Wine Thread

[El Guapo 8]

I never save wine. (well on occasion white, especially since a lot of screw tops now)If its a bottle of red, I will drink the rest pretty much no matter what.

[Nikki_N 17]

I'm ordering this for my mom for her birthday. I'm basing it on your recommendation Keith, so she had better like it! She likes red wines and nothing sweet and desserty. 2004 Havens Wine Cellars Black and Blue (USA, California, Napa Valley) [Click to view 1 label image] 3/14/2008 Kdawg 91a tasting of new releases: nose: very full and interesting nose of dark cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and coffeetaste: excellent weight and feel on the palate with cherry, blackberry, and coffee flavoroverall: a really interesting wine as both the nose and flavor profile present some flavors that are fun to taste and smell. Very smooth but also complex this is an excellent wine (183 views)Oh, and Happy Birthday!

[KDawgCometh 2]

I hope your mom enjoys it and thanks for the birthday wishes kristenwell, its getting into the summer season, so, its also time to drink lighter wines. I really reccomend checking out rose's and you usually won't have to pay more then $15 for one. here is one I had the other day that was really rocking:

• 2007 Gustave Lorentz Pinot Noir - France, Alsace, Bergheim, Alsace AOC (5/18/2008)nose: nice light nose of watermelon, strawberries, bits of citrus, and some rosestaste: nice upfront attack of watermelon and strawberries with some citrus tonesoverall: an excellent wine. Really great light feel with nice soft flavors on the attack and transitions into a watermelon finish (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Nikki_N 17]

I hope your mom enjoys it and thanks for the birthday wishes kristenwell, its getting into the summer season, so, its also time to drink lighter wines. I really reccomend checking out rose's and you usually won't have to pay more then $15 for one. here is one I had the other day that was really rocking:

• 2007 Gustave Lorentz Pinot Noir - France, Alsace, Bergheim, Alsace AOC (5/18/2008)nose: nice light nose of watermelon, strawberries, bits of citrus, and some rosestaste: nice upfront attack of watermelon and strawberries with some citrus tonesoverall: an excellent wine. Really great light feel with nice soft flavors on the attack and transitions into a watermelon finish (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

So what wine did you have on your birthday?

[KDawgCometh 2]

So what wine did you have on your birthday?

some champagne. I was at acting class til late, so I couldn't crack into something big

[NortonFan 0]

Any new recommendations?

[KDawgCometh 2]

Any new recommendations?

price range? something I should really reccomend to everyone is checking out winebid.com. Just register there and you'll be able to get lots of aged stuff from all over the world

[mk 11]

well, its getting into the summer season, so, its also time to drink lighter wines. I really reccomend checking out rose's and you usually won't have to pay more then $15 for one. here is one I had the other day that was really rocking:

• 2007 Gustave Lorentz Pinot Noir - France, Alsace, Bergheim, Alsace AOC (5/18/2008)nose: nice light nose of watermelon, strawberries, bits of citrus, and some rosestaste: nice upfront attack of watermelon and strawberries with some citrus tonesoverall: an excellent wine. Really great light feel with nice soft flavors on the attack and transitions into a watermelon finish (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

this sounds great. gonna look for it at sam's tonight or tomorrow.

[KDawgCometh 2]

mike, I know that binny's carried a lot of it, I don't know how much is left as it's out from our distributor. I would bet money though that either the south loop or ivanhoe stores will have it stillsomething I just thought of, how many un-oaked chards have people checked out. If not, I highly suggest it. You can find a lot of them for fair prices. There's a lot from california that are coming out(so guapo will actually drink one of them instead of coming up with BS excuses to try something different ) like four vines, toad hollow, mer soleil silver, diatom(though this one is hard to get). Trevor Jones from australia makes a great un-oaked chard called Virgin. If you've disliked chardonnay before, you really have to try them to check out how great some of the pure chard flavors can be. Here are my notes on the 07 4 vines naked that is out right now:

• 2007 Four Vines Chardonnay Naked Chardonnay Four Vines Cellars - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (7/3/2008)nose: nice clear and focused nose of lemon, lime, and various bright citrus tonestaste: very tangy with lemon and lime along with bits of grapefruit and mineralsoverall: another winner by four vines for a value unoaked chard. More tangy then they have done in the past, this is still a fun wine that is great for the summer and has a laser light focus on the flavors with a nice citrusy attack and focused finish of lemon-lime (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[CaneBrain 95]

KDawg,What do you think of the Beaujolais line of wines? Are they comparable to any other type? Trying to figure out what to stock up on for my wife who is an avid wine drinker and amateur wine appreciater.Thanks.

