This is the first week of the Virtual Tasting Series on Wineberserkers starting Wednesday November 22nd. You can find out more details about the entire Virtual Tasting Series for Charity event and ways to sponsor a week yourself in the link below to the Compendium.
Theme: Any wine you’re drinking this week for the holidays. That’s right, everyone can play. Just post a tasting note on your wine and share with the community. Never posted a note before? No problem, it’s easy and fun.
Donation: For every note posted I will donating $5 to a charity with a maximum of $250. That’s 50 notes so let’s make that happen
Charity: I’ll let you decide! You pick your favorite charity and I’ll donate to it. After the week closes, on November 29th, I’ll have my wife read through all the tasting notes and the one she likes best is the winner and I’ll contact you for the charity.
How to be the Chosen One: You’ll need to be creative… I have no idea what will catch her eye. Photo of the kids? May a pet in there? Beautiful family get together story? Lovely wine? Combination of all? I don’t know…
Bonus Play: J_a_y_H_a_c_k is joining this week with a promotion! See the next post
Interested in sponsoring a week yourself? Click on this link.
I have just been appointed to the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital (formerly known as the Coney Island Hospital) gala fund-raising dinner committee to raise funds for all sorts of really good programs for local indigents, underinsured and others with limited access to healthcare. For those of you who do not know, the executive director of the hospital is, to substantially understate her worth, the better half of the Berserker formerly known by the Nom to Guerre Count Lermontov. I will therefore designate it as my charity for this year.
Here is my offer, which involves more different types of wine than in the past:
California-grown Rhone varietals, and write a tasting note that you post, I will donate $5.
if you drink such a bottle, write a tasting note, and post it along with a photograph of both yourself and the bottle, I will donate $10.
if you drink a bottle of one of the top five producers in my cellar and write a tasting note, and post it along with a photograph of yourself and the bottle, I will donate $15:
a. Saxum
b. Carlisle
c. Sine Qua Non
d. Aubert
e. Cayuse
if you drink a bottle of one of my wife’s favorite producers in our cellar: Black Sears or Benovia, write a tasting note and post it along with a photograph of yourself and the bottle, you have to donate $20 but I will match your donation up to $20.
If you drink something completely ridiculous, like a DRC Montrachet not made by Rudy K, and write a note and post it with a photograph of the bottle and yourself, I will donate $50. If you send me a tiny tasting bottle with two ounces of the wine, I will donate $100.
If you donate $200, I will invite you to our next “Real Wine for Real People” dinner in NYC and provide the wine for you to “bring.” We already had one for SQN and our next one is MacDonald on 12/1/23, which is probably too soon, but your donation also lets you to help choose the next theme, which could be Saxum, Schrader, NOK or “The Wines of Thomas Rivers Brown.”
If you send me an empty bottle of 1945 Mouton (La Victoire), which you can etch on the back so Rudy can’t steal it and use it, I will donate $200 just for the empty bottle, because I really want one for historical purposes.
If you want me to do week #1 and include the MacDonald dinner in the offer, I’ll do that but the donation will have to be, let’s say at least $400 (including the dinner), since the last few bottles all sold for over $600 and the dinner itself will be $150.
I was just thinking of ideas on the fly and came up with these two ideas sequentially so I put them together. I thought about switching them around but I’ve been here for a while and I felt a obligation to give the rest of you something to joke about.
very generous offers by both of you! This comment is probably close to eye-roll-producing back seat driving, but with two great themes and multiple weeks unclaimed, why do them both at once?
Thanks Brig for directing me here! Sorry I didn’t know this was going on. Pay up Jay…zoom in my pic and you can see my face too!
2010 Sine Qua Non Grenache Five Shooter - USA, California, Central Coast (11/22/2023)
75% Grenache, 16% Syrah, 2.5 % Mourvedre, 4.5% Roussanne and 2% Viognier…splash decanted…still showing glorious florals of crushed cherries, kirsch liqueur, autumn leaves, brownies with raspberry…soft and luscious red berry fruits…liqueured, yet has a wonderful graphite and red licorice dryness…spicy white pepper tannins and crushed granite give it a nice grip, but does a finessed George Gervin finger roll to a super balanced elegance…little smoky tar, leather, and viognier nuances bring out the exotics…little alc bite and tart cherry skin in the finish. Drinking fantastic at 13yrs, but I see this one going strong 20+. My benchmark SQN Grenache is the 2000 Incognito I had at age 15, and this is close…but the slight alc heat knocks it down a little. That 2000 was "Rayas"esk! (96 points)
Just saw this post so I dont have a photo, but here is my note (also, I Coravined this a few days ago, but finished it tonight).
2018 Myriad Syrah Las Madres 100% while cluster
Nose: candied violet, blackberry and/or blueberry pie filling, a touch of salami / bacon fat
Palate: ripe raspberry; long finish violet, fresh and slightly dried herbs, minerality; dry; full- body; medium+ plush tannins (they do finish a bit drying/grippy and accumulate a bit on the palate); medium acidity
Overall thoughts: Lacking a bit of complexity (more so on the palate), but the plush mouthfeel, body, concentration of flavor, and general taste are enough to really make this wine stand out. Drinking wonderfully now, even if very primary. I wonder if it’ll get more complex in a few years. Really great wine.
As expected, so, so closed on the PnP. Giving nothing but creamy texture and the perception of sweet dough on the nose.
After an hour open, a dark cherry aroma jumps from the glass along with a floral something. The palate is creamy with that dark, sweet cherry profile and just the slightest chalky finish. I have one more 750ml and two mags for my daughter. All will sleep for a while as I think the mid palate is a bit hollow here, but I’m confident (hopeful!) that with time, the wine magic will work to fill it this out.
2016 Carlisle Syrah Papa’s Block - Night two on 11/22/23 after VinVac
Always one of my favorite wines from Carlisle. First one I had from 2016. On night two, this was more open than night one when it was tight and in need of air. 10-15 minutes in the glass is all that it needed on night two. Red fruit was there at the start but not integrated. With time, this became a mix of raspberry, meat and pepper. The savory aspects dominated. Ready to drink with some air.
PnP. Very reticent nose. Orange and underripe lemon on the palate. Pretty shut down. Turkey’s resting, sides are cooking. Will report back with dinner.
Edit: wine spread out on the palate, more body, still pretty reticent, but pretty yummy, too.
One hour decant from magnum. Have to disagree with some of the underwhelmed TNs here: this was a fabulous wine for a tough vintage. Medium bodied and not that fruit driven, but to me that balanced it out like a great Pauillac. Cherry, cigar box, tomato leaf, licorice, delivered with soft tannins and beautifully pitched acidity. Fully mature and absolutely lovely.
Score: 95. Relative to expectations: ++
Pay up Jay…zoom in my pic and you can see my face too! 
