Charles Hours

• April 2013

  I am a new wine lover. A year or two ago I was having troubles staying away from 'the sauce'.  It wasn't alcoholism, per se, but it was getting to the point where I was spending much of my money and getting very little done. So, being that I am working in a fine dining restaurant, Carnevor Steakhouse in Milwaukee, WI, I decided to begin studying... Read More

  Forum post in the topic Wine tasting a way to curb...

  
  

• March 2013

  Out of the way, down a drive lost in Spring Mountain, one comes upon Smith-Madrone, a winery that speaks as much of the past as the present. There’s a bit of a Twilight Zone feel here; it’s in a GPS black hole, and somehow it recalls the innocence of a simpler time. (“Willoughby, the next stop is Willoughby.”) Stuart and Charlie Smith play their... Read More

  From the article The Way of Things at Smith-Madrone

  
  

• February 2013

  My wife and I will be visiting San Francisco in April for a weeks vacation. We're staying at the Executive Hotel Vintage Court who's theme is wine. They have  nightly wine tastings and wine gatherings. Also scheduled in the trip is a days excursion to the Napa Valley via bus stopping at 5 different vineyards. I have always loved Napa Valley Cabe... Read More

  Forum post in the topic San Francisco

  
  

• September 2012

  I noticed that OutThere purchased seven bottles of a particular wine at $14 and it occurred to me that it was a $100 purchase, and enough to last about a week.  So I got curious, and mentioned in the thread that it would be interesting to know how much per week people spent.  Well, Emark has better records and more time on his hands than I do, a... Read More

  Forum post in the topic You've got $100 a week to...

  
  

• September 2012

  I'm finding my cellar a bit too Cali-centric these days and am looking to start buying from some different regions, and the 2010 vintage brings some interesting options to the table. Most of the good wines from around the world are beginning to take shape and arriving on the retail shelves, minus most of the bordeaux blends from France, CA, and ... Read More

  Forum post in the topic What 2010's Are You Buying?

  
  

• June 2012

  There hasn't been one of these threads here in quite some time so I thought I'd start it up again. Weather is warm here so I popped a Rosé.What are you drinking? Read More

  Forum post in the topic Whatcha drinking tonight?

  
  

• March 2012

  Wanting to refresh my memory on certain French vintages in the Rhône Valley I came across (as I often do) the Robert Parker Vintage Chart.  Parker includes vintages from 1970 through 2010 on his website and scores them on the usual 100 point scale.  He claims that scores of 70-79 are "average" while those of 80-89 are "above average to excellent... Read More

  Forum post in the topic Robert Parker's Vintage Ratings

  
  

• March 2012

  A couple of news items I was pondering today.First, Robert Parker came out with his ratings for the 2009 Bordeaux vintage. Ever the masochist, I decided to go look at some prices in the marketplace after the ratings were released. Some samplings:2009 Chatau Latour                        100 points                  $21,500 a case2009 Chateau Marg... Read More

  Forum post in the topic Utterly absurd

  
  

• November 2011

  Hey Guys,I am delirious from working 38 hours the past two days but had a second of down time. I was talking to a patient of mine sometime late at night and we started discussing wine. He told me some interesting things that I more or less wanted to fact check against the brains of snooth.First he claimed that his brother/uncle or some relative ... Read More

  Forum post in the topic Simi and the Finger Lakes

  
  

• October 2011

  Just a quick posting on a tasting we did last week.  We've been celebrating our tenth anniversary, and I stockpiled 2001s.  Good thing it was a strong vintage in so many places.  Of course, the 2001 Gran Reservas from Rioja are, in some cases, just hitting the market and are terrific values. We celebrated with a bottle we bought in the first cou... Read More

  Forum post in the topic 2001 Cal. Cab v. Bordeaux

  
  

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