Brad Ballinger

NV Domaine J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Brut Blanc de Blancs. First off, if you only gave me $10 (USD) to purchase a bottle with bubbles, I'd be hard pressed to find more wine for my money than this one. Frenetic bead activity that goes on for a while before the wine settles into a more subdued pattern. Nose shows a powerful yeasty punch with some faint apple and mineral notes if you care to dig deep enough. Flavor profile that showcased honeycrisp apples, pears and finishes with the peel of both those fruits. There's also a bit of chalky minerality. The loosely-knit mousse remains a bit set apart, not completely integrated with the wine, during the first couple of sips of a new pour, but starts to mesh a bit as it sits. The base wine itself has plenty of acidity and contributes to a lengthy finish. Tasted blind, I would wager many would price this wine at over twice its price tag.

I assume you mean second label first growths. Regardless, FWIW, I haven't had this wine, but I've heard good reports about the 1995 Bahans Haut Brion drinking well right now.

I'm sure Jon implied the following, even if it isn't stated: Cuilleron, Gaillard, and Villard all make plenty of AOC Condrieu wines, and excellent ones at that.

Andre Brunel and Laurence Feraud made a rhone wine outside of any of the area's appellations called "Image du Sud." It is labeled as a vin de table. You can see an image of the label if you scroll down on this web page. I've only had the wine once, the 1998 vintage several years ago. All I remember is that it was a bit "backward" and needed some more time. Now, I don't know if they've "quit" the AOC system since each continues to make other wines. But this is one effort. Some garagiste producers in Bordeaux have had AOC designations stripped from their labels by the powers that be. So they didn't voluntarily "quit" but were forced in a direction. Jean-Luc Thunevin at Valandraud is one such example: I think the same thing happened to Chateau Fontenil in that vintage (2000). Michel Rolland has a heavy hand in Fontenil. Both wines were declassified all the way down to vin de table.

To wit (from a tasting note I posted a while ago):

1995 Carruades de Lafite, Pauillac. This is the second label of Lafite Rothschild. There are mixed opinions on second-label wines. One school of thought is that they can represent good value because there is supposedly a good winemaker at the helm. Another school of thought criticizes the chateaux for dumping their substandard wine on the market. The truth is probably somewhere in the large gap in between. Anyway, having tasted two other 95 Bordeaux wines recently, I thought I'd continue the trend. My overall impression of this wine is that it is still a year or two away from fully developing. It awoke from its slumber pleasantly enough, but then turned out the light and returned to sleep. Dark garnet color with only the slightest of bricking. The nose was a complex combination of earthy, leathery funk, mint, and blackcurrants. On the attack in the mouth, there was a burst of cassis followed by tobacco, leather, and herb. There was pleasant acidity. The tannins were giving way, but were a bit dusty. Shortly after, the wine began to shut down and become more one-dimensional. A bit astringent on the finish. Best to revisit in a couple years.

I purchased a bottle of the Laphroaig 15 (being a fan of the 10). I poured a glass, and then gave the rest away. For my taste, I found it lacking character and not nearly as complex or interesting as the 10 for whatever reason.

You'll find quite an extensive list peppered throughout this thread.

I'm a huge fan of the Lagavulin 16 year. Has a strong finish, and isn't overly sweet. By the way, if you haven't come across it yet, check out the following web site: http://www.islaywhiskysociety.com/.

Let me propose an amendment to this good idea, which I think piggybacks onto the original thought fairly well. And that is "What have you collected?" That's just a different way of asking what is represented well in your cellar. For example, Bordeaux makes up the most "cellar share" for me -- followed by Germany, Piedmont, Sparkling, Tuscany, California, Burgundy, Rhone, Loire, Porto, and then bits and pieces of Spain, Austria, Languedoc, and southern Italy. As for what I'm collecting or buying right now, mainly sparkling (most of which is Champagne, but not all). The prices have remianed relatively steady while prices of many other wines have climbed and climbed and climbed. I don't know why, but I've never really done the vertical thing. The largest I've ever had was 1991-95 Ridge Geyserville. Then I stopped buying the wine, and some of the vertical has since been drunk. When I buy Sauternes, I always buy Climens, so I have a fractured vertical from 1986-2001 of that chateau. I also collected 1992 California Cabs to open on our wedding anniversaries (not much else from the 1992 vintage globally to purchase years ago or even now other than 1992 Vintage Port, and I have a couple of those). I have four 1992 Cal Cabs left. I hope these serve you well. I polished off my 1986 Talbot about the same time you first experienced yours. And I've pulled corks on all my 86s since then. For most, I found the fruit to already be fading while the tannins were unrelenting. But I know of several people crossing their fingers hoping that when the tannins do finally resolve, there will still be enough fruit left. A pretty good vintage for Burgundy. You may be able to find some high end wines that are still holding up. My birth year is 1961; great for Bordeaux. But by the time it occurred to me to buy some the prices were prohibitive.

