Well, the moment is upon us, as we've popped at least a few corks
for the holidays...

What have you had?

Ours were somewhat scaled back (along with the rest of the celebration):

'96 Domaine Ambinos Coteaux du Layon 2eme Trie: Lovely golden color,
honey nose, quite melony, perhaps a bit simple.

'93 Clos de Marquis: very tight (young) with typical Paulliac dark fruit and tar,
a simple plummy nose. Probably will never be great but a decent buy a month
or so ago at 20 eu. Difficult year, (and this wine was quite stemmy), this needs
at least 5 years.

Happy hols to all!

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies

"Emery Davis" > wrote in message
. ..
> Well, the moment is upon us, as we've popped at least a few corks
> for the holidays...
>
> What have you had?
>
Hi all
Scandinavian traditional fare calls for beer and aquavit - and that's what I
had :-)
However, today there was salmon (gravlax - cured with a salt/sugar mix with
lots of dill, for two days) and we had a Zeltinger Schlossberg Halbtrocken
Riesling Spätlese 2002, 12% alc., from a minor grower in Erden, Mosel, whom
I know (a Franz Krämer) - straw yellow, lots of small bubbles in the glass,
slatey in nose as well as in taste - a nice drink with a gold medal at a
mere 5 Euro a bottle...
I've also set up a Graham's 1970 port to be opened quite soon and maybe a
Sociando Mallet 1996 or even a Leoville Las Cases 1982 for New Years Eve.
Will report later - for now only wishing all a continued merry Christmas and
a happy new Year.
Anders

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 20:23:23 +0000, Sojourner > said:

] On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 20:18:40 +0100, Emery Davis >
] wrote:
]
] >Well, the moment is upon us, as we've popped at least a few corks
] >for the holidays...
] >What have you had?
]
] We enjoyed 1971 Volnay, Wine Society labelling sans producer details,
] 1988 Givry (Clos Salomon), 2000 St. Aubin red (Henri Prudhon), 1999
] Monthelie white (Bouzerand-Dujardin), 1990 Champagne Cuvee
] Saint-Vincent (R & L Legras), Champagne Blanc de Blancs (R & L Legras)
] plus, at other times, several glasses of my home-made vin chaud in a
] failed effort to get rid of my cold!
]

Hi John,

Sounds festive. I wonder where that Volnay came from, and
what was in it? Was it OK?

] We've just trying to put some plans together for next year - late May,
] probably. Are you likely to be around?
]

Love to get together, too early to tell exactly what we'll be doing. Much
depends on Adele's treatment schedule. Do you plan to be in our neck?
Odds are we will be around, just can't make guarantees at the moment.
Best to email (or call) some time in april....

cheers and best for the new year,

-E

--
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Emery Davis" > wrote in message
> . ..
> > Well, the moment is upon us, as we've popped at least a few corks
> > for the holidays...
> >
> > What have you had?
A quiet time as we all had a code in de dose.

Taitinger NV, nice mouse, biscuits, but finished a little short
Tesco 1998 Champers, very pale, good mousse and wet cardboard, quite long
for a cheapy
Beaucastel 1997, two bottles with main dinner. As usual deep garnet, bright
( for an organic wine), very pleasant spice, and fruit, some vegetal aromas,
good entry, long............try again next year, not a long liver?
Coutet 90, with mince pies and blue cheese, ( not together!!!), stunning
bright viscous straw, barleysugar nose, very unctous and with a little
acidity to stop it being cloying.......very nice.

Chablis, 2001, by Foxon, a village wine with great finesse, could be prem
cru burgundy, long. Buy it at Majestic @ GBP 9.59

From a very stuffed up JT
Happy New Year, we are off to Pembrokeshire, the cliff path will blow away
the colds.

--
John Taverner
Solihull UK
132m amsl
"et in arcadia ego?"

"John Taverner" > wrote:

> Taitinger NV, nice mouse,

Yeeeak!

M.

"John Taverner" > wrote:

[Beaucastel 1997:]

> As usual deep garnet, bright ( for an organic wine)

Would you mind to enlighten the relationship of organic farming of
the vineyard and brightness of the wine in the glass?

M.

