klezman wrote:Nice!

Any word on dinner with Scott? I had a request for some Zachary's pizza if we'll be back by the Bay for dinner.

Good choice! Trifecta, his girlfriend and I just got back from lunch at Zachary's

klezman wrote:Nice!

Any word on dinner with Scott? I had a request for some Zachary's pizza if we'll be back by the Bay for dinner.

Unsure. Jana has to get ready for a flight the next day. We'll play it by ear.

Just booted the last hanger on out ... Now to finish cleaning so I can get on the road close to 8:30. Want to be at Vincent Arroyo close to 10am.


Fun was had by all. Too many wines to enumerate, although we did skip the Bogle PS Port (since they had it at D&D). WineDavid and WineFarm both dropped by, and brought a special guest, Nemetic by.

Viva PetiteSirah!!!

Need to finish cleaning up, so I can get on the road by 8:30am. Hah!

10:00 at Vincent Arroyo

12:00 at Biale

1:00 at Corison

2:30 (or so) at Kent's (hopefully)

4:00 at David Fulton (across from Scott Harvey) Old Vine PS for the win!

so around 5:00 at Scott Harvey's!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Need to finish cleaning up, so I can get on the road by 8:30am. Hah!

10:00 at Vincent Arroyo

12:00 at Biale

1:00 at Corison

2:30 (or so) at Kent's (hopefully)

4:00 at David Fulton (across from Scott Harvey) Old Vine PS for the win!

so around 5:00 at Scott Harvey's!

Wish I could join y'all today! Have an awesome time! Looking forward to tomorrow...

It's too fricking early!

Almost ready to head down to check out and hit the road. Almost. Buncha darn wineaux!

joannevicious wrote:Wish I could join y'all today! Have an awesome time! Looking forward to tomorrow...

Speaking of tomorrow. Did someone try talking to Preston again about us being Wine.Wooters?

Any suggestions for somewhere to go between our start at Ridge at 11 and Hawley?

Great time last night! Thanks for all who stopped by and tried our 2009 Aratas! Mike

Not going to Biale ... too far to to go back down & back up to Corison. So we'll probably visit Zahtila, then lunch and still make Corison @ 1.


Edit:




Corison Kronos Vineyard off top porch. While drinking Kronos Cab.

Okay, I need to know who will be going to Concannon on Monday (meet there at 11:00 am). We will get a behind the scenes tour, and some great pricing.

Need to know by 1 pm Sunday the latest.


We can decide if we are going to other wineries (Wente, etc.) on Monday during the festivities tomorrow.

Okay, Sunday Schedule ...

Ridge at 11

Mettler after that

Then Hawley

Then Wellington by 4pm followed by Ty Caton.

Dinner in Glen Ellen at The Fig Cafe.

So Sparky, you gonna list for us all the pretty things you won in the auction? Inquiring minds want to know what you got.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Okay, Sunday Schedule ...

Ridge at 11

Mettler after that

Then Hawley

Then Wellington by 4pm followed by Ty Caton.

Dinner in Glen Ellen at The Fig Cafe.

Woke up sick. Don't get to go to Sonoma

In Windsor having breakfast. On track for Ridge at 11.

joannevicious wrote:Woke up sick. Don't get to go to Sonoma

To start the day ....



Ridge-Lytton Springs Tasting room .... Old Vines in front of it.


and to end it ....



Buttermilk Panna Cotta w/ Huckleberry Coulis & biscotti @ The Fig Cafe in Glen Ellen

Nom, nom, nom!

Okay, tomorrow is Concannon at 11:00 am. Don't be late!

MarkDaSpark wrote:Okay, tomorrow is Concannon at 11:00 am. Don't be late!

Hope they break out some library wines for you guys!

I sure enjoyed the Concannon rep at D&D

Sorry I missed you guys this weekend Sounds like you had a great time.

Great seeing many of you at D and D on Friday night! Sorry I wasn't able to join the group in the post-event festivities or the rest of the weekend - poured at the SF Chron Wine Comp Tasting on Saturday in SF . . .

I just wanted to let all of you know that if you were interested in the tercero woot-off deal but were unable to pull the trigger because you were traveling, send me an email at larry@tercerowines.com and I'll see what I can do to put something together for you (-:

Cheers!

bsevern wrote:Hope they break out some library wines for you guys!

I sure enjoyed the Concannon rep at D&D

They did! And a new surprise coming up (non PS) this year, IIRC.

