win December 2007

win@thebarn.com

6 participants
10 discussions

by l.ames＠juno.com

Is there dinner happening tomorrow night? Please let me know if there is, I would like to be there. Lori _____________________________________________________________ Click to learn how to become a world famous writer or poet. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3mz77cDPao0DzK1umpMKnKht6…

17 years, 11 months

[wine] Jay's Cafe Menu - thursday, January 3rd; 6:30 p.m.

by Joyce Hegstrom

The group will be meeting at Jays (old Chet's Taverina on Raymond); 791 Raymond Avenue on Thursday, January 3rd. I need to give Jay a head count by 10:00 a.m.; JANUARY 2nd. Please RSVP if you PLAN ON attending. Wines: whites and zins (bubblies always encouraged) Price is $60; all inclusive. Thanks and best wishes to all for the new year! Joyce Jay?s Cafe Wine Dinner Thursday, January 3, 2008 FIRST COURSE Panko crusted portabella mushrooms with lemon aioli and shaved parmigiano SECOND COURSE Black River Gorganzola soufflé with arugula, organic Fuji apples, and toasted walnuts ENTREE Thousand Hills braised beef short ribs with horse radish mashed potatoes, and salsa verde DESSERT Lemon Cornmeal Cake with fresh berries & raspberry sauce $60.00 all inclusive (Price includes meal, bread and butter, taxes, gratuity, & cork-fee) -- NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: jhegstro(a)umn.edu (there is no "m" at the end of hegstro)

17 years, 11 months

[wine] CORRECTION - Il Vesco Vino

by Jim L. Ellingson

oops.. T-d.Vinci is having a private party. Wine group is going to Il Vesco Vino ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:00:42 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Tuscan wines at Il Vesco Vino Vin du jour is Tuscan. Menu is on line para link below. Vin du jour is Tuscany (e.g. Chianti, Super Tuscan). Here's an interactive map of Tuscany. click on the DOCs to see the areas. http://winecountry.it/regions/tuscany/ Who? Bobino Betsylina Rutheletta Warrenesco Stev-a-rooni Jim-a-roni (if the flu lets up) Billecco and Dave-asit will be at Zipps for the sparkling/champagne tasting. Cheers, Jim The Rake Secrets of the City © Rake Publishing, Inc. | visit www.rakemag.com December 2006 RESTAURANT: Il Vesco Vino With its creaky floors, exposed brick, and multiple fireplaces, the Victorian manse at 579 Selby has always welcomed diners with casual elegance. When it housed The Vintage Restaurant, the food reviews were mixed, but with the opening of Il Vesco Vino (The Bishop.s Wine), the cuisine finally matches its surroundings in terms of both quality and comfort. The venerable family behind I Nonni and Buon Giorno discreetly took over the space and brought in their honored Italian recipes for dishes like ventresca tuna, beef carpaccio, grilled octopus, and a dense and satisfying gnocchi.all paired with interesting wines offered by the carafe. 579 Selby Ave., St. Paul; 651-222-7000; www.ilvescovino.com ----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> ----- Cheers, Jim ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, cel: 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

17 years, 11 months

[wine] Tuscany at Trat. Da Vinci on Thursday.

by Jim L. Ellingson

Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:55:47 -0500 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: Tuscany at Trat. d. Vinci Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:34:25 -0600 Greetings, Blessed be all who respond yea or nay. Vin du jour is Tuscany (e.g. Chianti, Super Tuscan). Here's an interactive map of Tuscany. click on the DOCs to see the areas. http://winecountry.it/regions/tuscany/ Trattoria da Vinci 400 Sibley St., St. Paul, 55101 651 222-4050 It's in the "far end" of down town St. Paul, near the Farmer's Market. If you're traveling on I94, take the 7th St. Exit. Who? Bobino Rutheletta Warrenesco Stev-a-rooni Betsylini Davidetto Jim-a-roni Assuming I have a bit less of this flu by then. Cheers, Jim -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, cel: 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

17 years, 11 months

[wine] Save the Date! Thursday, January 3rd - Jay's Cafe, St. Paul

by Joyce Hegstrom

Hi! I'm working with Jay's Cafe over in St. Paul (old Chet's Taverina location) on a dinner for the Thursday night group. We've at least got the date: January 3rd. They have won an award for their ribs (see paragraph below) so I have proposed a multi course dinner featuring their ribs. Menu is to follow and price will be $55-60 (includes meal/tax/tip/corkage). Happy Holidays and Cheers! Joyce Our dinners continue to gain popularity and we've gotten some good press lately to support it; see our "About Us" page on the web site. The real feather in the cap is winning the **Minnesota Monthly's Best of Twin Cities Award <http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/December-2007/Best-…>** for our **Ribs**! They're great stuff - Thousand Hills grass-fed beef ribs cooked slowly with care. This is the kind of food that makes the cold bearable-sort of. -- NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: jhegstro(a)umn.edu (there is no "m" at the end of hegstro)

