Happy New Year!

originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Dave Nelson:
originally posted by VLM:
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Why does everyone insist on torturing me so?

Seriously?

Cheers,

Dave

The S-word is like nails on a blackboard for me. I've been petitioning the politburo to censor it, to no avail.

Sharon likes to torture me by using it in conjunction with Champ*&^s

No, I meant to question whether you seriously don't understand why everyone insists on torturing you?

Cheers,

Dave
 
originally posted by Dave Nelson:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Dave Nelson:
originally posted by VLM:
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Why does everyone insist on torturing me so?

Seriously?

Cheers,

Dave

The S-word is like nails on a blackboard for me. I've been petitioning the politburo to censor it, to no avail.

Sharon likes to torture me by using it in conjunction with Champ*&^s

No, I meant to question whether you seriously don't understand why everyone insists on torturing you?

Cheers,

Dave

If you think you might be crazy you probably aren't.
 
dave--the 2000 chaillot came later in the evening direct from a cold cellar (and at the point in the evening where thirst was overtaking common sense), which did it no favours, but even after opened a good while it just didn't have the aromatic leap from the glass that the '96 did, nor did it have the fruit. overall, quite a bit less expressive in a way that made me think that at least a couple more years are needed--perhaps more.
 
originally posted by VLM:

That being said, I've never read the guys stuff.
Huge mistake, IMO. He's great. No one better that I've read. He's a little kind to people, and you have to learn to read between the lines a bit, but he says what he means. He describes things accurately and well, and his heart is in the right place.

Also a very agreeable dinner companion.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by VLM:

That being said, I've never read the guys stuff.
No one better that I've read.

Oooh, no more perfectly smoked and delicious meaty treats from Mr. Raynolds for you!

That said, I have liked what I've read from him and while I haven't dined with him, the couple of times I helped him out at Garnet back in the day, he seemed like a very nice fellow.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Dave Nelson:
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Dave Nelson:
originally posted by VLM:
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

Why does everyone insist on torturing me so?

Seriously?

Cheers,

Dave

The S-word is like nails on a blackboard for me. I've been petitioning the politburo to censor it, to no avail.

Sharon likes to torture me by using it in conjunction with Champ*&^s

No, I meant to question whether you seriously don't understand why everyone insists on torturing you?

Cheers,

Dave

If you think you might be crazy you probably aren't.
Speak for yourself. I know myself better than you do. God damn know it all!
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:

Oooh, no more perfectly smoked and delicious meaty treats from Mr. Raynolds for you!
I only wish Josh would favor us with some long producer profiles and analysis of AOCs and so on. I find the tasting note format extremely limited, and I don't think we get the full benefit of Josh's considerable depth.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
I don't think we get the full benefit of Josh's considerable depth.

You need to get him loosened up with a pitcher of PBR and a good jukebox to really plunge those depths.

-Eden (the seedier the bar, the better)(and I mean that in a good way)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:
originally posted by SFJoe:
I don't think we get the full benefit of Josh's considerable depth.

You need to get him loosened up with a pitcher of PBR and a good jukebox to really plunge those depths.

-Eden (the seedier the bar, the better)(and I mean that in a good way)
PBR is asking a lot.

I've been moderately deep with Josh, but I suspect you're right--we didn't touch the bottom.
 
I like Livingstone-Learmonth for how informative he is. Ratings and predictions are just another county heard from. Brad quotes Parker to me on how nifty Elisabeth Chambellan is but it's still innocuous. I won't be surprised if Beaucastel opens up some. Given that I bought a case of the stuff, I'll be ecstatic. But I still remember the 78.

On Guigal La las, there have always been stylistic dissenters. I've only tasted one of them once. It was certainly exotic. I don't know how I would feel if I had more than a sip: maybe entranced, maybe cloyed. But I wouldn't hold it against someone who felt cloyed where I felt entranced.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
But I still remember the 78.

While I like Beau's '78, I've never particularly thought it a strong vintage for them. Granted, I never tried the wine in its youth or even semi-youth. I think my first experience with it came when it was around 19 or so years old.

