Nothing succeeds like overkill when it comes to a wine geek's 60th
birthday party. My pal Howard, a fine winemaker in his own right,
advised us in the E-Vite that nothing in his cellar was off limits on
this auspicious day. So we took him up on it.

Despite the fact there were several dozen of us gluttons on hand, we
didn't even make a dent. No doubt about it, my 60-ish pals just can't
drink like they used to back in college. Of course, we weren't
snorking half-gallons of Cribari or pounding cases of Blatz last
Saturday, either.

Here's what we did manage to get into, with some outstanding results.

2003 Ross Andrew Cab
2006 Ross Andrew Syrah-Cab
2005 Boudreax Merlot
2005 Vincent Arroyo Petite Sirah
1989 and 2005 Ch. Pinchon-Baron
1998 and 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (yep, the 100-pointer)
2004 Leonetti Walla Walla Reserve
2006 Leonetti Cab
2007 Leonetti Merlot
2002 Baer Ursa Merlot
2002 L'Ecole No. 41 Apogee
2004 Betz Pere de la Famille
2004 Pomum
2003 Penner Ash Pinot Noir
2005 Shea Pinot Noir
1998 Gaja Sperrs (my first pick from the cellar)
2001 Rieussac Sautern (another 100-pointer)

There were at least another 95 wines on the "menu," including various
offerings from Pepperbridge, Spring Valley, Caymus, Woodward,
Leoville, d'Yquem and Clerk Milon. We just never got to them.

I didn't have time to score these wines. (Too busy drinking, heh.)
However, my top finishers we

1. 2004 Leonetti Reserve
2. 2001 Riessac Sauterne (which needed no hype to prove its 100-point
worth)
3. 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (which lived up to its 100-point hype)

Neither of the Pinchon-Barons rocked me. The Gaja did.

Regardless, we've decided that Howard has to throw a 60th Birthday
Party every week til all the wine is gone. It's the only way to give
them a fair tasting, right?

JJ

On Apr 8, 7:50�pm, wrote:
> Nothing succeeds like overkill when it comes to a wine geek's 60th
> birthday party. My pal Howard, a fine winemaker in his own right,
> advised us in the E-Vite that nothing in his cellar was off limits on
> this auspicious day. So we took him up on it.
>
> Despite the fact there were several dozen of us gluttons on hand, we
> didn't even make a dent. No doubt about it, my 60-ish pals just can't
> drink like they used to back in college. Of course, we weren't
> snorking half-gallons of Cribari or �pounding cases of Blatz last
> Saturday, either. �
>
> Here's what we did manage to get into, with some outstanding results.
>
> 2003 Ross Andrew Cab
> 2006 Ross Andrew Syrah-Cab
> 2005 Boudreax Merlot
> 2005 Vincent Arroyo Petite Sirah
> 1989 and 2005 Ch. Pinchon-Baron
> 1998 and 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (yep, the 100-pointer)
> 2004 Leonetti Walla Walla Reserve
> 2006 Leonetti Cab
> 2007 Leonetti Merlot
> 2002 Baer Ursa Merlot
> 2002 L'Ecole No. 41 Apogee
> 2004 Betz Pere de la Famille
> 2004 Pomum
> 2003 Penner Ash Pinot Noir
> 2005 Shea Pinot Noir
> 1998 Gaja Sperrs (my first pick from the cellar)
> 2001 Rieussac Sautern (another 100-pointer)
>
> There were at least another 95 wines on the "menu," including various
> offerings from Pepperbridge, Spring Valley, Caymus, Woodward,
> Leoville, d'Yquem and Clerk Milon. We just never got to them.
>
> I didn't have time to score these wines. (Too busy drinking, heh.)
> However, my top finishers we
>
> 1. 2004 Leonetti Reserve
> 2. 2001 Riessac Sauterne (which needed no hype to prove its 100-point
> worth)
> 3. 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (which lived up to its 100-point hype)
>
> Neither of the Pinchon-Barons rocked me. The Gaja did.
>
> Regardless, we've decided that Howard has to throw a 60th Birthday
> Party every week til all the wine is gone. It's the only way to give
> them a fair tasting, right?
>
> JJ

Wow that's a lot of wine. In context it would be hard to place Old
World wines against New World wines. The Leonetti, Quilceda, Caymus,
L'Ecole 41 model is quite fruit forward and concentrated with huge
ripe, high alcohol, plush tannin flavors so it doesn't surprise me
that within this context the Pichon's and Gaja don't fare so well.
Sound like a great evening!

