Comments on: The SLAC Summer Institute Wine List:

By: Panning for Gold | Cosmic Variance

Panning for Gold | Cosmic Variance — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 22:54:54 +0000

[...] We have a variety of other activities as well. There are 5 afternoons of topical talks, one each on results from the Tevatron, B-physics, astrophysics, neutrinos, and heavy ions. Alternating afternoons we hold discussion sessions where the students get to grill the lecturers. This evening is the first of 2 poster sessions where the students will present their work. Next week is the annual SLAC versus Summer Institute soccer game. And we have 3 dinners which give the students the chance to mingle with each other and the lecturers and drink good wine. Last night was Hawaiian night, unfortunately SLAC’s resident hula dancer had broken her ankle and could not perform. [...]

By: Preparations have begun! | Cosmic Variance

Preparations have begun! | Cosmic Variance — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 06:05:57 +0000

[...] We begin work in September and essentially meet once a week for the rest of the year. SLAC has been doing this for 34 years now and it doesn’t get any easier. This is my 4th year, and I’m just now getting the hang of it. Each program director contributes something unique to the Institute. Here are my top accomplishments: (i) overhaul the mailing list for the announcements/posters. Turns out, before I joined, SSI had been using the original mailing list, drawn up in 1971. Yes folks, we were sending our announcements to dead people! And guess what, they weren’t sending their students…we now insist that only living physicists inhabit our mailing list. (ii) The t-shirts now have the emblem printed on the front instead of the back. This is quite important for physicists with long hair. (iii) I’m in charge of the wine for the dinners. I no longer have to bring bottles from home. (iv) We have a question box for the discussion sessions, where particularly shy students can submit written questions to the lecturers, rather than have to ask them out loud in front of 300 people. [...]

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 02:20:05 +0000

It’s difficult to find a good bottle of dry, complex, full bodied wine under $10, but there are many bargains in the $11 to $14 class. C\^{o}tes du Rh\^{o}ne wines are often good values.

By: Steinn Sigurdsson

Steinn Sigurdsson — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:24:19 +0000

Margaux is well worth it – you need to go to better class of meetings!
I once managed to get a Cambridge cellarmaster to prove by experiment that his favourite Margaux vintage was better than the one I had been offered at the previous stop. He was right, they had a better cellar.

Try TJs for surprisingly good wines at bargain prices; or go directly to the wineries, if in doubt go to Bonny Doon! Eclectic but fabulous. Don’t know that you can get down to $6 per bottle for anything though ( http://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com ) easy drive from SLAC. Looks like they’re all above $10 per bottle though.

By: collin

collin — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:13:36 +0000

eh, i’ll take what i can get. and thanks for the suggestion on the duoro. i’ve yet to try a portugese wine, so i should probably get around to it, considering this seems to be right around my budget…

By: Anne

Anne — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:43:39 +0000

If you do ever get a chance to taste a Margaux, jump on it. I had the good fortune to share an ‘82 with a friend and her wine connoisseur father a few years ago, and it was divine.

Care to comment further on the Rosemount?

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:40:35 +0000

Hack – I generally shop at K&L Wine Merchants and the Wine Club.

Collin – too bad it wasn’t the 2000! Yes, I enjoy wines from Provence, I just didn’t find any for the Institute this year. The Duoro and the Temparillo were both great!

By: collin

collin — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:27:55 +0000

hey, a wine post! yea! i have this odd feeling that i have to comment, so here goes:

1. i can now put a feather in my cap b/c i’ve tasted chateau margaux. granted, it was only a taste of ‘99 margaux when the vintage was released at a tasting of ‘99 bordeauxs. i was very impressed, but i’m probably very easily impressed when it comes to classified growth bordeaux. yeah, i know, it’s not much of a feather…

2. have you tried any wines from around provence, specifically nimes? these are favorites of mine in the under $10 price range, where i certainly am almost always buying. also some sicilian wines can be good for around there. and i’m just about to finish off a case of a $3 french vin ordinaire, which i was pretty fond of (well, at least for $3).

3. any comments on the Charamba Duoro Tinto? it’s the most interesting wine on that list to me…

By: hack

hack — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:56:15 +0000

Where do you do your wine shoping?

And have you ever been accused of casting pearls before swine?