Sunday 1st November....

[Gavin Trott]

Wine is fun, it doesn't matter what is on the label, it is about enjoyment...way too many people take it way too serious.
The notes I made is the way I enjoy wine whether it is 59 Petrus or 07 Samuels Gorge Tempranillo which is a seriously sexy drop...

Cheers,

Agreed

Me, I just wish I was there too!

Lucky SOB!

[peterlynnwine]

It was like being a kid in candy store and everything was free!!!!!!!

[peterlynnwine]

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

Maybe there could be a separate forum here for slightly smug, blase reports of ultra-decadent tastings, short on any useful detail, that the great unwashed (like myself) will never get the chance to attend. Then I could ignore them, without getting a touch vexed before I've even had my first cup of tea for the day. Is it only me?

Back on planet earth, in the last few days I've had: 06 Kumeu River Hunting Hill chardonnay - very good; 08 Cloudy Bay sauvingon blanc - good; 03 Waipara Springs sauvignon blanc - still hanging in there, surprisingly (screwcap)!

Hey Bick, There was a dinner where we ate african leg of lion with 12 different vintages of Grange...but that is another story.

[odyssey]

Maybe there could be a separate forum here for slightly smug, blase reports of ultra-decadent tastings, short on any useful detail, that the great unwashed (like myself) will never get the chance to attend. Then I could ignore them, without getting a touch vexed before I've even had my first cup of tea for the day. Is it only me?

Well said. Seen the occasional pissing contest posts on some other forums too

[peterlynnwine]

Maybe there could be a separate forum here for slightly smug, blase reports of ultra-decadent tastings, short on any useful detail, that the great unwashed (like myself) will never get the chance to attend. Then I could ignore them, without getting a touch vexed before I've even had my first cup of tea for the day. Is it only me?

Well said. Seen the occasional pissing contest posts on some other forums too

Haha pissing contest I love it.......

Cheers,

[orpheus]

If you are finding a particular wine sexy, then I think you need to talk to your analyst. Probably buy them a bottle and drink it with them, so they know what you mean.

I'm happy to be your analyst, particularly if its Petrus, Krug, Grange, Margaux.

[peterlynnwine]

If you are finding a particular wine sexy, then I think you need to talk to your analyst. Probably buy them a bottle and drink it with them, so they know what you mean.

I'm happy to be your analyst, particularly if its Petrus, Krug, Grange, Margaux.

Sometimes I think they taste like fast cars....does this mean I am sick!!!!!

[TiggerK]

Sometimes I think they taste like fast cars....does this mean I am sick!!!!!

No, just spoilt!!

[peterlynnwine]

Sometimes I think they taste like fast cars....does this mean I am sick!!!!!

No, just spoilt!!

Is there a cure?

[TiggerK]

Yes, next time you get an invite to this kind of event, you must pass it to me instead. Only then will you be cured.

[jeremy]

If you are finding a particular wine sexy, then I think you need to talk to your analyst. Probably buy them a bottle and drink it with them, so they know what you mean.

I'm happy to be your analyst, particularly if its Petrus, Krug, Grange, Margaux.

I'm happy to be anyone's analyst if they pay $140 an hour & promise to come back next week

2007 Steingarten Riesling- as excellent as I said it was. Technically drunk the week after the 1/11 but there is currently no thread for that & I'm a loud mouth.

[rooman]

Wine last night....

59 Petrus very tasty
28.59 VCC were exceptional
76 Dom was Ok
47 Cheval from 3L was corked AGHHHHHHH
85 Dujac was a highlight
59,99,01 DRC were out of this world

and there was a pet lion in the room!!!!! weird.

Not only was the pet lion there, but also the Toronto Police Commissioner - don't know what was scarier.
(Last year there was an elephant outside the tasting, which, in a state of boredom leaned against an adjacent jeweller's window, pushing the glass in and setting off the alarms - TRUE!)
Great tasting, started at 6 pm, finished at about midnight - 53 wines - about a wine every 8 minutes.

Only two wines stuffed - the '47 Cheval Bl. (mag) and '28 Vieux Ch. Certan (mag)
Rest ranged from tired but fascinating, through to remarkable and then just mind-numbing.

(I think Peter must have been focussing on some feminine tasters, because he missed quite a few.)

