Wine

[Mike Buckley]

Is the movie worth watching?

It's charming and what they tried to do is done very well. It's got a lot of inaccuracies about the details even though the big-picture stuff (no pun intended) is accurate. My record of the inaccuracies I've noticed can be accessed at https://www.dropbox.com/s/gekpnna2uogmabt/Bottle Shock Facts.doc?dl=0

 

[Mike Buckley]

I remember those photos, Mitch. Nice to see them again!

I have a good bottle of Stag's Leap Cabernet to open this evening. They won the red wine category.

I always have to look up whether it was Stag's Leap or Stags' Leap that won. (Notice the placement of the apostrophe.) You're right that Stag's Leap won.

The winning chardonnay was from Chateau Montelena.

That wine was made by Mike Grgich, who left Chateau Montelena I think the next year and started his own winery. A couple years later he took first prize for another Chardonnay that beat out hundreds of Chardonnays in a wine tasting held in Chicago. Grgich's partner was and still is Austin Hills, one of the men in the family famous for its Hills Brothers brand of coffee. Thus, the winery's name is Grgich Hills Estate. Grgich, who turned 97 on April 1, is not mentioned in the movie.

 

[Mitchell]

Is the movie worth watching?

If you have nothing else to do, it's not a total waste of time. I found it mildly entertaining, but I've always enjoyed Alan Rickman.

 

[Mike Buckley]

I think Alan Rickman is the best part of the movie, which is true of a lot of movies he is in.

Jim: If your choice is the movie or the Metropolitan Opera, go for the opera. At least the opera doesn't even try to pretend that it's accurate.

 

[Pa]

Jim: If your choice is the movie or the Metropolitan Opera, go for the opera. At least the opera doesn't even try to pretend that it's accurate.

Interesting that you are aware of the trade-offs I am contemplating. It's a choice of "Bottle Shock" or Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala in Massenet's Manon. We'll probably go with Manon.

 

[nuclearjock]

Is the movie worth watching?

I think so. It's cute.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Interesting that you are aware of the trade-offs I am contemplating.

You mentioned your viewing of opera during the coronavirus crisis about a week or two ago.

 

[Mike Buckley]

My covid-19 test result is negative, which in my mind proves the efficacy of drinking wine.

 

[Palouse]

Well, we'll all have to drink to that! Congrats! ?

 

[nuclearjock]

My covid-19 test result is negative, which in my mind proves the efficacy of drinking wine.

Congrats Mike. I'll open something old in celebration ?.

 

[Pa]

My covid-19 test result is negative, which in my mind proves the efficacy of drinking wine.

Indeed. I'll redouble my efforts to ward off this dread disease.

 

[Mike Buckley]

I'll open something old in celebration ?.

Its old age would be a fitting comparison with my age.

 

[nuclearjock]

Not that old. 2001 Montelena estate cabernet ? ?

 

[Mitchell]

Not that old. 2001 Montelena estate cabernet ? ?

Rick, please report back on that one!

I'm drinking the first Pinot I've ever liked. The subtleties of most good Pinots are lost on the palate of a barbarian like myself who only drinks big cabs.

https://www.brittanvineyards.com/wines/2016-basalt-block-pinot-noir-2/

 

[Mike Buckley]

I'm drinking the first Pinot I've ever liked.

I remember where I was and who I was with seven years ago when I drank the first Pinotage that I liked. Sadly, I don't remember the wine.

 

[Mike Buckley]

California's governor has issued a mandate allowing wineries' tasting rooms to open up if they serve sit-down dine-in meals; wineries that only provide wine tastings aren't allowed to open. Napa County doesn't allow wineries to serve sit-down dine-in meals, so those wineries aren't yet allowed to open their tasting rooms. Famous Napa Valley winery Caymus is suing in federal court on the basis that the governor is responsible for treating like businesses in a like manner and that this is not happening. All of that is according to Wine Spectator.

Apparently the governor of California didn't see my recent post about how my wine consumption surely prevented me from contracting covid-19. ?

 

[Mitchell]

Sad state of affairs in California wine country at this moment.

I never realized how much of their revenue is made in their tasting rooms. Several wineries claim that up to 40% of their revenue is made through tasting room sales! This seems rather high to me given that many wineries don't even do tastings. Of course their overall revenue is also down due to restaurant closures.

I'm doing my best to support my favorite wineries with online purchases, but my cellar is filling up despite my best efforts at consumption.

 

[Mike Buckley]

The owner of Caymus was quoted in the Wine Spectator article as saying "Our tasting room is a sizable amount of our business, and we've lost our restaurant accounts, which is about 25 percent of our business."

 

[Mike Buckley]

my cellar is filling up despite my best efforts at consumption

You can do better.

 

[Pa]

You can do better.

Could we help?