Well I got it for my GF. I hope she likes it. Any other opinions?
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send me a bottle? :-)
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I've never shipped liquid before, but if it aint to hard then I will. :-)
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Use lots of bubblewrap and don't tell them you're shipping alcohol. Other than that, same as shipping anything else.
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use a styrofoam wine shipper. It'll make your life easier.

http://www.uline.com/BL_5450/Styrofoam-Wine-Shippers


~Vitis
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I have tons of shippers in my basement from 6 bottle ones to double magnums. I go by the liquour stores and take them if they have them. The come in handy!
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Just picked up some mouton cadet Bordeaux for a work xmas party. It's not a specialty wine, but for 13 bux a bottle, i figured it was better than the 2 buck chuck stuff :-)
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I really like the Louis Jadot Burgundy Village, especially 2005 for party drinker. At around $12 or under it is solid buy and shows nice fruit for money. Just about anyone is going to like it and it's better than manipulated crap from the New World...
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Cold and snowy here and I have the weekend to myself, so time to do a little cooking and drink some wine. Heres the weekend VanDamage so far.

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2005 Dunham Cabernet XI, Columbia Valley
Enjoyed this on Friday night with steak and frites. So Im a little bias on this one. We distribute the Dunham wines and I know the winemaker/owner very well. Due to this I have had the cab 40+ times in various vintages and done full verticals several times. That being said, I was very impressed with this bottle. Extremely clean aromatics of dark cassis and oak, rich and dense in the mouth with more black fruit, a touch of sweet oak and a light herbal note. The oak and the tannins are already well integrated and the acidity is very fine. This was a realy great bottle of wine and I feel like one of the best Dunham cabs to date. Showing great compared to my last tasting 3mos ago. If you want to know what Washington tastes like, this would be a great bottle to try.


1998 La Bastide Blanche Bandol Cuvee Fonteneau
Drank with ground buffalo burgers. What could be better than 10yr old Bandol? Well, lots of things but this is still pretty good. The importer offered us 10cs of this aged stock earlier this year, and after we opened a bottle, well lets just say, very little of it made it into the marketplace. Owned by the Bronzo brothers who also have Chateau des Baumelles in their stable, the Cuvee Fonteneau is usualy 100% Mourvedre but im not exactly sure on this vintage. Initialy the nose was a touch tight, with red cherry and raspberry aromas with a touch of medicinal cough drop scent. Medium weight in the mouth, more red fruit with anticeptic or bandaid notes on the back end. The tannin structure here is just massive, you dont feel it on the midpalate but after you swallow your mouth completely dries out and puckers up. This is not overwhelming but i cannot image that there will be any fruit left by the time the tannins are completly resolved on this wine. Still, very nice. I have six bottles left and will be interested to see how this wine is over the next five or so years.

Cheers
~Vitis
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Thanks for the review, Marc. Glad to see you're holding up in the storm

:-)
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I'm still recovering from the office Holiday party Thursday night. I have lots of tasting notes- post coming tomorrow.
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On Friday, we had:

1963 Warre - A little thin and not one of Warre's best
1963 Dow - The best '63 Dow I have had in years. Rich, full of fruit great body
1970 Sandeman - One of Sandeman's better vintages, solid all around.
1977 Offley - Cake dough tastes, good body.
1977 Taylor - What else has to be said about this one.
2000 Dom Perignon - Pretty good, not one of the Champagne's ever, but would never ever turn it down.


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Nice lineup Moses. A perfect way to celebrate a winter storm. I love the 77 taylor, an unbelievable Port.

Cheers
~Vitis
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Yup, '77 Taylor is a 95 point port all day long. It really needs 12+ hours decanting and we only had about 4 hours on the ones above.

My friend has about 4-5 double mag's of '77 Taylor, but we have never drank one.

We are in the works of importing double mag's of Colheitas (for sale); just bottled- back to 1937.
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Keep us in the loop on the Colheitas. Might be something I need in the cellar
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I see the Dunham 2005 syrah made one of the top 100 Washington wines (No. 18) -- I assume you've tasted this one as well ......your thoughts?
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The Syrah is a nice wine. Wont age as long as the Cab will but a few years will make it even better. If you are looking at Gregutts top 100 list (Seattle times), its not the regular Columbia Valley Syrah he has listed. Its the Lewis Vineyard Reserve Syrah. A big heavy hitter wine. The winemakers seem to love this vineyard as it has interesting cola notes and realy bright fruit which can be more akin to Australia than Washington in alot of ways. Erics Lewis vineyard wines can be epic and age very well. ME LIKEY :-)

~Vitis
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Another snowy day here in the NW on Monday. Had to work late, and then couldn't get my car up the driveway in the ice and snow. :-) What better way to unwind than Pinot! This was enjoyed over a few brisket sandwiches and the final episode of The Shield on my DVR.

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2006 Chevillon-Chezeaux Nuit-Saint-Georges Les Saint-Julian
This is a house that has only been in our local market for two vintages so my experiences are only with the 05's and 06's. They are based NSG, and have parcels in 5 premier cru vineyards that I know of. Their wines use less than one quarter new oak. This wine initialy had a nose of black cherry with a light smoke component and a touch of sweet spices. Medium weight in the mouth with lots of slightly tart red and black cherry flavors. The acid is quite crisp, and the wine had more tannin than I had expected. Not complex at the current state, but a very tasty wine with great balance so Im betting some aging will not be a problem and this could make a very nice mature wine. Im really starting to like the 06's. They dont have the intensity of the 05s but the acid it terrific. I will be grabbing a few more of these for the cellar for a five year nap.


Cheers
~Vitis
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Last weeks office party:

2006 Bethel Heights Eola- Amity Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir
Eola-Amity Hills AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Lots of cherry and vanilla on the nose and even more in the glass- raspberries, light charcoal, I would recommend this. Had it with everything from Tuna Tartare and crab cakes to ribeye- etc.

2005 Hardin Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley, CA

According to the interweb this retails for about $23. It tastes more like a $40 bottle. A little sweet, but went very well with steak and all the tasty steakhouse sides. Really high quality for the price, but a tad too sweet for me.

1994 Niepoort
Porto, Portugal

Now were talkin'- really good for a newish port- chocolate, black pepper, perfect raisin. I will be buying a bottle of this soon- if I can find one. Awesome.

1977 D'Oliveria Terrantez Madeira

Lots of raisin, lots of plum- drank way too much of this. Very good.

Had a quick sip of '85 Dow's too- but I wasn't in any conditions to remember note taking.
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I am really loving the great information and reviews posted here by many, especially Vitis, Aldukes, Mosesbotbol and Richardw.

If it's possible, I would love it, if you guys and others, would mention the approximate prices of the wines you list and review. This will help me decide, if it's worth it for me, to search out a particular offering or not, when one peaks my interest. It would probably help many others as well.

Johnny
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