melkor

No.

The value of the WSET classes depends on what you are interested in learning about. The Intermediate level classes focus almost entirely on old world wine regions and just briefly touch on the US/Australia/South America. There is also a strange amount of info on Perry and Cider, which is apparently interesting if your British. I did the Intermediate Certificate a couple of years ago and I'm glad I did. Go for it.

My mistake, apparently the current release of dolce is $75 not $60. The Opus One of sweet wines

Dolce is a clumsy wine that would sell for $20/375ml if it were made anywhere other than here, but since it's from Napa they charge $60. It's a not that it isn't a pleasant wine, but it doesn't have enough acidity to support the sugar. It's a far cry in quality from Rieussec $25/375ml, and for $9 more than a 375ml of Dolce you can buy 1999 d'Yquem

Turley Zinfandel and a chocolate tart isn't a bad thing either...

I'd agree completely.

There are lots of excellent options out there... My recent sticky purchases are 2002 J.J. Christoffel Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Eiswein 2002 Dr. Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Eiswein 2001 Chateau Rieussec 2000 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg SGN 1999 Chateau Rieussec 1999 Chatuea d'Yquem 1999 Von Schubert Maximin Grunhaus Abtsberg Riesling Beerenauslese 1996 Chateau Tirecul Monbazillac La Gravieres 1996 Zind-Humbrect Gewurtzraminer Heimbourg VT Most domestic dessert wines don't have enough acidity to balance their sweetness and an awful lot of them taste grapey. Phelps, Kiona, and Clos du Bois all make dessert wines I like, but with 99 Rieussec at $22/375ml, 96 Tirecul Monbazillac at $20/500ml it's hard to justify buying the domestic offerings. Even the 99 d'Yquem is going for $68/375ml with delivery in the fall/winter.

People are afraid of wine with any residual sugar for the same reason they afraid of any sort of rose. People seem to think off-dry wines and pink wines are less serious for some reason. Some people never get over that, but then again there are an awful lot of people who say 'I only drink red wine!'. Whatever, more for the rest of us.

I have no idea, but when you find one let me know and I'll start making a regular pilgrimage - frighteningly enough the best we've got in Napa is safeway.

I posted about the my meal at Mina a month ago here. I'm much more willing to forgive the awful performance by the front of the house than I am the kitchen sending out dishes that were poorly made. I think that Michael Mina is destined to end up like Charles Nob Hill, Elizabeth Daniel, Jardiniere, and Fleur de Lys as a high end restaurant turning out unremarkable food for tourists, people on expense accounts, and clueless diners trying to impress their dining companions by taking them somewhere expensive. Granted two of the four restaurants on that list closed in the past year, but maybe that leaves a void for Michael Mina to fill in the bottom rung of the SF haute cuisine landscape.

I haven't been to the CIA since I lived out that way, none of the meals I've had there were at all remarkable. Hopefully things have improved, I've had lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery there a few dozen times, it's always been good.

I would seriously rather eat sushi at safeway than go back to Michael Mina...

Pilar is worth a visit for lunch, there are half a dozen places I'd rather have dinner.

I purchase globally, but I don't think I'd be thrilled to have Egly-Ouriet offering a Malbec from Argentina...

This was until recently the standard practice in Chianti, Douro, and others. Most really old (50+ yrs) vineyards are harvested this way - Ridge Geyserville is a good example.

You've really never heard of a field-blend? There are a fair number of vineyards with different grapes planted somewhat at random and there is little choice but to crush the different grapes together. Other times it's just a choice made by the winemaker when the grapes arrive, some people believe that the blended wine will be better if the grapes spend their entire fermented lives together so to speak. But in general, especially with newer vineyards the grapes are all vinified seperately and then blended later.

I somehow suspect the state of texas feels Coca Cola would be better for school kids than Gallo wine...

La Toque is good, but it's a far cry from the FL some of the dishes I've had there have been excellent, others were just ok. There really isn't anything else at that level out here. Gary Danko is good but has a much more urban feel to it, it's a great restaurant but it's a completely different environment. Russ Parsons has recommended the Farmhouse Inn in the Russian River Valley a few times, I still haven't gotten around to going there, but it seems like a reasonable option.

Charles Nob Hill has closed.

I'd agree with TongoRad - go for an off-dry Vouvray.

Are you staying in/around Yountville or are you driving up from eastbay/SF?

Call them every day and ask if there are any cancellations for the 27th, also ask to be put on the waiting list.

It's the honor system for the most part. A fair number of older vineyards are planted with multiple grapes next to eachother and they are harvested together, so the best guess that can be made is to figure out roughly what vines are in the vineyard and estimate what the %'s will be in the wine. Other blends are done in the winery before fermentation, grapes come in and are blended either as must (after being crushed) or as whole clusters (before being crushed), the %'s are done based on weight with the grape solids included. Other times the grapes are vinified seperately and blended after the wine has spent some time in barrel, so the percentages are figured without the grape solids. I'm not sure if there is a rule that says the 75% must be calculated one way or the other, anyone know?

Yep.

You've got things are mixed up in your explanation - your example is correct when you look at the rules regarding putting the appellation on the label, 85% minimum from the AVA (stags leap or howell mtn, etc), 75% minimum to use the county name (napa, sonoma, etc). If you list a vinyard name then it must be 95% fruit from that vineyard. Toliver's question was what makes a Cabernet a cabernet or a Merlot a merlot - for that it's just 75% of the wine be made with the grape on the label. Vintage dates require that 95% of that wine is from the vintage listed on the label.