17 years, 11 months

[wine] Re: Alois Kracher, RIP

by annette peters

What a loss for all of us. He was funny, sincere, intensely passionate about wine and one of the most educated winemakers you could know. I met Alois in 1995 at a tasting of his wines in Europe. I remember in particular his nectar sweet TBAs. As I took my first sip, he said "This wine always makes me feel like having sex!" A few seconds later...he looked around at the females present and said "Well?" His wines were indeed ethereal. Remembering him and the wines fondly, Annette Peters -----Original Message----- >From: "russellmccandless(a)frontiernet.net" <russellmccandless(a)frontiernet.net> >Sent: Dec 5, 2007 12:48 PM >To: wine(a)thebarn.com >Subject: [wine] Alois Kracher, RIP > >Alois Kracher, the esteemed producer of Austrian sweet wines, passed >away last night at age 48 from cancer. A short obituary appears at >http://www.decanter.com/news/165896.html (among other sources). > > >

17 years, 11 months

[wine] [wine@wineloverspage.com: 30SecWineAdvisor: Parker swings, misses]

by Jim L. Ellingson

FYI/FYE ----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> ----- Authentication-Results: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu from=wine(a)wineloverspage.com; sender-id=neutral; spf=neutral Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2007 11:48:57 -0500 (EST) To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor: Parker swings, misses From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Sender: <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu [128.101.142.227]); Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:44:22 -0600 (CST) X-Spam-Score: 0 () X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.57 on 128.101.142.227 THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR * THEWINEBUYER.COM Buy old favorites and try new discoveries shipped directly to your door. The only place to buy wine online. http://www.TheWineBuyer.com ________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE * PARKER SWINGS, MISSES The "Emperor of Wine" disses one of our favorite wineries in a surprisingly mean-spirited style. What's up with that? * SIX '05s FROM EDMUNDS ST. JOHN I summon a tasting team to help me work through the ESJ portfolio, and we find an awful lot to like in these elegant California wines. * THEWINEBUYER.COM Buy old favorites and try new discoveries shipped directly to your door. The only place to buy wine online. * ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ PARKER SWINGS, MISSES American wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. has been dubbed "The Emperor of Wine." He reportedly has a $1 million insurance policy on his nose, and his print newsletter, The Wine Advocate, is influential far beyond its 40,000 circulation. I respect Parker for his consistency. But, like a lot of other wine geeks I know, I find the wines he rates in the 90- to 100-point range to be too big, alcoholic and fruit-forward for me. The wines he dismisses in the 80-point range tend to be the kind of more subtle and elegant wines that I enjoy. That's all right. Different strokes, etc. But Parker's Aug. 29, 2007 report on six new 2005 releases from one of my favorite California wineries, Edmunds St. John, crosses a line for me. Parker rates these wines from 84 to 87 on his famous 100-point scale, which seems fair enough. Edmunds St. John is one of the few California producers that makes wines with a consistent European sensibility, respecting the soil ("terroir") in which they're grown. They're wines meant to age, and wines meant to go with food; and thus perhaps not to the liking of a critic who seems to prefer amped-up, concentrated wines better suited for cocktail-style sipping. But the language accompanying the reviews reads not merely as critical but mean-spirited, almost snide. "There appears to be a deliberate attempt to make French-styled wines," Parker wrote. "Of course, California is not France, and therein may suggest (sic) the problem. If you want to make a French wine, do it in France." Then, "Edmunds St. John's current releases all possess good aromatics, but ... 'where's the beef?'" Pejorative terms like "the wine doesn't deliver," "little weight or depth and virtually no finish," "innocuous" and "one-dimensional and superfluous in the mouth" (huh?) pepper the reviews. "... a low brow (sic) version of a French C�tes du Rh�ne"? It almost seems as if these wines made Parker angry. You're tempted to visualize the Emperor of Wine stamping his foot and yelling, "Off with their heads!" Yet in another respected wine journal, Steve Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, critic Josh Raynolds had reviewed the Edmunds St. John 2005 releases in May and, with surprising consistency, rated them five points above the lackluster ratings that Parker would deliver in August. Raynolds' tasting reports were consistently laudatory where Parker's would be pejorative. The wine that Parker dissed as "lowbrow Rhone" earned Raynolds' praise as "Southern Rhone in style ... a great value." Parker's "doesn't deliver" became Raynolds' "Bright and energetic ... elegant, very refreshing." And so it went, from one end of the line to the other. Who had it right? There was just one way to find out for sure: Taste them myself. I asked Steve Edmunds to send me a set of the wines (which weren't yet available locally); and to help temper my own prejudices - I'm a great admirer of Edmunds and his wines, and I know it - I asked a group of my regular tasting pals, local sommeliers and wine experts, to join me in tasting through the six wines, first analytically and then again with appropriate food on the table. To put it mildly, we could not concur in Parker's findings. As with any opinionated group of serious wine "geeks," opinions varied on individual wines. But overall, as the evening-long tasting wore on, the disconnect between the Parker commentary and reality became too obvious to ignore. These are honest, well-made and consistently enjoyable wines, wines that focus more on elegance and subtle restraint than in-your-face fruit, and that's the way we like them. The more "serious" single-vineyard Syrahs will benefit from significant aging; all of them, again in the European tradition, hit their stride when served with food. But "innocuous"? "One-dimensional"? I don't think so. I don't do points; I'd rather tell you how I perceived the wines and invite you to use your own judgement. But they certainly win my strong recommendation. Buy 'em if you can find 'em. (Prices shown are suggested retail. Street prices may vary.) ________________________________________________________________________ SIX '05s FROM EDMUNDS ST. JOHN EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 SHELL