We have a small quorum for a Black Friday GTG. We will also plan for another GTG (hopefully) in December so we can see all of the folks who *can't* escape the family.

Date: Friday, Nov. 26
Time: 6pm
Host: wkdpanda
Theme: Leftovers. Bring a leftover and bring a wine to go with it.

Attending:
1. cjsiege: chicken pie and apricot/goat cheese thingies
2. iByron: corn pudding; 1994 Château Dauzan-La-Vergne Haut-Montravel; 1997 Van Duzer Pinot Noir
3. wkdpanda
4. InShadows: 4 different cheeses; 2009 Terre Margaritelli "Pietramala"
5. hershelk
6. tripgrad: 2007 InZINerator
7. iByron's +1: 2008 Viña Cono Sur Carménère

Maybes:
* tripgrad +1

Regrets:
* jwhite6114
* k1avg
* aranderson
* syncrodan & syncroamy (Congrats!!!)
* akrenee & Alaska1

Well, I'll be back home in Florida for Thanksgiving and then stay there for a wedding that weekend, so that'd be a no-go. Pretty much any other Friday or Saturday night between now and Christmas would work, though.

Maybe it's been done before (or something like it), but what about an "Off the Beaten Path" theme - i.e., no Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux, etc., but stuff from odd countries or regions that don't get a lot of press. Greece, Hungary, South Africa, or regions of countries with other popular regions - Puglia, Oregon, or maybe some weird little corner of the Rhone. I'd be interested to see what wild and wacky stuff some of the folks in our group would dig up.

Sorry for the temp. thread hijack but just curious if anyone knows whether the Nova area Sam's clubs carry the Cameron Hughes lines. I called but i think i got a dope on the phone who did not really want to deal with me. Thanks

Intrigued by the Havens B&B but no shipping to VA.

Edit: NM just received an email that CH is now shipping to VA again. ugh $26 for 6 bottles. Promo code 10VA gets you 10% if you have a VA address.

Either Friday or Sat after Thanksgiving should work for me.

Venue: ??

I can offer to host, location in Herndon. I am near the toll road and Rt. 28, and can probably hold about 18 people (more could be a stretch).

Theme: ???

The big question. Well, it is the day after, and everyone will probably have left over stuff, right? Why not make it a

Bring your left-overs, and a wine to go with them!

-Andy

wkdpanda wrote:-Andy

I hate to have to keep pestering you about this, but could you please grunt or something in acknowledgment of receiving the PM I sent you at the beginning of the month?

Thanks.

RaiderSPE wrote:Sorry for the temp. thread hijack but just curious if anyone knows whether the Nova area Sam's clubs carry the Cameron Hughes lines. I called but i think i got a dope on the phone who did not really want to deal with me. Thanks

Intrigued by the Havens B&B but no shipping to VA.

Nice threadjack! It was a bit early for me to threadjack it yet but you're right on time. I don't think any other gathering thread gets more threadjacks than NoVA's.

In answer to your question, I don't know since I don't have a Sam's Club card.

And I'll pull a Cat.. did you ever receive my PM?

wkdpanda wrote:Either Friday or Sat after Thanksgiving should work for me.

Venue: ??

I can offer to host, location in Herndon. I am near the toll road and Rt. 28, and can probably hold about 18 people (more could be a stretch).

Theme: ???

The big question. Well, it is the day after, and everyone will probably have left over stuff, right? Why not make it a



-Andy

it's easy enough to do leftovers and we've done it before but we can always repeat. spdrcr05 and I tossed around an idea for a sangria gathering. granted maybe a full sangria tasting since there is hard liquor involved but maybe if a couple ppl wanted to bring sangria I know I wouldn't object.

cheron98 wrote:I hate to have to keep pestering you about this, but could you please grunt or something in acknowledgment of receiving the PM I sent you at the beginning of the month?

Thanks.

Have grunted, and requested forgiveness!

wkdpanda wrote:Have grunted, and requested forgiveness!

InShadows wrote:it's easy enough to do leftovers and we've done it before but we can always repeat. spdrcr05 and I tossed around an idea for a sangria gathering. granted maybe a full sangria tasting since there is hard liquor involved but maybe if a couple ppl wanted to bring sangria I know I wouldn't object.

