I bought a ton of Rosenblum in my day. I visited back when they had the warehouse in Oakland. I still have a stache of 1990 Pallisades Vineyard Petite that always impresses. I will open one tonight.
As a MRSA survivor following hip surgery, I am going to take a wild guess that infection is the cause, not that it matters. As an anesthesiologist I know is fond of saying, the only minor surgery is the one someone else is having. Also, they don’t specify if it was a knee replacement but it seems to me that ortho surgeons are offering knee replacements as if they were Pez. I have a law partner about to get both of his knees replaced in a week and when he came into my office to tell me about it, he was excited and seemed to think it would be easy-peasy. What do you do? On the one hand you don’t don’t want to dispel optimism but on the other hand you want the guy to go into it eyes wide open.
Like many I cut my teeth on Rosenblum’s zins back in the early 1990’s and his were probably my favorite of the 3 R’s (Rosenblum, Ravenswood and Ridge). I have heard in the past of people refusing blood thinners for some reason and later throwing a clot which was deadly. Either way, sad time for his family and wish them the best.
Kent was pouring at the Rock Wall table at the Zap tasting at Cline this past August.
He poured a 2017 St. Peter’s Church zin that was memorable. My wife and I both thought it may have been the best wine poured at the event. It is supposedly going to be released in November. I will definitely be getting one.
Add me to the list of those who got into wine via Zinfandel, with some of my favorites being Rosenblum’s.
Death soon after joint replacement is usually cardiovascular. They screen for this prior to surgery which reduces the risk.
I followed Kent from “before the very start.” We were in school together at the University of Minnesota in the late 60s, although he was in the vet school and I was in business. Whenever I saw him at wine events, we used to discuss the atmosphere on college campuses in those days, which makes today’s daily turmoil seem like child’s play.
Just read Kent Rosenblum’s obituary in today’s newspaper. It said he was 74 and died unexpectedly from complications from knee replacement surgery.
What? It’s 2018. This is the most common orthopedic surgery in the US today with over 600,000 of them being done each year.
How did he die from that?
There’s some speculation upthread on what might have happened but I haven’t seen anything definitive.
Any surgical intervention has the potential for complications. I told all my patients that even if the risk is only 1 in 1000, that’s no comfort if they happen to be the 1.
I have fond memories of Kent. The first time I met Kent, I was getting my MS from UCD in Vit and Enol, and I wanted to include his wines in my study. I met him and Jeff Cohn in the cellar, and about 2 hours later, we finished tasting through dozens of barrels. He and Jeff were not spitting much at all, but I was trying to . . . Him and Jeff asked about my studies, and I’ll never forget Kent looking me in the eye and asking whether or not a ‘good number’ per my study meant that a wine was ‘better’ or not. I told him - of course not . . . it’s just a number . . . and he laughed in that ‘big bear’ way that he would.
His obituary said he was 74 and died unexpectedly from a complication post knee replacement surgery.
I checked and the incidence of death 30 days after knee replacement in 2017 was 0.25% or 1 in 400. Seeing that this is the most common orthopedic surgery, with about 600,000 done each year, that’s 1500 people a year dying from a clot or an infection.
That seems way too high.
Some of my favorite zins and petite sirah, when I first got into wine
RIP brother
i piped in above but must again
i miss him
Joel Peterson interviews Kent last year.