When I parted my last position, a group of loving peers presented me with a gift card to a local wine shop. (My love for wine is legend) It was not a wine shop that I would have chosen, but, hey, $200 to spend in any wine shop is nothing to sniff at.
So, off I go to said wineshop, facing the obvious dilemma: do I go for quantity or quality? do I spend it on what I know or explore wines that I haven't tried before? Ultimately, I decided on the latter.
I chose five wines: an older Chianti Classico Riserva (about $50), a Cote Rotie (about $70), a wine from the Languedoc, produced by a legendary winemaker (about $50), a burgundy from the excellent 2005 vintage (Chorey le Beaune - about $30) and a pouilly fuse from a reputable producer (okay, I exceeded my gift card slightly).
So far the results have been VERY disappointing. I've opened the Chianti and it was ho-hum. Two nights ago, for Feaster, I opened the Cote Rotie and it was even more disappointing. It was a Kermit Lynch and from the 2003 vintage, so it should have been a blockbuster, but seemed, insteaad, wimpy and inconsequential. I can't believe all the ballyhooed largess of Cote Rotie ultimately comes down to this offering, so I'm convinced that this wineshop, one that KT refers to as "the dark side", really is a terrible place to buy wine. It is rumored that the owner buys his wines from distributors "close out" bins, but I never believed that his "high end" wines would come from such stock. Now I'm not so sure.
So, SWIRLers, my advice is to avoid the PWM wine shop or shop at your own peril. I have had some decent wines from there, but now I'm completely boycotting the place. There are simply too many good stores in Stumptown to put up with this nonsense. I guess I can at least say that it wasn't an expensive lesson on my dime and I still have the lingering glow of friendship that accompanied this gift in wine adventures.
Ciao,
gene
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Wednesday evening Jewel and I were honored to host a local restaurant owner for a Dordogne-accented dinner entree, braised rabbit with prunes/olives. Kellie Courtney, of Bernie's Southern Bistro, arrived bearing an incredible bottle of wine in her arms. The wine? 1998 Brunello di Montalcino / Vendemmia/ Caparzo. It is drinking quite nicely some ten years after its bottling. Gene, if you've got some of this vintage hidden away back in the moldy parts of your cellar, you may wish to retrieve one of your treasures.
Defying Gene's 7-year rule for opening Walla Walla wines, we equally enjoyed an '03 Cayuse Armada Syrah. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! That bottle is now empty and ready to impress the recycling hauler. We have another in the cellar...and we'll try to observe the 7-year rule. 2010 anyone?
Yes, Tim, I have 98's and older waiting for you and your lovely wife to share. Perhaps it should be "Gene's 7 year 'guideline...." RULE sounds so formal and rigid, gawd forbid.
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