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WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

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WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Jenise » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:07 pm

My adoration for this now-defunct California winery means that whenever I spy a loose bottle in a wine shop I'm compelled to buy it, knowing they're virtually irreplaceable. And so I hesitated not, yesterday morning, when paying for my order of Bedrocks at a retailer in Anacortes* and hearing my husband call from across the room, "Honey, they have 11 bottles of 2001 Karl Lawrence here!". They join four of the same vintage that I purchased direct from the winery long ago. I am a happy girl!

We opened a bottle from the new stash yesterday evening. Tangy, angular, lots of red fruit, huge dustiness with some cocoa-chocolate--more about aroma right now than flavor. Very different from how I remember my other 2001 Karl Lawrences tasting, and I must rely on memory because my last TN on an 01, about six months ago, merely reads "Damn that Lambert, he keeps making me drink wines I plan on holding! :)" Lambert is the neighbor with whom we share premium Cal Cabs over the back yard fence. So routine has this practice become that I now pick up the odd Cal Cab thinking "Good fence wine!" Anyway, my guess as to the difference is that these new bottles are a little travel-shocked. At least, I hope that's the case.

*So much for the usual rules about location. Guy decides to open a wine store because he owns way too much wine and picks a little town, population 16,000, with water on two sides and no fine dining establishments, one road in/one road out and no roads passing through, 20 miles from the nearest interstate. Shouldn't work, but he's one of the most successful retailers in the state.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Brian K Miller

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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Brian K Miller » Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:47 pm

LOL.

My sister and her husband are at this moment building a new modernist house in Anacortes. Their neighbors design review committee made them add a pitched roof to fit into the woodsy craftsman style prevalent in the town.

We did have a lovely lunch in downtown Anacortes, though. Cool old building. Interesting wine list. Creative northwestern cuisine. Based on that one meal, you may be a little harsh in dismissing the scene????
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Jenise » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:23 pm

Brian, not dissing the scene! But ten years ago when Doug opened Compass Wines (did you go in?), what I stated was exactly the case. Except for the donut shops and little storefront cafes on Commercial, there was but one 'decent' restaurant in the whole place, Boomers, which was there even when I was there in 1988 managing a project at the Texaco refinery. And Boomers existed mostly because refinery personnel and visiting managerial and peripheral staff needed some place to eat--a typical steak and seafood restaurant wherein you order your entrée meat with a choice of baked potato or rice pilaf, yada yada. A few downtown bistro-type places have come on the scene in the last five or so years.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Brian K Miller » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:28 pm

I will have to ask my sister. :)

I recall the place we ate as being very Bistroish. I think they even had paper table coverings. Nice, fresh food, good service, and decent small wine list. Pretty place!

Myself, I would live in Bellingham. I LOVED Bellingham, although i stiil prefer the Mediterranean landscape and more sun! But her husband has a rural upbringing, so Anacortes is a good compromise for them.
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Jenise » Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:51 pm

Anacortes is a sweet little town, they'll be happy there. And thank goodness there are now some restaurants like the place you mentioned. I remember on one of my business trips there, not able to stand one more Boomers or burger, we picked up fried chicken and jojo potatoes at the Safeway (then, the town's only market). Talk about desperate. And we often drove over to La Conner for dinner--La Conner's a lovely little town and it has better restaurants than Anacortes. Glad you liked Bellingham, I did too, first time I visited. I and one of my colleagues drove up Chuckanut drive (spectacular views of Puget Sound) and then chose some café in Fairhaven for dinner--I fell in love (with the town, not my colleague!), and that's why we're here today.

Give a holler next time you're up visiting your sister, we'll pop some corks!
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Dale Williams » Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:12 pm

Jenise wrote: jojo potatoes !


??

I always thought the Karl Lawrence cabs were very good, but after 1998 felt priced out. Didn't know they had closed
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Jenise » Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:55 pm

Dale Williams wrote:
Jenise wrote: jojo potatoes !


??

I always thought the Karl Lawrence cabs were very good, but after 1998 felt priced out. Didn't know they had closed


'Jojo potatoes' is some kind of battered and fried potato wedge featured heavily in advertising at the time--most grocery stores didn't yet have deep fryers, so it was different.

But yes, Karl Lawrence is no more. 2010 was the last vintage.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: 2001 Karl Lawrence (new stash)

by Brian K Miller » Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:12 pm

Jenise wrote:Anacortes is a sweet little town, they'll be happy there. And thank goodness there are now some restaurants like the place you mentioned. I remember on one of my business trips there, not able to stand one more Boomers or burger, we picked up fried chicken and jojo potatoes at the Safeway (then, the town's only market). Talk about desperate. And we often drove over to La Conner for dinner--La Conner's a lovely little town and it has better restaurants than Anacortes. Glad you liked Bellingham, I did too, first time I visited. I and one of my colleagues drove up Chuckanut drive (spectacular views of Puget Sound) and then chose some café in Fairhaven for dinner--I fell in love (with the town, not my colleague!), and that's why we're here today.

Give a holler next time you're up visiting your sister, we'll pop some corks!



Great cheese shop in Fairhaven! Bellingham reminds me of Berkeley without the gloss of obvious wealth and the rudeness (they may be politically correct, but damn Berkeleyans are rude in public!) :twisted:
Or maybe even more...a Northwest Coast Petaluma! Similar feel in some ways!
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach

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