19 roumier bonnes mares, 20 vdj meix cadot 1er
iOTA Spring Release, couple of mixed cases:
1 each of 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Pinot Noir;
4x the 2014 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Pinot Noir;
5x the 2013 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Pinot Noir;
5x the 2012 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Pinot Noir;
2x the 2018 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Chardonnay;
2x the 2019 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Chardonnay; and,
2x the 2020 Pelos Sandberg Vineyard Chardonnay.
Do you know how to tell the Cuvée vintages of these old G. S.? I have one bottle with the orange-rose neck foil and a magnum with black foil.
I suppose it’s just a case of ‘Shut up and just enjoy the wine!’ 
And now for something completely different. I love the figurative decanters. It also helps I am a serious cockatoo fan.
A Victorian Silver-Mounted Glass Cockatoo Claret Jug, Alexander Crichton, London, 1882
Description
realistically modelled, the hinged head with red glass eyes, fully marked
height 13 in.
33 cm
Alexander Crichton
The Father of figural claret jugs is Alexander Crichton, who almost single-handedly launched the craze in the early 1880s. John Culme has found a first mention of Crichton in 1870, when he entered an embossed up into the Society of Arts Exhibition, an early testament to his skills. He entered marks by himself in 1872 and 1875, and an early production was retailed by Hamilton, Crichton & Co. of Edinburgh, suggesting a possible family connection. A pair of silver-gilt shields of 1878 depicted “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, after designs by Sir Noel Paton, showing his engagement with the fantastic.
In 1880 he went into partnership with Charles John Curry, who hailed from a family of silversmiths and spent seven years apprenticeship as a modeler and chaser with Edward Barnard & Sons. Describing themselves as designers, modelers, and silversmiths, they are recorded as “Crichton & Curry”, 45 Rathbone Place, off Oxford Street, on October 14. 1880. Less than a year later, they registered their first figural design, an owl-form jug, on August 16, 1881. This was followed in quick succession by the Walrus on September 22, the Duck and the Drake on October 1, and the Parrot on December 3, all of 1881.
Several of the figural claret jugs of the following year, 1882, bear Crichton’s maker’s mark but the retailer’s mark of Henry Lewis, of 172 New Bond Street. The new registered designs of 1882 were done in Lewis’ name as well, the Dodo of February 1, the Carp of February 18, and the Otter of March 7th, but the known examples all have the maker’s mark of Alexander Crichton.
Crichton & Curry would register two more designs for figural jugs, the Penguin of April 26, 1882, and the Cockatoo of December 19; perhaps this change represents a falling out with Henry Lewis. However, losing their primary wholesale purchaser would have been risky in the depressed economy of the early 1880s, and by 1882 other firms had jumped onto the bandwagon of figural jugs, causing competition in the novelty market. Crichton would create a bear-form honeypot to the designs of sculptor Sir Joseph Boehm in 1883, to be given as a gift to the Royal Academy, but the partnership was dissolved by October 1884, and Crichton declared bankruptcy in December 1886, with debts of £1,846. However short-lived his business, Alexander Crichton left a legacy of creativity and craftsmanship that has far outlived him.
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an annual case purchase shared with my kids.
2023 Baudry Chinon Rose
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Here’s a thread from a dozen years ago that offers some clues. We have to wait and look for the cork code.
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Don’t decant for too long unless you have a high tolerance for lead.
Love this and the history. Thanks for sharing, Mark!
2022 Wasenhaus Spatburgunder Kalk
Am interested to try this cuvee
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I did the same. The 3 reds. I skipped the white. Thatcher’s for you as well?
No. In Germany.
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Surprised to see them available so early in the US…
2020 Produttori Barbaresco double magnum. What am I supposed to do with that…?
I always think the same thing about double Maggie’s but then I bring them to family get togethers for Christmas or Thanksgiving and we blow right through it. Seems like this would be a great wine for Thanksgiving.
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Pre-arrival from Lopa
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Foreau Vouvray Sec 2019 x 9.
Foreau Vouvray Demi-Sec 2016 x 9.
Lopez de Heredia 2008 Tondonia x 2.
Lopez de Heredia 2011 Bosconia x 2.
La Rioja Alta 2015 Ardanza x 1.
2019 Produttori Barbaresco x 1.
Dr. Loosen 2015 Gracher Domprobst Grosses Gewachs x 3.
2007 JJ Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese **
Hugues Godme 2012 Millesime x 2
Raul Perez 2022 Albarino x 1.
Drappier Clarevalis x 1.
J. Lassalle Special Club 2012 x 1.
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Ah makes more sense. Haven’t seen any bottles in Europe yet, so surprised me hehe.
Guillemot. Couldn’t pass it up.
Looking forward to these:
2x NV Drappier Brut Nature Rose
1x NV Taittinger Prelude
2x 1990 La Louviere
2x 1988 Francois Pinon Demi Sec
3x 2006 Chevillon LSG
2x 2019 Vejade L’Anglore
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Bernaudeau Ongles x 1
Bernaudeau Nourissons x 1
Delrieu Le Jeau Blanc x 3
Flavien Nowack Bauchet x 3
Legrand Latour Ypresien x 3
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