So someone needed to start the thread, so I figured I may as well do it. We need to start catching up the NoVA & Chitown, after all. And they are pulling ahead fast.

Many had talked about wanting to have me host it at my new condo both as somewhere new to do it and as a sort of housewarming party. I'd be willing to do so, but need everyone to really look take a good look at how long it would take you to get out to me especially if you plan on going home that same night. I'm in Middle Island and here is a link with basic directions from the Ronkonkoma train station. On the LIE, if driving, you'd have to drive all the way out to Exit 66 and then all the way up north. I don't have any extra beds, but could obtain two air mattresses for anyone that would want to crash on it and then there's the couch (haven't slept on it yet, but it's decently comfortable).

We'll have use of my nice George Foreman indoor/outdoor grill and almost defintely a small charcoal BBQ grill that's been up in my parents attic.

STATUS UPDATE:

THEME:Trekking (use your imagination)
DATE: Sat, Sept 20th
HOST: HitAnyKey
LOCATION: HAK's Condo (Middle Island, NY -- aka Way The Frak East on Long Island)
TIME: 1:00 PM

ATTENDEES LIST (so far):

1. HitAnyKey - 2004 Lindaflor Malbec Festivo (this may change if my friend is actually bring a Malbec) and/or 2005 Step Road Shiraz
   
2. HAK's Mom - some undecided wine fro my cellar (or hers)
   
3. Friend #1 of HAK's - (possibly a Malbec...at least that's what she mentioned Fri night)
   
4. Krugsters - 2005 Rudi Schultz Syrah
   
5. Shamer - 2002 Swedish Hill Vineyard
   
6. ThatGuy - An Austrian wine
   
7. ThatGuy's better half (ie. da gf)
   
8. Cesare - 2004 Barkan Petite Sirah Classic Dan kosher (Israel)
   
9. kttest - 2006 Tselepos Moschofilero (Greece)
   
10. afranke - 2004 Pellegrini Vineyards Cabernet Franc Estate Grown

1. Friend #2 of HAK's
   
2. fairnymph
   
3. bmckenna
   
4. nematic
   
5. darlenee1 + 1

• fdiaz01
  
• synchrodan
  
• threemoons
  
• everyone else who misses this one

• Birthday Present for HAK
  
• Condo Warming Gift for the new homeowner (aka HAK)

Just wanted to add that there was talk of possibly turning it into an all day affair that begins with somehow getting further out east to visit a few of the North Fork wineries before stopping off at my condo for the tasting. Not sure how feasible that would be with timing and people's ability to remain alive and conscious once we start drinking. But wanted to at least toss the idea out there. It's been forever since I've been out there, so I wouldn't even know which ones might be good to stop at either.

We would piggyback the wine tasting with an overnight stay in the North Fork (we would stay at a B&B but thanks for the offer ).
We would love to visit some wineries we didn't get a chance to see on our last NF visit.
We have a portable Weber grill (Smokey Joe size) if needed.
We can't do Aug. 15-30. How about August 2nd?

Krugsters wrote:We would piggyback the wine tasting with an overnight stay in the North Fork (we would stay at a B&B but thanks for the offer ).
We would love to visit some wineries we didn't get a chance to see on our last NF visit.
We have a portable Weber grill (Smokey Joe size) if needed.
We can't do Aug. 15-30. How about August 2nd?

I suppose that might work for me. However it leaves less than a month for planning, especially if people want to somehow (figuring the carpool would bring added difficulty) head the additional hour and change east to visit a couple wineries beforehand, which I estimate would need to have at least 5-6 hours (including driving time to/from my condo) allotted to it.
And is there a better month for visiting the NF wineries? Is it better to do it in Aug, Sep, or Oct? If a later month is better for visiting the wineries, maybe the Aug tasting is best hosted by someone else? Just trying to toss things out there since no one else has had a chance to respond yet.

august 2nd I'm flying back from seattle - how about sometime in the august teens - before krugsters are unavailable. As to location, since I'd come down from ithaca, no issue - LI, I'd drive, in teh city, take the bus

Bumpety BUMP!
Anyone else have any thoughts on all this? We need to figure a date and whether everyone wants to trek out to me or if we do it somewhere closer to the city with someone else hosting.

I'm not a regular here (ashamed to say that while I've been watching wine.woot since kickoff, I only discovered the boards within the past month), but after reading about these I'd love to attend one. Who should I start sending bottles to, in order to get my name on the list at the door?

afranke wrote:I'm not a regular here (ashamed to say that while I've been watching wine.woot since kickoff, I only discovered the boards within the past month), but after reading about these I'd love to attend one. Who should I start sending bottles to, in order to get my name on the list at the door?

