Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a Ruffino Chianti
Parallel Cabernet
and Rickenbacker Burgundy

Not to be a wine dork however most Red Burgundy wines are made from the Pinot Noir grape virdell.

So we all win....

Not dorky, go for it, Dave.

LOL!

I'm not proud, whatever is open, probably a gallon of Carlo Rossi Vin Rose' still floating around here somewhere!

Be careful guys. You are talking in a presence of a certified sommelier here.

I'm a restaurant guy, but more useful is that I lived for a couple years in San Francisco where wine was a way of life among the people I lived and worked with...and here's the best thing I learned after all those trips to the wine country and weekly blind tastings with bottles covered in aluminum foil: the wines that really blew us away often belied their price, pedigree or label---in a totally blind tasting, plain truth wins, and even the sommeliers often favored "lower end" wines.

Moral of the story? Go ahead and drink yourselves blind!

A Very Merry Christmas, Rickenbacker People

You are absolutely right Mark. I always try to help with selection, but my job is more like a skill to find our what the guest likes. But we are getting way of of the topic here.

Wine is fine, but likker is quicker!

Mark and Kris I agree 100%.

There are some $10.00 bottles that I enjoy as much as a $70.00 bottle.

I personal believe that the Alexander Valley in Sonoma Ca makes some of the best wines in the world. Mark I envy you for living (or used to), so close. Here in Penn., with a State liquor control board, it’s hard to get the good stuff, as a lot of the boutique wineries cannot ship into Penn.

What Forum am I on again,,,(sorry back to the Rics)

This is the Rickenwino Forum, right?

Right Jeff!

Every time I see a photo of the lovely Ms. Hoffs, I whine.

I used to--25 or so years ago--belong to the Sonoma County Farmlands Group (I think they were called)...at the time I lived in the OC, but about once every few months, they would invite us up to Sonoma Cty for private tastings. I remember bringing a number of cases home for later enjoyment. I acquired a taste for reds and certain champagnes (Iron Horse Brut being one), but eventually had to drop this pursuit because of problems with migraines, which are now under control, thank Bacchus.

Following this involvement with Sonoma County varietals, I had difficulty selecting good French vintages, which are of course the nouveau snob's choice. I found more disappointment than satisfaction with French wines, regardless of price. I continued with the California reds.

I relocated to Virginia briefly in the late '80s and was disappointed to find that California wines were taxed heavily in order to promote VA's own wine production, which in fact dated to before the Hrasthzy plantings in Sonoma--by almost 100 years!--having been first planted by one Thomas Jefferson (at Monticello) in Revolutionary times.

The VA wines were not bad, but seemed to be strong on white varietals at the time. I was glad for many things when I moved back to CA; KCRW, Sonoma varietals, and good weather being among them.

On to Brazil. I'm sure that in Rio and Sao Paulo, great wines are relatively easy to find, although paying for them is a challenge--Brasil tacks a 50% duty on, there are local taxes, prohibitive restaurant corkage fees, etc. California varietals--when they could be found--were often 5-10 times the price they were at Trader Joe's...

Where I lived, in a city in the Northeast, far from Rio or SP, there was one gourmet shop, and fortunately it was in my neighborhood. Called Magazzino (I don't know why), it stocked mostly Chilean and French wines, but occasionally a bottle of California white would show up (I don't know where the owner got 'em). The owner and his wife became good friends, and I remember one Friday night when we dropped by, and for $10.00 his wife prepared a large sampling for two of their olives, meats, cheeses, crackers and breads, and topped it off with two nice glasses of Buena Vista Chardonnay.

This evening stands out like a beacon atop mounds of very, very dull local food. I became a regular customer of theirs at that point.

Now I live 30 minutes south of the best wines in the USA. But I've only been up to Sonoma a half-dozen times. It has gotten huge and very commercial in the last quarter-century.

Is anyone here REALLY interested in it? I put a watch on it just in case. I might make a run at it.

What is it with bassist and wine? Or is it musicians all together?

I dunno. I'm a bourbon man myself.