Bassins & Jaleo

Eric and I trekked out to MacArthur last night with Derek in tow. D met Andy, the new WineBoyfriend, and I told him about the Shiraz tasting and the '97 Henscke disappointment. He said if we ever got a corked bottle from him again to return it (and that we shouldn't returned it this time.. wouldn't have done that without the invitation; I find that too gauche). Picked up a few more bottles of wine for the Boston trip this weekend. (Are we really going into the city to find the Porn Star wine, Eric??)

Afterwards we shared a bottle of Finca Luzon's "Altos de Luzon" '02 Jumilla last night along with some well-paired tapas at Jaleo. Big juicy plum right up front on the nose, blackberries, a hint of red raspberry, sensual cassis with the right ammount of spice. It's a blend of Monastrell (50), Cab Sauv (25) and Temp (25), you could pick up the varietal characterstics if you knew how to extract them but it was very well integrated. Has the right structure that aging would improve. Our bartender friend at Jaleo who has yet to fail us reccommended it over the Toro we were looking at, saying it was a steal for the price (it was!), rated in the low 90s by Parker.

The spicy Mourvedre played exceedingly well off the Tempranillo.. would be interested in trying a M-T wine without the Cab. Suggestions, anyone?

We also shared an entire 500ml bottle of Olivares Dulce Monastrell. It was great, like sucking blueberry, vanilla, berry syrup.. But it was just too much. A glass each would've sufficed. My taste buds were FRIED by the end of the night; the Monastrell ended up tasting like syrupy zinc. uggh. lesson learned.

Shiraz Tasting

Saturday evening was the Shiraz Tasting.

We tasted in four phases; a sparking to start, two wines to test the waters for people who werne't familiar with the varietal, a 5 bottle blind (listed below in rough preferred order), two nice older wines and an Austrailian (but not shiraz) port.

Phase One: MAJELLA Sparkling Shiraz Coonawarra 2003

Phase Two: JACOB'S CREEK Shiraz South Australia Reserve 2002, STEP RD. Shiraz Langhorne Creek 2003

Phase Three:MARQUIS PHILIPS Shiraz South Eastern Australia 2004, HENTLEY FARM Shiraz Barossa Valley 2004, THORN-CLARKE Shiraz Barossa Shotfire Ridge 2004, TORBRECK Shiraz Barossa Valley Woodcutter's 2004, THORN-CLARKE Shiraz Barossa Terra Barossa 2004

Phase Four: HARDYS Shiraz McLaren Vale Eileen Hardy 1997, HENSCHKE Shiraz Eden Valley Mount Edelstone Vineyard 1995 (so sad.)

Phase Five: JONESY Old Tawny Port NV

Mission: Successful. Tasting Achieved.

Editorial notes:

Eric and I went to MacArthur earlier in the day and procured the last of the wines we needed, making last minute substitutions, then to Whole Foods for some more pairing cheeses (including a great lavendar and anise chevre specifically to pair with the Eileen Hardy's). Eric came up with a system as above. I'd found a sparkling shiraz there (we'd been looking for one to no avail but I stumbled over it just by chance.. good stuff) so we started people out with that like you might do to start any party, tasted one mass produced relatively low-ender and a more unique one to warm up the palatte, followed by a 5 bottle blind of '04s (all but one were Barossa), the two older wines, and an Aussie Port.

The belles of the ball were the '03 Step Road Langhorn Creek ($20, though it was on sale, that was the unique one in the second phase), the surprising $13 Marquis Philps from the Southeast (the odd man out in the Barossa blind), and the lovely Eileen Hardy 1997 Barossa. Sadly, the '95 Henschke, the oldest and priciest of the lot, which was supposed to be phenomenal turned out to be corked. :(

The only thing I can say on this account is that at least we didnt' get the E&E Black Pepper and had that be corked. I might actually have cried. Also there was a brief mention of the Penfold's Grange and I'm likewise glad I didn't get that. See, given Murphy's law, no matter what high ender we got it would've ended up being the corked bottle. I was crushed enough that the nice 1995 Henschke turned out to be corked... not sure I couldn't survived that if it had been the Grange. The cork crumbled coming out and we ended up straining it into the decanter. As soon as I started pouring and got a whiff, I knew :(

Also, the food was phenomenal. What Epicurean friends I have! May end up posting something resembling actual tasting notes later if I can decipher my scrawls.

Eric's Birthday in Atlantic City

2/13 - Retrospective: On a new, exciting episode of "The AC.."

Headed up to Atlantic City for the weekend with The Usual Suspects for Eric's birthday.
Car ride up was uneventful, included fresh mango and featured an exciting and effectual short-cut using the Turnpike.

The Borgata was beautiful; far nicer than any other big hotel/casino I'd seen in the AC on my previous trip there with Anne something like five years ago (Caesars, Trump, Ballys, Tropicana..?).

I looked for a picture of the gorgeous multi-coloured blown-glass candeliers and sconces but no luck... best I could do was part of the room, which was great.