The 4-5 '95's I've had the past three years I've found excellent and just now really starting to come out of its shell and shine with the exception of the one Chris Kravitz brought to the Beaucastel vertical I put together in November. That one seemed a little thin and wasn't showing much.

Btw, I can't really agree with your statement regarding '94's versus '95's. Yes, the wines you mentioned were quite good in '94, but perhaps with the exception of the Pegau, I find the '95's to be better than their '94 counterparts. With the Pegau, though, I think the '94 has aged better, but when both wines were young I still thought the '95 was better.
 
originally posted by Brad Kane:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
But I still remember the 78.

While I like Beau's '78, I've never particularly thought it a strong vintage for them. Granted, I never tried the wine in its youth or even semi-youth. I think my first experience with it came when it was around 19 or so years old.

The 4-5 '95's I've had the past three years I've found excellent and just now really starting to come out of its shell and shine with the exception of the one Chris Kravitz brought to the Beaucastel vertical I put together in November. That one seemed a little thin and wasn't showing much.

Btw, I can't really agree with your statement regarding '94's versus '95's. Yes, the wines you mentioned were quite good in '94, but perhaps with the exception of the Pegau, I find the '95's to be better than their '94 counterparts. With the Pegau, though, I think the '94 has aged better, but when both wines were young I still thought the '95 was better.

I can see liking the 95 Clos des Papes better than 94. I probably should have included it in the exceptions. I can't see it with Charvin anymore than Pegau. As of now, until I taste the 95 Beau again, I much prefer the 94, but as I say, I still hold out hope for the 95.

I thought 95s were better than 94s when they first came out too. I can't imagine anyone not having done so at the time. That just shows that we were both wrong at least with regard to some of them. That experience should give us some caution--at least it does me--in thinking that 05s will be better than 04s. I still think that, but I won't be surprised to turn out to have been wrong.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

On Guigal La las, there have always been stylistic dissenters. I've only tasted one of them once. It was certainly exotic. I don't know how I would feel if I had more than a sip: maybe entranced, maybe cloyed. But I wouldn't hold it against someone who felt cloyed where I felt entranced.
I don't recall Livingstone-Learmonth having any fundamental problem with the LaLas, although of course he does mention the oak and long aging regime. Also don't remember any comments that the wine was cloying or over the top, more the reverse (i.e., on the innocuous side). But of course I cannot find where I saw his note(s)--may have to subscribe.

Interesting to see that he has just tasted through a bunch of the 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape, a subject of heated discussion recently on some other Boards (oops, not supposed to mention these here).
 
the livingstone-learmonth notes on '88 guigal la mouline:

4 stars "lovely nose, very elegant; delightful richness, fine balance, oak present. Needs time to meld. From 1998-2000. To 2011-13"

no indication of when this note was written.
 
originally posted by robert ames:
the livingstone-learmonth notes on '88 guigal la mouline:

4 stars "lovely nose, very elegant; delightful richness, fine balance, oak present. Needs time to meld. From 1998-2000. To 2011-13"

no indication of when this note was written.
This sounds better than I remember, so either my memory is faulty, or I read some other note. Whatever I read (as I recall) was certainly not damning, just on the sider of slightly fainter praise.

I do see in his book that he gave the Mouline 4 stars, the Landonne and Turque (which most agree now are not quite as good) 5 stars, but then the 1989 vintage garnered six stars.
 
Guigal is not in his selected acronym group of things he clearly prefers. If he mentions oak, it's there, and if you don't like it he has enabled you to avoid it.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Guigal is not in his selected acronym group of things he clearly prefers. If he mentions oak, it's there, and if you don't like it he has enabled you to avoid it.
Well, there is no disputing that Guigal uses oak (42 months as I recall). So the question becomes (among others) whether this is an early note (I think so), at which stage the oak is unlikely to be integrated.
 
I have a hard time getting excited about the LaLas. The wines are so stupidly expensive that I find them easy to ignore.
I should care more--have they made it impossible for a guy like eric texier to work traditionally and get the AOC? Or other such epiphenomena. But as wines they seem to carry a dunce tax.
 
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