red burgs. It was aromatically pretty and had a reasonably nice finish, but was just texturally not in my wheelhouse, quite rustic, and lacked midpalate intensity.
I guess it sort of reinforces my thoughts that I’d rather drink wines I really like less often.
![]()
I have reached the “quite fussy” place when it comes to serving temps. Over the course of an evening, my bottle of wine will alternate between being in the bucket and out of the bucket, in an effort to maintain an appropriate (to me) serving temperature.
Most else (when it comes to wine), not so fussy. I often drink barefoot and in a T-shirt (sometimes even one of my Berserker T-shirts).
![]()
Xx
I think the difference is that I also really like the “lesser” wines I am talking about. I really like a ton of wines that aren’t the best wines in my cellar, and I really like a lot of wines that aren’t my very favorite wines. I don’t think anyone is advocating drinking wines they don’t like.
Absolutely this for me - I like a white to be refreshing to begin with and for that I like to start it cold, but then see how it evolves as it warms and I’d prefer a white starting too cold and ending at the right temperature than starting right and ending warm and I don’t generally want to muck around in trying to keep it the same temperature.
I really don’t like drinking champagne out of narrow flutes, I want a wider glass - I’m not sure if that makes me a heathen or not.
Food pairings - agree with Sarah on pairing reds with unsuitable foods, I’m a lot less fussy with whites though.
I am willing to bet most champagne lovers on this board eschew flutes. So definitely doesn’t make you a heathen here.
Phew ![]()
Doesn’t make you a non heathen. I don’t know you, you could well be a heathen, but your choice in glassware is fine.
That yellow Gold’s Gym tank is caliente!!!
Like Todd, always showcasing the cannons!
“More often than not, I find drinking 20-year-old Puligny more an intellectual exercise than a hedonistic one. Many of my best wine friends disagree strenuously. Same with red – there’s simply no way that a 2019 Clos St Denis is going to taste as sublime as a 1993. @Michael Chang is a passionate defender of opening up Grand Crus early if they are “ready.” Who is right? Neither of us!”
I would say each of you is correct, for yourself. For me, most but certainly not all of the best wines I have had had a good bit of age on them. I think this may be less true for German wines - a lot of very young German wines just have so much delicious fruit.
“Then I started doing research and going to my first dinners with older collectors who poured me the really good stuff – Leroy, Dujac, Roumier et al. I am honest enough to say I became a bit of a label licker. I thought I had graduated to the “big leagues” and stopped buying and tasting as widely. It may sound heretical, but you get in a rut when you just drink the “best stuff.” You become jaded and a bit of palate fatigue sets in. @Charlie Fu has written about this before. In the same way you don’t want to eat at Michelin-starred restaurants every night, you don’t want to just drink Grand Cru wines from the usual suspects at every wine dinner. At least I no longer do.”
I guess I like wines I like. My preferences tend toward more elegant wines rather than more powerful wines, at least for red Burgundy. There are some really expensive producers where I am not generally a fan - like Leroy - and some less expensive producers where I love the wines - say Chandon de Briailles, Dublere (obviously, these are not being made anymore) and reds from Ramonet. Of course, there are reds from really expensive producers that I love like DRC, Roumier, Bachelet, Mugneret-Gibourg, etc. Sometimes, I cannot explain certain things I like more or less - like Bouchard whites more, like Fevre Chablis less than other comparably priced Chablis and my favorite village probably is MSD - but I like what I like.
“Some of my friends refuse to drink with people who may have voted for a certain someone for president. I think that’s dumb, but I admire their conviction. I also like to drink with people that have strong stands about wines, vintage and vignerons – so long as they are informed opinions. I don’t like drinking with bullies, know-it-alls or the ungenerous. It makes me nuts to see well-heeled people who should know better bring the least wine they think they can get away with at group dinners.”
I like drinking wine with people I like.
Thanks Sarah for tickler. I had meant to include this variable.
One of my favorite memories of the strong-willed @MChang is watching him keep his cool when @CFu ordered the famous Dover sole at République to go with a bevy of outstanding Cornas wines. Charlie is not a believer in pairings at all. If you’ve seen him eat you know why! Human vacuum cleaner. The food is gone before he’s put wine to his lips. ![]()
I’m not really fussy about pairings. I will try a rich Chardonnay with a pan fried NY strip and not flip out. Charlie says you can’t put the food and wine in your mouth at same time. I sorta see his point, but it’s the lasting impressions and flavors that meld into a harmonious symphony. You don’t drink OJ after brushing your teeth, right?
But there are just some pairings I just adore and stick to my guns at all costs: duck and red Burg, Champagne and sushi, Provence rosé and Salad Niçoise etc.
That’s why I kept some 13 Bouchard Ursules in my glass! (Playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers)
Eileen and I sometime like drinking champagne in coupes to infuriate @Nick_Christie
if this is the Chave/Allemand dinner, I believe you were rather insistent I do the same