And I'll just link you to Suilan http://www.theborgata.com/main.cfm?Section=dine01&TabType=A&SideNav=finedining&Content=dine01c , the wonderful restaurant where we had dinner. We had a few bottles of very nice wine (I highly reccommend Rocket Science's Proprietary Red.. there's a fun story in here about how I made the Somelier blush - ok it's really short, he hung out at our table talking shop for a while until I asked him if he was single), I had some phenomenal Diver Scallops with black truffle oil, and Eric and I shared the Chocolate Lovers plate which came with obligatory birthday candle and a little cup of flaming liquid.

The full story, Eric, is that while you were getting your shoes shined, Derek and I snuck off, found the restaurant and requested they make something flammable with alcohol for you to blow out. I'd suggested something floating in a martini, but whatever they could do would be great. When we hooked back up with you and wandered the casino we totally feigned not knowing where the place was and let you find it. Derek shot me a look as we were walking toward it and I asked if you knew where it was, anyhow, as we hadn't seen it, and I had to jab him in the kidney. Ahh, we love you, "Stu. "

Retired to the room for a bit to work through our food comas, then back to the floor for more gambling. I won 60$ on a few spins at Roulette and then the table cooled and I decided to cut and run before I started to loose. Consequently I return in victory, instead of defeat. Helen, sadly, is in the red, as is Eric, but Derek is up (by less than me) and the big winner of the weekend was David who managed to beat my profit by 100$ on a sweet run at blackjack.

I got to watch Eric masterfully play blackjack and craps, and he even put down money on me (I still maintain he profited off of me) this morning when the well-meaning dealer asked if I was shooting and pushed me the dice. I managed to throw the poor little guys off the table three times in one turn. You'd think I didn't normally handle dice!

(While we didn't play poker, I imagine Eric and I would've looked something like this..)

INXS was playing Sat night and after it let out there was a party at the Gypsy Bar where David, Helen and I visited for a Pomegranete Margarita (eh. better than any of the swill on their wine list.. ugh.. wishing tree... *shudder*) and listened briefly to a pretty cool cover band.


Where I found this, but was unable to take it home. (What do you mean, you don't have any girly Mediums???)


Woke up, leisurely showered in the ginormous bathroom, packed our stuff back into the cars. We partook of the experience that is the Borgata Buffet (I think I can count on one hand the number of buffets I've been to, and this one was by far the best. Eric has dragged me far worse places than this.. there were various stations for making omelets, waffles, etc.. they even had lox and gelato! All said and done this place was not disturbing at all. Unlike Country Buffet (*shudder*). Some more putzing about at the craps table, then, before cashing out and heading home.

Snow added a little time onto our return trip, and the AC Expressway was one-lane and a little crappy even at 3 in the afternoon, but we made it back to my place in something like 3 1/2 hours? We even rocked out to American Idiot on the way back, a great call by Eric.

Nice evening vegging with Court and Peter, including Thai takeaway a passable Shiraz (that was twice as better than the shit I got at the B Bar.. feh.), and some totally gratuitous viewing of the Shakespearean trainwreck that is Ten Things I Hate About You (what can I say? I'm a sucker for Heath Ledger and Taming of the Shrew).

Excellent Weekend = Mission Accomplished!

Retrospective: Eric's Birthday

2/13/06 - Retrospective

For Eric's birthday proper on Monday we hit Grapeseed where Derek and I tasted our way through a well-balanced and light Pinot from Mt. Carmel, and Eric's unwitting repeat of the Edge Cab we'd had a few months back and he's forgotten till I showed up and reminded him (massive Eucalytus, big nasty slut of a Napa Cab.. needs. food.), erm... Derek got a Sonoma Cab I'd had doubts about and I turned out to have had foresight on that.. I had the David Bruce Petite Syrah which was full of nice dark fruit and moderate structure but too subtle for what I'd wanted.. I should've just hit up a Pinot if I'd wanted something that light (Derek unfairly swayed me when I walked in the door) or just gone for the Shiraz but I pussed out.

I made up for it with an Alexander Valley Cab that Derek and I both agreed was pretty sexy (nice traditional red raspberries, a firm structure with the AlexVal characteristic terroir that was the sell on this one for me). The real winner of the night was Eric's choice of the Columbia Crest Walter Clore, Columbia Valley CA 02 Bordeaux blend (mostly Cab with some Merlot). We shared a bottle of that between the three of us, Eric and I split some incredible fois gras that struck a great note with the wine, bringing out the earthier notes. The raspberries vied with a darker, juicier black cherry fruit and the french oak pulled it all together and infused it with a mocha-y husk (reminding me ever so slightly of the Rocket Science we'd had a few days ago.. only that one was more chocolate than coffee, and about twice as big and brawny). Just looked it up and it's apparently ranked #33 on WS top 100 of the year. It took maybe twenty minutes for them to find in their cellar but it was well worth the wait. Good call, Eric!

P.S. As part of my V-D pity party I picked up a bottle of Sequoia Grove '02 Cab . Love me that Rutherford dust. [2/28: Last week at the Fine Wine Napa Cab/Meritage tasting I NAILED a Rutherford Cab at first sniff. I was beside myself with joy, almost squirming in my chair. That may be my first blind ID of a sub-AVA!!]