Host Larry & A. David with Hawaii Four-O at
Ritz-Carlton
Wine Room
Laguna Niguel
Attendees: Kay, Brad, Cathy, Dan, Debby, Larry, Dave L., Judy, A. David
A. David's Wine Tasting Rating: 10
In a paroxysm of enlightenment, I have meditated long and hard on this wine event and decided that it is as worthy a wine tasting as I can ever imagine. It is a perfect wine tasting event. I am profoundly moved by the impact of the 1997 Screaming Eagle on my perception of cult wines. I can no longer categorically condemn all overpriced, cult wines as not being worth the cost. The '97 Screamer was not only an excellent cabernet sauvignon, but it commanded layer upon layer of complexity that gave you a new wine with every five minutes in the glass. I have never had a wine like this before in my life.
And if the '97 Screamer was insufficient justification, then the 1998 Screaming Eagle completely changed my paradigm of the 1998 California cabernet sauvignon vintage. Did the winemaker really take an almost universally bad vintage and turn it into one of the most memorable wines I have ever tasted?
All the high quality and rare wines in combination with an excellent menu, an elegant venue and the good company of good friends has merited my highest wine tasting rating.
-- A. David Chan --
4 November 2001
(Click on thumbnails for larger image)
Starters: 1990 Dom Perignon en magnum and a SoCal sunset.
The controversy is overand the detractors lost.
Not one, not two, but a THREE vintage vertical
of Screaming Eagle!
And one of them was the 1998 vintage acquired
through special request for early delivery.
What is the capital of Missouri?
Wrong! No '97 Harlan Estate for you!!
Ta-dah!
"This bottle contained eagle squeezins'..."
That Larry needs to have 
40th birthdays more often.
If you didn't have a good time at this one,
it was your own damn fault!