[El Guapo 8]

Recently I had Pine Ridge Fortis - needs to age and not worth the $$$ imo. It is about $125 bottleand Franciscan Cabernet, which tasted more like a Merlot, but I actually liked it. Still not worth the $$$ at $65 a bottle.

[KDawgCometh 2]

KDawg,What do you think of the Beaujolais line of wines? Are they comparable to any other type? Trying to figure out what to stock up on for my wife who is an avid wine drinker and amateur wine appreciater.Thanks.

i'm not a fan of gamay(which is the grape that is grown in beaujolais). I just find them way too thin and simple for me. They are usually red wines with training wheels for me, but, a lot of people love it. What I would say if you wife likes those types of wines, try checking out wines from southern italy like nero d'avola. I'd also say try checking out some of the more affordable malbecs from argentina. They will have more body to them, but will also have the fruit that she may be looking forif both of you want to check out french wines, then go straight to cotes du rhones. Lots of good stuff to be found for under 20 and they go great with lots of food

Recently I had Pine Ridge Fortis - needs to age and not worth the $$ imo. It is about $125 bottleand Franciscan Cabernet, which tasted more like a Merlot, but I actually liked it. Still not worth the $$ at $65 a bottle.

if it needs age, then it wouldn't it be hard to tell where it would be when it reaches its peak and whether it was worth the money or not?you also overpaid for the franciscan, is it the regular cab, or is it the magnificat(which I think is a load of crap, especially when my store is selling the st jean cinq cepages for the same price)also, if you're spending that money on cabs, why aren't you trying out bordeaux?one california cab wine maker that I need to shed light on is Karl Lawrence. They don't submit their wines into parker or spectator(and quite frankly laube would hate them anyway). They are more word of mouth, and they were certainly starting their drinking window around years 8 or 9 when I was at a vertical of them. Their normal cab is usually around 50-60 and beats the crap out of a lot of higher priced cabs, and their single vineyard cabs are just awesome(and usually around 120, but I've had seavey, Kapscandy, and Araujo, and the Herb Lamb was just as good as those which cost more)KARL LAWRENCE VERTICAL - wally's house, barrington IL (6/8/2008)This was my first EBob off line as Jordan brought me to it. I've been jonesing lately to have some california cab again and had yet to experience any Karl Lawrence cabs, so not only to I get to feed the beast, I also get to learn something new at the same time, it's a win/win for meWelcome winesThese were a bunch of fun ones. THere wasn't a bad wine here and the experience of tasting two very well aged wines was well worth it in of itself

