HDH summer tasting

So remember when I complained about the champagne tasting at Michael's with the rude patrons and some attitude from servers?

if not- here is my review of that tasting...

http://blog.semifreelife.com/2014/12/i-am-drinking-stars.html

I wrote in that post- last night Michael's on East (hereinafter MOE- LOL the old lawyer habits die hard...) held its annual champagne tasting and Phil was insistent on going.  I demurred on the grounds that we have plenty of inventory and that I really only enjoy the HDH (Michael Davis being the D) champagne tastings. Years ago we used to go to the Sam's champagne tastings until I put my foot down- too many twenty-somethings in little black dresses looking for their next commodities trader boyfriends/sugar daddies. I love the HDH tastings because 1. Michael (Davis) always has the best producers and lots of high end vintage and prestige cuvees to taste 2. they are very limited in number of attendees and 3. the vast majority of those attending the event understand the etiquette of tastings (take a pour and STEP AWAY from the table, don't monopolize the servers- or as we said in the ancient days "don't Bogart that joint") I attempted to get Phil to go on his own but NO... he wanted a wine buddy along and with Sheila in Chicago and Arno at Racine's NY, his two wine-geekiest tasting buds were unavailable - hence my presence...

So I was up for this tasting and following along are some of the reasons why HDH tasting is the one to go to-  he only has champagne at the Champagne tasting (you would think DUH but seriously a lot of folks have no clue about the restrictions on the legal term "champagne") - which is very small and specific part of France- even sparkling wines from the Loire region may not be called Champagne...

 

And the next thing is- the wines are selected for a wine folks - not for gals in cocktail dresses trawling for their latest "sponsor" LOL-

some examples from the 13 tables of multiple wines (more than 100 to try) - and while I hated the rose from Table 1 (I thought it was defective) apparently someone likes it because the tasting price was close to $500 a bottle... aaaccckkk!

the Doms are more to my taste but also on the pricey side (but not anywhere near the Ace of Spades -above)

Phil's fave Krug is also priced for special occasions and not for everyday drinking-

although more approachable on price the Veuve is also not generally to my taste although the Grand Dame was showing very well last night-

Ruinart - which we have bought fairly frequently in the past was not showing all that well last night...

but the rose was better than the BdeB-

sorry couldn't crop the Krug labels to eliminate the prices but everyone knows it is expensive so no surprise there... Phil likes Krug - his favorite Champagne - but as I mentioned in the prior Champagne tasting post -

My favorite champagnes are those made solely of the chardonnay grape. These are called blanc de blanc or blanc de chardonnay (producers vary) and as a group I am extremely fond of the "grower" champagnes which have over the years been great values compared to the brands of the large champagne houses.  Champagne is a commodity. Except for vintage champagnes each "house" has its own style and blends grapes from many vineyards and even years to make its "house style".   My husband loves Krug; it is not to my taste.  I love the blanc de blancs and he loves the blanc de noirs (made with the pinot noir grape.)  But I may be getting into the weeds here...LOL it happens to wine geeks and having been tutored by among the best of them (thanks to Neil and Phil!, and a shout out to friend Michael Davis who was the auctioneer at my first auction purchase) I fall into pontificating... so I will let it rest a bit and go back to the reason for this post....

The night was perfect for an outdoor tasting at the patio of City Winery and friends Mon & Beth and Mark & Mirella showed up as well as Neil - and we ran into a number of folks we used to see at auctions when we were buying in the earlier days...so it was a lovely evening... thanks to Michael for hosting us!

and now back to Ireland and day two....