AND BONE PASO ROBLES WHITE WINE ($20) A blend of Viognier and Roussanne with no oak presence (it's fermented in neutral 22-year-old French oak casks, then transferred to stainless steel). Pale gold. Peach and toasted almond and a whiff of white pepper, subtle and delicious; good rich texture and balance. Excellent alone, transcendent with seared prawns and scallops. EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 ROCKS AND GRAVEL CALIFORNIA RED WINE ($18) A Rhone-style blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre, again seeing only neutral oak barrels. Clear dark garnet in color. Earth and red berries and a whiff of eucalyptus or menthol, Rhone-style with a light California accent. Ripe and fresh, raspberries and tart cherries and subtle earthy terroir, good balance and length. EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 "RED NECK 101" EAGLE POINT RANCH MENDOCINO COUNTY RED WINE ($25) A blend of Syrah and Grenache from Eagle Point, a respected vineyard. Grenache red berries and darker Syrah berries join in a mixed-berry flavor combination reminiscent of a subtle old-style Zinfandel; a whiff of earthy barnyard adds complexity without going overboard. Lush red fruit is nicely balanced by acidity in an excellent quaff. Like all of the ESJ reds on the table, it wraps itself around a medium-rare grilled steak with exceptional style, in a match that improves the steak and adds another layor of dimensionality to the wine. EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 BASSETTI VINEYARD SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SYRAH ($40) A little reductive bottle funk, not surprising in an ageworthy red, blows off with swirling in the glass to reveal pure Syrah fruit, sunny and ripe. Lush red and black berry fruit with back notes of smoke and a hint of earthy black olives. Well balanced, impressive but needs a lot of cellar time to achieve its potential. Buy it now, drink it in 2015. EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 PARMELEE-HILL VINEYARD SONOMA VALLEY SYRAH ($25) Lovely licorice and fennel over deep dark fruit. Mouth-filling and balanced. Elegant, much aging potential but drinking very nicely now, particularly in company with rare beef. This will be the last vintage of Parmelee-Hill from ESJ, and in a statement that gives clear insight into Edmunds' philosophy and his personality, he explains why: "'05 was the last time we took fruit from Parmelee-Hill. Not that we didn't like it, but the price was getting up there, and given the kind of wine we make, and the constant clamoring by the critics for bigger and dumber wines, I didn't feel confident that I could sell the wine for a high enough price to make any money on it. Then again, making money isn't something I've ever gotten much of a handle on." EDMUNDS ST. JOHN 2005 WILEY-FENAUGHTY EL DORADO COUNTY SYRAH ($25) Black. Subtle and complex, red-berry fruit and "forest floor." Ripe and balanced, with ample but smooth, silky tannins that marry well with the beef. The Wiley-Fenaughty has long been my favorite of all the ESJ Syrahs, and the 2005 is right on track. Parker said he found "little weight or depth and virtually no finish." I wonder what he was drinking? Certainly not the wine I had. FIND THESE WINES ONLINE: Edmunds St. John wines are sporadically distributed around the U.S. and, unfortunately, difficult to impossible to find internationally. For information on distributors in about 30 U.S. states, British Columbia, Europe, the UK and Japan, see the winery Website, http://www.edmundsstjohn.com/buy Check prices and find vendors for Edmunds St. John on Wine-Searcher.com: http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Edmunds%2bSt%2bJohn/-/-/USD/A?referring_s… ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: THEWINEBUYER.COM TheWineBuyer.com is your best source for wine on the Internet. Buy your old favorites and new discoveries and have them shipped right to your door! http://www.thewinebuyer.com Try our Wine Gift Ideas for all your upcoming holiday wine gifts, whether personal or corporate: http://www.thewinebuyer.com/main.asp?request=PROMOGROUP&name=Giftideas Sign up for our email newsletter and be the first to find out about special wines and sales: Right now we're counting down our Top 10 Wines of the Year. Check out our Wine Education Pages and enhance your wine knowledge. http://www.thewinebuyer.com/main.asp?request=ARTICLES&article=9 ________________________________________________________________________ TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE If you have questions, comments or ideas to share about today's article or wine in general, you're always welcome to drop by our online WineLovers Discussion Group. This link will take you to the forum home page, where you can read discussions in all the forum sections: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village Everyone is free to browse. If you'd like to post a comment, question or reply, you must register, but registration is free and easy. Do take care to register using your real name, or as a minimum, your real first name and last initial. Anonymous registrations are quietly discarded. To contact me by E-mail, write wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit. ________________________________________________________________________ PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE Here's a simply formatted copy of today's Wine Advisor, designed to be printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or other wireless device. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/2007/12/parker_swings_misses-pri… ________________________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: * WineLoversPage.com RSS Feed (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/rss/ * 30 Second Wine Advisor, daily or weekly (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/index.shtml * Wine Advisor FoodLetter, Thursdays (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/foodletter.shtml ARCHIVES: For all past editions: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/archives.php CONTACT US E-mail: wine(a)wineloverspage.com SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: For information, E-mail wine(a)wineloverspage.com ________________________________________________________________________ ADMINISTRIVIA To subscribe or unsubscribe from The 30 Second Wine Advisor, change your E-mail address, switch from weekly to daily distribution, or for any other administrative matters, click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/admin.php?id=20970&cs=7d1109b668af1f87d36d12e… We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry. Friday, December 7, 2007 Copyright 2007 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *

