Yesterday, with about 12 people at my house for wine and food including a variety of Berkerkers, I mentioned having 80 people and over 80 bottles of wine with five successive diners in the back yard, with Todd and other being here from all over the country. Everyone was shocked that Todd come across the country (they had not seen the photo of Todd as a pool boy). I explained about Leo and organizing the event. I never got to the early history of the development of the wine community in this area and when I said, “The Barolo that is in that box comes from the Barbetta auction and Leo organized a bunch of events there. You know Leo, right?” and I got blank stares that went along with “Peter Lugars does not allow corkage so Mark Franks (IIRC he did it) had to organize Peter Lugar-esque dinners.” So I though it was appropriate to start a thread of historical stories about Wineberserkers and its predecessors - and now I know why I get blank stares when I mention the Squirrel wine board.
So please add your stories here so everyone can have fun reading them. I will only add a few photos just for fun.
This is the recycling from Berserkerfest 2.1, at which Michel Abood and I disagree over which one of us swallowed and which one of us spit out the Silver Springs Winery Blueberry Bliss.
This is from the second renewal in New York, when everyone was prohibited from bringing wine so I could clean out my cellar, but Karen Troisi (OBM, Zichrona livracha), of Hean Edawardsw Cellar, cheated by bring one bottle, which I knew was not mine because I only had Jean Edwards cellars red wines and she brought a white.
You would not like my wines so I will keep them to myself. I expect to bring a few bottles of white wind and eat a lot of lobster and seafood, especially for my birthday on September 15. But if you insist, I can bring you a bottle of SQN, Saxum, MacDonald of Scarecrow if there is a good red meat restaurant.
Just because there are too many Burgheads here chasing after one epiphany, doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t have fun. You need to stop scaring people away from wine by telling them that they must enjoy under-ripe wine that must have sugar added just to get some flavor in it.
Last night’s damage report, and not a burg among 'em.
I know that palates are palates and wine tastes are so subjective, but it always astonishes me that some people just aren’t as floored by aged Madeira as the rest of us. I popped a 1900 at a special wine weekend a few months back, and you could tell some people loved it big time and others. It was just OK interesting to try and all that.
It could be the only wine that Jay and I agree upon, well, and 1982 Mouton in double mag format!
It was 2005. I have the 05 and the 89. They are both excellent and very inexpensive. Meyney is from the old Cordier trio of Gruaud Larose, Talbot and Meyney. They have a very similar taste profile.
The photo is correct. The barrels must have been upside down when I took the photo ands we did not notice. It was at his old Siduri/Novy warehouse location in, IIRC, Santa Rosa.
