Recent content by SteveTimko

1991 Stony Hill Chardonnay - USA, California, Napa Valley (7/30/2015) Fred thought it was over the hill. Andy, Glenn and I liked it. It seems to be in decline, though. It is turning amber but it's not deeply colored yet. It has a nutty nose and a little bit of oxidation. On the palate I got...

1999 Tardieu-Laurent Cornas Coteaux - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (4/21/2015) This showed much riper than the last one I had. In fact, I gave a glass to the host of the dinner and he commented that he liked it because he doesn't like dry red wine. This was intense red fruit. Balanced...

  From France: Cabaret Sauvignon. Chardonnay celebrated for being toasty and buttery. It is a joke, but not by much.

Yep. That's why I provided photographic evidence.

  Jean Paul Brun, Eric Texier Craft Wine and Beer hosted a tasting from several rock stars in the world of natural winemaking on Friday night. Louis/Dressner brought Eric Texier, Jean Paul Brun, Franck Peillot and Gwen Croix (Domaine de la Pepiere) to Reno. I joked that wine distributor...

Tina Fey's autobiography, "Bossy Pants," which is read by Tina Fey herself. Keith Richards' autobiography, read by Richards, Johnny Depp and some British dude with a heavy accent.

Jonathan mentioned the central tasting location in Gigondas. If I ever went to Gigondas that's one place I'd want to check. I've talked to others who've been there and they liked it quite a bit. Supposedly the staff is reluctant to make recommendations of the best, but if you persist they will...

With dry touriga nacional I usually pick up the white flowers, a meatiness and noticeable tannins. I got none of that in this wine.

2004 Dow Douro Reserva Vale do Bomfim - Portugal, Douro (2/13/2015) I brought this as a second, bonus bottle to a pre-Oscars screening of "Citizenfour" because I thought it was over the hill but it's still in good shape with a couple of years to go. It's not a profound wine and it's not getting...

Here's the explanation from CellarTracker!

You are probably correct. I entered the wine on CellarTracker! when I bought it. It looks like it got changed later.

1991 Forman Petit Verdot - USA, California, Napa Valley (2/1/2015) Still in great shape with several years to go. The nose is the most intriguing part of this wine. Dark fruits, leather and some charcoal. Maybe a streak of tobacco. Glenn compared it to a 1985 Saint Julien. He and I differed...

So where did you end up going?

My condolences. I ate at Centro in Des Moines about six years ago and enjoyed it. The wine list was uninspired. Mostly Napa and Sonoma with some Italian wines. The food was quite nice and it's a couple of blocks from the Marriott. http://www.centrodesmoines.com/

There is an article about Frenchchefs seeking to ban reviews of restaurantson places like Yelp and TripAdvisor. It links to another article where an Italian restaurant in France got a judgment of $3,000, including court costs, against a blogger who wrote an unfavorable review of a restaurant...