No particular order, but the first wine set the mood for the night, a '29 Mouton - tired but hanging in there.
Then,
'29 La Chapelle which was mind-blowing, and a great wine to get us focussed!
Also had La Chapelle '59,'61,'99
DRC Richebourg '07, Vosne Rom. '99, Rom. St Vivant '76 and La Tache '59, '76,'82, '01, as Peter would say "all very tasty".
Dujac Clos de la Roche '80,'85,'01 - all fantastic.
Remoissenet Clos Vougeot '64 (mag), Richebourg '49, '61
Ch.Latour '29 (mag), '59 (mag), '61 (mag) - Frederic Engerer pronounced them all authentic!
Ch. Margaux '85, '97 (6 Litre)
Ch. Lafite '29, '98
Ch. Mouton '92,'94,'96,'01
Ch. Haut Brion '29,'95
Cheval Blanc '47 (mag), '97
Leoville Les Cases '45, Palmer '83, Ducru '61, La Mission H B '59
Ch. Petrus '61 (mag), '70,'97, Chapoutier La Sizerane '04, L'Ermite '04 (6 Litre) Fantastic wine, v. fresh.
Dom '76, '78 (mag), both fantastic, Taittinger Comtes '76 (mag) also.
Ramonet Batard Montrachet '92, Boillot Mersault ' 02 - both great.

But the wines of the night would have to have been the 1921 Ch. dYquem and a double-magnum of 1985 Yquem.
The '21 was golden brown but with some life left, and the '85 simply sensational.

Last wine poured was a 1827 Madeira, needed a 'slash' by this stage, put the glass down, and when I came back - you guessed it - it was gone. A staff member cleaning up at midnight had tipped it out! Had tasted it though - searing acidity.

Sorry for the skyte Ric, but you did ask what we had been drinking.

Personally I think this is a fantastic tasting. Many of the world's great wines were on offer. Over time I would like to think I may get to try a few of them. I am guessing however that it may have been part of someone's 50th birthday celebration given the number of '59s consumed during the course of the evening.

[JF]

Or an 80th

[daz]

Helluva line-up, something to skite about. Would've be good to see some comments on the wines to have added interest to the braggery though.

daz

[winepunter]

G'day everyone

Mystery solved. I spent two hours getting a lesson in winemaking 101 from Rick Burge who was here in sunny Hobart yesterday showing off his current range of wines and he showed me this thread. The wines he mentioned were served at the 80th birthday party for his agent's dad. By the way he loved all the ponce tasting talk after his posting.

I notice people were asking how to get invited to a tasting that includes these types of wines - answer - get to know the right rich people. Maybe we could set up a relationship website designed to match up rich people with deserving wine lovers? A book and reality TV series could follow.

Cheers

PJ

[WineRick]

G'day everyone

Mystery solved. I spent two hours getting a lesson in winemaking 101 from Rick Burge who was here in sunny Hobart yesterday showing off his current range of wines and he showed me this thread. The wines he mentioned were served at the 80th birthday party for his agent's dad. By the way he loved all the ponce tasting talk after his posting.

I notice people were asking how to get invited to a tasting that includes these types of wines - answer - get to know the right rich people. Maybe we could set up a relationship website designed to match up rich people with deserving wine lovers? A book and reality TV series could follow.

Cheers

PJ

PJ,
It was lovely to spend those 2 hours chatting to you. If you learnt a little about winemaking, I certainly learnt a lot about about people's perception of wine from many angles, and having been ITB for a little over 30 years, I continue to learn. Quality wine is humbling, and every now and then a tasting comes up that makes you look up to the universe and say "thank you". The Toronto tasting was like riding side-car on a motor bike with no brakes! They just kept coming, and I apologize
if my notes were near non-existent - it took all my concentration to just hang in there. (This was my 4th such tasting - my agent was also celebrating his 50th! )

I had some beaut wines across Canada, and Hong Kong on my return home, and as PJ alluded, I've just done a little work in Tassie.
If the Dujac and DRC burgundies were out of this world in Canada, so were the Apsley Gorge, Clemens Hill Reserve, Laurel Bank and the rather muscular Winstead Pinots, together with some great Chardonnays and Sparklings in Tassie.
The late Mark Shield once said "There will always be another bus" , in reference to the opportunity to sample/buy the great wines. I guess a good corollary would be that a great wine could be just around the corner if you have an clean, empty glass, a passion for wine and a belief that sometimes we put too much expectation
on so-called "great vintages", and of course an appreciative smile and a buttoned lip. Also, be yourself, and not boring!

The greatest thrill I continue to get from wine however, is the bottle of something very special you open for dear friends, who might not be at wine's 'coal face',
yet when tasted, they want to know all about it, having never tried any quite like it. I had that thrill when opening a bottle of Ch. Filhot, from the great 2001 vintage, ( purchased from a local Tassie bottle shop ) at meal's end on Sat. night. Buy and share great wine - you never know when that 'Toronto moment' might happen.

Thanks PJ for your time, it was a lovely couple of hours.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Good Heavens!

What a small world. I remember drinking Arrowfield Chardonnay by "Burge and Wilson". Was it Rick Burge or Grant Burge?

Mahmoud.