What's in your glass tonight?

[sour_grapes]

Tonight, it is commercial for a change! I polished off the Yakima Syrah referenced above; the next target on my spreadsheet was a long-aged cheapish commercial offering. About 5 years ago, I stashed a case of 2010 Columbia Crest Horse Heaven Hills Merlot. As of tonight, there are only 7 left! I am actually a bit disappointed. The wine is nice, but it has a bitter aftertaste that I do not recall having before. It is very smooth and very puckerish, with spice and vanilla and blueberries. V. Good but not great.

 

[johndghost]

We had two couples over Friday night to visit, served fruits, veggies, artisan cheeses, crackers, prosciutto, etc., pretty large array of snacking stuff, and wine. Mrs. Johnd(ghost) asked if she could pick the wines since she did all of the prep work and I agreed. We had a great time for sure, we’ll into the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday morning, all I had to show for it all was a pounding headache and a handful of wine tags to remove wines from CellarTracker. The woman has good taste, though I didn’t care at all for the Burgundy....

 

[JamesGrape]

Sounds like a truly fun night!

I don’t want hijack the thread, but how do you like cellar tracker?

I started it, but many of my first entries came up wrong (the brand was correct, but year, type, appellation were not right), and it looked like a lot of work to make custom entries. So I abandoned the effort.

Are those wine smart tags? I use em and love em! (I set up a code in cellar tracker to map the rack and row locations in my wine room, but with the tags it doesn’t take me long to find what I want). Mine are red on one side and white on the other. I use the relevant side for red or white wine. On the tags I note year, brand, wine type, appellation.

Are you noting price range and rating? I sometimes us the Vivino app if I’m curious about that. I see they would make a good addition to the tags. Nice idea!

 

[johndghost]

Sounds like a truly fun night!

I don’t want hijack the thread, but how do you like cellar tracker?

I started it, but many of my first entries came up wrong (the brand was correct, but year, type, appellation were not right), and it looked like a lot of work to make custom entries. So I abandoned the effort.

Are those wine smart tags? I use em and love em! (I set up a code in cellar tracker to map the rack and row locations in my wine room, but with the tags it doesn’t take me long to find what I want). Mine are red on one side and white on the other. I use the relevant side for red or white wine. On the tags I note year, brand, wine type, appellation.

Are you noting price range and rating? I sometimes us the Vivino app if I’m curious about that. I see they would make a good addition to the tags. Nice idea!

I love CT, it’s a great tool. @ibglowin turned me on to it, took a while to get all the wine in there, but it was worth it. I’ve only found a couple bottles that weren’t already set up in there, always seem to be able to find the one I’m looking for.

CT tells me where in the cellar the wine is located, and has all of the wine info in it, pro reviews, price I paid, market value, where I got it, drink dates, pretty much everything about the wine. I just use the bottle tags for the year, drink dates, ratings, and the wine name, easy to pick a wine when I’m just browsing.

 

[jswordy]

A couple of smooth recommendations. French Tessellae 2014 gets 90 points from Robert Parker and it is an amazing value for an inexpensive wine. I saw it today online for just $12! A delightfully smooth blend on the palate with a nose that holds interest.



From Argentina, Tapiz is another wonderful surprise in its price range, around $20. Amazingly smooth and delicious, awesome nose. I found myself just sitting there breathing it in as much as I was sipping. James Suckling has it right. Get the 2014 while you can, and don't make the mistake I did of not getting at least six. I may have to scrounge for more of this. My original supplier for these is now sold out.



.

UNDER EDIT: Well, what do you know? I just found it was rated #38 of the top 100 wines of the Andes in 2016.

 

[Boatboy24]

By pure coincidence, I opened a bottle of CC Showcase OVZ that I started 6 years ago yesterday. I'm down to 5 bottles now. How have I held onto this for so long? It was the 3rd batch of wine I ever made and I somehow managed to not fully degas it, despite it not being bottled until 5 months after pitching the yeast. Even with all this aging, there is still a tinge of a gaseous bite on the back of the throat and a bit of kit taste. But it has aged gracefully and is much better than it was even at 3 years. Its making me think that unintended residual gas may be an issue for many a batch of wine even if it isn't obvious.

 

[Mismost]

By pure coincidence, I opened a bottle of CC Showcase OVZ that I started 6 years ago yesterday. I'm down to 5 bottles now. How have I held onto this for so long? It was the 3rd batch of wine I ever made and I somehow managed to not fully degas it, despite it not being bottled until 5 months after pitching the yeast. Even with all this aging, there is still a tinge of a gaseous bite on the back of the throat and a bit of kit taste. But it has aged gracefully and is much better than it was even at 3 years. Its making me think that unintended residual gas may be an issue for many a batch of wine even if it isn't obvious.

