LOS

What about it, wine enthusiasts? Have you noticed this particular phenomenon? I can't really say, as I wasn't following Spanish wine 15 years ago. What I do know is that the pre-1990 spanish wines I have purchased have all been of top quality, and that many of the newer wines are not necesarily of better quality, just more international in style. OTOH, Andrew Barr indicates that fraudulent bottlings were widespread in the old days.

Another cauliflower dish that's a good potato substitute (this time, for roasted potatoes): Take a head of cauliflower and chop it into florets. Melt a couple of tablespoons of duck fat. Toss with the cauliflower, and salt and pepper. Throw it in a roasting pan in a 500 degree oven for 14 minutes. Enjoy. You can also throw some herbs in this for variation, but try the basic recipe at least once.

This is really only an issue if you simply must have 2003 Cos. I feel for those who are fans of Cos, and have bought the wine year after year. But, really, there are plenty of great wines out there that Parker doesn't review or doesn't give big scores to. His scoring either has no effect on the prices of these wines, or can actually make them cheaper.

I just love this. It's oh-so-Minnesota. Gotta know your audience.

I buy about 1/3 of my wine from Chambers. No one else even comes close. They specialize in Loire and Beaujolais and other 'under-the-radar' stuff. I also like Wine Exchange for a good general selection, and Woodland Hills and Premier Cru both specialized in Burgundy. Some people have had issues in service with Premier Cru, but I never have and reports seem to have been curtailed in the last 2-3 years. Their email list is well worth subscribing too, as they occasionally have too-good-to-be-believed sales. Edit: Fixed a link

Marc Angeli from the Anjou in the Loire. Hard stuff to come by, but worth the effort. Great rose and dry "La Lune" Anjou (which would be AOC Bonnezeaux if not vinified dry) and great sweet wines too. Unsulfured, so be careful about storage. Two domaines from Chassagne-Montrachet: -- Bernard Moreau, who makes an amazing red wine from the "La Cardeuse" climat. They have a monopole on the climat, which, IIRC, is in the Morgeot 1er cru. -- Fontaine-Gagnard, who make both great reds (Chassagne Clos St Jean, Volnay Clos des Chenes, Pommard Rugiens) and whites (Chassagne Caillerets is the only one I've had)

I've got a fair stash of the Aubry, which I'm pretty sure I got at the same place you got yours. I heard the same story you did. The corks do say 1996, so I'm inclined to believe it. it doesn't really matter, though -- the wine is fabulous, be it a 1997 or a 1996. Where'd you get the Forteta della Luja? It sounds interesting, and I like their Moscato d'Asti.

Really tasty stuff. Kind of like a mini-Ripasso, with a full-bodied earthiness. Fuller bodied and with more grip than most generic Valpolicella. Better the second day. We'll see tonight about the third day.

"Petrol" is a classic descriptor for for a certain reisling aroma. I'm sure what's so controversial here. Does the wine really taste like petrol?? No -- the real taste of petrol is the nasty painful feeling of chemical burns. But, as with many wine tastes, we don't really have the language to describe the sensations, so we do the best we can. "Petrol" is a classic descriptor for reisling; some like wines with this aroma, some don't. "Vinyl" is often used for the too-chemical-smelling version of this scent.

If you go with the Coulee, be sure and decant it as soon as you can. A few hours will help it. You can swish it back and forth between 2 carafes for added oxygenation. Another nice alternative would be a rich champagne.

Despite evidently being illegal in France, I have done this more than once at a specific restaurant in Beaune. So it was news to me when I found out that it was illegal.

[Generalization coming] As others have hinted, restaurants in Europe tend to carry a much wider range of half-bottles than do restaurants here in the US. They are still are not even 10% of the wines on the list, but they are there. In the US, they may not be there at all. I've been told at some European wineries that they make half-bottles solely for the restaurant trade. Here in the US, there is neither the same level of supply nor the same level of demand. I'm not sure whether the chicken or the egg came first.

How much time did you give the Jermann? Their ribolla needs a good half-day to get going, and your description sounds much like the ribolla without enough air time. The sauvignon and chardonnay needed much less time.

...and coming out with guns blazing saying "you're just wrong" is helpful? [You haven't done this, Craig, but that's how the debate got started and how the tone of the debate got set] Conventional wisdom where? Certainly at restaurants in Burgundy and among the fine food community in France; no dispute there. The vignerons are, at best, more of a mixed bag. The Burgundy community here in town (and, from what I know of it, in the US at large) would largely consider it heresy not to decant Burgundy in many cases.

