The Official Wine Thread

gross. Did the guy from Banfi give the presentation?

oh right. he was in some sort of medical emergency, so couldnt make it. no wonder there were so many banfi wines. does banfi the winery have to with banfi the restaurant in the hotel school? oh and he also told us the story of how they acquired the 79 pichon comtesse. apparently in 89 when they were building the hotel school? and starting the wine program, somebody came to him saying that a guy from the late 20s who attended for 1 semester donated a bunch of wines when he died because he owned a wine shop (one of the first to import large quantities like the bordeaux first growths after prohibition). he wanted mutkoski to appraise the wines to sell them. mutkoski asked if he could have them for the class. the guy said no. so then mutkoski asked for a consulting fee. and the guy said no way we're paying you a consulting fee and left. a few days before class starts he gets a call from the same guy saying that somebody tried some of the wines and they were bad and he was wondering if mutkoski wanted to take them off his hands. mutkoski figured even if they were over the hill it would be a good experience for the class. so he sets off to rochester where all the wines are stored. he gets in the storage building, takes an elevator down two stories, and gets into the underground storage. he looks in and he sees a room as twice as big as the auditorium and realizes that it's all filled with wine. he thought maybe this is where all of rochester stores its wines. the guy he's with tells him that the wine went bad. so he walks up to a few palates? and finds chateau margaux, pichon comtesse, lafite rothschild, mouton rothschild, petrus, etc. all in pristine condition and in several vintages like 59, 57, etc. the guy asks him how much of it he wants and mutkoski says all of it. the guy retorts saying that the wine is bad, but mutkoski eventually convinces him to ship everything back to the school. a lot of the bottles were so old they needed to be corked and foiled. so he calls and gets corks and foils from every chateau except pichon comtesse. he contacts pichon comtesse and may de lencquesaing, who figures its a hoax, refuses. a burgundy distributor he knew tells mutkoski that he's actually eating with her in nyc in a few days and mutkoski tells him to bring her two bottles of 59 margaux newly corked and sealed. next day he gets a fax from comtesse saying that he's getting his corks and foils. apparently the pichon we had was the last of the wines from that stock and no more from now on i was planning on sneaking in for the bordeaux class for a tasting, but i guess not.

a shame on the medical thing, he is a great presentor. Hope all is well on his end. And yes, there is a relationship with Banfi - half of them went there for college.

Awesome story, too. Wish I was there to sample.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Altogether, seven cases arrived today. Cellar is packed to bursting and I still have about 50 bottles pending.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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HALP!
.
..

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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HALP!

Have them immediately forwarded to my address for proper safekeeping.



Oh, BTW, on Friday, the entire FOH staff is doing a tasting of the menu. The entire tasting menu, for free, plus wine pairings. All so we understand it better.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Oh, BTW, on Friday, the entire FOH staff is doing a tasting of the menu. The entire tasting menu, for free, plus wine pairings. All so we understand it better.

Noice!

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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Give me a list of sure winners, no more than $30 a bottle, drinking window starts now through 2012.

^ That's what I'm saying.

I've concluded that educating yourself on Burgs is best done on someone else's dime.

If you see any Burgs on Zachy's page, over the next couple days, post a link? I'm going for the mixed case this weekend. Also have to get Matt to put me together a mixed case from Kermit, in the new year, when I have made some room.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I've concluded that educating yourself on Burgs is best done on someone else's dime.

If you figure out a way to do that, plz. poast.

I think gome and I are going to Zachy's on Dec. 11, will take a look around then. Haven't been in several months. Been drinking up a 2004 plonk Bordeaux that I got tons of for practically nothing.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

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I've concluded that educating yourself on Burgs is best done by buying someone else's import selection.

ftfy

Originally Posted by Manton

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If you figure out a way to do that, plz. poast.

I think gome and I are going to Zachy's on Dec. 11, will take a look around then. Haven't been in several months. Been drinking up a 2004 plonk Bordeaux that I got tons of for practically nothing.

I recommended a Cote du Nuits from AF Gros, $32 and IMO worth a try. I'd like to pick some up myself.

and what is today in the wine world?

Originally Posted by gomestar

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I recommended a Cote du Nuits from AF Gros, $32 and IMO worth a try. I'd like to pick some up myself.

I picked up a couple of 2005 AF Gros Bourgnogne last week for about $31 each. Pretty drinkable. Interestingly though, I happened to have a bottle of 2006 Cambria Julia's Vineyard ($20) open as well so I did a side by side. Amazingly similar taste profiles, but the Cambria actually had a very slightly brighter fruit to it, which made it more interesting to me. Not a fruit bomb at all. In fact I was surprised how similar it was to the Burg over all.

I still have another bottle of the Gros. I'll probably take it to my sister's house for Thanksgiving next week.

Originally Posted by gomestar

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and what is today in the wine world?

Is today the release of the Beaujolais Nuveau?

Originally Posted by gomestar

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and what is today in the wine world?

WOTY announced, which = Saxum James Berry Vineyard Paso Robles 2007

Originally Posted by Mark from Plano

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Is today the release of the Beaujolais Nuveau?

this