• 2005 Aubert Chardonnay Reuling Vineyard - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coastnose: great california styled nose of mango, marmelade, orange peels, and smokey vanilla tonestaste: a lot of merringue, mango, orange peels, and vanillaoverall: a real top notch chardonnay. I don't see the 99 pts from mr Parker, but this wine has great feel and a really good oily finish. It probably needs more time to further develop, but still a great wine right now (93 pts.)
• 1978 William Hill Winery Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleythis wine must have been impeccably stored as the color was just amazing. Almost zero brickingnose: wonderful aged nose of black tea leaves, mushrooms, loads of smoke, cassis, and dark raspberries, and dark cranberriestaste: wonderful feel that is just very smooth and polished with loads of dark red fruit, black tea leaves, green pepper tones, dill, and some mushroomsoverall: a wonderful experience. This bottle was fresh and vibrant while giving off wonderful aged characteristics and it held together for a good amount of time. Great smooth dark red fruit attack that goes into a black tea mid palate and then a mushroom based finish. This was a very enlightening experience and a lot of fun to taste a california cab of this age that is still as vibrant as this bottle was (93 pts.)
• 1994 Schloss Schönborn Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Rheingaunose: nice tart nose with a rounded petrol aspect along with tart green granny smith apples and lemon zest qualities along with some mineralitytaste: loads of citrus flavors and granny smith apples along with some minerals and fig aspects and a bit of petroloverall: This one was a lot of fun with good rounded balanced flavors and smooth attack and green apple finish (90 pts.)
• 1977 Kurt Darting Dürkheimer Spielberg Riesling Spätlese - Germany, Pfalznice medium golden colornose: very well evolved nose of nectarine, apricot, smokey tones, exotic spices, and bits of haytaste: very delicious flavors of exotice spices, apricot, nectarines, and pineapple that go with a smokey backdropoverall: a really wonderful and well aged riesling. Great citrus flavors that are still vibrant and juicy with a great apricot attack and smoked pineapple finish (93 pts.)

94-96this was the kick off flight for the actual tasting. Really good wines including one controversial wine. I know that I'd like to try a bottle that isn't possibly flawed of the 94, but hey I dug it as it was

• 1994 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: extremely interesting and different nose. Some said that this was corked, but it didn't have the wet cardboard smells or pure cork smells that come with a corked wine. This wine possesed a interesting red fruit core with some pine cone tones, mushrooms, black licorice, and creme de cassistaste: nice and full with a good amount of red fruits, mushrooms, pine cones, and some black licoriceoverall: a controversial wine. I personally thought that this wine could very well be fine or maybe just an off bottle that has some brett influences that gave it some extra charm. This bottle had a nice attack of red fruits that leaned into a very interesting black licorice and creme de cassis finish (90 pts.)
• 1995 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: really good spicy and creamy nose with cranberry, vanilla beans, rich cherries along with some nice toasted oak notestaste: very silky and elegant feel with cherry, cranberry, herbs, and spice tonesoverall: a very gorgeous wine with a very silky and elegant feel. Very smooth upfront attack of rich creamy cherry that slides into a elegant herbal and spice inflected finish (92 pts.)
• 1996 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: dense and dark nose filled with dark chocolate, raspberry, dark cherry, and black licoricetaste: good dark tones flavors with dark cherries, black raspberry, dark chocolate, and some toasty oak with smoke flavorsoverall: still firm with a great silky and full feel. Nice dark flavored attack with a firm dark cherry finish (90 pts.)

97sThese all held up great and were an absolute delight. Very fresh and vibrant that defied some of the other california 97s starting to fall apart. For me, the 97 Herb Lamb was my WOTN and was just wonderful

• 1997 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: very fresh and juicy with ripe sweet cherries, chocolate, mixed berries along with herbs, and some vegetable tonestaste: nice and smooth with a round rich feel of cherry, cranberry, mixed berries, some raspberry, chocolate, and dill tonesoverall: a really wonderful wine that is still very youthful with great balance and feel. Nice and rich on the attack that works well in all aspects on the palate and nose. While there isn't a lot of tannins left on this, there is still some acidity to hold this together for a good 5-8 more years (93 pts.)
• 1997 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Herb Lamb - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: big and pungent nose filled with anise, cranberry, blackberry, dark cherry, and various spice tonestaste: full and racy with spices, anise, dark cherry, blackberry, and raspberryoverall: very long and dense with bold and full flavors. Lucious attack with great weight that just moves across the palate. Excellent and well defined flavors that work in harmony with each other (95 pts.)
• 1997 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Morisoli Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: very interesting nose that is a bit old world driven(though still california) with scents of blackberry, dill, dark cherry, herbs, and hints of roasted meats along with a bit of toasty oaktaste: great balanced flavors of ripe cherries, chocolate, and blackberries with bits of dill and various herbsoverall: an outstanding wine. Wonderful profile that works between california and a bit of italian cabernet with a big and full feel that works with impecable balance (93 pts.)

