wkl

I believe Martinique.

my bottle has a white label with blue writing.

I picked up a bottle of the 10 year Trois Rivieres in St Martin last year. wodering what the more experienced tasters think of this rum. The guy I bought it from said the original distillery had burned down and with the new one came more of a commitment to quality. At first I wasn't sure I liked this rum but it's evolved a bit over the year and I am enjoying it alot now. I'll be back in St Martin next week and am considering buying some more of this and prehaps the older bottlings. I think there was 15 and 30 year old. Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks.

If you are going to be in Paris, check out the classes at Le Cordon Bleu. I did a one day class in Oct '05 and thought it was great.

i tend to buy lots of wines from small and mid sized producers, usually in enough quantity to taste several bottles of the same wine. i notice quite a bit of bottle variation, i don't consider it bad thing and have come to expect it. the author actually hits on most of the reasons for this, so i won't repeat them.i get strange looks from friends when i open something only to recork, with the comment, it's a funny bottle, not bad or corked just off somehow.it's part of the mystique wine has that keeps the pursuit of this fascinating beverage so intriguing.

rlibkind, What's poke?

"Actually, I am making the case that the PLCB is, in Philadelphia's particular situation, both a good thing and responsible (to a point) for the current rise of the BYOBs. And, in that regard, yeepee ideed." Sorry for putting words in your mouth. I don't share your enthusiasm for the PLCB, however.

"Katie I don't doubt that you guys at the PLCB are doing a good job considering the circumstances. I don't doubt that you can cite some favorable pricing situations here and there" Katie doesn't work for the PLCB. "I would love for someone to present a reasoned argument in support of state (or federal) run businesses and how we consumers would be better off if the government (state or local) would be running any business--liquor, how about appliances or clothing or food?" No one is making the claim, YIPEE for the PLCB, because now we can have BYOB's. I like byob's because I can bring my own juice to a restaurant, try as many bottles as I want, and the cost is under control. It doesn't mean I won't go to places that have decent wine lists. I don't think it's anymore complicated than that.

"Those claiming that BYOB's are beneficial from a financial standpoint should be taking a stand against a system that prevents/limits competition." People have been railing against this system for years. Apparantly to deaf ears, that's part of the reason there are so many byo's.

"After reading through this thread I have a few points. One can attack the messenger here (I am not familiar with Aliza Green) or come up with some conspiracy between the publisher and --well, I am not sure whom-- but I find it more productive to deal with the points and issues she raises." I thought Greg S's point was well explained and very clear. If her views are slanted because of her advertisers complaints, then the messenger deserves to be attacked. I love Byo's , not so much for the obvious bargain they represent with respects to savings on wine, but because I get so tired of poorly chosen wine lists, bad storage, uninformed staff, excessive pricing, etc. Let me just bring my own. Yes, there are exceptions and I do not mind paying reasonable mark up to try some different wines I may not come across. If you feel severly restricted at byo's, then don't go to them. To make the claim that the byo culture is holding philly back as a serious restaurant town is absurd. So, the food would be better at D'Jango, Marigold, Piff, etc. if they had a wine list? Ridiculous. Vive le BYO!!!!!!!!!

great pic's philadining! last night was exceptional indeed. a wine note: generally speaking shola's food seems to work best with halbtrocken rieslings, demi sec vouvray, white burg's, and champagne.a medium to full bodied red with the meat course. we were kinda all over the place with wines last night, but the best matches were a sparkling ratzenberger '00 sekt with raw fish course, '02 latour chassagne montrachet with the cooked fish course, and an '02 cote de nuit village "la pretiere" from olivier rion with the rib eye. imo of course.

flavour of britian in wilmington carries walker crisps. the owners said they never really know what they will get, right now roast chicken and cheese& onion are all they have.i picked up a bag of each. if you want me to grab you some, just pm me and we can arrange a drop off when i'm in philly.

In the back of my mind I remember seeing a brochure that described a new venture by Perrier in a big new fancy building, but I can't remeber which one.This was three or four months ago.

Thanks Craig. I'll see what I can find out. I did buy a bottle, so I'll taste it this weekend.

A local merchant is offering Gianfranco Bovio Barolo Gattera 1997. I know little about this producer and am wondering if anyone has experience with the wine. It's imported by Robert Chadderdon, which I take as a good sign, although I am little skeptical of a 1997 Barolo just showing up on a retailers shelf. This is 3 or 4 vintages behind current Barolo releases, unless Bovio releases late. Thanks in advance.

Can't vouch for the fries , but Continental would be a good choice.

Mostly Martha.

thankyou david! my memories a touch hazy this morning. i have this mental image of philadining snoring away in bed, the alarm clock ringing away, lots of high tech photography equipment strewn across the floor...............

yes, cauliflower ice cream with hungarian tokay, or was it px sherry, or pineau de charentes. where are you philadining?

Actually, Mr Riedel suggests using a "silver pichet" as a decanter for this.He laughed and said "..and I'm a glass guy!" Or words to that effect. I think www.foodandwine.com has the article somewhere on the site.

DuPont, Avec Les Bon Voeux, a saison beer brewed by DuPont Brasserie. I believe this referments in bottle, creating some sediment.This stuff is wonderful.If you can find it, buy lots!

A couple of issues ago Food and Wine had an article about Maxamilian Riedel, where he claimed he liked to suprise his "American friends" by decanting champagne. He claimed Americans think champagne needs to be full of bubbles. The possible snootiness of this aside, has anyone ever tried this? I have heard of this before but never tried it. Is this common practice in France or Europe in general? Does it change the wine for the better?

yeah, the washington square mention is odd. they can't think samuelsson is still there, could they?

Thanks. Both wines form '01 are available around here (mid atlantic) mid 20's for the Nebb d'Alba and 30 something for the Valmaggiore. I've always been hesitant to buy this because of storage at the distributor. Funny that a wine from such a famous producer would be sitting around at a distributor for a couple years. Sounds like yours were in good shape though.

Jim- Is the '01 Giacosa nebbiolo his most recent release of this wine? Do you know if he releases the Valmaggiore at the same time? Thanks.