Yeah, I think last year there was a "left-over" theme that I missed.

Sangria. It isn't something that I have experimented with much, but I know some people like them (and they have to be better than restaurant swill!). I do remember some Sangria threads about, and I heard a very good white sangria recipe from Greg Lane this summer.

Given all of that, I have always considered Sangria a 'warm weather' drink. Maybe we need to adjust our thinking?

Hey all, short notice I know, but the inimitable richardhod will be in town this weekend (or rather, tomorrow through Saturday) and I'll be giving him a whirlwind tour of the city, or at least what we can fit in between sitting around drinking copious amounts of wine.

I'm thinking we'll go to Cafe 8, on Barracks Row, on Friday evening, and anyone is definitely welcome to join. It's a neat little Mediterranean place that's supposed to be pretty good, and they have some interesting Greek and Lebanese wines on their list, among others, that should be neat to try. It's right near the Eastern Market station, but parking is usually tight in that area, and especially so on Friday nights. Let me know a little ahead of time if you're coming, too - here, PM, or text for those select few of you with my number - so I can know how big of a table to get.

wkdpanda wrote:Either Friday or Sat after Thanksgiving should work for me.

Venue: ??

I can offer to host, location in Herndon. I am near the toll road and Rt. 28, and can probably hold about 18 people (more could be a stretch).

Theme: ???

The big question. Well, it is the day after, and everyone will probably have left over stuff, right? Why not make it a



-Andy

I would not be able to make it anytime around the Thanksgiving weekend, but a Herndon location would be nice.

(yes, yes, I live -- I can catch you up on what has been going on with me at the net NoVA event. assuming I can make it. )

jwhite6114 wrote:(yes, yes, I live -- I can catch you up on what has been going on with me at the net NoVA event. assuming I can make it. )

Sounds like yet another incentive for certain Buffalonians to make the trek, if the date works. Pretty busy time of year, though. I'll keep watching.

I will be out of town for thanksgiving so I will be a no for something around then.

jwhite6114 wrote:I would not be able to make it anytime around the Thanksgiving weekend, but a Herndon location would be nice.

(yes, yes, I live -- I can catch you up on what has been going on with me at the net NoVA event. assuming I can make it. )

When are you available? I have a 94 Mt. Veeder Cab with our names on it...

Slight HiJack

Anyone going to the Mount Vernon Wine festival this weekend (Saturday in particular) ?

Flybranda wrote:Slight HiJack

Anyone going to the Mount Vernon Wine festival this weekend (Saturday in particular) ?

I am not and now it's sold out. I guess I'll just have to go to WineStyles and pick up my October wines and partake of those instead. enjoy the festival. Looks like a few good wineries. Definitely try the Chard from Paradise Springs Winery. I haven't tried it yet but it did win the Governor's Cup for white wine. Upon reading this article it might not be available at the festival. I'm getting irked by wineries that only bring select wines to festivals. I had a list of 12-14 wineries to hit at the last festival for wines to taste. I ended up tasting only 8 because the others left the wine at the winery.

InShadows wrote:I am not and now it's sold out. I guess I'll just have to go to WineStyles and pick up my October wines and partake of those instead. enjoy the festival. Looks like a few good wineries. Definitely try the Chard from Paradise Springs Winery. I haven't tried it yet but it did win the Governor's Cup for white wine. Upon reading this article it might not be available at the festival. I'm getting irked by wineries that only bring select wines to festivals. I had a list of 12-14 wineries to hit at the last festival for wines to taste. I ended up tasting only 8 because the others left the wine at the winery.

Thanks for the tip!
I did visit Paradise Springs back in May. They were quite new (just about to break ground for their own on site processing building - they'd been leasing from other wineries). I was impressed how good some of their wine was for such a new place.
Hopefully, the article just meant they didn't have any distribution set up yet. I'll see tomorrow.
If you havent been before look out for the next Mt. Vernon event. The venue is really nice. Sitting in "George's" front yard looking over the river, sipping wine, a jazz combo in the background, ... pretty sweet. We've been lucky with the weather in the past and tomorrow's looking good.
I thought some of the W.W. crowd sometimes pour for some of the wineries at such events. Thought I could say hello if that were the case.

