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the beauty of alsatian rieslings is their relative dryness to most german and austrian rieslings and the lack of overpowering sweetness.  while the nahe region of germany is much better than other german rieslings (particularly those using weingut methods), my personal tastes certainly prefer alsatians so naturally, i am going to have that preference.  regardless though, beyond my personal tastes, i don't think you would find many who believe donnhoff belongs atop st. hune.  joh jos prum auslese, keller g-max, egon muller all could be argued as better than donnhoff along with being german.

but to each his own.

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45 minutes ago, sidis said:

the beauty of alsatian rieslings is their relative dryness to most german and austrian rieslings and the lack of overpowering sweetness.  while the nahe region of germany is much better than other german rieslings (particularly those using weingut methods), my personal tastes certainly prefer alsatians so naturally, i am going to have that preference.  regardless though, beyond my personal tastes, i don't think you would find many who believe donnhoff belongs atop st. hune.  joh jos prum auslese, keller g-max, egon muller all could be argued as better than donnhoff along with being german.

but to each his own.

TBH some of the best rieslings I've ever tasted came from Austria (Heidi Schrock had some stellar wines years ago).  I don't drink them often, and frankly just tossed out Donnhoff because you were so unequivocal about Trimbach being the best. 

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I love Donnhoff but don't think they age especially well.  So now I drink them young, problem solved.  Egon Muller in on another level, but so is pricing.  G-Max is out of my orbit, but I make do with Keller's lesser bottlings.  For me, it doesn't get better than Clos St Hune.  I think people tend to drink Hune too young.  They can be delicious but they can also be pretty austere in their youth.  Search out well-stored bottles from the '70s, '80s, and '90s to see what the wines are capable of.  

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Any recommendations from the wineries on this list?
https://www.wineroad.com/events/wine-food-affair/?section=wineries
 
Gonna be in Sonoma that weekend and thinking about doing this event with some friends.

Most of those are kind of touristy but after a quick scan I think maybe (from memory) Dutton, Martinelli, and Papapietro Perry might be worth a visit.

There are so many really great wineries in Sonoma and many will offer a much more personal experience than in Napa. I think that wine road event would be more Napa-like (crowded, commercialized) than setting up appointments or dropping into smaller tasting rooms.

If you haven’t already I would highly recommend you visit Arista. It’s on Westside Road in the heart of RRV (right by Williams-Selden and Rochioli). Great wines, and the owners are Longhorns.
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Trying to get into wine a bit and develop that palette. I purchased a Meiomi Pinot Noir on my lunch break today as it seems like a decent starter to everything I've seen. How often do y'all have a glass? I told myself I wasn't going to have more than 3 or 4 glasses in a normal week, but I know that puts me in the lightweight category.

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21 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Trying to get into wine a bit and develop that palette. I purchased a Meiomi Pinot Noir on my lunch break today as it seems like a decent starter to everything I've seen. How often do y'all have a glass? I told myself I wasn't going to have more than 3 or 4 glasses in a normal week, but I know that puts me in the lightweight category.

If you're only having 3-4 glasses a week you are going to want to invest in a Coravin or at least some sort of vacu-seal.  Most every day wines won't keep more than a day or two after being opened, and even the more expensive, hardier wines will lose a lot within just 24 hours.

I used to drink a lot of wine (half a bottle most nights at least 3-4 times a week) but after dropping a bunch of weight several years back my wine (and other) drinking has tapered off considerably.  These days if I have wine it's usually only once a week or less, but I'll typically finish (or get close to finishing) the bottle(s) with SWMBO and whoever else might be with me.

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1 hour ago, DDD Dad said:

If you're only having 3-4 glasses a week you are going to want to invest in a Coravin or at least some sort of vacu-seal.  Most every day wines won't keep more than a day or two after being opened, and even the more expensive, hardier wines will lose a lot within just 24 hours.