"Michael Pronay" > wrote in message
...
> "John Taverner" > wrote:
>
> [Beaucastel 1997:]
>
> > As usual deep garnet, bright ( for an organic wine)
>
> Would you mind to enlighten the relationship of organic farming of
> the vineyard and brightness of the wine in the glass?

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that fining a wine
organically was not as effective as artificial means, .

Sorry about the mouse
brain still in Xmas mode:-)
JT

"John Taverner" > wrote:

>> Would you mind to enlighten the relationship of organic farming
>> of the vineyard and brightness of the wine in the glass?

> Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that fining a
> wine organically was not as effective as artificial means, .

My impression was that egg whites are quite commonly used by both
organic and traditional growers.

And what about filtration, btw?

M.

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 12:38:06 -0000, "John Taverner"
> wrote:


>Perhaps I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that fining a wine
>organically was not as effective as artificial means, .

Hi John,

In France there is no legal basis for calling a wine organic. The
ruling bodies for the "bio" label only control viticulture, not
winemaking. Hence you will at most see mentions like "wine made from
organic grapes" but never "organic wine" (it would be illegal to mark
it so).

Logically a good winemaker that is AB certified should be as careful
in the winemaking cellar as he is in the vines, and many are. But
nothing in AB rules prevents these certified growers from using
harvesting machines, slave labour, and every weapon in the
oenologist's chemical arsenal (and some do not hesitate for a moment).

I suspect the reason for this state of affairs is that if you allow
some to label their wine as organic, you are giving the customer the
impression that 95% of wine production is not organic or somehow less
healthy. A weak legislation on bio keeps everybody happy, including
the unsuspecting customer.

Mike

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 10:50:37 -0000, "John Taverner" > said:

][]

Hi John,

] Beaucastel 1997, two bottles with main dinner. As usual deep garnet, bright
] ( for an organic wine), very pleasant spice, and fruit, some vegetal aromas,
] good entry, long............try again next year, not a long liver?

Surely she's got a few years left in her!

I echo Mike's comment about the confusing state of the "organic" label
in France. I know an "organic" farmer who thinks Roundup (glyphosate)
is OK to use because it's based on a "natural plant hormone!!"

] Coutet 90, with mince pies and blue cheese, ( not together!!!), stunning
] bright viscous straw, barleysugar nose, very unctous and with a little
] acidity to stop it being cloying.......very nice.
]

Good stuff.

[]
] Happy New Year, we are off to Pembrokeshire, the cliff path will blow away
] the colds.
]

Coincidentally one of our favorite places, and on the coast path I proposed some
20 odd years ago. Still have a painting of Dinas Head... Enjoy the walk!

-E


--
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies

Hi;

A Canadian family Christmas turkey dinner featuring a cast of dozens (at
which I was finally a guest and not a worker bee!). My vinous contribution
consisted of 2 bottles of dry Vineland Estates 2000 Riesling Reserve.
Lovely citrus highlights without edginess and a nice medium mouth feel.
Reisling being the biggest bargain in the wine world today, these lovelies
only cost about C$12.00.

Family dinner last night at my brothers featured a 14 lb. prime rib (with
lots of succulent rare slices). My vinous contribution here were 2 1998
Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve Meritage (black cherries, smooth
medium mouth feel and long slow luxurious finish) and a NCT 2001 Chardonnay
(buttery nose and taste, another full mouth feel and lovely clean finish).

The plan for an intimate New Years dinner ALONE with SWMBO calls for some
kind of Iberian treatment of shellfish and scallops along with a nice
Sauvignon Blanc from Peninsula Ridge winery..... report later.
--
Regards
Chuck
So much wine; So little time!

To reply, delete NOSPAM from return address

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 10:50:55 -0500, "Chuck Reid"
> wrote:

>Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve Meritage

Hi Chuck,

Think I'll go out and try this one. Long smooth finish is what I
love!

Looking forward to your "report later".

Got an interesting present from my wife. She usually buys me one nice
bottle of wine each month (anniversary thing). For Christmas, she's
arranged for a winery near St. Catherines, to send me two bottles of
their premium wines each month for six months.

With all her shopping and ebaying she FORGOT to take down the name of
the winery. She says to wait for the phone bill and take down the
number then. I'll let you know what I received sometime in January.

At least it will get me drinking some Ontario wines for a change.

