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Re: Our Napa wine tasting trip report
michael_d #179889 10/21/07 04:25 AM
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 Originally Posted By: mdrew
This would be a good time for a visit Chess. I have numerous wino type friends and they all want to get together in the near future to try some of the wines all of us brought back. It’s sort of a ritual of ours. We all go searching for a great bottle, then wait till we can all get together and try them. It’s a great way to spend time with friends, and also share some good wine with folks who appreciate wine. Several are down right excellent chefs too…. So if you get the itch, just shoot me a note and I’ll set up a tasting night, or two, or three. We have the spare bedroom all outfitted with a new bedroom set and towels in the bathroom. I’ll put you to work designing my little cellar (that was going to be a small kitchenette)


I will endeavor to get my PM box more empty by tomorrow so we can chat. I likely have enough Air Miles to fly there and back twice.
There is another possible trip to northern Manitoba for Christmas though and i'm burning vacation time for it. A second trip may have to wait a few months at least, but i think this could setup to be one really fun journey!

As for the cellar design, i can't take all the credit. The wife helped and our interior designer gave us several versions of basement outlays to help the idea process.
I also checked out variations at many websites, magazines and of course, some cellars makers.
These folks are actually based in Winnipeg but just before installing our racking, they came back from the US (NY if i recall) where they installed a 10,000 bottle cellar for some truly rich bastard.

A few shots of the cellar completed (i would put them inline but i never resized the buggers so the pics are huge):

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4

 Quote:
I don’t know what the shipping rules are to / from Canada and US, but you might want to call the St Helena Wine Center. They are VERY helpful and know there stuff when it comes to California wines. They do not charge a ‘handling’ fee and only what it costs them to ship. They have an outstanding selection and are always out trying wines. I’ve already got my cases from them ($80 per case, second day UPS air). http://www.shwc.com/

I will check out the site, but usually 'importing' wines into the country just doesn't happen. They have to be sent by a relative as a 'gift' and there are limits on quantities. I try to get my friends and relatives who live down there to bring bottles back with them. Unfortunately they are not as keen on carting around 14+ bottles in a cooler in the airports as i am.


"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."
Re: Our Napa wine tasting trip report
chesseroo #179892 10/21/07 04:33 AM
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One of these days, I'm going to have to go tasting in Napa--with someone else driving. Now that I have a kid. Oops. ;\)


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Wine Cooler Options?
chesseroo #180902 10/29/07 03:35 PM
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Well my plans to convert the basement kitchenette area into a wine cellar fell through. When I finished the space last winter, I did not insulate two of the walls, or put up a vapor barrier. Plus, I can’t place a cooling unit on any of the walls due to other room spaces or lack of wall space. Then there is the fact that the basement floor has radiant floor heat and there’s no way of isolating this area. I can’t use a remote mounted cooler because I didn’t put in the right size duct work…. I’m bummed….

So now I have around 150 bottles lying on the loft floor, another cooler full of bottles (60) and all my ambient air racks are full, and another three cases expected to arrive this week.

I need a bigger cooler. Either that or I need to build a free standing cooler.

Any recommendations for a not too expensive cooler that will hold at least 250 bottles? I don’t like to store bottles touching each other, so those coolers with fixed racks for stacking bottles onto one another are not an option for me.

If I could find a self contained cooling unit that I could vent out the bottom front of the cooler, I’d prefer to build one myself. That way I can pick out the wood and build it any size I want. The only cooling units I have been able to find are the kind that are designed for cellars.

A good Malbec
michael_d #180904 10/29/07 03:45 PM
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The past few nights we've been enjoying a Malbec from Argentina (a bottle each night). The lady at the local store recommended this bottle and we figured we might as well try it; it's cheap at $11 a bottle.

It's very good. Light tannin, great nose, light to medium body, great finish. I can't believe it's as young as it is, or as cheap as it is either.

Dona Paula
Los Carlos
Malbec - 2006

I'm beginning to think my pallet is changing. I'm really liking Pinots, Petite Sarahs and Malbecs lately. A year ago I was stuck on Cabs and Zins.

Re: A good Malbec
michael_d #180935 10/29/07 09:05 PM
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I had a couple different Malbecs about a year ago that I really enjoyed. I should try some more. At those prices, it's hard go wrong.

Re: A good Malbec
pmbuko #180979 10/30/07 02:42 AM
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The wife and I enjoy Malbecs also, I don't think I've had a bad one yet, and your right at those prices they are great for the everynight non special occasion drinking.


A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Re: A good Malbec
HomeDad #181044 10/30/07 03:47 PM
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We took a bottle to a freinds last night. It was a big hit with three out of the four others there saying they were going to go buy a case.

I've got two cases reserved for myself.

The bottle has a bit of spice to it. A friend of mine was telling me that that is common with Argentinean wines because the grapes are typically exposed to high winds. He was telling me that the winds make the skins tougher, which in turn gives them a ‘spicy’ taste characteristic. I guess there is a valley in France that is also exposed to winds and the wines that use this valley’s grapes are also spicy.

Who would have thought that wind could make something taste spicy….. One of things I love about wine….

Re: A good Malbec
michael_d #181164 10/31/07 12:56 PM
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Re: A good Malbec
DanielBMe #182279 11/07/07 02:09 PM
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Apparently there's no difference between audio and wine. To be more specific, your eyes will screw up the results when comparing two wines just as much as they will when comparing two speakers or amps.

Re: A good Malbec
pmbuko #182289 11/07/07 04:58 PM
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I’ve been fooled at blind tastings before and ended up picking the cheapest ‘crap’ wine as one of my favorites. But, even though we do them to where you can’t see the bottle, you still get to see the wine. To me, part of tasting is to actually see the color and legs of the wine.

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