99sthis was the surprise flight as people weren't sure how good these would be. Well, they turned out to be very elegant wines that have a lot of possibilities for serious aging. The two single vineyards are at the begining stages of their drinking window and will be even more great in 5 years

• 1999 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: deep and dark nose with dark cherry, toasted oak, tobbacco, and some roasted herb tones along with bits of vanillataste: loads of dark chocolate, black cherry, toasted oak, cranberry, and bits of tobbaccooverall: I love all of the dark flavors that this gives off. Lots of class and polish, this wine is drinking great right now (92 pts.)
• 1999 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Herb Lamb - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: great full nose of dark roast coffee, dark chocolate, red cherries, herbs, and sour cranberriestaste: very elegant with loads of dark cherry, sour cranberries, raspberry, and dark roast coffee tonesoverall: This wine posseses a lot of Lauren Bacall-like elegance with its soft plush attack and wonderfully balanced nose. Great profile with a great chocolate+dark cherry finish that still brings about some tasty back end tannins to let you know that this wine has some serious long term aging potential (95 pts.)
• 1999 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Morisoli Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valleynose:well balanced and elegant with toasty oak tones, espresso beans, dark cherries, and cranberrytaste: very silky attack with herbs, toasted oak, dark cherry, and cranberryoverall: an over riding theme with the 99s has been elegance and silky length. I've been very impressed by all of the 99s as they seem to really posses a lot of aging potential. Great plush attack and a very silky finish (93 pts.)

01-03The young pups flight as it would be. They still need some time to come around and the 02 can become a very interesting wine when it starts to shed the tannins

• 2001 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: big dark and brooding nose with dark mixed berries, black raspberry, sour cranberry, dark chocolate, and some chalk tonestaste: dark and spicy with black raspberry, sour cranberry, dark chocolate, black cherry, and some oak tones behind itoverall: a really beautiful wine with good grip. Still on the young side, this is definitely in the begining stages of its drinking window. There is a lot to like about this with its dark attack to a black licorice+black cherry based finish (92 pts.)
• 2002 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: fairly tight nose with vanilla, cranberry, anise, and black cherry tonestaste: very firm with gripping tannins that provides tones of mocha, black cherry, vanilla, blackberry, and spice tonesoverall: tight and young. This needs time but has an excellent big attack that unfortunetly gets thrown off a bit with the chewy tannins on the mid palate but do provide us with a mocha based finish (91 pts.)
• 2003 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: very bold nose with ripe cherries, cranberries, blackberry, and smoke tones with a bit of oak behind ittaste: very dark with firm tannins. Good amounts of coffee, blackberry, black cherry, and some spiced herbs along with oak inflectionsoverall: a bit too bold for me. There is a bit of a wild streak to the wine that will most likely calm down with age and make this a really fun wine to drink. Bold attack and finish that is excellent (90 pts.)

04-06I wasn't able to get to the 06 regular barrel sample, but oh well. I wasn't neccessarily the biggest fan of the 04 as it was just a massive departure from the balanced profile of all the other cabs.