1998 Dr. Pauly Bergweiler Bernkasteler alte Badstube am Doctorberg Riesling Auslese, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. The nose of the wine initially teased with some golden delicious apples, lime, honey, and wet stones. I say teased because there was a slightly sulfuric component through which everything had to be filtered. With continued aeration the sulfur lessened. Delicately balanced in the mouth. The wine was not aggressive on either the residual sugar side or the acidity side. It did appear, however, to be ever so slightly diluted, leaving a “blah” impression between the attach and the finish, which were both fresh and lively. Good fruit profile with mineral undertones. Had the sweetness to go well with apple crisp. NV Michel Arnould “La Grand Cuvee” Brut Champagne, Verzenay Grand Cru. All the fruit is from the 1997 vintage. Two-thirds pinot noir, one third chardonnay. The wine undergoes complete malolactic fermentation, and sits on the lees for three years. But there is still enough acidic power here due in part to the north-sloping Verzenay vineyards. The mousse had a soft creaminess to it, and the fruit character of the wine was heavy on the cherry and apple skin side. There was also a slight stone element and a very mineral-driven finish. 1995 Olivier, Pessac-Leognan. Showing some bricking around the rim. The nose of the wine is starting to take on a beguiling and mature complexity. Wet leather, menthol, tobacco, blackberry, and a bit of cedar. Really, the wine is wonderfully aromatic. The tannins have a velvet glove quality to them – still holding a grip on the wine, but have a silky texture. Nice blackcurrant core to the fruit profile with some earthy undercurrent. With some time in the glass, the tannins relax their grip and the fruit keeps coming and coming on the finish. Drinking very well right now. 1995 Cantenac Brown, Margaux. This is just an angry wine. Nose shows burning leaves, some roasted game, and green lentils. Austere and angular (not rounded) in the mouth, sort of like stemmy without necessarily being “green.” Uninteresting, and only asking that another bottle of something else be opened. 1992 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon, Cherryblock Vineyard, Sonoma County. A wine that is just starting to slide downhill, and picked up the downhill momentum after being open only fifteen minutes. Both the nose and the finish showed me more alcohol than I like, and I think part of that could have been due to some tiring fruit. Forcing myself to get pas the alcohol, there was a lovely cherry and currant nose with a bit of cinnamon and mint. In the mouth, the wine was structurally sound with moderate acidity and still-resolving tannin. The fruit showed enough of how pretty it was a year or two ago, and the wine would still pair well with some hard cheeses even if it doesn’t quite have the stuff for the entrée any longer.

Greyhound

In addition to the auction of property, the Maisonette will also be auctioning off the conents of its wine cellar. Article here. Edited to add: Here's a link to a .pdf file of the auction brochure. Many individual art and equipment items are listed. Contents of the wine collection are not. Click

The thing about sweet red wines is that they are hard to come by and not always the cheapest option for someone who is simply having a glass daily on doctor's orders. I bet, with not much resolve at all, your friend could find a cheap red wine that he could tolerate.

I'm not familiar with retailers in Nebraska. Sorry. As far as shipments to Nebraska from other states, that's a crap shoot. Nebraska will allow residents to receive up to 9 liters (2 cases of half-bottles) per month for personal use. BUT the winery (I would also assume out of state retailer, but that's not entirely clear) must purchase a direct shipping license from the state of Nebraska ($500) AND must pay to the state of Nebraska an excise tax of 95 cents for every liter shipped AND must pay between 6 and 7 percent sales tax depending on the city or county to where the wine is shipped AND must report the following information to Nebraska every year: volume of product shipped, alcohol by volume of product(s) shipped, number of bottles shipped, AND they have to report even if they didn't ship anything as long as they are holding a permit to do so. Maybe there are places that find it worthwhile to go through all that to ship to residents of Nebraska, but you would have to ask them firsthand.

Jon, I have some of the Launois Sable (more of a cremant style) in the cellar. Have you had that one? Alex, If you had asked for specific wines to recommend, I was going to go Jon's route and suggest K & L, Chambers Street (in NYC) and Village Corner (in Ann Arbor) as having good selections of grower Champagne. If you order from K & L, be sure to talk to Gary Westby on the phone. He's a super guy, is passionate about Champagne, and has fantastic customer service skills.