On Apr 8, 7:50*pm, wrote:
> Nothing succeeds like overkill when it comes to a wine geek's 60th
> birthday party. My pal Howard, a fine winemaker in his own right,
> advised us in the E-Vite that nothing in his cellar was off limits on
> this auspicious day. So we took him up on it.
>
> Despite the fact there were several dozen of us gluttons on hand, we
> didn't even make a dent. No doubt about it, my 60-ish pals just can't
> drink like they used to back in college. Of course, we weren't
> snorking half-gallons of Cribari or *pounding cases of Blatz last
> Saturday, either. *
>
> Here's what we did manage to get into, with some outstanding results.
>
> 2003 Ross Andrew Cab
> 2006 Ross Andrew Syrah-Cab
> 2005 Boudreax Merlot
> 2005 Vincent Arroyo Petite Sirah
> 1989 and 2005 Ch. Pinchon-Baron
> 1998 and 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (yep, the 100-pointer)
> 2004 Leonetti Walla Walla Reserve
> 2006 Leonetti Cab
> 2007 Leonetti Merlot
> 2002 Baer Ursa Merlot
> 2002 L'Ecole No. 41 Apogee
> 2004 Betz Pere de la Famille
> 2004 Pomum
> 2003 Penner Ash Pinot Noir
> 2005 Shea Pinot Noir
> 1998 Gaja Sperrs (my first pick from the cellar)
> 2001 Rieussac Sautern (another 100-pointer)
>
> There were at least another 95 wines on the "menu," including various
> offerings from Pepperbridge, Spring Valley, Caymus, Woodward,
> Leoville, d'Yquem and Clerk Milon. We just never got to them.
>
> I didn't have time to score these wines. (Too busy drinking, heh.)
> However, my top finishers we
>
> 1. 2004 Leonetti Reserve
> 2. 2001 Riessac Sauterne (which needed no hype to prove its 100-point
> worth)
> 3. 2003 Quilceda Creek Cab (which lived up to its 100-point hype)
>
> Neither of the Pinchon-Barons rocked me. The Gaja did.
>
> Regardless, we've decided that Howard has to throw a 60th Birthday
> Party every week til all the wine is gone. It's the only way to give
> them a fair tasting, right?
>
> JJ

look, the guy's going to be 60 all year long, empty that cellar!

On Fri, 9 Apr 2010 05:20:27 -0700 (PDT), "Bi!!" >
wrote:


>Wow that's a lot of wine. In context it would be hard to place Old
>World wines against New World wines. The Leonetti, Quilceda, Caymus,
>L'Ecole 41 model is quite fruit forward and concentrated with huge
>ripe, high alcohol, plush tannin flavors so it doesn't surprise me
>that within this context the Pichon's and Gaja don't fare so well.
>Sound like a great evening!

The Pichon could have definitely benefitted from more air time. And
having experienced a few stunning '89s in my time, I kind of felt
sorry for the wine. Howard proclaimed the '89 Pichon his most favorite
wine of all time, and he obviously knows a few things.

The Gaja was tight when first opened, but improved substantially with
air. Unfortunately, that was the only bottle of it in the cellar, and
as soon as it hit the table it didn't last long. I should have stashed
it behind the couch or something.

The QC, Rieussac and Leo Reserve all get an A+ from me, but the Gaja
gets an A, too.

JJ

On Fri, 9 Apr 2010 06:34:44 -0700 (PDT), DaleW >
wrote:

>look, the guy's going to be 60 all year long, empty that cellar!

LOL! I'll tell him you said that. Maybe you should come out here and
help us convince him!

JJ