People brought a nice variety of food, including salads, linguini, steak, chicken....
Alois Lageder 2005 Riesling Alto Adige (Wine Styles: $14). White wine of the night for me (if not WOTN). Outstanding crisp minerality. Not as "sweet" as many of the German Rieslings I've tried, but this was showing more beautiful fruit last night than when I had it earlier. Given the QPR, I would rank this a 4*. Will buy more.
Di Filippo Grechetto Colli Martani 2004 (Corti Brothers ~$14) White Burgundy style bottle, and this tasted very much like Chardonnay to me. Much richer and creamier than the Riseling, although I don't think they use a lot of oak. Panoply of tropical fruits on the palate-pineapple, orange, vanilla. A hint of burnt caramel suggests this wine was on it's way downhill into ozidation, but still very drinkable. The Chardonnay drinkers present liked this one. I score it 1.5* because it was fundamentally pretty nice.
Villa Martina Tocai Friulani 2005. Don't know what happened here. Dead bottle? I really liked this wine earlier this summer. It had been stored cold, if anything. Perhaps another oxidized bottle(albeit not as obviously bad as the Hess-which they replaced, by the way!!!
)-harsh, even caramel despite this being a steel-fermented wine. Disappointment of the night. 0*
Elio Altare Dolcetto D'Alba 2003. Sure, it was a hot year. I still really enjoyed this wine, though. A blast of lovely "blackberry" fruit set off with some still impressive tannins and some savory, earthy, herbal notes. Very nice 3.5* Would buy again.
Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva 2001. A decent wine, but just kinda boring. The smoke and leather notes are there, asw is the nice cherry fruit. Just not very memorable. There are a lot of other Chiantis out there to try first. 2*
Podere Il Palzazzino Grosso Sanese Chianti Classico 2001. Nicer, richer, smokier, and earthier than the Banfi. I've had better bottles of this, but it was still nice 3* and would buy again.
Anzivino Gattinara 2000 (Nebbiolo). Nice and smooth. Not as much tannin as the dolcetto. Darker in color, with the lovely herbal notes and rose petals I read in tasting notes. Nice for $20, if I can remember where I picked this up
2.5* Want to experiement with some other producers, but I would certainly drink this again.
Luigi Claissano Bricco Mira Langa 1993 Barolo This may not be one of Piedmont's great producers (I founf 3 tasting notes on the web), but for $28, I really enjoyed this. Definitely bricking in color-some orange and brown notes in the red. Very, very smooth-the tannins have been tamed here. More herbal notes, a hint of blackberry, definietly some floral rose petal notes. I feel like I understand Barolo a little bit more now. 3.5* given the price, and I would like to try another bopttle of this.
We ran out of easily accessible Italians, so we turned to California Cabs, to almost universal acclaim. I am not sure about the 2003 vintage, though. It is definitely greener in character, with more bell pepper notes. Still some nice wines, though.
Goosecross Cellars 2003 Howell Mountain. Served decanted) A very nice wine. A hint of green pepper (more than at the winery), but still some nice brambly mountain fruit with a hint of savory notes begnning to show. Will the savory overcome the Bell Pepper, or is this cool vintage not going to age very well? We shall see! 3.5* I have 4 more, luckily
Sequum Napa Valley (Four Soil Melange) 2003. Too much vanilla for my tastes, and the green pepper is pretty dominant. Wouldn't buy this one again-although we did drink it pretty young and others enjoyed it. It wasn't a disater or bad, I just like the Goosecross better. 2*
Four Sons (Baldacci Family Stag's Leap Napa) 2003. I much prefer this one. Still the characteristic 2003 Green Pepper, but less vanilla oak dominance and richer blackberry and cassis fruit. Very nice wine 3*
This was an enjoyable night, and I got to see some good friends. Wine is a great opportunity to kick back with friends and coworkers in a nice setting.