I don't think you are asking which wines to buy, but whom to buy them from. Pretty much, any reatiler that ships a fair amount of wine would work. John has mentioned some. Also, Wine Exchange and K & L Wines (both in California) and Sam's Wines and Spirits in Chicago. Ship the wine via 2-day air, and have it shipped so it's not sitting in a delivery company's warehouse or truck over a weekend. You may have a problem shipping wine to certain states. Some do not accept out of state shipments of alcohol, even for personal use.

All right. All right. Here's the thing. jgould has been upset about restaurant wine pricing for a while. Check his posting history in this forum to see what I mean. It's fine to be upset about it. He's asked why it continues to exist and what will cause it to stop or reverse. The answer is simple economics -- when a critical mass says no more. I don't see that happening in my lifetime, by the way. Then we went elsewhere. Sorry, but a really bad generalization. .Not, instantly. No. You have to allow real time for real demand to change. .No, that's not the reailty. Okay, JohnL: Give jgould some specific examples. Otherwise all you are doing is continuing the over-generalizing you mention above. Covered terriroty here, here, here, and here, and is not the issue anyway. The issue is consumerism. Three things here. 1) jgould's issue was with a Beaujolais-Villages sold in a retail shop for $8, but in a restaurant for $32. His issue was not with the $32 price tag on its own, and then you turned it into cru Beaujolais. 2) The $200 Haut Brion point is irrelevant unless you are able to show us all a wine list that has a Beaujolais (any Beaujolais) priced at $32 and also has Haut Brion (any vintage) priced at $200. 3) Your $20 Beaujolais pricing being bad management fails if the restaurant is able to make more profit on volume than on margin. The first sentence makes sense and is true. Your last sentence is a generalization unless you can back it up with specific prices, and specific examples where increased competition from auction houses and internet retailers has resulted in better prices for consumers -- and you have to factor in all costs of wine procurement, including shipping. Choice? Of course. (But for someone like jgould, who lives in NYC, not so much.) Prices? Prove it. If the thread is to continue, let's continue it by talking about real consumer behavior affecting real change on the market, giving some specific and documented examples to back up your generalizations.

In the United States, it is November 24. In Canada, it was October 10.

Well, since the consumer is representing the market in that instance, I imagine the consumer steps up when she or he decides not to purchase the wine, or to pick a restaurant with more attractively priced wines, or to stay at home.

My guess is that Bill is using the word "hot" to mean "alcoholic." If I'm wrong, he'll say so. I've often tasted wines that have shown more alcohol on the nose than anything else.

It's often been said that in any economy, there is always money to be made on liquor. The statement usually includes the words "and porn," but this is a food and beverage site.

Agreed. And the answer to the question, "Which country makes a bigger deal and is more hung up about food and wine pairing than any other country in the world?" would be the United States in a landslide.

I'm also going to send you to other articles. I suggest you Google "Tim Hanni" to find articles by him and about him and his philosophy, which I find sound. The bottom line is that foods that are in balance and wines that are in balance will go well together. Here's another bit of his philosophy: You can often alter how the wine tastes by altering the food you ingest before sipping the wine. For example, if the wine seems too strong, add something acidic (citrus, vinegar, mustard) and then see how much "softer" the wine has become. If the wine seems to soft, add something sweet and see how much "stronger" it now seems. Balancing out the food tends to also balance out the wine.

You forgot to mention the strength of the euro v. the dollar, but I assume that is part of the "ridiculous justification" list nonetheless. Therefore, I'm left with one simple, yet glaringly obvious, response: Because it is what the market will bear. Now, why the market continues to bear increases in wine prices is a subject of much conjecture. But for the people selling it, they are much more focused on what the market will bear. Ask them why, and many will likely reply, "Does it matter?" Now some markets bear the high prices more than others. I just read yesterday on a forum at West Coast Wine Network that Brown Derby is selling its stock of 2000 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $40/bottle. But I don't see anything like that on the Brown Derby web site. Anyway, if it is true, that's one data point about a market downturn. Who is the supreme guilty party? No idea. If I'm a retailer, though, and I want to stock a certain wine (because I know my customers will buy it), I'm probably going to pay what the wholesaler is charging me because I want to be able to continue receiving the wine well into the future. If I'm the wholesaler or importer, I want to keep the wine in my portfolio so I don't lose it to anyone else, and I may have to swallow hard and pay what the producer is asking. If I'm the producer (and I'm not also the grower), I may have to pay what the farmer is asking if I want to continue to receive the same grapes every year. But it is still a "market will bear" situation. Until someone in the chain (with most eyes looking toward the consumer) stands up and says, "No more," I don't see the trend reversing. Do you? Ultimately, the consumer usually gets his or her way. Right now, enough still are without the supply chain having to lower prices.