Larry Stumpf,
S. Ontario,
Canada

> > What have you had?
> >
> Hi all
> Scandinavian traditional fare calls for beer and aquavit - and that's what
I
> had :-)
> Anders
>

Ahem, not all Scandinavians have beer and schnaps for X-mas dinner; I
believe that most Danes actually prefere wine for Christmas Eve's dinner. We
had roasted goose and 2 bt. Amarone: 1985 Allegrini and 1988 Masi's
Campolongo di Torbe. A muscat d'Alsace as aperitif, and a fortified nice red
from Southern France after dinner....

1985 was, so far I know, not a very good year for Amarones, but 1988 was.
However, we did not find very much difference between the 2 Amarones, but
finally agreed (3 people) that Masi's were the best one. I might have been
too young, and I intend to keep the final 2 bottles yet a few years.
HK

Salut/Hi John Taverner,

Just noticed this:-

le/on Sat, 27 Dec 2003 10:50:37 -0000, tu disais/you said:-


>Beaucastel 1997, two bottles with main dinner. As usual deep garnet, bright
>( for an organic wine), very pleasant spice, and fruit, some vegetal aromas,
>good entry, long............try again next year, not a long liver?

What a coincidence. We had the 95 (2 botts) and '96 (1 bott) with rare roast
ribs of beef on Boxing day (that's the 26th of December, when traditionally
the aristocracy would take round Christmas boxes to their underlings - hence
the name).

The '95 was decanted a couple of hours beforehand and was showing very
nicely inde3d, plums/prunes and all sorts of good things. The '96, on the
other hand was an emergency bottle, in case the 10 of us needed another
bottle. We did! That meant that we only decanted it just before drinking it.
It was a little lighter on the noser I felt, with the fruit more prominent.
Actually, a number of us preferred it.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare

Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
Sometimes oi just sits.

"Larry" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 10:50:55 -0500, "Chuck Reid"
> > wrote:
>
> >Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Grand Reserve Meritage
>
> Hi Chuck,
>
> Think I'll go out and try this one. Long smooth finish is what I
> love!
>
> So sorry Larry. This beauty was available only at the winery and has been
long since sold out. Give their Delaine vineyard offering a try though....
this is the vineyard owned by Mrs. Triggs and it is now in its first
release.... again, AFAIK available only at the NOTL winery. Well worth the
trip.
--
Regards
Chuck
So much wine; So little time!

To reply, delete NOSPAM from return address

Aha - M. Oh-arr.

Home in time for New Years Eve, Huh?

2004 is but 6 1/2 hours away - it is a gorgeous sunny evening.

The champagne is on ice - the fireworks primed.

Guests arrive in half an hour for an alfresco evening celebration.

Kindest wishes to you and yours.

Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight

St.Helier

"st.helier" > wrote in message
...
> Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight

Gee, why are you drinking that _old_ wine? Can't you get something *new* at
the store? ;^D
(Paraphrased from a Steve Martin movie; I don't remember which.)

Happy New Year, all!

Tom S

Tom S wrote:

> Gee, why are you drinking that _old_ wine? Can't you get something *new* at
> the store? ;^D
> (Paraphrased from a Steve Martin movie; I don't remember which.)

_The Jerk_. "Waiter! There are *snails* on her plate!".

Dana

Salut/Hi st.helier,

le/on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 17:33:14 +1300, tu disais/you said:-

>Aha - M. Oh-arr.
>
>Home in time for New Years Eve, Huh?

Yup. We're out tonight with a sort of club we belong to, called the "L'ordre
International des Anysetiers" Bit like the Rotary or the Lions. The food and
wine isn't going to be up to the standard at my brother's home (Foie Gras
brought by me for example) but it won't be bad, I hope. Should be fun
anyway.

>2004 is but 6 1/2 hours away - it is a gorgeous sunny evening.

For us it's still 12h45 away as I write. Gorgeous sunny day, crisp, like the
excellent Bollinger Grande Année '90 that we drank in mags over Christmas.
(I brought a couple of bottles back with me, as Tony finds it's gone too
biscuitty in bottle).

>Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight

As will we, but that's a while off. Give Kathryn a hearty hug and kiss from
me at hourly intervals if you please.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare

Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
Sometimes oi just sits.

