mjm

The Dumol RR Pinot 2010 I had recently was stellar. Quite subdued and reminded me of Keefer fruit.

In addition to my addiction to anything from Sojourn, I have recently fallen deeply in lust with the Pinots being produced by Zepaltas.

As for Shiraz recs. in Margaret River, I would say if you are going for a more fruity, less restrained and less Rhone style you will enjoy most of the fiun producers down there. If you are looking for more strangulation and the associated spice and plum you may want to tack on a stop to the Barossa for a different spin on Australian Shiraz.

mjm

Any of you guys get out to Tokyo? Have a mean cellar here and I DO drink more than a bottle per person when pouring.

dhammer53

I've heard of Sojourn.

In June 2013, we're having WineDo 6 in New York City. Nothing like a bunch of Flyertalkers getting together to drink good wine and talk miles and points. The thread will appear in Community early next year. You're all invited.

By the way, there's a wine board some of you should check out. It's www.wineberserkers.com They talk wine the way we discuss miles and points. A few of those guys even post over here.

Eastbay1K

That sounds just downright crazy!

Back to the topic, my last wine was 2 winery stops - Broc Cellars and Donkey & Goat - took the dog for a walk to the wineries. Both had something in the SF Chron's Top 100 this week.

tomsundstrom

Great bottle of wine in its prime. How is this drinking?

slawecki

i thought chave was a wine maker guy in rhone, not a designated place.

gfunkdave

This thread really makes me wish I

a) had a job so I could spend money on good wine;
b) had a significant other who liked wine so I could say, "Hey, let's have some wine tonight!"

VivoPerLei

You know, I drank almost nothing before my early forties because I never splurged on a bottle. If I did buy a bottle of wine it was usually something cheap, leading me to believe that I didn't like wine. It was only after I bought one of those great, orgasmic Burgundies that I thought wow, this is just unbelievable..My wife professed the same thing until I would say, okay, try this and this and this, and then tell me you still don't like wine

gfunkdave

That's the thing - my friend with the 4000 bottle wine cellar has poured Grand Cru Burgundies for me on multiple occasions (we had a 1997 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Richebourg for my birthday this year). He also pours old Bordeaux wines. I love them, but can't afford them...and I probably wouldn't spend the money even if I could afford it.

I would love to find some good-for-everyday-drinking French wines in the $20-50 range. I really like the old world winemaking style more than the new world one.

Where can I learn more about French wines? I am of course particular to pinot noir, but there are no varietals I dismiss out of hand.

Incidentally, if you're in the market for an American pinot noir, check out Freeman and Shea. Freeman is, according to the aforementioned wine friend, the best bang for your buck in US pinot noir. Shea is his favorite US pinot noir. I love them both. Freeman's Akiko's Cuvee and Keefer Ranch cuvee are great. Shea's Block 7 and Homer are outstanding.

nerd

This makes no sense. There's literally tons (or I should say millions of gallons) of wine to enjoy without ever coming close to splurging.

mjm

Freeman is a big favorite of mine too. I am biased because Akiko is a friend Gald to hear others talking her up too. The Keefer Ranch grapes are used by several places and are consistently good. There are several amazing producers in Sonoma and points north. Sojourn, Freeman and of late, Zepaltas are huge favorites of mine.

dhammer53

mjm introduced me to Freeman last year. Akiko was a lovely host. If you call Dick Shea, you may be able to set up an appointment. I drank a Shea a couple of years back. Worth every penny.

Why don't you come to WineDo? The minimum buy in is $35.

whackyjacky

I'm sampling my 97s. For some reason the Groth regular bottling was better than the Reserve. We all thought so. Same storage ? 5 or 6 years ago there was no comparison - the Res hands down.

gfunkdave

She and Ken are both lovely hosts. They gave us a great tour a few years ago. My aforementioned wine friend and a couple of our friends go on a trip once a year or so, generally to wine country. One year we went to Sonoma.

So, my understanding is that Dick Shea doesn't do tours or appointments, but my aforementioned wine friend was persistent (and bought several cases) and got us an appointment when we went to the Willamette Valley a couple years ago. I got to taste Block 5 and Homer out of the tanks.

I'd love to come to the WineDo. The one in June?

VivoPerLei

I guess the point I was trying to make is that knowledge is key. You can certainly get good wine cheaply, provided you know what to buy. I know now that I don't need to spend much to get a nice Rioja, Minervois, or CDR, for example. When I first started buying wine (in the pre-internet days) I didn't know what I was buying, I was just trying to get something cheap, and more often than not I came home with crap. That created an impression that lasted a long time.