• 2004 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: really big and jammy with a good amount of oak and vanilla with big ripe cherry tones too. This is over the top and extracted and the nose isn't really doing it for me. This is the kind of nose that bothers me a bit with new world winestaste: while fruity and upfront, this isn't anywhere near as jammy or extracted as the nose and gives me hope that this turns into some of the older ones. It posseses flavors of dark cherry, cranberry, raspberry, vanilla extract, and toasted oakoverall: ripe and very bold. This is bordering on over the top but its the palate feel and flavors that do more for me then the overtly ripe and jammy nose. (90 pts.)
• 2005 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: really nice perfumed nose that isn't as jammy as the 05s that I've had. Brings about nice and subtle tones of vanilla, toasted oak, dark cherry, roasted herbs, and bitter chocolate taste: very tannic and acidic giving off flavors of dark cherry, cranberry, vanilla, and asian spices with some bitter chocolate toooverall: I'm a much bigger fan of this then the 04 and this one has a lot of promise. Very firm tannins with excellent structure and feel that gives off a plush attack and spiced finish (91 pts.)
• 2006 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Herb Lamb - USA, California, Napa Valleythis was a barrel samplenose: very pure and racy fruit tones of mixed berries, red cherries, raspberries, and bits of asian spicetaste: great creamy fruit flavors of mixed berries, cranberry, red cherries, and even bits of crushed blueberriesoverall: I love the purity of this, but that is most likely down to this having not spent that much time in the Oak barrel. Excellent fruity attack and posses a good raciness to it that I want to experience when it gets in bottle. 92-94 (92 pts.)
• 2006 Karl Lawrence Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Morisoli Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valleythis was a barrel samplenose: very perfumed nose with black cherries, sour cranberry, floral bits, and mixed berry tonestaste: really nice and velvety feel of dark mixed berries, black cherry, sour cranberry, and floral bitsoverall: I love the perfumes that this wine brings. A lot of elegance and a lush silky feel to it. A very gorgeous wine that could be very exciting when it gets bottled. 93-95 (93 pts.)

night cappersI didn't have a chance to taste the Blankiet at the begining of the night, so it turned into a night capper for me. Thanks to Jordan for popping the Donjon at the end of the night too and thanks to wally for letting us stick around to have some of it

• 2004 Blankiet Estate Merlot Paradise Hills Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valleynose: very extracted and ripe with a good amount of oak along with ripe cherries, blueberries, and dilltaste: has some serious heat on this which bothers me and doesn't posses that silkyness that I love with merlot. It gives off flavors of ripe cherries, blueberries, vanilla, and a good amount of oakoverall: It may need time to calm down, but I had problems with this. It is a really good wine, but the heat bothers me and it didn't bring that velvety texture that merlot should bring. A bit of a controversial wine, I had this after it was opened for a while, but the heat was still there (89 pts.)
• 2003 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Papenose: this was popped and poured at the end of the evening and white pepper just smacked you upside the head at first. After a good amount of swirling and letting it open up, the pepper stayed, but garrigue, blackfruits, roast beef, and hot stones then started to emerge. A very big nosed wine that is showing off the 03 vintage, but none of the stewed effects of the vintagetaste: really big and dark with dark cherry, white pepper, roasted meats, and loads of black fruit and bits of garrigueoverall: very young, but extremely interesting. Big chewy tannins persist on this but it still gives off a very filling feel with a really good roast beef and garrigue influenced finish (92 pts.)

A really great night and I got to meet a lot of great people. Lots of laughs and fun was had by everyone along with all of the great wines that were drank(and predominetly supplied by anwar). Lots of thanks has to go out to wally for hosting this and then putting up with a few of us stragglers at the end of the night. I had a great time and look forward to going to future eventsPosted from CellarTracker

[El Guapo 8]

It was at a Friends house, I did not buy them. I have had the Fortis before so I knew the price. The Franciscan I just looked up the price on their website. I have no idea what my friends actually paid.I am pretty much never turning wine down.

[CaneBrain 95]

i'm not a fan of gamay(which is the grape that is grown in beaujolais). I just find them way too thin and simple for me. They are usually red wines with training wheels for me, but, a lot of people love it. What I would say if you wife likes those types of wines, try checking out wines from southern italy like nero d'avola. I'd also say try checking out some of the more affordable malbecs from argentina. They will have more body to them, but will also have the fruit that she may be looking forif both of you want to check out french wines, then go straight to cotes du rhones. Lots of good stuff to be found for under 20 and they go great with lots of foodthanks. She really likes the Malbecs (we bought a few to try because we are going to Argentina on vacation in October). I will look into the other ones you suggested.

[Ouch-8s 4]

I have had a few unoaked chards before and not liked them, but I had a really nice one while on vacation. I thought I wrote down what it was but I guess not, or at least, I can't find it.I know I'm looking in the right place, too, because I found the little tearaway label part from the Yalumba Shiraz/Voignier that I loved. The wine was tasty tasty tasty, and I swear, ALL labels should have these little postage stamp reminder things.

