Indulgence of the Night, New Year's Eve Edition: 12/31/06 - 1/7/07

[Ben]

I'll agree Greg is a very skilled artisan and his blends are exemplary, but sometimes the praise goes too far. I think there are as good & better stuff out there, notably from my friends at Esoterica, Rattray, etc.

I agree. Abingdon is my absolute favorite of his offerings. I recently popped a two-year-old tin of it. Wow. I do like some of the others, but Abingdon is tops. Odyssey comes in at a close second. Yeah, I like powerhouse blends. Here agin is my all-time top ten, in no particular order:

1. G.L. Pease Abingdon (Balkan mixture)
2. G.L. Pease Odyssey (Balkan mixture)
3. Samuel Gawith Balkan Flake (English mixture)
4. Samuel Gawith St. James Flake (Virginia/Perique mixture)
5. Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake (Virginia)
6. Butera Kingfisher (Virginia/Perique/Burley mixture)
7. Esoterica Margate (English mixture)
8. Esoterica Stonehaven (Stoved Virginia/Burley mixture)
9. Escudo (Virginia/Perique) I have a stash of Cope's, but A&C Petersen is fine.
10. Semois (A very strong Burley variety only available from Belgium)

 

[Dinder1]

I picked up a nice bottle for dinner.

 

[ouch]

Mrs. Ouch's birthday. Imagine what she puts up with.

Breakfast-
Buckwheat oat bran pancakes with maple syrup
Good tea

Lunch-
Grilled chicken salad
Linguini with clam sauce
'89 Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne

Dinner (any minute now)-
Crispy Hunan shrimp with watercress
Steak Kew with mixed vegetables and mushrooms
'82 Ch. Gruaud-Larose, St.-Julien

Later-
Chocolate mousse with creme Anglaise
Coffee al a Din
'83 Dow vintage port, half bottle

I don't have too many opportunities to dip into the wine stash, so every now and then I like to overdo it.

 

[TraderJoe]

Mrs. Ouch's birthday. Imagine what she puts up with.

Breakfast-
Buckwheat oat bran pancakes with maple syrup
Good tea

Lunch-
Grilled chicken salad
Linguini with clam sauce
'89 Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne

Dinner (any minute now)-
Crispy Hunan shrimp with watercress
Steak Kew with mixed vegetables and mushrooms
'82 Ch. Gruaud-Larose, St.-Julien

Later-
Chocolate mousse with creme Anglaise
Coffee al a Din
'83 Dow vintage port, half bottle

I don't have too many opportunities to dip into the wine stash, so every now and then I like to overdo it.

Wow....I can only imagine what your birthdays' look like

 

[ouch]

Wow....I can only imagine what your birthdays' look like

Me?

 

[TraderJoe]

Me?

So, what you're saying is that on your birthday, three bottles of fine wine get drank, two bottles (even bigger) and then a mega-bottle.....in addition to THREE shaves?

thats a helluva way to do it, my friend

 

[Mama Bear]

Me?

I would do almost anything for that bottle of Chateau Margeaux....

 

[Scotto]

Chili Verde tonight. Delicious.

 

[180gVinyl]

Mrs. Ouch's birthday. Imagine what she puts up with.

Breakfast-
Buckwheat oat bran pancakes with maple syrup
Good tea

Lunch-
Grilled chicken salad
Linguini with clam sauce
'89 Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne

Dinner (any minute now)-
Crispy Hunan shrimp with watercress
Steak Kew with mixed vegetables and mushrooms
'82 Ch. Gruaud-Larose, St.-Julien

Later-
Chocolate mousse with creme Anglaise
Coffee al a Din
'83 Dow vintage port, half bottle

I don't have too many opportunities to dip into the wine stash, so every now and then I like to overdo it.

May I offer my congratulations to the missus and also to you on the way that you use your disposable income when it comes to wine.

Corton Charlemagne is my favourite white burgundy appellation but unfortunately is usually out of my price range. Probably the greatest coup of all my wine buys was about 12 years ago when a wine and spirits stall appeared on the local public market. It had been open about 6 months with nothing on offer which was out of the ordinary, when I spotted a dozen 1987 Louis Jadot Corton Charlemagne in half bottles, one Saturday morning.

They were £2.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About $4.80 at the time.