I used to drink a lot of wine (half a bottle most nights at least 3-4 times a week) but after dropping a bunch of weight several years back my wine (and other) drinking has tapered off considerably.  These days if I have wine it's usually only once a week or less, but I'll typically finish (or get close to finishing) the bottle(s) with SWMBO and whoever else might be with me.

I wouldn't waste Coravin gas (which is expensive) on a Meomi Pinot.

To OP --no offense,  I'm just not a Pinot drinker.  I will say that Meomi = former Wagner wine = sugary. For starting out, try some different varietals or blends and see what you like.  If you don't want to jump headlong into Napa cabs, go to Costco and get a couple of Bordeaux reds (which are blends and will be softer than most Napa cabs) and work your way up from there.  

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I wouldn't waste Coravin gas (which is expensive) on a Meomi Pinot. To OP --no offense,  I'm just not a Pinot drinker.  I will say that Meomi = former Wagner wine = sugary. For starting out, try some different varietals or blends and see what you like.  If you don't want to jump headlong into Napa cabs, go to Costco and get a couple of Bordeaux reds (which are blends and will be softer than most Napa cabs) and work your way up from there.  

 

QFT

 

Meiomi does not show much Pinot Noir typicity. It’s fine for an easy drinking entry wine but if you want to have a better sense of the different varietals I’d see if you can get a good person at your local wine shop to pick out some Oregon PN’s in the $25-40 range. They will be slightly leaner than the Russian River Valley and Sonoma styles (which can be candied and by far are the most fruit forward of the major regions) and perhaps a little fruitier (less earthy) than most of Burgundy.

 

For cab and cab blends the quoted post is a good start as well. For others I would suggest trying some Languedoc blends (Grenache, Syrah, And other varietals typically) before moving on to more expensive Rhône wines.

 

Unless you like fruit bombs I would suggest generally avoiding much of Australia.

 

The journey of learning what you like is really the best part of it. It took me about 15 years to feel confident in my own opinions and I’m still learning new things all the time (e.g. Sancerre rouge).

 

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Something I used to do (and should probably do again) is to keep some empty half bottles around.  Open a full bottle, immediately decant half of it into the empty half bottle and press the cork in flush.  Most wines will stay good indefinitely.

Some good advice here.  DDD, there's some great stuff coming out of Australia these days.  Syrah that's more like aromatic N Rhone than the high-octane Parker stuff.  Keep an eye out for anything imported by Vine Street.

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On 8/23/2019 at 3:05 PM, deac_tracy said:

Any recommendations from the wineries on this list?

https://www.wineroad.com/events/wine-food-affair/?section=wineries

 

Gonna be in Sonoma that weekend and thinking about doing this event with some friends.

Seghesio has a great Zin if you're into that.  One of my favorite.

It's also just down the road from one of my all-time favorite restaurants - Willi's Seafood & Raw Bar in Healdsburg.

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On 8/13/2019 at 10:54 AM, DDD Dad said:

TBH some of the best rieslings I've ever tasted came from Austria (Heidi Schrock had some stellar wines years ago).  I don't drink them often, and frankly just tossed out Donnhoff because you were so unequivocal about Trimbach being the best. 

Going to a place this Friday night and likely going to order a Reisling.  Any thoughts on:

2013 Von Winning, Pechstein, GG. Pfalz

or

2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheim Goldloch, Auslese Nahe

or 

1999 or 2000 Trimbach Clos St Hune?  

Edited by pepper brooks
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1 hour ago, pepper brooks said:

Going to a place this Friday night and likely going to order a Reisling.  Any thoughts on:

2013 Von Winning, Pechstein, GG. Pfalz

or

2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheim Goldloch, Auslese Nahe

or 

1999 or 2000 Trimbach Clos St Hune?  

I haven't had any of these but from what I have read they all sound spectacular.

Edited by DDD Dad
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1 hour ago, pepper brooks said:

Going to a place this Friday night and likely going to order a Reisling.  Any thoughts on:

2013 Von Winning, Pechstein, GG. Pfalz

or

2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheim Goldloch, Auslese Nahe

or 

1999 or 2000 Trimbach Clos St Hune?  