Don't know how you could have been watching for so long and still only have 3-10 woots. I guess someone here knows the meaning of the word restraint. Obviously the rest of us don't.
As everyone keeps wanting me to host the next tasting (though there's been very little input so far) there's a good chance it might be out here. Though if not enough people decide to make the trip, I'm sure it'll be closer to the city again.
Where abouts are you located? City, Queens, or LI?

Oh, and the wine bottles should get sent to me to get your name on the list....whether it ends up being located here or not.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Oh, and the wine bottles should get sent to me to get your name on the list....whether it ends up being located here or not.

Good try, HAK. You don't have to send bottles ahead. You just can't show up empty-handed.

polarbear22 wrote:Good try, HAK. You don't have to send bottles ahead. You just can't show up empty-handed.

Oh, I wasn't talking about the bottles being sent ahead for the tasting. The ones being sent are just for getting on the list. You still gotta bring a bottle to the tasting.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Don't know how you could have been watching for so long and still only have 3-10 woots. I guess someone here knows the meaning of the word restraint. Obviously the rest of us don't.

More necessity, than restraint. For a year or so I was in a fraternity house, and wasn't allowed to have such things shipped there. Even now I have to be picky, since living in NYC on a grad student's salary *requires* budgeting. But that's not to say there isn't a column on my Excel budget spreadsheet labeled "Wine".

I'm in Manhattan, Upper West Side.

Hey starting these posts are my job!

Then again, I thought I wrote this up a while ago....

thatguy314 wrote:Hey starting these posts are my job!

Then again, I thought I wrote this up a while ago....

Ummm, dude I do believe you are 2 weeks behind the times. And I'm just cool like that and beat you to it this time.

afranke wrote:More necessity, than restraint. For a year or so I was in a fraternity house, and wasn't allowed to have such things shipped there. Even now I have to be picky, since living in NYC on a grad student's salary *requires* budgeting. But that's not to say there isn't a column on my Excel budget spreadsheet labeled "Wine".

I'm in Manhattan, Upper West Side.

I live in NYC on a grad student's salary... but my budgeting is very "creative"

I'll be gone 8/1-8/10, but that's way too soon anyways. After that anything's fair game.

We should also try to figure out a theme for the tasting, to help people narrow down their wine selection....

thatguy314 wrote:I'll be gone 8/1-8/10, but that's way too soon anyways. After that anything's fair game.

We should also try to figure out a theme for the tasting, to help people narrow down their wine selection....

And 8/23 is NoVA#6 which both you and I will be at (plus some other possible NYCers if they decide to make the trip). That brings us to 8/30, which is Labor Day weekend and I'll be away all that weekend up in CT. So unless we do it in the beginning of August (without Thatguy and Loweeel), it appears it would need to be scheduled for sometime in September.
Anyone have any thoughts?

Bump.

I don't think we're going to get this set up in 2 weeks. I think early september or mid august is the best bet.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:And 8/23 is NoVA#6 which both you and I will be at (plus some other possible NYCers if they decide to make the trip). That brings us to 8/30, which is Labor Day weekend and I'll be away all that weekend up in CT. So unless we do it in the beginning of August (without Thatguy and Loweeel), it appears it would need to be scheduled for sometime in September.
Anyone have any thoughts?

Huh? What's wrong with 8/16?

Cesare wrote:Huh? What's wrong with 8/16?

Ummm...I don't know?

Other than that the Krugsters can't make that day, I'm not sure what other issues that day may have had. So 8/16 should be doable, depending on how many other people are able to make that date.
Then the decision would need to be do we do it again at someone's place closer to the city (such as yours again...and this time without spilling any wine on your tablecloth...did those stains ever come out btw?) or whether everyone wants to make the trip out to my place.
We could hold off on doing my place until mid-September if that was the concensus, therefore allowing Krugsters to make it and the theoretical possibility of being able to plan to head out to the vineyards in the morning/afternoon first before coming back to my place for the tasting party.

Ah I didn't realize the Krugsters couldn't make that day. Ugh there's always somebody that can't make a certain day. I wouldn't mind coming out and spending time at some wineries. If we do that I think we should make this more of a LI winery tour and allocate most of the day for that because it takes time to go around. We can head back to your place for a little wine and and food at around 6pm. That way we can hang out a little and see your place before we all head home. I also wouldn't mind hosting again if people don't like the LI winery idea or don't want to go out that far. Maybe there are some people that haven't hosted yet who would like to. Or maybe Krugsters again. Now we just have to decide to do mid-August or hold off until September.

Cesare wrote:Now we just have to decide to do mid-August or hold off until September.

And there's always the fact we can do both.

Right now, we just need to hear input from people.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:And there's always the fact we can do both.

Right now, we just need to hear input from people.

