The Official Wine Thread - Page 852

A couple this weekend:

For Masters Saturday and my first trip to the Jersey shore, the 89 Pichon Baron, which was wonderful, mature and ready to go.


And for Masters Sunday, the 1996 Ridge Montebello, which at 16 is still a baby.

Edited by coolpapa - 4/8/12 at 1:59pm

Good stuff! Always loved the 89 Pichon (more so than the 90) and I've been hearing good things about 96 Calis these days.

I've had the 90 PB a couple of times and thought it should be better than it was. It was, well, unremarkable. The 96 Monte is, I think, one of the best of the 90s, which is saying something given that all, save the 98, are really good.

I've had a 96 Ridge fairly recently- can't say I'd call it a baby.

A Ridge? Which Ridge? This one has at least a decade before it is mature.

Montebello. It was plenty mature. Perhaps even a bit "faded".

I'm not sure what you usually drink or what you like, but it sounds like you had a bad bottle. I've had the 96 many times, have many more in the cellar, and have probably had more Montebello than any other wine, and the 96 is far from mature, much less "faded". in fact, I'm not sure I can think of a Montebello that I've had that was "faded" and I've had them back to 1966. The 88 or the 80 might come closest.

I'll be working this fall's harvest in the SCM near Ridge. Really looking forward to doing a tasting and trying most of their wines. Especially Monte Bello!!

also will bear near Mount Eden. Looking forward to that as well.

It's a beautiful spot, enjoy it, but watch out for rattlesnakes!

A Bandol evening to help usher in summer - multiple bottles of Tempier rose '10 followed by Terrebrune rouge '04... so good.

Does anybody have an opinion on Gary Vaynerchuck? I have seen a few clips by him on youtube. He's silly, but for some reason I can't stop listening to his descriptions of the wines he tastes. I have no idea how he comes up with all of these different fruits and such. I mean, if I blind tasted a bunch of fruit I would probably have a hard time telling you what it was.

I find him unwatchable and incredibly annoying. I also think the vast majority of people who go on and on with descriptors for a given wine are completely full of shit.

That's what I am thinking, but then again I am not that experienced, but it seems way too nebulous.

his main stuff is not on youtube but on WineLibrary TV. I like that he is super knowledgeable about wine and is excited about it. There are a number of espisodes that are really interesting and informative, one that comes to mind is the episode on blending pinot noir clones, or his Kermit Lynch and Nicolas Joly interviews. But he does get a little ridiculous with some of the descriptors, and it's clear that he does that just to appeal to a particular audience. The best videos are either the interesting knowledge ones (like the clones), or where the ridiculous desriptors of a wine can be ignorned and instead one can focus on things like depth or balance (which he will sometimes talk about at length).

He is good for wine but bad for me, or at least that is how I see it.