High End Cellar Cleaning

Sunday. July 6, 2014

For some reason traffic to and from Santa Monica was a breeze today. Made a last minute decision to stay off the 10 which turned out to be a wise one. That freeway had a big accident and a few people traveling on it arrived late. I was expecting heavy traffic on the way back home because of the holiday weekend but there was less traffic than going to Santa Monica. I was so happy. Made for a very stress free drive.

I felt very flattered that Stan included me in this tasting. It was for his "high end" wine group and only Terry & I from the "Long Beach" wine group were asked to attend along with Greg who Stan met at my cellar cleaning a few weeks ago.  I knew the wines would be really good for this crowd. I have done some dinners with  a few of these people and have an idea of what they drink. Like Terry said "no grocery store wine people" here.

Everyone brought food dishes and Stan and Karen made Chicken with Leeks, Pulled Pork and as always rice.  Someone made a "Ahi Poke with Avocado" which was great. I could have ate that whole dish myself. My smoked salmon was a big hit. The Mac n'Cheese was good.

Again it was a very warm day. Breeze was a hit and miss item. But we did have a lot of shade to sit under. But no air flow. I am not a fan of hot weather. it just drains everything out of me.

I did not keep track of all the wines. I also did not taste most of the whites as a lot of them were "oaky" Chardonnays. Kistler. Peter Michaels, etc. Too much oak for me.

We left about 7:00 pm and Stan was still pulling out wine. He said if he remembered he would send me a list of everything that was opened. If he does I will re post the list of wines. I really liked the 89 Heitz and the Brunello along with the 79 BV.

1979 BV, George Latour, Private Reserve
1990 BV, Cabernet Sauvignon

1989 Heitz, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
1990 Heitz, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
1991 Heitz, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon

1992 Hess Collection, Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon
1994 Hess Collection, Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon

1995 St Clement, Oroppas, Napa, Red
1995 Robert Craig, Affiinity
1997 Castello Banfi, Brunello de Montalcino

1997 Opus
1999 Opus

1999 W.H. Smith, Helensthal Vineyard, Sonoma, Pinot Noir
1999 Dominus
1999 Chateau St Jean, Cinq Cepages
1999 Testarossa, Garys Vineyard, Pinot Noir
1999 Rochioli, Russian River,  Pinot Noir