How awesome would it be for you guys to have one on 8/16. There'd be 3 separate tastings going on simultaneously! Detroit, Chicago, and NYC. That would rock, you should do it!

Oh and if we decide to do me in Sept and someone else in Aug, then this thread should be renamed to #5 (since it's title relates to the Trekking needed to reach my joint). And then the one for 8/16 (if that's the date we chose) would become #4 in a new thread.

Cesare wrote:Now we just have to decide to do mid-August or hold off until September.

My vote is to hold off until September.

kttest wrote:My vote is to hold off until September.

or we could have one at a closer venue in August and do the LI wine tour/HitAnyKey's place in September. Nice to visit the wineries close to october; or just leave it for Sept altogether i guess

fdiaz01 wrote:or we could have one at a closer venue in August and do the LI wine tour/HitAnyKey's place in September. Nice to visit the wineries close to october; or just leave it for Sept altogether i guess

Flash-mob in Central Park, everyone just shows up with a bottle of vino?

afranke wrote:Flash-mob in Central Park, everyone just shows up with a bottle of vino?

Fun, but illegal.

We would hate to miss the next tasting but understand if it were the 16th.
The good news would be if it were in September we'd have a nice bottle direct from Italy.
We are also open to hosting (the balcony is in full bloom) but we would love to tour the NF wineries as well.
So basically we'll go along wih what you folks decide.

fdiaz01 wrote:or we could have one at a closer venue in August and do the LI wine tour/HitAnyKey's place in September. Nice to visit the wineries close to october; or just leave it for Sept altogether i guess

I'd say this would be my vote. I certainly wouldn't mind having tastings two months in a row (and in my case two weekends in a row as I'll be at NoVA#6 on the 23rd).
I don't have a whole lot of other excuses to drink my good bottles of wine.

So doing this would just come down to who decides they want to host the 16th. If there's enough interest in doing the August one, let me know and I'll adjust this thread title and start up a new one for August. And we'll continue to use this one for planning the Sept one.
And we can be "special" like the NoVA crew who always seem to have two threads for tastings going at the same time.

Ahhhhhh I can post to woot with my new iPhone! SICK!

Anyway, Aug and Sept are gonna be real busy for me so just schedule it and I will do my best to make it.

synchrodan wrote:Ahhhhhh I can post to woot with my new iPhone! SICK!

Anyway, Aug and Sept are gonna be real busy for me so just schedule it and I will do my best to make it.

Posted with my new blackberry last night. Twas pretty sweet.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:I'd say this would be my vote. I certainly wouldn't mind having tastings two months in a row (and in my case two weekends in a row as I'll be at NoVA#6 on the 23rd).
I don't have a whole lot of other excuses to drink my good bottles of wine.

So doing this would just come down to who decides they want to host the 16th. If there's enough interest in doing the August one, let me know and I'll adjust this thread title and start up a new one for August. And we'll continue to use this one for planning the Sept one.
And we can be "special" like the NoVA crew who always seem to have two threads for tastings going at the same time.

I think it could be fun if we do 2. I'm not sure I can make both, but let's play it by ear.

thatguy314 wrote:I think it could be fun if we do 2. I'm not sure I can make both, but let's play it by ear.

So do ya'll want me to fix up the threads so we have one for #4 & #5? Then we can use the #4 thread to start discussing who wants to host the August one?

BUMP

So back to figuring out dates

I've already been caught for public drinking (i spilled my cup when I saw her so she didn't get me).

They could go in water bottles with opaque plastic cups...

thatguy314 wrote:So back to figuring out dates

Well if we wait until September, the best dates (I think) would be the 13th or 20th. The 27th is the weekend of my birthday (which is on the 26th) which doesn't necessarily rule that date out, but not sure I'd want to use up that weekend for the wine tasting. Though also not fully sure why not either.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:Well if we wait until September, the best dates (I think) would be the 13th or 20th. The 27th is the weekend of my birthday (which is on the 26th) which doesn't necessarily rule that date out, but not sure I'd want to use up that weekend for the wine tasting. Though also not fully sure why not either.

September 13th & 27th work great for us. HAK we'll provide B-Day cake if it's the 27th. .
We can host either weekend.

Guys and gals and winos of all ages! We really gotta get this locked down and settled. They've already started the thread for NoVA#7, so we're falling behind.

So I'm guessing August is completely a no-go?

If so, does anyone else have any opinions on which date to do in September?
And do we really want to incorporate a trip out to the wineries? I don't really know how feasible a trip out to the wineries would be or any clue which ones we should go to, so that may just complicate matters.

Cesare wrote:Fun, but illegal.

Most illegal things are.

Oh, I'm also probably down for whenever. Thatguy, just poke me if I don't express any interest/say I'm going. You've got my contact info.