Did you like the works of Earl Cunningham?
I did. Folk art isnāt typically my thing, but it was very interesting to see maybe 5 dozen of his works in one place. I wish that they had a bit more information about the artist though (I understand he was a recluse so there wasnāt much information on the man) instead of fawning over Mrs. Mennello, who undoubtedly demanded that the museum was as much about her as Cunningham.
The other artist that they featured made works from reclaimed metal. Iāve never really fancied that style of art as I find it neither interesting or beautiful.
Nice set of Loires. I opened '78 O. Raffault Picasses 2 yrs ago. What a fantastic wine and you capture the essence of this old school domaine in your notes perfectly. E Vatanās Sancerres are special, Iāve just never had one I thought was ready. And a Thunder Mtn TN is something I havenāt seen since my old WLDG days. Iām sure Milan is smiling.
Thanks, Gregg!
In a few years, I want to do an exact replica of this night but only using Loire Franc de Pieds. Iāve been slowly buying and collecting them but want them to have more years on them. I disagree with some of the comments I see from time to time that FDPs should be consumed in their youth and that they are not meant for long maturing.
BTW, I see that Corey has co-opted one of my pictures for his avatar, which we may title, āBeauty and the Beastā. Iāll leave it up to the group as to who is whom. Note the nice tan I sport compared to Coreyās āwhitenessā.
How ironic that a Cuban, who canāt speak a lick of Spanish, sees fit to talk about āwhitenessā.
Well done gents!
Sounds fun. A folk art museum in Orlando ? I love folk art.
I think Iām still recovering from Saturday. This dinner put my body into a world of hurt. I spent most of Sunday in critical but somewhat stable condition curled up a ball weeping openly. Not a pretty sight.
What can I say about Saturday?..I guess OMFG would apply. Some WOW wines on display (not one dud) this night. I fear my words really cant do much justice here , only try to compliment what has already been so articulately expressed. My memory is bit sparse and I do not have much time for great detail. That being said, Robert did a phenomenal job capturing the mood, the setting and the wines. I will briefly touch on the evening and the wines that left an impression.
First off let me talk about Robert and his wife Chris. Robert was the first person that I actually communicated with on the boards (going back to pre-membership eBOB) to meet up offline. Hell it beats Tinderā¦It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Robert is one of those guys that when you meet him you feel like you have been friends forever. He is open, gracious, generous, intelligent, funny, easy going, and not to shabby to look at!! 
lol His wife Chris is the same a wonderful person and even hotter! I would consider it an acute oversight if anyone flew into Orlando without contacting Robert. In fact if you just randomly showed up at his door (please donāt do this) knocked and said, ādude lets hang and drink some wineā he would most likely invite you in a pop a bottle. Iām a much different person, please do not contact me. ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Moving on
We had some tremendous guests in the house!
What a pleasure to see the two newlyweds, āTOP CTā taster ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
āvote forā Tooch (I did) and his beautiful wife Summer luvinā ! Tooch was in last year so I was looking forward to catching up. Tooch has this gift of finding beautiful, interesting and obscure wines. Like Robert he has a tremendous palate. If Tooch recommends a wine I would never second guess his recommendation.
Then there was Corey āfly in on a whimā Hart and his beautiful ageless significant other (the jade dragon). Corey is a character for sure, fun guy to be around, picked on my wife (the Oklahoma Twister) a bit, all in jest. Lots of laughs, all night.
Were anyoneās ears burning? We talked a bit about some of the Berserkers, right behind your backs!!! I will never tell a soul what we discussed. I kid I kid, all good stuff.
The Cusinine:
The food was fantastic, that kryptonite soup we ate, what the hell was that??? Oh yeah, the green plantain dumpling soup with pea shoot and chorizoā¦fuq yeah, totally delish!
The beet salad with crispy broccolini, grapes and goat cheese is pure love. I adore beets.
Pisco oyster shooter with tigers milk (as opposed to Tiger blood ![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}
) and Serrano pepper, topped off with rum dispensed from some Tiki God looking bottle. Like an effigy that resembled the episode from The Brady Bunch when they go to Hawaii and shit goes downhill real quick. Though we managed to skirt any ominous activity of the sort.
Then the Chestnut smoked pork belly with apple horseradish cream, avo, bacon and pickle romanesco. Damnnnn!
There was much much moreā¦Though, I am pretty sure I left wearing a pair of Roberts spanx.
Some of the wines that left an impression:
the blind:
1999 Thunder āFāingā Mountain cab francā¦where the hell have you been all my life? I guessed old worldā¦WRONG! Where the hell is Cienega Valley and why isnāt anyone producing Cab Franc from there? (Insert Bee Gees song TRAGEDY), such an interesting/unique profileā¦WhoTF makes this stuff(winemaker)??? Great wine
The White:
2010 Edmund Vatan Sancerre Clos la Neoreā¦holy sweet mother of baby Jesusā¦this was the money shot (sorry) Steely ādanā flint-like minerality, crisp acids, fresh citrus fruits, light, seamless, elegance, class, sophistication. One of the best white wines I have ever tasted. WOW
1993 Olga Raffault Chinon Champ-Chenin
The freakā¦This wine was like when you go to the circus and pop over to see the boy with the lobster hands.
