Wine Talk

Now, there's an app I might actually use! Anyone else here have experience with the Vivino app?

 

OK, a killer deal on a SOLID Chardonnay. $15/bottle when you take a case and free shipping.

http://shop.melvillewinery.com/2013-estate-chardonnay---vernas-p459.aspx

P.S. Got the go ahead from the boss so ordered a case.

 

Wifey and I are planning to have dinner at Scarpetta in the Cosmo next weekend. The tasing menu looks great and at $105 each seems reasonably priced given the menu options. They have an optional $65 add on for wine pairing. I looked up all of the bottles they serve with each course and none of them are over $20 each and all of the ratings are ehh..not bad not good.... thinking we might be better off spending that $130 on one nice bottle for the meal.

 

What's corkage there?

 

Not sure. Since it’s my “birthday dinner” I had considered bringing a nice bottle from home but then you have all of the travel and packing and this and that. I would guess it’s around $20-25 given what I’ve seen elsewhere but usually it’s more of a pain than it’s worth.

 

But think of the wallet pain with a glitzy Strip restaurant's markup.

We don't fly often with wine, so I get it. When we do it will just be a bottle or two, housed in one of those padded supposedly leak-proof bags, or more likely a winery shipping box. But we did one check a case going to Hawaii. Three couples and we rented a house together for a portion of that trip, so that was worthwhile.

 

Found this looking for a photo today. From a dinner party here last year:

 

Thursday dinner group tonight. Our wines:

 

I have the Vivino app on my phone. I find it very helpful to take a picture of the label and see what people have to say about that particular wine. Sometimes it's too time-consuming at the store; but i'll bring the bottle home and then read up on it.

I tried a really delightful and refreshing Pinot Gris the other week from the Williamette Valley (Oregon) called "PONZI". I also like a Barrel 27 (California) Syrah - "Right Hand Man".

 

I've maintained a small cellar of @ 50 bottles for years - general mix but, leaning heavier on Super Tuscans and Cali Cabs. We moved to Niagara wine country and opened our bnb just over two years ago. My goal was sample and drink a lot of local and do some comparisons to see how Niagara has come along. I have been so busy with my day job and our bnb that the while we live right on a vineyard with Cab Sav and Merlot in our backyard, these last two years have been the driest for me since I was about 15 years old Where I might have craved a nice right bank after work, it seems now it is more an ice cold beer or even plain water!

The one positive is some bottles got an extra year of sleep where I was once worried I might open them up too early!


Always 2018.....

 

CLE-GREG, MR FOOTBALL OHIO 1994

 

Sorry, the devil in me just had to post this photo of a recent Friday Pizza night. In the late 70’s it was derisively known as “Bologna Cola”. Sweet, just a hint of carbonation, it goes well with my favorite white pizza with chopped garlic, diced tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

 

Thanks to folks on the board who spoke highly of Jordan Cabernet, I ordered it for a dinner at the Circus Circus Steakhouse. My Cab-loving buddy from Calgary loved it.

Locally in the Philly area, the Commonwealth of PA controls both retail and wholesale distribution of spirits and wine. So Costco is out. We can go to Total Wine in Delaware for a better selection. I also get emails from a wine importer near Camden called Moore Brothers. https://store.moorebrothers.com. These guys have a store in New York and Wilmington and bring in wine from smaller producers.

 

Mr. Football OH and then he went north. That wine probably tastes like betrayal and Wolverine piss....

But seriously is it any good? Haha

 

Ponzi is a good house. One of Oregon's earliest adopters.

 

Terri scampered out to Big Chill -- what we call our wine unit -- and came back with these Viogniers to go with dinner: chicken roasted with cabbage and apple over farro.

A friend who cut his teeth in the industry at Jorian Hill and later Ken Brown brought the '07 by a few years ago, saying it was special. I'm usually death on domestic whites hanging around "too long." The lack of oak and little to no malolactic left this one as a Viognier, obviously an old one but still true to the varietal. Huge round, of course, dry, still a bit of minerality, subtle melon and honey.

I guess we've been here long enough that '12s are getting some years behind them. Now I'm a huge fan of Viognier on the white side of the world, as I just generally love Rhones. a-non-ah-mus can at times really push the fruit on its reds -- I'd call some of 'em Calirhonians -- but this is standard Viognier. Acid, flinty, touch of Sauv Blanc grassiness without the cat piss, blossoms, fresh melon and dry.

If the troops are fighting over Thanksgiving wine, just pull out the Viognier and shut 'em all up.

 

I used my phone to take pics of your pics via Vivino. Both are given very good (the first one) and outstanding (second one) by the app. I like viognier generally, haven't seen those before. In BC, we don't get a lot of California wines (except Napa cabs).

GG

 

We stumbled across a fair amount of CA wines -- even Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Ynez -- in Vancouver. I wish I could be more specific, but one was a bottle shop in Yaletown and -- an admittedly turista move -- Granville. As noted elsewhere, they had nutty markup.

 

I have used the Vivino app for years but I use it to keep track of all the wine that I have bought and tasted. It lets me store a picture of the bottle and I can put in my review and also where I purchased it and how much I paid. I would often forget what I thought about a certain wine and this app lets me always have that information at my fingertips. I use it mostly when I am wine shopping in a big store like Bevmo or Total Wines. I never can remember what I purchased before.

 

Yeah, you're right about private shops. I was thinking of the gov't stores, which is a large monopoly.

However, all wine/liquor stores have a wonderful, gov't 21% markup from their (gov't) wholesale price. Basically doubles the price that the bottle should be.

GG