17 years, 12 months

[wine] Alois Kracher, RIP

by russellmccandless＠frontiernet.net

Alois Kracher, the esteemed producer of Austrian sweet wines, passed away last night at age 48 from cancer. A short obituary appears at http://www.decanter.com/news/165896.html (among other sources).

18 years

[wine] Sparkling Wines: Rosewood Room

by Karin Teder

The Rosewood Room Wine Club Date: Dec 04, 2007 (Tue) Time: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Cost: $15 @ Door / $75 6mo Membership Place: The Rosewood Room 400 3rd Ave N Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 Phone: 612-465-8585 December 4th, 2007, enjoy Sparkling Wines & Champanges, just in time for the holidays! Labels tasted will be complimented with an assortment of fruits, cheeses, oysters, scallops & cavier. Cost of the event is $15 at the door, or purchase a 6mo membership for $75. Door Prizes will be given away throughout the night! For more information, call Jessica @ 612-465-8585 or visit us on the web @ www.therosewoodroom.com. January's Theme: West Coast Wines (*please note due to the holidays, The Rosewood Room Wine Club will resume on January 8th, 2008.)

18 years

[wine] FREE movie: Dec 5 or 12th

by Karin Teder

All: I attended a free screening of this movie and was *quite* taken by it...it's about a whipsmart pregnant teenager named Juno, and it's written by a Minnesotan. So if you're interested, go to: www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/ scroll down below the big photo of the Juno cast members look to the right; there's a box labeled SHOWTIMES & TICKETS click on Attend a Free Screening to see just Minneapolis, use the drop down "Select a new location" box the movie's at Lagoon theater in Uptown. When Nicolai and I went, we received free Juno tshirts. The audience reacted very positively to the screening; we both thought the dialogue was just swell. -Karin

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win December 2007