Would love to try that Von Winning.  

Both those vintages of Hune are really good, but the 2000 is shaping up to be a classic.  And it's approachable now.  I have a 1973 Hune on tap for Friday night and am psyched.

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10 hours ago, pepper brooks said:

Going to a place this Friday night and likely going to order a Reisling.  Any thoughts on:

2013 Von Winning, Pechstein, GG. Pfalz

or

2013 Schlossgut Diel Dorsheim Goldloch, Auslese Nahe

or 

1999 or 2000 Trimbach Clos St Hune?  

I just had the 1999 Clos St Hune and it was drinking beautifully.  Still crisp and acidic even at 20 years old.  I haven't had the other two, but for the von Winning, GG is basically the Riesling equivalent of Grand Cru in Burgundy, so you probably can't go wrong there.  The Schlossgut Auslese is a late harvest, hand picked wine that will be higher in residual sugar and have low alcohol, but will probably be fantastic, especially if it's their gold cap bottling.

I think you have no other choice but to get all three and do side-by-sides.

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6 hours ago, b_p said:

I just had the 1999 Clos St Hune and it was drinking beautifully.  Still crisp and acidic even at 20 years old.  I haven't had the other two, but for the von Winning, GG is basically the Riesling equivalent of Grand Cru in Burgundy, so you probably can't go wrong there.  The Schlossgut Auslese is a late harvest, hand picked wine that will be higher in residual sugar and have low alcohol, but will probably be fantastic, especially if it's their gold cap bottling.

I think you have no other choice but to get all three and do side-by-sides.

Can't do that as we have a bunch of reds to take down as well, and not that many are drinking wine a this particular event.  But I like your thinking.  

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On 8/23/2019 at 2:05 PM, deac_tracy said:

Any recommendations from the wineries on this list?

https://www.wineroad.com/events/wine-food-affair/?section=wineries

 

Gonna be in Sonoma that weekend and thinking about doing this event with some friends.

Rockplie makes a solid red zone, but man that’s a pretty pedestrian list of participants, imo.  I would book individual tastings and go for more of an “experience” immersing into a few stand out places than hopping around on a who’s who of mediocrity.  Martinellli has a solid Pinot too.  

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On 8/27/2019 at 5:16 PM, creeper said:

Would love to try that Von Winning.  

Both those vintages of Hune are really good, but the 2000 is shaping up to be a classic.  And it's approachable now.  I have a 1973 Hune on tap for Friday night and am psyched.

we ended up going with the Von Winning with a grilled seafood tower as a second course.  It ended up being the "paring of the night".  The wine was spectacular, but it wasn't the wine of the night either.  We started with Peter Michael Sauvignon Blanc with chilled seafood towers, moved to the grilled tower with the Riesling.  as we were going to salads and hot apps we transitioned with a 2012 Dumol Pinot that many thought was the WOTN.  This was by far the least expensive wine we had, and despite the SOmm pushing wines well above it's price point I thought it was the perfect transition wine and my intuition was rewarded.  Everyone was scrambling to find out what the wine was and how to acquire it.  With the meat course we had a 100 point Parker Showdown between 2015 Dominus and 2015 Ridge Montebello.  The ridge was supposed to be a 2015 Spottswoode, but it was sold before we could get there to acquire that one.  I was not disappointed because to me the Ridge was the WOTN.  If you ever wondered what a "perfect" wine smells and tastes like, this is absolutely a phenomenal example.  

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11 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

I did a blind horizontal tasting years ago of 1999 top end Cali cabs. Ridge tied with Phelps Insignia beating out Screaming Eagle and Harlan.

Not surprising.  Phelps, Ridge and Shafer HSS all stand tall against the ultra expensive "cult cabs".  I did an Insignia retrospective a few years ago that went back all the way to 1976 when they barely even knew how to make wine and each of them would be amongst the best wines produced in California in any given year.  the 2002 and 1999 were absolute perfection.  

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