quote:

ORIGINAL: Paul S

I still find that a fair amount of the wines that I have been drinking in the past year or so since I started using CT (especially Burgs) have few, or in quite a few cases, no reviews done. I think it is ineveitable the power of CT as a phenomenon will grow as more and more people get pulled in and more reviews get written. I suspect that there will come a time when CT scores are practically impossible for wine sellers to ignore. Hence I'm out trying to spread the word and get my less technologically inclined friends to jump on the bandwagon (i.e. those with excel sheet cellars and paper and pen tasting notes).

quote:

ORIGINAL: mghomula

quote:

ORIGINAL: Paul S

I still find that a fair amount of the wines that I have been drinking in the past year or so since I started using CT (especially Burgs) have few, or in quite a few cases, no reviews done. I think it is ineveitable the power of CT as a phenomenon will grow as more and more people get pulled in and more reviews get written. I suspect that there will come a time when CT scores are practically impossible for wine sellers to ignore. Hence I'm out trying to spread the word and get my less technologically inclined friends to jump on the bandwagon (i.e. those with excel sheet cellars and paper and pen tasting notes).

You say you want a revolution, yeah! 

I agree with Paul here.  I think the inevitability of the CT power and influence is starting to come on strong.  More novice drinkers should be more likely to read and take to heart what a community would say over a professional.  Just my humble opinion. 

quote:

Tasted by Junior on 6/20/2008: If I have a home away from the DC row house I live in with two dogs, two babies, and a beautiful woman, it's a dusty, gray-brown place where the sun sets hot in the west over dry scrub and I am always alone. And that's why I bought this wine. I love the southwestern deserts--from the Baja, whence this wine, to the high basins to the white hot frying pans near the border--and I love the idea of wine grown from that beautiful, unforgiving country. I opened this wine as I prepared a classic California dish--Santa Maria barbeque (note, not actually barbeque--not indirect heat), a tri-tip cooked over a smoky grill. I knew this meal cried out for a great Syrah or Zinfandel and I've wanted to try this.

Opened to opulent, plummy fruit. The burn at the back of the throat is bearable, but just--the fruit is so big. Tannins? What tannins? This wine is hot and smokey, sun-baked. Drunk in the wrong situation, it sags, like you do when your radiator pops in on I-8 in Imperial County in the summertime. With the charred meat, it shines, marrying wonderfully with blood and smoke. The alcohol burn fades; the Zinfandel fruit and spice come into balance.

This is not my ideal wine. Not even my ideal Zinfandel (see Lamborn and others like it), but it complemented my food and, even better, evoked, as wine should, a lovely response, reminding me of things and places I care about.

quote:

1997 Charles Krug Winery (Peter Mondavi Family) Family Reserve Generations Napa Valley
Tasted by hfindlay on 6/15/2008: Although this bottle hails from a great vintage in Napa, and although I remember it having plenty stuffing in its youth, when we drank it Sunday it showed signs of falling apart. Still rich and flavorful, but it's lost structure and felt a little flabby on our tongues. The fresh, beautiful cherry flavors I remember now tasted stewed; if I really thought about it, in my mind’s eye I saw a fruit compote dessert on a plastic tray in an assisted living facility. I kept a few sips in my glass and went back to it, and by the time I did, it had stopped short like Marlon Brando in The Godfather and toppled among the tomato vines.