Pittsburgh Premier Vertical Tasting

I was looking through my cellar today and noticed that I have a few Cos d'Estournel years (90, 97, 98, 99, 01, 04) and three years worth of Beringer Private Select Cabs (93, 01, 02). I'm willing to bet that some of the people on this site (in the Pittsburgh area) have some of these wines also, and hopefully years that I do not. I thought it would be intriguing to try and put together a vertical tasting with either the Estournel or the Beringer, or another wine if there is something else that people tend to own more of. I just wanted to put this out there as a "feeler" to see if there's any interest in a premier vertical tasting. If there is, I'll set something up.

Wow, sounds awesome. We had a Cos d'Estournel '96 which would've fit in nicely but gave it away :-( :-( :-( Also participated in a Beringer Private Select Cab vertical tasting right when they were all in the stores, we had '96, '97, '99, and '01, and I have one of each left. I also have a vertical of Cinq Cepages from '99 - '04. Needless to say, interested!

I drink too much to have accumulated multiyear vertical but from history the Pgh tasters seem to have had some of the Cinq Cepages, Mondavi Reserve, the Beringer, Cask in various vintages.

I've abondoned hope for the Caymus Select but would be very interested in a vertical Opus One. All mine seems to be gone but I bet bigred has 5-6 years still cellared (otherwise he'd be bigwhite or at least littlered wouldn't he?)

"littlered"? That would be my son :)

Actually, in a similar vein as jlburd, my "stash" on premiums is random at best, as I am too tempted to drink the juice before its time; nor have I been drinking & collecting as long as perhaps most of the crowd. Having been in PA only 3 years, I am now able to take advantage of the nice deals provided on premium selections, although as some have commented recently, these niche offerings seem to be more infrequent of late.

Oh and yes, it will always be bigred (I have all of 2 bottles of white in the cellar; some people still have the audacity to bring this stuff over as a gift)

A vertical would be fantastic but as others have stated, arranging the line-up may be an issue. I just drank my last 95 Beringer Cab Private Reserve a few weeks ago in preparation for Cab-in Fever!!

I have 03, 04 Cos but think it's too early to drink. I also have a 97 Chateau St Jean Cinq Cepages, 95 Mondavi Cab, 96 Dominus, 95 Ch Pontet Canet, 96 Tignanello, 99 Beaucastel, and 04,05,06 Don Melchor if any of those would work. But I can't guarantee how much longer they'll be around ;-)

Well now that we seem to be getting something of a lineup. I have '00 Mondavi, '94 Ce Pages, '05 Phelps Cab reserve (sorry not Insignia)

We drank our '97 Dominus a couple years ago (alongside a friend's '99 which couldn't compare).

I've had '97 Cinq Cepages and it was terrific. How about a vertical of that...jlburd's '94, J2K's '97, any or all of my '99-04...anyone have any others?

Or, we could just drink all of jonradus' Cos from the 90s!

The only Cinq cepaqes I have is an '03. I bet I can get a hold of an older vintage also for the tasting if we go this route, though.

Not to open up another can of worms...but, since we're kind of having trouble finding anything but the Cinq Cepages in common, another option could be to have a few "premier" wines from two different years. So it would be a vertical/horizontal blend. For example, I could bring two years of Cos, J2K could bring 2 years of Don Melchor, Mark could bring 2 years of either Beringer or Cinq Cepages, etc. If someone's coming solo, we could mix and match.

The first step is to see how many were interested (which looks like maybe 5, or up to 10 if everyone brings a friend or wife). I was thinking a good place to do this would be Bona Terra in Sharpsburg (www.bonaterrapgh.com). They are set up very well to do wine tastings, but can only handle up to 10 people. The food is a little expensive (about $50-$60 per person) but is very good. Or we could go with something cheaper, if desired, that could also accomodate more, if need be.

Is this turning into Pittsburgh BYOB Gathering #8?

I could offer an '03 Melchor or an '02 Cinq Cepaqes that may help fill in the gaps. The '03 Don is heaven in a bottle.

Just a note on the timing, after the round 7 tasting on 3/26, I'm more or less out of commission (traveling) until mid April – ok after 4/12.

I hit up Vivo in Bellevue tonight for dinner. They have a great basement (that is set up for parties) that would be perfect for a tasting. I inquired, and I believe this might be a real winner for Round 8. I'm going to talk to someone there next week and we'll see what it takes...

I've heard a lot of good things about Vivo, and have wanted to try it. Sounds like a good opportunity.