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I opened two of the three wines that rbarclay sent me recently. We opened the Stift Klosterneuburg when we went out to eat with Kim's dad while he was visiting; the wine was subtle and deep, and paired marvelously with just about anything we threw at it. We opened the Schilcher at home for salmon. Fantastic pairing, and the wine was great on its own; it would easily the best rosé i've ever had, except it isn't actually a rosé. To close the Austrian theme, i had a bottle of Wild Horse's `03 Blaufränkisch [PDF] (this varietal is called Lemberger in Austria and Germany). All i remember now about it is really liking it; i might have to open up the `04 to refresh my memory... nah, i'll let it sit.

Other recent wines include: d'Arenberg `03 The Laughing Magpie Shiraz-Viognier, a beautiful wine which seemed to completely coat my tongue with its flavor; Pezzi King `01 Dry Creek Old Vine Zinfandel, which was on sale for $10 at Lunardi's (and as a big fan of Dry Creek wines and old vine zins, i had to buy it), which was a total steal for what we got; and tonight we opened Burrell School `02 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which took about 30 minutes to open up. Really tasty, good fruit, easy tannins.

I also must mention attending the Charbonofest at Nonno's last weekend, where i sampled charbono from at least a dozen wineries (and we met harunoame for the first time!). Having all the variety really cemented its status as my favorite varietal (despite Bonny Doon still having no idea what to do with it). I came home with a bottle of Dunnewood 1996 Charbono Port [PDF], which was completely irresistible.

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Waaah! I want wine! Whiiiiine!

Surely you must be able to purchase something decent in that godforsaken desert where you live.

Actually, I was shocked...SHOCKED I TELL YOU...at how hard it was to find a decent wine in LA. I spent an entire afternoon driving around trying to locate some fine vino to take to a friends house, only to keep coming up dry at every store I went to. I finally wound up at Trader Joe's.

Pathetic.

Depressing. What's the wine scene like in EC?

We have an excellent wine shop in town, which also carries imported beer and top-shelf rums. Minneapolis has a good selection of wine merchants as well, and is within easy driving distance.

Well dammit woman, next time you are up, we'll have a tasting!

Sounds like you've got a prefectly good whine there already. ;)

Why yes, I am a bastard.

We, (

harunoame and I) had a wonderful time with you all that afternoon. Sadly she wasn't feeling well so we departed right after you, leaving alas most of my 2000 Margeaux to the Nonno's peeps. But hey, that's what good wine is for. It was a lovely afternoon though. :)

I found a 10 year old bottle without a price label in a Harris Teeter grocery story in Virginia (H T's owner's son was a wine person so they had better than average selections). I offered $10; they took my address so they could refund me if the price had been less (I kept saying, "oh, don't bother."). I went home and read up on it but the bottle had aged well and was marvelous. According to Parker, it doesn't always age well.

I suspect it was someone's special order that got unloaded at the wrong store.

It was lovely meeting you guys - I had a great time.

The Laughing Magpie is a great wine, I had about 4 bottles of that in STL and slowly worked my way through them. They also make a nice Viognier called "The Money Spider" and a noble rot riesling that is killer.

WHY DID YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE BOTRYTISED RIESLING NOW I HAVE TO BUY IT ARGH ARGH

I think it's called "Noble One" if I remember.

d'Arenberg has a lot of nice wines with great names. "The Last Ditch" was one of my favorites.

Actually, my favorite of theirs is the d'Arry's Original Grenache-Shiraz.

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Um, Charbono

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