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PCF Wine appreciation thread. (6 Viewers)

This is a pretty good everyday wine that won’t hurt the wallet

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allforcharity said:
Interesting how Primitive and Zinfadel are genetically identical, yet taste nothing alike. Terroir is real, folks!
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Both clones of Crljenak , very similar, but not identical. A good current summary:

'While Primitivo and Zinfandel are genetically similar, they are quite different grapes and produce distinctive wines. We asked wine club winery alumni Collier Falls Founder Barry Collier to share his insights....

“We have both the Zin and the Primitivo planted three feet apart, and they are totally different clusters of fruit and different berries too,” Barry says. The Zin cluster is huge and can weigh over a pound, with a big shoulder. The berries are the size of a thumbnail, so we get lots of juice off the Zin.

“But the Primitivo cluster is half that size, has no shoulder and the berries are the size of a pinky fingernail. There’s a lot less juice, but a lot more extracted tannins from seeds and skins.

“You can taste the difference in the wines. They are quite distinct, and I like to pour them side-by-side. The Zin is much more fruit forward, while the Primitivo is — I don’t want to say leaner, though I would say that of Italian Primitivo –but ours has more structure and backbone and is a bigger style wine. So Primitivo has aging capability that Zin does not. And as nice as the Zin tastes now, that is how the Primitivo will evolve in the bottle.”'
 
We've been on a lucky string of great wines lately (knock on wood, or vines).

First, this Maryhill Reisling, probably the best and broadest food-accompanying WA wine we've ever tasted:
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Then yesterday, my wife's birthday, we escaped for a day to St. Petersburg for lunch at the Oyster Bar and a visit to the James Museum of Western Art (highly recommended!), then Tampa for supper and an overnight stay at the Aloft Hotel to sleep it off. The Oyster Bar gave us a terrific Muscadet, great with her oysters and lobster roll, and my cod and chips:
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Tampa gave us an exceptional meal outside at Oak and Ola with a view highly reminiscent of Paris and a terrific pinot noir, Orrin Swift's Slander. Despite being a 2018 bottling, the wine had huge fruit for a pinot, and handled some exotic meatballs as well as a swordfish dish and an onglet. I'm a cheap SOB, but it was The Queen's b-day, so I shelled out the $90, which turned out to be well worth it.

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A couple of Calvados later, we navigated our way to the Aloft hotel safely, then home this morning with a stop at one of our favorite local places, Paris Bistro, for lunch.

Oak and Ola, btw, is the two-year-old restaurant owned and run by Anne Kearney, multiple James Beard Award winner, and former proprietor of Peristyle in New Orleans (which was for many years our favorite restaurant down there, and that's saying something!) Highly recommended if you're ever passing through Tampa...

And the Alfa even survived three valet parking adventures!

Boy, was it nice to get away from home for even one night...
 
pltrgyst said:
First, this Maryhill Reisling, probably the best and broadest food-accompanying WA wine we've ever tasted:
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If you're a fan of the sweeter white varietals like riesling and gewurztraminer, the Okanagan wine region of BC Canada (just north of similar growing areas of Washington State) produces some fantastic ones. I don't know if they get down to your area of the USA or through the popular subscription services. If they do, look for names like Quail's Gate and Sumac Ridge.
 
I really wanted to love this one. So highly rated, yet I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, this was complex and tasty. However, there was kind of a funky leather note that I have not yet come to appreciate in wine. At $58 per tiny bottle, I will pass next time.

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Big Jilm said:
I really wanted to love this one. So highly rated, yet I wasn't blown away. Don't get me wrong, this was complex and tasty. However, there was kind of a funky leather note that I have not yet come to appreciate in wine. At $58 per tiny bottle, I will pass next time.

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Probably needs more time?
 
Copper44 said:
Taking the wifey out next weekend, hoping to squeak a QPR out of this place. Not getting my hopes up. Not seeing anything myself, not great with varietals outside of France and USA though. Anyone wanna take the time to see if they see something worth going after? Willing to try anything.
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Wow -- limited geographical sourcing, typical steakhouse prices, and then some. Typically priced at 3.5 x retail. Some sections of the wine list offer under "Red" or "White" only the bottling name and vintage, without specifying the grape varietals. I mean, if you can't take the trouble to provide that information, why even have those wines on your list?

I hope the food is great enough to make it a memorable evening, but your checkbook's going to take hits from any wine or whiskies!
 
pltrgyst said:
Wow -- limited geographical sourcing, typical steakhouse prices, and then some. Typically priced at 3.5 x retail. Some sections of the wine list offer under "Red" or "White" only the bottling name and vintage, without specifying the grape varietals. I mean, if you can't take the trouble to provide that information, why even have those wines on your list?

I hope the food is great enough to make it a memorable evening, but your checkbook's going to take hits from any wine or whiskies!
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That’s what I was afraid of. I looked over what I knew, and everything is absurd. Was hoping maybe there was something worth dabbling in. I am guessing there is not thought.

Only thing is happy wife happy life I suppose.
 
$50, it’s not cheap but it’s not uncommon at a high end place. Still a lot better than having to choose a wine from their list and pay a significant markup.

Buying a high priced wine at a restaurant may be okay if looking to impress, but you’re past that. You’re going with your wife! Lol!
 
Mongoose said:
$50, it’s not cheap but it’s not uncommon at a high end place. Still a lot better than having to choose a wine from their list and pay a significant markup.

Buying a high priced wine at a restaurant may be okay if looking to impress, but you’re past that. You’re going with your wife! Lol!
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I'd rather pay $50 corkage for a really good wine I bring along compared to $100 of markup.
 
Mongoose said:
$50, it’s not cheap but it’s not uncommon at a high end place. Still a lot better than having to choose a wine from their list and pay a significant markup.

Buying a high priced wine at a restaurant may be okay if looking to impress, but you’re past that. You’re going with your wife! Lol!
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Lol all true. Next I think I need to call and find out if I can bring a bottle that’s been opened. If I’m taking something good I want to decant it for a couple hours then toss it back in the bottle.
 
pltrgyst said:
Wow -- limited geographical sourcing, typical steakhouse prices, and then some. Typically priced at 3.5 x retail. Some sections of the wine list offer under "Red" or "White" only the bottling name and vintage, without specifying the grape varietals. I mean, if you can't take the trouble to provide that information, why even have those wines on your list?
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Most good french wines don’t state the varietal and I wouldn’t expect to see them on the wine list.
 
Copper44 said:
Lol all true. Next I think I need to call and find out if I can bring a bottle that’s been opened. If I’m taking something good I want to decant it for a couple hours then toss it back in the bottle.
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A bottle that requires this level of care may be better enjoyed at home. You might consider bringing a nice bottle that needs less aeriation.

Whenever I’d bring a bottle or two, I’d request having them decant the wine upon seating.

I’ve had some servers fill the glasses too quickly. I don’t think that they were necessarily trying to hurrying me but rather thinking that they were providing good service. If this happens I polite tell them that we’d like to go more slowly.

Hope you and the lady have a great time!
 
Mitchell89 said:
Most good french wines don’t state the varietal and I wouldn’t expect to see them on the wine list.
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While that is generally true, a decent wine list would provide such information in the header for each geographical region. And this particular wine list includes multiple lists of wines from multiple countries with no useful information whatsoever. Even the Bordeauxs are not listed separately by left/right bank or outer districts.

Since it's a very upscale place, perhaps that's intentional, and they have multiple sommeliers available to interpret the list for all their patrons...
 

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