[KDawgCometh 2]

It was at a Friends house, I did not buy them. I have had the Fortis before so I knew the price. The Franciscan I just looked up the price on their website. I have no idea what my friends actually paid.I am pretty much never turning wine down.

fortis has only made 2 vintages, its really hard to say if it's worth the money until 2014 or 2018 hits. just because a wine isn't fully accessible young doesn't mean its not worth the money

[mk 11]

mike, I know that binny's carried a lot of it, I don't know how much is left as it's out from our distributor. I would bet money though that either the south loop or ivanhoe stores will have it stillsomething I just thought of, how many un-oaked chards have people checked out.

i'm a fan of french chards which as i understand it are almost never oaked.keith, what do you think of the spanish albarinos? any recommendations? i've been hooked lately, great summer wine.

[KDawgCometh 2]

i'm a fan of french chards which as i understand it are almost never oaked.keith, what do you think of the spanish albarinos? any recommendations? i've been hooked lately, great summer wine.

it depends on the region in burgundy that will see oak. Meursaults see oak, but rarely is it 100% new oak. Some Chassagne Montrachets will see oak. Puligny Montrachet generally doesn't, most grand cru white burgs generally don't see much oak, and chablis definitely doesn't see any oakI'm a huge fan of albarino. Burgans is probably my favorite and I need to get back to drinking more of itI'd also reccomend an italian white, the 07 Inama Soave. Great stuff. It has more body to it then pinot grigio and costs $5 less then santa margherita

[Suited_Up 2]

thanks. She really likes the Malbecs (we bought a few to try because we are going to Argentina on vacation in October). I will look into the other ones you suggested.

Same here, also a fan of Grenache and Tempranillo. (Not many that haven't been at least decent for the price. -sub $15)I'm a fan of one called ViaTerra 06 Garnacha. http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1034002So far I have only seen it at Binny's, but I'm sure there may be other places.

[El Guapo 8]

OK Keith I got a French wine, I have no idea if it is good, it has a Medaille D'or on it.It is Grand Vin De Bordeaux2005Chateua de SeguinI looked at all the regular CA's at Trader Joes, and nothing really sparked my interest.Any clue, or did I buy foreign rot gut? I am going to drink it tonight. I'll let you know if I liked it at all.

[KDawgCometh 2]

OK Keith I got a French wine, I have no idea if it is good, it has a Medaille D'or on it.It is Grand Vin De Bordeaux2005Chateua de SeguinI looked at all the regular CA's at Trader Joes, and nothing really sparked my interest.Any clue, or did I buy foreign rot gut? I am going to drink it tonight. I'll let you know if I liked it at all.

never heard of it. I always avoid stuff with medals and such. It probably sucksedit: there is a ton of value in 05 bordeaux, but from what I've tasted so far, its not in the 15 and below category, and instead its in the 16-40 category. If you're gonna try a french wine, you may as well do it right. I'd say either take a trip to K&L or JJ Buckley or wait until the weather cools down a bit and order from various online sources

[KDawgCometh 2]

god, this thread has died, so in hopes of reviving it, I'm gonna post two under 30 bordeauxs that I had tonight since I was jonesing for some bordeaux as I haven't drank much bordeaux recently. one I bought off of winebid and have 5 other bottles(of which I'll wait another 3 years before popping another one), the other one I picked up as I left work as I was just on the mood for some graves:

• 2001 Château La Fleur de Boüard - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Lalande de Pomerol (8/30/2008)nose: smokey nose filled with creme de cassis, blueberry, tobbacco leaf, and some kerosene along with some cranberrytaste: still firm tannins with mixed berry tones, smoke, creme de cassis, blueberries, and tobbacco leaf tonesoverall: a very pretty and elegant wine with some tannin resolution that still needs to happen. Soft and elegant with a feminine charm, the wine posseses a smokey and mixed berry attack with a creme de cassis finish (89 pts.)
• 2004 Château Malartic-Lagravière - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (8/30/2008)nose: sweet and understated with tones of black fruits, charcol, scorched earth, burning embers, and black spicestaste: charcol tones strike through off the bat with black cherries, sour plums, scorched earth, and black spices accompanying it overall: sweet and fine tannins with a tart black fruited attack that gives way to sweet and smokey transitions that gives way to a charcol+scorched earth finish. This is a real elegant and beautiful textbook graves wine that is very approachable now (89 pts.)

