Ten years and counting . . .

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
Dinner with friends we tasted two cabernets:

I had meat loaf with mashed potatoes and the wines both worked but . . .

1999 Phelps, Insignia:
This is a solid wine; integrated, smooth and properly balanced but there is no there there void of character or place and despite a pleasant enough accompaniment with the food, it added nothing to the mix.

1999 Shafer, Hillside Select:
Paradigm shift this is loaded with character, brighter and more nervous in the mouth, carries the mind and senses to places they didnt go in its absence and finishes long and vivid. Night and day from the previous bottle.

Best, Jim
 
I once tasted '99 Hillside Select side by side with the (I believe) more ballyhooed '97, and I found the '99 much livelier and more complex - a heck of a cabernet...
 
Rahsaan,
You will probably appreciate this . . .
I live with a vegetarian and likely eat better than 99% of the people on this planet. Diane is the best cook I have ever known and I am not one to complain about great food, even if it isn't meat.
But I grew up in a house where meat and potatoes ruled.
Every once and awhile, its nice to step back.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim: Diane is the best cook I have ever known
Click to expand...

Jim, It sounds like Diane and JoAnne would make a good pair.

Speaking of which! We occasionally do a "partnership" dinner with another couple (not the same couple every time) whereby the ladies work together to do the elaborate cooking and the gents then come up with the (hopefully meritworthy) wine selections. Each couple invites whichever other couple they wish so that we end up with 8 people at the table, oftentimes including people who otherwise would not ever be together.

Such events have always been successful.

. . . . . . Pete
 
Pete,
We used to own a very large house and we would invite about 10 couples over. They were to bring a dish and a wine that paired with the dish they brought.
Curiously, we never had to tell them which course to bring or try to determine who would be bringing what - they just showed up and it always worked out.
It was really a pretty easy way to entertain; those that were coming made sure the dish they made was simple and could be transported and we made sure to do something a little more elaborate.
That house and those times are gone now and I do miss them. Maybe we'll start something like that again (on a smaller scale) once we get to CA this summer.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:

But I grew up in a house where meat and potatoes ruled.
Every once and awhile, its nice to step back.
Best, Jim
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm sure. You do seem to eat well.
 
I like both bottlings but stopped buying the Shafer earlier than the Insignia when the pricing got stupid.

I agree with you though, IME the Hillside Select always seems to speak more of place and individuality than the Insignia.
 
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