264346 Sat Jul 31 06:26:49 -0700 2004 2 26 International 0 1396010 i'm a londoner and an avid fan of red wine (no connection), specifically french, my favourites being wines from cotes du rhone region or st emillion and of course(!) brunello di montalcino from italy. approx 3 months ago i had come across, completely by accident, of a bottle of red wine from napa valley, clos du val cabernet sauvignon 2000. to my immense pleasure and major shock (read revelation) i realised that this north american wine was the best wine i had ever tasted!! being european (even though brits wouldn't like to be called "that", they'd rather prefer islanders, or something else, but i digress), i grew up with and have been accustomed to french, italian and spanish wines and have an in-built suspicion to all wines coming from the "new worlds", being utterly convinced of the superiority of european wines (and/or of all things european with the exception of a couple of japanese "gadgets"..) since then i've been trying to desperately find this wine in london but no "self-respecting" wine shop in london sells it, please, please help!! and please do not tell me to try harrods, fortnum and mason, mayfair cellars, etc, i have tried them all!! anyone who can help me with this crucial piece of information will have my long lasting admiration, thanks, etc, with the strong possibility of erecting a statue in their memory. Sat Jul 31 06:26:49 -0700 2004 0 danny 1 1396011 Theatre of Wine in Greenwich lists the 98 Cabernet and the 2000 Zinfandel Sat Jul 31 07:00:23 -0700 2004 1396010 0 Tony Finch 1 1396025 You can use the Winesearcher.com site (link below) to find Clos du Val wines in the UK. You might be interested to know that Bernard Portet, the founder of CdV is French. His father was technical director of Ch. Lafite and he grew up in Bordeaux. My friend, Kian Tavakoli, who is the winemaker for the Cabernet program was born in France of a French mother and an Iranian father. So, there's plenty of Euro-styling expressed in the wines. Fwiw, the 1978 Merlot from Clos du Val was one of the best Merlot-based wines I've tasted from anywhere. Ever. Link: http://www.wine-searcher.com Image: http://www.closduval.com/uploadedFiles/VFTNhmpg_cab_01_bottle_shot.jpg Sun Aug 01 02:01:01 -0700 2004 1396010 0 Melanie Wong