Posted from CellarTrackeri haven't posted many notes lately because a fair amount of the drinking I've been doing has been out of touch with what most people drinkseptember should be a big month for me tasting-wise as trade tastings are coming up fast and furious and I'll be doing a couple of organized tastings, of which next saturday will be a blind cali pinot which I'm looking forward to. I've been drinking so much burgundy that I need to switch things up even if for a night. I'm also going to be doing an 04 bordeaux retro for between 50-95(this is a general rule as some people will be bringing a Pavie or Palmer). IMO the 04 vintage is a major buy for a lot of people who want to add bordeaux to their cellar that is very good and at quality prices

[El Guapo 8]

OK Keith, I need some help. A buddy of mine brought over some local Livermore wines this last weekend, we started talking about wine, and somehow got into a conversation about introducing people to wine, with specifically good wine. We were talking about sending people on wine tasting tours in Napa and which places were the best bang for your buck. We then got into the inevitable discussion of Opus One. Now personally I think it is a good wine, but not great, especially not great for $160+ a bottle. Some people I have talked to think it one of the most over-rated wine out there.I would like your perspective on it:A. In regards to value.B. Not taking price into consideration at all.Because I think he is ridiculous and I have no backup since I have only had a couple glasses in my life and they were awhile ago.

[leftygolfer 7]

OK Keith, I need some help. A buddy of mine brought over some local Livermore wines this last weekend, we started talking about wine, and somehow got into a conversation about introducing people to wine, with specifically good wine. We were talking about sending people on wine tasting tours in Napa and which places were the best bang for your buck. We then got into the inevitable discussion of Opus One. Now personally I think it is a good wine, but not great, especially not great for $160+ a bottle. Some people I have talked to think it one of the most over-rated wine out there.I would like your perspective on it:A. In regards to value.B. Not taking price into consideration at all.Because I think he is ridiculous and I have no backup since I have only had a couple glasses in my life and they were awhile ago.

I know my name is not Keith, but was in Napa for 5 days in April, so I will give you some of my thoughts.Opus 1 - Agree that it is HIGHLY overrated at $160/bottle. The Mondavi/Rothchild name is the main reason. Didn't tour it. Had the wine once and was meh. Have 2 other collector/drinker sickos's like me and whose palate I respect, and this is their sentiment about O1 also.Better options:1. Chateau Montelena Estate - Went on the Library tasting tour...was real nice. I have always been a big fan of this wine as it is very good to excellent every year. My all time fav is the 1994. At about $50/bottle less, it is a much better value.2. Phelps Insignia - Also went on the tour and it was a spectacular view. Insignia is always in my top 5. It has become brutally expensive ( $200) and haven't bought any since 2001. I have a vertical from 94-01.3. Merryvale - Tasting room was ok. I like the Profile a lot and at around $100-110 is a much better value.4. Darioush - People either like this new winery or don't. It has a very good Cab at around $80 and the winery is very modern and Persian looking. Place for cool people to check out.5. Raymond - Went to a tasting there and was treated like a king. Huskers20 has a friend who i met and his mom has poured there for 20 years. I like their Generations and at $80/bottle is a good value.6. Silver Oak Napa - Keith thinks there are plenty of better choices and at around $100 is a better value than O1. Like Montelena, I have never been disappointed. Didn't tour there, but will on my return trip.These are just are some of my personal experiences with some Cabs/Cab blends compared to Opus 1. I am sure there are dozens more at lower price points that others may have experience with. I mainly stick with ones I know but with the recent visit added Raymond to my go to list when I go out and have to choose a wine.

[Suited_Up 2]

Probably gonna hit the wine tasting on Randolph tomorrow after the RedBull Flutag. (In Chicago obv)