Honey infused beeswax, gramps old closet sweater action, tangy dry lemon rind, funk, racy acidā¦u know it! Really interesting
The Rougeard Rumble:
_2003 and 2005 Poyeaux_Though the '05 didnāt show its best last year I felt it was in a much better spot on this night. Still way too young though, the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove. Prior to tasting the wines I thought the '03 would easily out shine the '05 but tonight it was edged out. These wines are more ripe and less earthy than the Raffaults. Stylistically different but wonderful material to play with. I look forward to trying these with more bottle age, if I am that lucky.
Stuck in the '90ās:
1990 Olga Raffault Les Picasses
George Clinton showed up and said dayyum thatās funky! Definitely the most funk on the nose compared to the other Francās, though this faded a bit with added air.
Yet, do not be swayed, this was gorgeous stuff. Herb garden galore, spice box, sweet red fruits, silkiness, smooth with fine tannins. Lovely
1990 Joguet Les Varennes du Grand Clos
Stylistically different than Raffault. This had the more sexy exotic nose, more ripe, bigger profile wine.
I just feel this is a beautiful cab franc that experienced more new oak than Raffy. Though I have no clue if that is the case. I did not find it as interesting as the Raff. The group picked this over Olga, I did not.
The Old Timers:
1977 Olga Raffault Les Picasses
Good lord this is gorgeous. Earth Wind and Fireā¦and more earth!! Wet forest leaves, sweet bell pepper, truffle dust, dry cherries, herbaceous, cigar leaf, fresh acidā¦does not show its age at allā¦this was killing
1965 Mouton Rothschild
I know this vintage of Mouton is not considered anything really worth discussing at lengthā¦but do not call the '65 a dog!! (insert young Frankensteinās ITāS ALIVEā¦ ALIVE!!) Is it great? No, itās not, Iād say itās a rather fairly enjoyable claretā¦ dry cherries, clay notes, dry leaves, tea notes. Maybe going in overly pessimistic helped itās case, but the truth is we were pleased with its showing.
What a nightā¦I will try to touch on a few other wines laterā¦I live for nights like these. What a perfect way to start 2016.
I hate to tell you, but over 60 million people a year do just this. In fact you and Robert are snubbed by more people than anyone else on this board.
Lol, the statute of rum ended up in the guest room bed. Not asking questions, no judgment. But I do need my Spanx back. You have no chance of fitting into them, I mean, filling them.
I thought the chef was gonna torch it. Were we supposed to shoot it?
That, and what can only be considered a liberal interpretation of the term ācuteā earlier as well.
Vatan and Boulay are the two Sancerre producers at the upper end Iāve had the most experience with, having bought several in my early days and cellared in good vintages. Let a Clos la Neore and a Mont Damnes sleep side by side for almost a decade (from 2002 IIRC). Both epiphany wines, and to me more interesting than Dagueneau.
How else do I describe him, I tower over him plus he has the head tilt thing going on. If it makes everyone feel better, Corey has a giant-sized personality. 
And by the way, a heck of a palate for a guy that professes not to drink Loire.
We need a separate thread for Corey N.'s āBromance of the Monthā.
Somebodyās just jelly cause I donāt go for blondes.
He even brought me chocolates. Seriously. He has fallen hard. Iām such a lug.
I wonder if Tooch has recovered . . . .
U guys look adorable! Is anyone using this as their grinder avatar?
![[truce.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/d33e712b50d5efc2425bf219c404fbdb7ed0ba50.gif "truce"){kind=small}
So is the caption for that Alfert/Corey photo, āSay hello to my little friendā?
Either Alfert is much larger than I imagined or Corey is much smaller than I imagined. Or is it a combo of both. And whatās with Alfert not speaking any Spanish? At the very least learn some to get the Cuban Floridian discount.
Always nice to see a meet-up of different Berserker segments. Plus bonus points for actually including what seem like relatively upstanding significant others. One knows some fun was had one a bottle of Mouton in broken out late, even after some PX. Iām going to have to look up Alfert on a trip to see in-laws in Orlando, that good food looks like it would make up for all those Loire reds 
Nice party guys.
1 Like
My cellar is sorta like sex, the more I drink, the looser and more open I get! ![[dance2.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a6ccdc94a15acd80c66296c39ad7b68296214956.gif "dance2"){kind=small}
And yes, I am 6-1 and 215 pounds of lug. Corey is not. I cannot help the lame Cuban part, my folks raised me white (and liberal!).
And yes, John, having the wives participate made this a lot more fun and festive, where the emphasis was as much on personal interaction as it was on wine. Our better halves are quite cool and seemed to have a lot of fun, plus they did not seem to like my stinky, thin, weedy, tired, old wine.
PS. WTF is āgrinderā?
To me āgrinderā refers to something one cleans up metal with or a sandwich. But Iām even older than you, and I think the whipper-snappers are on to something new.
Iām actually half Filipino (half Caucasian) and was raised incredibly āwhiteā as well. I canāt speak a lick of Tagalog. But Spanish is different. Itās just so useful, especially in Cali and Flaā¦
We actually congregate with our better halves more than not here in L.Aā¦ Agreed that the best wine get-togethers are where the wine is great but the wine doesnāt really matter.