"DaleW" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Friday Kriss Reed from WLDG had arranged a small dinner, we met at 230
> Forest in Laguna (thanks Kriss and Tom Shudic for making the drive, so
> Betsy and I could walk to dinner!).

Our pleasure, I'm sure. :^) It's always interesting to meet fellow AWFers.
I have yet to meet a turkey.

I hadn't been to Laguna Beach in decades. I arrived about an hour early and
walked around town, checking out the art galleries.

Very pleasant evening, with a nice
> lineup of wines:
>
> NV Louis Martini Moscato Amabile

This wine would have been better if served at the dessert end of the meal
instead of before. It pretty much killed the following (dry) wine dead in
its tracks.

> 2001 Ch. Burbank Chardonnay
> Tom S. brought this wine he had made. My notes read "fat and figgy, the
> wood needs some time." Now, big CalChards aren't my personal favorite
> style. But this (true) garage wine had some real character- rich
> tropical fruit with a caramel edge. Kriss said it went well with his
> butternut squash soup (it paired less successfully with my calamari and
> lemon beurre blanc). This is a big rich wine with some spice. It needs
> some time for the oak to fully integrate, and rich food to stand up to
> it. B+

I'll take all that as a serious compliment. :^) Ian has a couple of
bottles of that stashed away, and has tasted it at a couple of points in its
development - including while in barrel. Mike has one also. The one I gave
Dale is the reserve lot (more new oak).

> 2002 Polz Grassnitzberg Pinot Gris

This was the first Austrian wine I've ever tasted, and I really liked it.
I'm not meticulous about note taking as Dale, and I can't pull all those
wonderfully descriptive adjectives, similes and metaphors out of a glass as
many others routinely do - but this was a rich, somewhat fat, yet crisp
wine.

> 1999 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino

I'm a big fan of Italian wines, but this one didn't really *sing* to me. I
left it to Kriss and Dale, who seemed to appreciate it much more than I did.
Perhaps I should have poured a glass and just let it sit for awhile - but I
didn't. I recall Kriss really liked the nose.

> 1996 Rene Renou "Beauregard" Bonnezeaux

Another first for me: sweet Vouvray. I have to confess that Chenin Blanc
really doesn't do much for me. This was an OK wine, but I couldn't help
thinking that Chardonnay made in the same style would have a lot more depth
and intensity.

> Really a fun night, with nice company. Kriss was funny and informative
> (and really filled us in on things like where to food-shop in Orange
> County, very useful stuff for next visit). Tom was both generous and
> warm (and talked with Betsy re cooking when Kriss and I were getting
> too wine-geeky for her).

Betsy and I had a very nice chat. I didn't mean to hog the conversation
with her, but it was difficult to hear Dale or Kriss across the table
because the ambient sound level was rather high, and neither my hearing nor
lip reading are up to par. :^/

The service at the restaurant was quite
> friendly, and they only charged us corkage for 2 bottles. They also
> took my steak off the bill (first try at medium rare was grey, second
> was better). The seafood dishes seemed to have an edge over the meat
> overall.

I had a taste of both Betsy's mussels and Dale's calamari, which were both a
lot better than my pasta dish. As usual, after long deliberation I managed
to find the worst dish on the menu and order that! I really shouldn't
bother reading the damned thing, but simply order the special - whatever it
is.

Next time we really should coordinate our wine selections in advance. That
has to be some sort of record: three wine geeks, five bottles of wine, and
only ONE of them red! ;^)

Still, this was a fun evening, and I'm privileged to have broken bread with
these three nice folks.

Tom S