Wine gifts from employees

[bankerman]

Greetings from a new member! I received a couple of bottles of wine as gifts from my staff and I would like to seek some opinions of them. One bottle is a 2000 Ridge Monte Bello and the other is a 2000 Cain Five. Any thoughts? Should they be opened now or will they age well?

[californiagirl]

Ridge Monte Bello will age extremely well. Try doing a search on this site, and you'll see. Sorry, don't know about the Cain.

[winoweenie]

Hi Bankerman and welcome to the board. Both bottles are VERY nice wines. As CG said the Ridge MonteBello is one of the top 10 wines in every Calif vintage. The Cain 5 is a bordeaux blend of the 5 red varietals that make up most of the great French bottlings. I'd drink the Cain 5 sometime in the next 3-5 years and the Ridge from 5-10 IF you have proper storage. If you're keeping them in a closet cut the time in half. Stop by often. WW

[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 09-09-2005).]

[bankerman]

Much thanks to both of you. Looks like both bottles are keepers! I do have a wine cooler so they should sleep well for several years.

[jmcginley1]

You should give a raise to the employee that gave you the Ridge. A truely stellar wine year after year. It'll benefit from a 5-10 year nap.

[bankerman]

JMC,

Ironically I actually had to terminate the employee who came up with the Ridge suggestion! Certainly not due to his wine acumen. My birthday gift expectations are down a few notches for the next one - I'll probably end up with a bottle of 2 buck Chuck!