Flybranda wrote:I thought some of the W.W. crowd sometimes pour for some of the wineries at such events. Thought I could say hello if that were the case.

Some of us do help out wineries at events like this. Unfortunately, the winery that most if not all of us work for will not be at that event. The next big event for some of the wooters to be helping is next weekend at the Fredericksburg Area Wine Festival.

InShadows wrote:Some of us do help out wineries at events like this. Unfortunately, the winery that most if not all of us work for will not be at that event. The next big event for some of the wooters to be helping is next weekend at the Fredericksburg Area Wine Festival.

Sorry won't make that one.
Headed down to Chapel Hill next weekend.
So, which winery do you guys help out?

I didn't find Paradise Springs on this evening's list for Mt V. Several others I've never tried (or even heard of), so it should be interesting

Whoever was able to head to the Mount Vernon festival, I hope they had a great time. I go both times every year and am a contributor to Mt. Vernon in general, but was just a little too busy this year.

Speaking of busy, I finally got the image library of the labels from Woot 19 online. Head to the Woot 19 Gallery to check them out.

hershelk wrote:Whoever was able to head to the Mount Vernon festival, I hope they had a great time. I go both times every year and am a contributor to Mt. Vernon in general, but was just a little too busy this year.

Speaking of busy, I finally got the image library of the labels from Woot 19 online. Head to the Woot 19 Gallery to check them out.

Great pics!

So, back on topic...

Should we consider having a mini-GTG on Black Friday and then have another one in early/mid-December? For all the folks who can't escape the families on Black Friday?

cjsiege wrote:Should we consider having a mini-GTG on Black Friday and then have another one in early/mid-December? For all the folks who can't escape the families on Black Friday?

Sounds like a good plan.

hershelk wrote:Sounds like a good plan.

Second that.

For those of you who enjoy the Pinot Grigio from Benessere or want to try other types of their wines, I just received an email from them:

"To celebrate the beginning of Harvest (finally) we are offering an ONLINE otterific discount on any six bottles of wine you order. That's right, any six. Get a 30% discount on a half case or more of our fantastic Italian varietals. Enter the coupon code THANKS for your discount. Offer good until October 31."

Send me a PM and I can coordinate a total order for them and bring it to the next gathering.

Updated the initial post. I'll also start the #21 thread, since we'll need to coordinate/deconflict December.

cjsiege wrote:Updated the initial post. I'll also start the #21 thread, since we'll need to coordinate/deconflict December.

Call this one 19½ We started the "half" tradition last year.

I'll be there. Haven't decided what wine to bring, but WineBid should have sent me a magnum of rosé by then, and my family is small!

BTW, rosé is a classic Thanksgiving wine. Good all around and goes with most everything.

iByron

Sorry guys -- we gotta pass on this one. We will not be back to NoVA until the following Sunday... but when we do, we'll be married! :-)

synchrodan wrote:Sorry guys -- we gotta pass on this one. We will not be back to NoVA until the following Sunday... but when we do, we'll be married! :-)

Woo hoo! Congratulations!!! Plz to hop over to #21 thread & post your availablz??? We bringz sparklies! kthxbai!!!

*bump*

Hey, panda -- what time are we descending upon your abode?

Count me in, too.

tripgrad wrote:Count me in, too.

Are you soloing, or are you +1?

Sorry I won't be able to join on this one...I'll be in the mountains of Vermont with my family! I'll see if I can find some goodies to bring back for the December get together!

akrenee wrote:Sorry I won't be able to join on this one...I'll be in the mountains of Vermont with my family! I'll see if I can find some goodies to bring back for the December get together!

*sniff*

OK. But only if you bring back some maple sugar candy.

cjsiege wrote:Are you soloing, or are you +1?

Maybe plus 1

I am going to be 'working from home' that day, so sunset is a good approximation for starting. 6pm onwards, works for me.

wkdpanda wrote:I am going to be 'working from home' that day, so sunset is a good approximation for starting. 6pm onwards, works for me.

Update posted. Now for the wines....

For wines, I have no clue. I have a Rosato de Sangiovese that might fit?

Shoot, I am hosting, so why am I trying to decide? I just will throw my cellars open to drinking, and let the crowd decide. I will hold the right of veto on choices though, since there are a few that I am saving (like the N'Joy magnums).