I bought three in the morning (as I didn't want it to provoke any questions by clearing them out)

Three in the afternoon

Three, the next saturday morning and the last three in the afternoon

I've enjoyed the Gruaud Larose '85 and had a number of satisfying times with Sarget de Gruaud Larose and Connetable Talbot when they were in the Cordier stable

Tonight is a beer and scotch night

Brooklyn Lager and Young's Special London Ale

Glenmorangie Burgundy Wood Finish and Glenlivet 15 yr French Oak Reserve


Cheers

Rob

 

[ratcheer]

I would do almost anything for that bottle of Chateau Margeaux....

It is the best I have ever had, too.

Tim

 

[180gVinyl]

Me?

I've only ever had the pleasure of a number of bottles of Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux (before the lads were born) and once had a voluptuous
"Lunch Bags" (Lynch Bages '81) which probably equalled the '76 Latour as the best Christmas Dinner claret that I've ever had

 

[180gVinyl]

I hadn't stumbled across this thread until tonight and.......................


It's right up my street

Whenever my football team win, which has been infrequent this season:

(West Ham United, who play in claret and blue), I celebrate with a bottle of claret.

Yesterday they won 3-0 in the FA Cup, so last night it was Chateau Soussans 2002 , Margaux

 

[ouch]

So, what you're saying is that on your birthday, three bottles of fine wine get drank, two bottles (even bigger) and then a mega-bottle.....in addition to THREE shaves?

thats a helluva way to do it, my friend

In fairness, that was for my 50th last April, and my wife overdid it in a big way. Thus, it is in no way representative of a typical night at Chateau Ouch.

From left to right-
'88 Ch. Petrus, 750ml
'86 Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, 750ml
'86 Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, 750ml
'89 Ch. Lynch-Bages, 1.5 litre
'88 Ch. Margaux, 3 litre
'87 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Reserve, 6 litre


From best to worst, I'd rate them as Mouton, Lafite (very good year for an often disappointing wine), Mondavi (one of the best American wines I can recall), Lynch, Petrus, and Margaux (sorry to report, Mama Bear).

 

[Mama Bear]

From best to worst, I'd rate them as Mouton, Lafite (very good year for an often disappointing wine), Mondavi (one of the best American wines I can recall), Lynch, Petrus, and Margaux (sorry to report, Mama Bear).

I am going to guess off the top of my head that is about a grand worth of grapes and I have to say, that is too much for one mere mortal... as the Margaux is the least favorite, I figure you won't have a problem sending it to me... preferably by Fed Ex priority overnight services..

I like it better than the Lafite if you can believe it....

 

[ouch]

Margaux is one of my very favorite wines, but 1988 was not a very good year for Bordeaux (despite the inane ramblings of The Wine Spectator). Many were very tough wines that didn't have enough fruit to win the battle against the tannins.
The '88 Margaux wasn't even a 90 point wine. It was good, but nothing one would expect from that chateau.

 

[Mama Bear]

Margaux is one of my very favorite wines, but 1988 was not a very good year for Bordeaux (despite the inane ramblings of The Wine Spectator). Many were very tough wines that didn't have enough fruit to win the battle against the tannins.
The '88 Margaux wasn't even a 90 point wine. It was good, but nothing one would expect from that chateau.

Oh, I see...! Thank you for explaining this to me.. I know the end of the 80's were tough for wines, so I will take the Lafite instead....

 

[ouch]

I didn't quite say that. The 80's may have been the "decade of the century", so to speak. Only a few years were real dogs ('80, '84 and '87), and although '81 and '88 were marginal (but had some very nice offerings), '83 and '85 were excellent, and '86, '89, and (particularly) '82 were very great vintages.

 

[Mama Bear]

Right now I am pretty proud of myself.. despite the fact that I have drooled over my entire computer, I never once groveled or begged... tho it may have taken all of my being to not do so....

But, is there anyone else who gets the impression he is ignoring my pleas.....

 

[ouch]

Well, she's out like a light. Never made it to the dessert wine.

So much for my diabolical plans.

At least the chocolate mousse is all mine.

 

[180gVinyl]

I didn't quite say that. The 80's may have been the "decade of the century", so to speak. Only a few years were real dogs ('80, '84 and '87), and although '81 and '88 were marginal (but had some very nice offerings), '83 and '85 were excellent, and '86, '89, and (particularly) '82 were very great vintages.

I think that the early '90s were a time where unfashionable vintages of the
'80s could be picked up for a song (The Parker effect?)

I bought Chateau Montrose '84 from a merchant near the Canal Jean Co. in NYC for $8 a bottle in the summer of '91

Incredible value