I even remembered to buy a PS Chocolate Syrup for Cheron. Even though I wanted one, and they only had one left. Too bad it broke on the way down.

MarkDaSpark wrote:They did! And a new surprise coming up (non PS) this year, IIRC.

I even remembered to buy a PS Chocolate Syrup for Cheron. Even though I wanted one, and they only had one left. Too bad it broke on the way down.

cheron98 wrote:

Oooo, the club is out. We haven't seen that bad boy in quite some time.

There's a mention of certain Wooters (not by name though) in Jo's Blog about D&D.

"And then, there was the seemingly new generation of hippies now calling themselves WineWoot millennials… piercings, tattoos, and outrageously colored hair."

How did she know? I haven't told anyone about the ...

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Oooo, the club is out. We haven't seen that bad boy in quite some time.

Cause she knows I'm only kidding about the breakage. Although ....


Funny thing is, when I texted her about the PS Choc Syrup, she whined about the price, but when I said it was the only one left, her response was "Mine!"

Which always makes me think of the seagulls in Finding Nemo.

MarkDaSpark wrote:There's a mention of certain Wooters (not by name though) in Jo's Blog about D&D.

"And then, there was the seemingly new generation of hippies now calling themselves WineWoot millennials… piercings, tattoos, and outrageously colored hair."

How did she know? I haven't told anyone about the ...

Hahaha. Not sure that's what WD had in mind about spreading the w.w word but I guess that works

Thanks again for everything Mark. Was fun.

One thing that bothered me, I felt cheap and I didn't mean to be, just nothing really jumped out at me. Places like Corison that were nice enough to wave the tasting fee I wouldn't have minded paying, I just wasn't going to pay retail on it either ... maybe we can pool tasting fees next time and get a bottle or two for the night or something?

tenuki wrote:Hahaha. Not sure that's what WD had in mind about spreading the w.w word but I guess that works

Thanks again for everything Mark. Was fun.

One thing that bothered me, I felt cheap and I didn't mean to be, just nothing really jumped out at me. Places like Corison that were nice enough to waive the tasting fee I wouldn't have minded paying, I just wasn't going to pay retail on it either ... maybe we can pool tasting fees next time and get a bottle or two for the night or something?

That's an excellent idea!

We'll just have to decide which ones we want to buy at ahead of time. Especially the ones we know are waiving the tasting fees.

I was disappointed that they weren't waived at Laura Zahtila's when I bought the Laura's Theme dessert wine (76% or so PS, rest Zin).

MarkDaSpark wrote:Cause she knows I'm only kidding about the breakage. Although ....


Funny thing is, when I texted her about the PS Choc Syrup, she whined about the price, but when I said it was the only one left, her response was "Mine!"

Which always makes me think of the seagulls in Finding Nemo.

I did not WHINE, I simply remember it being less expensive

MarkDaSpark wrote:That's an excellent idea!

We'll just have to decide which ones we want to buy at ahead of time. Especially the ones we know are waiving the tasting fees.

I was disappointed that they weren't waived at Laura Zahtila's when I bought the Laura's Theme dessert wine (76% or so PS, rest Zin).

Yeah, that cost a sale for me on that bottle. It was yummy, but with the regular (somewhat high, imo) price plus the tasting fee it was too much.

tenuki wrote:
One thing that bothered me, I felt cheap and I didn't mean to be, just nothing really jumped out at me. Places like Corison that were nice enough to wave the tasting fee I wouldn't have minded paying, I just wasn't going to pay retail on it either ... maybe we can pool tasting fees next time and get a bottle or two for the night or something?

I felt the same way... At Corison I took s and my tasting fees and put it towards a bottle of cab franc. The place I really felt bad was DFW. She poured us about 3 or 4 splits and nobody bought anything, or payed fees. At wellington and Caton nothing popped out at me, and I was really expecting to be excited.

Overall I still ended up buying a lot of wine, but I think tenuki may be onto something for when we have a large group. If that comes up again we should all chip in like $5 and make some purchase(s) so as not to wear out our welcome. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks again to all for a fantastic weekend!

trifecta wrote:I felt the same way... At Corison I took s and my tasting fees and put it towards a bottle of cab franc. The place I really felt bad was DFW. She poured us about 3 or 4 splits and nobody bought anything, or payed fees. At wellington and Caton nothing popped out at me, and I was really expecting to be excited.

Overall I still ended up buying a lot of wine, but I think tenuki may be onto something for when we have a large group. If that comes up again we should all chip in like $5 and make some purchase(s) so as not to wear out our welcome. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks again to all for a fantastic weekend!