I would have to say that I have rarely been presented a bottle in Burgundy that was not opened in front of me and when it has happened the grower will usually present it with a warning - oh this was opened yesterday. All I can say is that this directly contradicts my nontrivial experience. Maybe it's a matter of where we taste; this may vary from cellar to cellar. I may tend to like the wines from cellars where the wines show best with more air. FYI, My deepest experience is with G. Mugneret and Chandon de Brailles. We typically taste more wine from bottles at CdB -- because they've always got bottles sitting around open. I often taste there in January and even offseason there are always several half-empty bottles open that were certainly not opened that day. IME this is not unusual at all. Probably my best tasting ever was the first time I tasted at Dauvissat. We tasted from barrel, and then tasted a lineup of 8 or 10 wines from bottle. This was when the 98s were in barrel. All of the bottles we tasted had been open at least 3 weeks. They were stunning. I've also got to agree with George that you are not giving up aromatics for mouthfeel. If anything, I think young wines need extended airing to develop their aromatics. This is sometimes at the expense of texture. For an older wine, the tradeoff is probably different, and I think I agree with you there. But we don't know how youthful this bottle really is. My experience with 1990 burgundy is not extensive; I haven't loved those I've tried. Some of my knowledgable friends tell me I'll like them if I just wait longer on them. We'll see. I also do not typically decant my wines for extended airing; I do that in bottle. I agree with those who think that 8 hours in the decanter sounds like too much for a 14-year-old burgundy of less than top-notch pedigree. But we didn't taste the wine -- and Corton is known for wines that age well.

You miss the point. I am looking for supporting evidence. Without support is is just personal preference - not that there is anything wrong with that. Why does white Burgundy taste better with extended decanting? It is a reasonable question. As for supporting evidence, you and I both have seen hundreds of TNs on the net that support this. It is also common in burgundy cellars that all of the wines you taste from bottle have been open for days. The vignerons don't write books on this or post TNs, but they do it all the time. They also occasionally pop open a bottle and let you taste it immediately -- but IME this is less common. Switching to the white burgundy question -- why some white Burgundies need extended decanting to show well -- I have no idea. I can only vouch that they do. Each of the last 9 vintages, I have tested the quality of the Chablis vintage by buying a bottle of R&V Dauvissat La Forest and drinking it over 3 or 4 days (left open with no cork). In only the weakest vintages does the wine show much at all on the first day, even after 4-6 hours. Why? I don't know.

So he who has the biggest credentials wins? That's such a ludicrous argument that I don't know where to start. EDITED to add: Did you even pay attention, Craig?? No one here is talking about white burgundy. That's a whole 'nother discussion -- but one I'd be plenty happy to get in to.

Brad, I'm pretty sure that the Clos du Roi you had came from the grower side of the house, not the negoce side. The wines from domaine-owned vines are reputed to be of a higher standard than the negoce wines.

Disagree strongly. They can need as much as 24 hours of air before opening up when they're not yet fully mature. Gotta agree with Geo here. Last week I had a 99 Fontaine-Gagnard Chassagne (rouge) 1er cru "Clos St Jean" that showed totally flat the first night, even after about 6 hours of air. Left it open on the counter overnight; the next day it was wonderful. This is hardly an isolated incident. Young Burgundy regularly needs air time to show well; 8 hours is not uncommon at all.

It's not so much the prices as the availablility that will vary from place to place...and most of the wines I would recommend in this price range are not wines with wide availability. On top of that, you've asked for a comprehensive plan with good coverage of numerous wide-ranging regions. That's where the whole issue of availablilty really complicates things: putting together a viable plan that will actually work for you almost requires knowledge of your local selections. The only alternative is to settle for wine only from large-scale industrial producers. That would be a shame, because there is much reasonably priced wine from small-scale 'artisan' producers that's really good. This is why your request looked hard to fulfull for me. Additionally, I am completely out of touch with the market for wines from anywhere in the New World that I'd have a very difficult time putting together such a plan. Craig, perhaps we could pin the "great 10$ and under wines" thread. That way people could just keep adding to it when they make a new find. OTOH, that might just make for an out-of-control thread that no one reads.

My notes from lunch there a week ago: We had the caesar salad, duck pate, papardelle with smoked chicken, and the three cremes for dessert. The Caesar was the weakest link, lacking a certain garlicky goodness. It seemed more workmanlike than inspired. The pate was good. Two big wedges of pate with a bullet of fig compote, with a drizzle of fig sauce. The papardelle was very good indeed, with a savory sauce of smoked chicken, small stewed tomatoes, pearl onions. The watery bits left in the bottom of the bowl were superlative when soaked into the bread. The 3 cremes were Pot au Creme (very dark-chocolatey, mmm), Creme Brulee (not flavored, just a good solid rendition), and Creme Caramel. All 3 had perfect texture and were a testament to the kitchen's skill. I had a glass of the house Muscadet. The first glass was oxidized, with quite dark color. It was replaced cheerfully and with no fuss; the second glass had a dark color too but was much fresher. The service was superb all around. We felt antisocial and asked to be seated in the deserted bar side; this too was accomodated without a second thought.

Not me. The trend has gone the other way. I am now cooking almost every night at home, and rarely drinking anything at all outside of dinner -- wine, scotch, whatever. Back in my 20's, I cooked more Thai/Indian, and would drink New World wines that drank better on their own anyway -- and certainly did not match the spicy food. Now when I cook really hot food, I'll drink beer or cider if anything.

Cheng Heng rocks. Second the motion for plear salad.

My favorite roses are mostly Anjous. Every year I have a different favorite cheapie; the Marc Angeli is always stunning if pricey. I'm also fond of the Lopez de Heredia roses from Rioja.

Congrats, Brad. Now you'll be able to drink those grands crus on a daily basis