Vaughan

After the '94 earthquake and the loss of several odd-shaped bottles that shook out of the "tinker-toy" type wine racks I had, I decided to try an idea I had seen in one of the shows on Food TV when they had the wine tasting show. For long-term storage, I bought some solid wood doors, drilled holes in them at an angle with a 1 1/2 inch hole saw, fixed the bottom of the door to the floor about a foot from the wall with a line cleat (marine hardware, won't rust) screwed into the concrete with a lead anchor, and leaned the top against the wall and fastened it to the wall with a cleat. I insert the neck of the bottled into the holes and they are held at an angle with the top down. I don't have a "cellar" but have a double wall concrete block storage room with triple insulation in the roof (tile) and it stays cool in there even in summer. I don't have access to it right at the moment because I have been having some work done in the garage and there is a pile of material that was moved into the garage when it began raining and is still there. ← Actually 2/3 should've read 2 X 3, as in 2" X 3", and I too am dreading an earthquake, and some of the replies remind me that one of my bottles was replaced by VISA, anything bought with VISA is refundable regardless of how you lost/broke/etc it. I was kind of blown away, call them, send in a form and you get a credit back in a week or so. Felt kind of guilty, esp. when my own fault. V

A bottle of 1998 Turley Hayne V. Petite Syrah (I think, I know it was a Turley but I've tried to put it out of my mind). Also a 1996 Chablis that I forget the producer of, AND the Turley slid out from the BOTTOM bin of my wine cellar while I was rearranging. Slid in slo-mo (it seemed, why does that happen?) and "poof." Both in 2004 and the only wines I've ever dropped (touch side of my head). Which brings me to a question, does anyone have any tips for cellaring those odd shapes, Turley comes to mind, as does some burgundies, Alsace & German whites and even Champagne. I have a low-tech approach with some alsace/Germans, ie a piece of 2/3 under the front of the bottles lifting them up. Cellar is 14/14" "cube" shaped bins on 3 walls and one "show wall" of stuff lying one deep on their sides. Thanks, Vaughan

Hi Jean, This is getting slightly off topic, but that is the exact recipe we made, it's a good one for all you Zin fans. Vaughan

Funny, I read this after drinking a bottle of 1990 Ridge Howel Mtn, and despite a small "donut" in the middle was pretty fresh, with good pepper on the nose and decent length. Had with a Charlie Trotter pork loin stuffed with dried fruit and it was perfect. Also had a 1993 Turley Duarte the other day and it had great spice, tar, lots of brambly fruit and was not disappointed at all. A '96 Ridge Jimsomare , arguably not old, was soft but quite complex and had a fair amount of blackberry & blueberry jamminess. My biggest disappointment on the Zin longevity scale has to be Biale, a few years ago I drank two different '94s and they were well over the hill. And they're now ridiculously expensive, $70 or something? Anyway, this is my first posting ever, so be nice to me! After this anything goes. Cheers, Vaughan