Happy Holidays to both you guys. Especially since I am instantly blocked
you will not realize I wished you this best of holiday.

I love this childlike behavior.

Happy Holidays anyway.

"Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
...
> Salut/Hi st.helier,
>
> le/on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 17:33:14 +1300, tu disais/you said:-
>
> >Aha - M. Oh-arr.
> >
> >Home in time for New Years Eve, Huh?
>
> Yup. We're out tonight with a sort of club we belong to, called the
"L'ordre
> International des Anysetiers" Bit like the Rotary or the Lions. The food
and
> wine isn't going to be up to the standard at my brother's home (Foie Gras
> brought by me for example) but it won't be bad, I hope. Should be fun
> anyway.
>
> >2004 is but 6 1/2 hours away - it is a gorgeous sunny evening.
>
> For us it's still 12h45 away as I write. Gorgeous sunny day, crisp, like
the
> excellent Bollinger Grande Année '90 that we drank in mags over Christmas.
> (I brought a couple of bottles back with me, as Tony finds it's gone too
> biscuitty in bottle).
>
> >Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight
>
> As will we, but that's a while off. Give Kathryn a hearty hug and kiss
from
> me at hourly intervals if you please.
>
> --
> All the Best
> Ian Hoare
>
> Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
> Sometimes oi just sits.

[Fullquote without comment]

"dick" > wrote:

> Happy Holidays to both you guys. Especially since I am
> instantly blocked you will not realize I wished you this best of
> holiday.
>
> I love this childlike behavior.
>
> Happy Holidays anyway.
>
> "Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Salut/Hi st.helier,
>>
>> le/on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 17:33:14 +1300, tu disais/you said:-
>>
>> >Aha - M. Oh-arr.
>> >
>> >Home in time for New Years Eve, Huh?
>>
>> Yup. We're out tonight with a sort of club we belong to, called
>> the
> "L'ordre
>> International des Anysetiers" Bit like the Rotary or the Lions.
>> The food
> and
>> wine isn't going to be up to the standard at my brother's home
>> (Foie Gras brought by me for example) but it won't be bad, I
>> hope. Should be fun anyway.
>>
>> >2004 is but 6 1/2 hours away - it is a gorgeous sunny evening.
>>
>> For us it's still 12h45 away as I write. Gorgeous sunny day,
>> crisp, like
> the
>> excellent Bollinger Grande Année '90 that we drank in mags over
>> Christmas. (I brought a couple of bottles back with me, as Tony
>> finds it's gone too biscuitty in bottle).
>>
>> >Shall drink a toast (Bollinger RD "79) at midnight
>>
>> As will we, but that's a while off. Give Kathryn a hearty hug
>> and kiss
> from
>> me at hourly intervals if you please.
>>
>> --
>> All the Best
>> Ian Hoare
>>
>> Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
>> Sometimes oi just sits.
>
>
>

Salut/Hi Michael Pronay,

le/on 31 Dec 2003 15:27:53 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

>[Fullquote without comment]

Thank you very much Michael.

>"dick" > wrote:
>
>> Happy Holidays to both you guys. Especially since I am
>> instantly blocked you will not realize I wished you this best of
>> holiday.
>>
>> I love this childlike behavior.

Dick, when you _really_ mean it, and don't immediately follow it up with a
snide remark, I'll be delighted to reciprocate.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare

Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
Sometimes oi just sits.

I was making reference to my behavior--not yours. U assumed you did not get
my posts anyway. Had M. Pronay not done that you would not have seen.

However that said Happy New Years still applies.

Hope this year is better for all with Health, friends, old friends and all
that.

seeya


"Ian Hoare" > wrote in message
...
> Salut/Hi Michael Pronay,
>
> le/on 31 Dec 2003 15:27:53 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
>
> >[Fullquote without comment]
>
> Thank you very much Michael.
>
> >"dick" > wrote:
> >
> >> Happy Holidays to both you guys. Especially since I am
> >> instantly blocked you will not realize I wished you this best of
> >> holiday.
> >>
> >> I love this childlike behavior.
>
> Dick, when you _really_ mean it, and don't immediately follow it up with a
> snide remark, I'll be delighted to reciprocate.
>
> --
> All the Best
> Ian Hoare
>
> Sometimes oi just sits and thinks
> Sometimes oi just sits.