John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

[SY]

That's it, the one on Platt. It had an unmarked entrance behind a Petco. The owner used to be a cool guy named Steve Ein who ran the thing at a loss because of the legendary Friday night tastings. Steve and I were great friends and used to go to Grateful Dead shows together. When his wife (who was the money) decided that they needed to get out of LA, he sold it to a fellow who worked at the Beverly Hills place you mentioned. He couldn't make a go of it, killed the Friday night parties, and sold it a year or two ago to one of the former party folk.

But in its day, the Box was amazing. You'd get a couple of rich guys arguing about what was a better vintage, '72 or '78, then decide the only way to settle it was to open every DRC Grand Cru from those years. By the end of a typical evening there, the table would be covered with a hundred bottles, all of which were monsters.

If you're familiar with Burghound, this is where he got his start.

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by SY

The 1850 Verdelho we drank was your birth year?

Not quite, +100yr ,the Martigneti's would never figure out the price slip so why smarten up the chumps.

[bcarso]

Originally Posted by SY

That's it, the one on Platt. It had an unmarked entrance behind a Petco. The owner used to be a cool guy named Steve Ein who ran the thing at a loss because of the legendary Friday night tastings. Steve and I were great friends and used to go to Grateful Dead shows together. When his wife (who was the money) decided that they needed to get out of LA, he sold it to a fellow who worked at the Beverly Hills place you mentioned. He couldn't make a go of it, killed the Friday night parties, and sold it a year or two ago to one of the former party folk.

But in its day, the Box was amazing. You'd get a couple of rich guys arguing about what was a better vintage, '72 or '78, then decide the only way to settle it was to open every DRC Grand Cru from those years. By the end of a typical evening there, the table would be covered with a hundred bottles, all of which were monsters.

If you're familiar with Burghound, this is where he got his start.

Frank Pepp, the current owner (also a chemist btw), told me the story of someone going on and on to someone who was there about burgundy, at one point asking him "Do you know anything about burgundy?"

It turned out the "someone" was in fact Allen Meadows. The man initially disbelieved him, and Allen had to show him his ID. Talk about sheepish looks...

I've never been active in wine circles to speak of. But I do know of Meadows. And the good folks at WineAccess have gotten me to subscribe to Tanzer's rag now, although unless I start making serious money again I don't know why.

[SY]

Ah, you know Frank. The Don Rickles of the Wine Box. He would verbally abuse people, then pull out a bottle of something great to share with them, making little Tourette's barking noises the whole time. Allen was still in the banking business then, and surprisingly, the guy with the best Burgundy palate was an attorney that he was close friends with. This guy would just nail wine after wine when given stuff blind. Amazing sensing ability and memory.

There's not much I miss about SoCal, but the Box was a great loss for me.

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by bcarso

Frank It turned out the "someone" was in fact Allen Meadowslooks...
.

Alan did not get above my 50% threshhold on wine recommendations, burgundy for me remains a crap shoot.

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by bcarso

Frank Pepp, the current owner (also a chemist btw), told me the story of someone going on and on to someone who was there about burgundy, at one point asking him "Do you know anything about burgundy?"

It turned out the "someone" was in fact Allen Meadows. The man initially disbelieved him, and Allen had to show him his ID. Talk about sheepish looks...

I've never been active in wine circles to speak of. But I do know of Meadows. And the good folks at WineAccess have gotten me to subscribe to Tanzer's rag now, although unless I start making serious money again I don't know why.

[mlloyd1]

indeed.
so wayne, when do we get to some some internal pics?


mlloyd1

Originally Posted by Bonsai

Now that's more like it (the XP 20, that is)

[john curl]

It's amazing, people spending real money on food and drink, and thinking that more tangible items like hi fi are a waste of money! '-) You won't get me to spend any real money on wine. Oh, I have tried some good stuff, but it's too expensive for my taste.

[john curl]

Well that shut everybody up! '-) For clarity, let me say that I don't mind that people spend their free income on wine or good food. However, I wish that they would not unfairly criticize investments into hi end audio where I design. If I were very wealthy, I too would put more of my income into good food and drink. My friend Jack Bybee certainly does, and I am sure that any of you food and wine hobbyists could make intelligent conversation with him on these topics. For me, I invest my time and money into audio, even if it gets more and more expensive to 'get it right'.

[Wavebourn]

Originally Posted by john curl

It's amazing, people spending real money on food and drink, and thinking that more tangible items like hi fi are a waste of money! '-) You won't get me to spend any real money on wine. Oh, I have tried some good stuff, but it's too expensive for my taste.

I have the same problem John. The stuff people drink routinely I don't like, I newer knew when to start and when to stop because I did not feel any desire, so had to teach myself to have a habit to "be like others", until finally understood that I don't need that at all. Some stuff can be really tasty, but it is too expensive, and induces dumb state of mind exactly like other cheaper stuff. I don't like t feel dumb, this is one more problem.