Notes later. Pix are driving to the tasting then at the tasting.
Then I get there
Then the tasting begins and I see old and new friends…bearded guy is Sam Chadwick my eldest
The wines… 83 La Chapelle, 90 de Fargues, 88 and 89 Barge Cote Rotie, Alban Reva, 2000 Ogier Belle Helene, more later
78 BVRutherford opened for research purposes, 07 Vieux Donjon, 2005 Big Basin Rattlesnake, 2010 Page Mill syrah, Harrington La Cienega grenache, Michaud syrah
Didn’t you get dizzy drinking upside down ?
Hehehehe
I rotated them and they still end up upside down
At least your head was on straight!
great times.
the Alban Reva was the 2006 - a baby, even though decanted that morning.
My favorite: the 2000 cote rotie
the 2005 big basin was good at the tasting, better on day 2
Steve, the 2000 Ogier Belle Helene was magnificently structured and the fruit was high class but I compared it in fruit power mentally to other Belle Helenes I have had, not to the other wines there this weekend, and it fell short of the 1995 and 1998 (but far outstripping the bretty flawed 1997). The Alban was so primary – not tannic or closed, just primary in the fruit – that I paid little attention to it, it reminded me very much in terms of its development of the 2001 Screaming Eagle we had a couple of weeks ago with Chris Ringland, the fruit open but huge and monolithic and clearly needing ten years to become secondary./
Steve, Big Basin and Lagier Meredith to me are similar. So well made they are bulletproof and vintage proof, to their sales detriment. Drink them now, drink them in 20 years, it doesn’t matter, no hurry, That’s what perfect balance does.
Sorry I called your wife a hooker. It was, seriously, believe it or not, meant as a compliment. At least I didn’t call her a lawyer.
George, the last time I had the 1995 Belle Helene (about 18 months ago) it was stunning. Have one bottle left. Good thing the wine is awesome, because the label is hideous (I think they only used it for the 1995).
Nice lineup. But after those pics, I was expecting notes on the SQN Upside Down. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Yeah David I seriously reposted the photos a couple of times, even after rotating them, and gave up. From my phone. I could send them to my real computer and save them and then start over but isn’t this more interesting? Or at least disorienting? Did you REALLY need to see another picture of a bridge, or of my child, right side up?
Xavier seriously I wonder if in 1995 his heart wasn’t really in the experiment urged by Stuart Yaniger: “Make a Parkerized Oaky Spoofilated Cuvee!” Well he did and fortunately the juice stood up to the New World treatment and after that he decided it deserved some respect. I’m making all of this up but it MIGHT explain the label.
Yeah it’s frustrating when that happens and it’s never predictable, but I really didnt mean it as a criticism. Just trying to make light of a minor annoyance. Sorry if it came off as churlish. I do like seeing pics of the people, fwiw. It’s a nice personal toch.
David G. my post was making fun of myself. No one would read what you said as negative, except for my other personalities and they have been kept in check by medication. Belle Helene is an interesting experiment that turned out OK. My cell phone photography, not so much. Please contact me and join this extremely informal group the next time you are in Northern California, we can do this almost any Sunday afternoon. It would be a good excuse to open my one bottle of 1999. And feel free to take bridge and venue pix LOL. I can’t be trusted, seriously, in that regard.
George
Whenever I post a photo from my phone it always posts as rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. The remedie?
- Open the photo in your phone’s camera roll.
- Edit the photo by rotating it 90 degrees to whichever side, them press save.
- Edit the photo again, this time restoring it to its correct orientation, and then press save again.
- Now your photo should post to WB correctly .
Thank you Rick. Unfortunately if you count the number of bottles and the number of attendees, all of the pictures were oriented accurately. Either the subject matter or the photographer was upside down. It was a dark and stormy night, with a lot of man-hugs.
Xavier different regions but for some reason, having had both twice, I would like to try the 1995 Belle Helene (Cote Rotie) next to the 1995 Chave (Hermitage), I think there will be a vintage message conveyed by the two, in harmony.
I would also like a pony and a red wagon for Christmas.