I'm a member of the DFW wine club, and we get some free allowances on tastings. Plus they were up on Woot, and she knew we were Wooters.

But I had hoped someone would have bought at least the Sweet Petite. I bought a lot the last time.


And Wellington didn't have a lot open, and I was disappointed in them. Didn't feel the welcome, especially since it seemed they just wanted to close up. Plus no discount, which they've done in the past for Wooters.

I think pooling saved tasting fees for a bottle later could potentially work out, but only if we're all going to be sharing that bottle later that evening! Not sure it would make sense for some of the wines there (e.g. Kronos). I, too, felt a bit guilty walking out of nearly every winery without purchasing. It's a combination of lack of space and lack of QPR.

This trip (my first to Napa in a long time) re-confirmed an old bias: Napa wines are generally overpriced. The fact that you have to play on an entirely different "Napa price scale" is evidence. Even those wines that were generally considered "reasonably priced" were only that on the Napa scale, imo. By the time you're getting over $30/bottle it had better be really special wine...most of it isn't. Even Vincent Arroyo, who generally has good prices, was for the most part more than I was willing to spend (without tasting for the PS, and with tasting for the two blends).

When I look at the QPR I can get even at retail price in Sonoma, Napa becomes less relevant to my life. It's sad, because there's a lot of good wine, but if I'll enjoy a $25 Sonoma wine as much as I'll enjoy a $50 Napa wine the choice is easy.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:So Sparky, you gonna list for us all the pretty things you won in the auction? Inquiring minds want to know what you got.

Oh fine.

Silent Auction:

3L Clayhouse 2007 Estate PS (Signed)

1.5L Miro 2008 Rockpile PS (Signed)

750ml Denier Handel 2009 PS - 2 bottles (+ 2 small DH Olive Oils)

750ml Foppiano 2009 Estate PS - 4 bottles

750ml Barra 2007 PS - 3 bottles, plus
750ml Barra 2008 PS Dessert Wine - 3 bottles

So total 12 bottles plus the Magnum and Double Magnum (aka Jeroboam)


PS picked up a Stanton Magnum, a set of Shoe Shine PS, and a Micheal-Davis Magnum(?) or set.

JoanneVicious picked up the set of Vina Robles PS (similar to the one PS & I split last year), and a Pedroncelli PS 2 bottle set(?).

Sorry if I missed anyone else's wins at the Silent Auction.



Napa/Sonoma/Livermore Damage:

Vincent Arroyo -- 2 bottles (05/06 PS)

Laura Zahtila -- 2 bottles of Laura's Theme (67% PS) dessert wine

Corison -- 1 bottle of 2007 Kronos Cab

Prager Port -- 1 bottle 2005 PS, 1 Aria White port.

D. Fulton -- none (spent way too much in Nov)

Scott Harvey -- 2 brand new Forte


Ridge -- 1 bottle 2008 Carmichael Zin, 1 bottle 2007 Dusi Ranch Late Harvest Zin

Meeker -- 2 bottles 2006 DCV Zin, 1 bottle 2008 PS, 1 375ml FroZin, 1 375ml Tutu Luna

Hawley -- 1 bottle 2010 PS

Wellington -- 1 bottle 2009 Noir de Noirs, 1 White Port, 1 2005 Port Estate, & 1 Criolla Special Port

Ty Caton -- 1 bottle 2009 Upper Bench Merlot (for dinner)



Concannon -- 3 bottles PS Port, 2 bottles PS Reserve Polo Field, 1 bottle Captain Joe's PS Reserve, & 1 bottle 2004 PS Heritage

Oh, and 1 bottle of PS Chocolate Syrup for Cheron.


So about 3.5 cases damage. Not counting the magnum & double magnum.


Edit: Above doesn't include the 3 bottles of Pig Stai Klez had for me, nor the 1 bottle of Chateau Y'quem Cagrl had for me.

And somehow, I seem to have 4 cases full of wine (one 12 bottle shipper, and 3 regular case boxes). Wakko Talks Faboo!????

I know I brought back the Tannat and the Bogle PS Port (since they poured it at D&D), but now I have to look at the 12 bottle shipper.

Sounds like you cleaned up. Enjoy the Foppiano Petite Sirahs!

foppianowine wrote:Sounds like you cleaned up. Enjoy the Foppiano Petite Sirahs!

Looking forward to them. Still mad I missed out on the Foppiano Wine.Woot offer during the PS Woot-off, but made up for it with the silent auction win.