1985 Corvo Duca Enrico Rosso

That latter statement could very well be the winegeek's credo (or epitaph), Bill. Well said!

Mark Lipton

LOL! If you think of all the "off the wall" things that you've done for a glass of wine over the years they really add up to a sizeable portfolio of lunacy. I've driven hundreds of miles out of the way to visit some"mythical" wine maker only to find plonk or a nutcase. I've walked dozens and dozens and dozens of vineyards in searing heat or driving rain, scaled small mountains or walked miles through poison ivy to see a vineyard that a vintner insists will make a difference in my understanding of their wines only to see...grapevines and dirt or mud. I have sat through incredibly boring flights of uninteresing, pedestrian table wines to get a taste of some promised magic elixer only to find that the elixer is sold out. I have a cupboard full of the obligatory "free" glasses after paying a $20 tasting fee at a Napa winery to taste through their line-up only to find that they are not pouring the one wine you really wanted to try because the price puts it at a point where you won't buy until you taste. And, I quit counting the hundreds and hundreds of glasses of extraordinarily average fermented grape juice to find that one magic moment that makes it all worth it.

Wow, that's the truth. I have never thought of the ridiculous lengths and dead end roads I have gone down to taste a wine someone told me was great only to find out it wasn't even close and, in some instances was some of the worst things I have ever put in my mouth. On the other hand, my wife and two other friends and I got drunk with David Bruce with several of his library wines because we called and got him on the telephone personally on a whim.