Sunday Betsy played matinee and then picked up a ham at Fairway, while it baked she prepared the salads and sides, and we enjoyed a sip of leftover F. Cotat Mont Damnes, which I thought showed better than day 1. Dave is joining us for a couple of days (he's living in Brooklyn, but spending a couple nights a week here), I opened a liter bottle to go with the ham, the 2008 Gysler Silvaner Halbtrocken. OK, this isn't profound wine, but it's easy to drink, and for my tastes about a good a ham match as you'll ever find. Lighter body, just a hint of sweetness, floral -more flowers than fruit. Tasty, easy, good match. B
Monday she used some leftover ham, fried some eggs, made pasta, and created a bit of a hommage to carbonara (with some brocolli on side). Seemed like a good time to use up a summer leftover, theo. NV Cleto Chiarli "Pruno Nero" Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvestr Dave says "is this bubbly red" - well kind of. Light petillance, light sugar, light tannins. Blackberries, red plum jam, good length for what it is. Decent value at undr $10. B/B-
Today we had some frantic end of day stuff, she had a rehearsal, I had a speech, but we worked out a plan where she would do salad, and I would pick up pizza while picking up a Sprinter van from service in Yonkers. But not just any pizza- Pepe's from New Haven just opened a Yonkers branch. I ended up getting a clam pie plus a tomato pie with bacon, mushrooms, and mozzarella. I was thinking what would go with clam pie, and suddenly realized I had a bottle of skin-fermented white I had been holding for a perfect match, maybe this was it! I called Betsy to put a little chill on the 2003 Radikon Ribolla Gialla (Venezia Giulia), She actually didn't just do a simple salad, but roasted some yellow beets, tossed with greens, apples,and almonds. Pizza was great, salad was great, and hey I finally found what to do with orange wine. Very good match! Wine had orange zest, honey, apple skins, watermelon rind. Good acidity, gets brighter as night goes on, has that oxidative thing at first, but that lessens with air (I know that's a bit of a paradox, but what I thought). Nice length, interesting on intellectual level but tasty as hell as well. Fine match with clam pie, ok with other pizza. Cool and interesting wine. B+/A-
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.