I opened a bottle of my OVZ Saturday and we just had a glass a piece. Friend stopped by Sunday and we finished the bottle. It was much better Sunday. The nose was better, the jammy taste was forward....it was a very good OVZ we thought. Continues to improve.

I suspect it too may had some CO2 lingering in there. Or maybe it just needed more than 20 minutes to open up.

 

[geek]

Slowly but turning the corner....

 

[wpt-me]

A mead, first time having some. Made from clover honey (Great Value }. I know it's cheap stuff ,but first time!!
Hope to get some local this fall from local beekeepers, 7 dollars a lbs.??

Bill

 

[sour_grapes]

Hmmm, I am making due with some Blanc de Noirs champagne from, of all places, New Mexico. Somebody should tell Mike.

 

[ibglowin]

Gruet is pretty good stuff!

Hmmm, I am making due with some Blanc de Noirs champagne from, of all places, New Mexico. Somebody should tell Mike.

 

[sour_grapes]

Yeah, I am enjoying it!! (I think it was obvious, but I did know that you were quite familiar with 'em.)

 

[ibglowin]

Were you by chance sipping on this? This is currently their highest rated juice at the moment and it seems to be available in many areas across the nation. Total Wine usually carries it as well as some of the other large chains like BevMo in CA.

Yeah, I am enjoying it!! (I think it was obvious, but I did know that you were quite familiar with 'em.)

 

[sour_grapes]

Were you by chance sipping on this? This is currently their highest rated juice at the moment and it seems to be available in many areas across the nation. Total Wine usually carries it as well as some of the other large chains like BevMo in CA.

No, but that looks quite nice. Instead, mine was something like this:

 

[jswordy]

http://www.beanscreekwinery.com/

 

[brewbush]

View attachment 48220 We had two couples over Friday night to visit, served fruits, veggies, artisan cheeses, crackers, prosciutto, etc., pretty large array of snacking stuff, and wine. Mrs. Johnd(ghost) asked if she could pick the wines since she did all of the prep work and I agreed. We had a great time for sure, we’ll into the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday morning, all I had to show for it all was a pounding headache and a handful of wine tags to remove wines from CellarTracker. The woman has good taste, though I didn’t care at all for the Burgundy....

Both Beast and Bishop......where is my invite?????

Did you cry at least a little seeing the wines she picked? I once had my wife pick a wine for our pizza night. The wine was fantastic and after I double checked what she picked it was one of our reserves from Bravante. Went great with Dominoes. But she wants me to put the prices on them before she picks anymore!

 

[Johnd]

Both Beast and Bishop......where is my invite?????

Did you cry at least a little seeing the wines she picked? I once had my wife pick a wine for our pizza night. The wine was fantastic and after I double checked what she picked it was one of our reserves from Bravante. Went great with Dominoes. But she wants me to put the prices on them before she picks anymore!

I did shudder a bit, but since they were both in their drinking windows, let it slide. No regrets, though, you can’t take it with you, and never know when your number will be punched......fabulous wines for sure.

 

[brewbush]

Finally got to Del Dotto on our recent Napa visit last month, really great wines. We wished they had a "club".

 

[Johnd]

Finally got to Del Dotto on our recent Napa visit last month, really great wines. We wished they had a "club".

Yup, one of my faves. Did you do the cave barrel tasting tour? It’s the reason some folks refer to it as Del Blotto, best tasting tour in Napa.

If you get on their email service and order wines, they’ll up your status as you order, which gets some perks and discounts. Their Sangiovese is one of the best I’ve had and very reasonably priced, and hard to find unless you order early, which you can once you’re on the emails.

 

[brewbush]

Yup, one of my faves. Did you do the cave barrel tasting tour? It’s the reason some folks refer to it as Del Blotto, best tasting tour in Napa.

If you get on their email service and order wines, they’ll up your status as you order, which gets some perks and discounts. Their Sangiovese is one of the best I’ve had and very reasonably priced, and hard to find unless you order early, which you can once you’re on the emails.

Del Dotto was one of the last ones we visited. Unfortunately we did not order anything since we joined a new club, Flora Springs. I did send a quick email to see if we can get on the list, there were a couple of the barrel tastings that smelled like bacon, it was really good!