Basically, these are the words Rob was quietly whispering to me while we were at a party in Encinitas this past weekend. The story unfolds like this…
We’re celebrating my brother-in-law’s 38th birthday at the same time as his brother’s Xmas party at his home in Encinitas with a small gathering of local friends and co-workers. Most everyone brought some kind of wine or another, most were not to our taste, such as the large format bottle of Barefoot Merlot – my god, who actually drinks that stuff? Anyway, Rob was checking out the wine selection from new arrivals when he came across a bottle that looked somewhat familiar – I say somewhat because I think we’ve seen one of these in our lifetime – not actually been able to drink it though. He grabbed the bottle (still corked) and brought it over to me and asked — is this really a bottle of 1998 Screaming Eagle? Holy crap! This was my response and I immediately went to www.wine-searcher.com to check it out. Wow, anywhere from $1,700 for an Auction all the way to $3,400 for this bottle I was now holding in my hands – very carefully I might add.
Of course our first intention was to pop the cork and drink up, but thought we should probably check with the partier who actually brought the bottle first to make sure they realized what they brought. Sure enough, he had no clue…said he’s not much of a wine connoisseur and wasn’t sure what to bring from the small selection of mostly French wines and then this one he received as a gift from “Dr. Dre” (rap singer) for some computer work he did for him. He selected the Screaming Eagle www.screamingeagle.com because it wasn’t an import. When we informed him of the value, he promptly took the bottle home and brought a nice bottle of Champagne instead. Can’t say I blame him.