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~~Bucko~~ · 07-12-2001, 07:30 AM,

1998 Hedges, Red Wine, Red Mountain Reserve, Columbia Valley, Washington, $45, 982 cases. Produced entirely from Red Mountain grapes, 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot. The nose is highlighted by blackberries and black cherries, coffee, and vanilla aromas. Full-bodied, with lush berry, cedar, and vanilla flavors, the silky but substantial tannins will profit from three to four years of aging. 90/88.

1998 Hedges, Red Wine, Three Vineyards, Columbia Valley, Washington, $22, 7,420 cases. A Bordeaux blend. Ripe blackberry, chocolate, vanilla and cedar aromas resound on the palate. The wine is full-bodied, crisp, with moderate tannins that will benefit from bottle age. 87/88.

Thomas · 07-12-2001, 11:11 AM,

Bucko, Hedges has consistently produced good wines, but their prices are growing exponentially! How are we ever going to get more Americans to drink wine?

Botafogo · 07-12-2001, 11:18 AM,

No S#!t!!! We have a distributor here who sells those and about twenty other Washington wineries and their average WHOLESALE price is $30 per bottle on their reds.....Makes me want to get an Afrikans-English Dictionary and take that SA wine tour, Roberto

~~Bucko~~ · 07-12-2001, 11:28 AM,

You guys are preaching to the choir. My dollars go to the Rhone, Southern France, Loire, and Germany for quality/value wines. They are to be had from Italy as well, but I just don't have a palate for Italian wines. It drives my wine friends crazy that I don't like Italian wines that they are ranting over. One exception is Pinot Grigio. It must be a genetic thing.

winoweenie · 07-12-2001, 07:56 PM,

Hedges has been the one constant in my cellar. Their 92 RM is driving the few wine geeks I allow in my house up the wall. They've identified it as everything from a 89 Paullic to a 91 Caymus SS. hehe WW

Thomas · 07-13-2001, 09:20 AM,

As I said, ww, Hedges is a consistently good producer, but I am not as rich as you carpetbaggers (whaddapun!). More importantly, I hate the direction taken on the Left Coast, which is to produce wines only for those whose income allows for three cleaning ladies, a butler and seven expensive dogs (or is that wives/husbands).

Guys like Roberto and me truly want people, all people to have access to the stuff, and we want it to be good stuff too. And then more people will drink wine and then my income will rise so that I could have all that domestice help--or seven wives.

Bucko, if you do not appreciate Italian wine your genes must have been passed along by a nasty group of invaders on the peninsula in the third and fourth centuries. And all along I thought you had taste...

~~Bucko~~ · 07-13-2001, 11:19 AM,

I just don't "get" Italians. My wine friends have tried a host of wines on me, form old Barolos to the new super Tuscans. I just do not find them pleasant.

I wonder, all kidding aside, if there is a anti-Italian palate? I love wines from just about every other wine region in the world, especially those noted above.

Bucko

Thomas · 07-13-2001, 11:39 AM,

Rest assured Bucko, it's you, not the wines...Try dining while sipping them, and also--stay away from the so-called super Tuscans, or super anythings. Consume the wines that still are Italian.

barnesy · 07-13-2001, 05:29 PM,

My English, German, and French ancestors resent that remark! They liked Italian wine. Why else do you think they invaded the Penninsula and the rest of Italian controled Europe [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]

Barnesy

winoweenie · 07-13-2001, 06:13 PM,

I Be Solidly Behind The Anti-Itie-Buckie-poo. WW

~~Bucko~~ · 07-13-2001, 09:09 PM,

And another person who is anti-boot stands up to be heard......

Bucko

Drew · 07-13-2001, 09:49 PM,

My ex wife's Italian....count me in. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

Drew

~~Bucko~~ · 07-14-2001, 08:09 AM,

Reminds me of the time Drew was late for a wine tasting, speeding down the highway, ignoring the flashing lights behind him. The highway patrol finally pulled him over. The highpo told him "I'm just getting off from work and don't need the paper shuffle. Give me a good excuse why you were speeding and I'll let you go." Drewski replied "Well, my wife ran off with a highway patrolman 3 years ago. I thought you were trying to bring her back!"

Bucko

Botafogo · 07-14-2001, 11:21 AM,

Aside from the fact that I'm pretty sure I've sold some italian wine to three out of four of you, saying "I don't like Italian Wine" is like saying "I don't like Indian food" or "I don't like African music": each category is so incredibly diverse that generalizations are simply inoperative.....

Roberto

Innkeeper · 07-14-2001, 04:13 PM,

Did some research, and have to admit that I can't find anything nice that Bucko has said about Italian Wine. He did say he liked some Italian varieties grown in CA such as barbera. He recently recommended a $25 CA Barbera to go with spaghetti. On one occasion he backed up a recommendation of mine to a guy who couldn't find any Greek wine to go with Greek food, where we recommended Chianti. Have to admit, he didn't say he'd drink it himself.

~~Bucko~~ · 07-14-2001, 05:51 PM,

I have tried about 250 Italian wines, to include old Barolos, Nebbiolos, Chiantis, and Pinot Griggios. I can count on one hand the number that I would go purchase. The ones that I have liked were criticized by my friends as being most atypical. Drives my wine friends crazy -- they don't even try anymore. I'm sure it is me, not the wines. Like I said, it has to be a receptor thing. My receptors ring up a big "Does not register" when it comes to these wines.

Anti-BootBucko

Drew · 07-14-2001, 06:29 PM,

Actually I enjoy most Italian wines but have to admit I'm a little intimidated by them due to the language problem and not enough knowledge of the regions and producers.

Drew

Botafogo · 07-14-2001, 10:59 PM,

Ok, we've established you do not like high acid Northwestern wines. What about a big, soft, smokey Lagrein or a monster Primitivo di Manduria or a silky Ripasso Valpo (each one totaly different one from another and from Chianti and Barolo)????

Thomas · 07-15-2001, 10:51 AM,

Roberto--give it up. I detect a large dose of predispositon and that is fatal--it's like people who expect a headache when they see the word sulfite.

If Bucko has a blind spot in his palate that is his loss. He can say the same for me and my distaste for Muscat.

Botafogo · 07-15-2001, 12:49 PM,

Nah, we never give up. We are not above resorting to Terry Theise's tactics of pouring exactly the same wine into different bottles with different labels and watching people say "Oh, I like the Cabernet so much better than the Montepulciano, it's softer and not acidic, and you just can't get good wine for $5.99, you know" when BOTH glasses are the six dollar Montepulciano. And, just as Terry often points out at his consumer tastings that the best Chardonnays come from the town of Reisling so you should always look for that on the label, we are constantly enlightening people as to the wonderfully food-friendly and inexpensive Merlots grown in Barbera and Ripasso......

All is fair in love and war and this is both, Roberto

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 07-15-2001).]

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