My wife and I spent the day with some friends who prepared a wonderful movable feast beginning with some lovely cheeses and olives and my wine:
St Pourcain "Le Tressaillier de Dravieres" Domaine Nebout 2009 This Loire Valley white was a new one for me. It is made from the Tressaillier grape. I picked it up at a tasting a few weeks ago. I went back Saturday for more and they were sold out. This wine is pale yellow, to straw colored. The nose is lightly scented with lemon grass and other minty herbs. It was a great food wine, not perfect with the cheeses, but nice balanced acidity (lemon?) balanced with apple and other fruit flavors with herbs as well. The finish was very long and strong. It is very refreshing. This would be brilliant with seafood!
There was more to come so we rested while the salad of fresh lettuces and spring peas was plated and our host pulled out Hirsche "Lamm" Grunner Veltliner 2006. If our first wine was all about the acidity, this was all about the mouth feel. The color was a gorgeous golden yellow, almost golden. The wine coated every part of your mouth making even your teeth stand up and take notice. On this wine the apple, pear and peach flavors predominated although I felt there was an undertone of citrus that balanced it out nicely. This was living!
The couch again found us as a course of pasta and barolo sauce and goat ravioli in garlic sauce were prepared. there was another gruner that I did not take any notes about and general conviviality ensued. When the next course was served we were drinking Kosta Browne 2004 Kanzler Vineyard Pinot Noir Sanoma . This wine was deep garnet red in color. The nose gave me scents of chocolate dust and dark cherries. I thought the wine still fairly primary with nice tannins and lots of cherry, mulberry, and chocolate flavors with some plumb and pomegranate in the background. This was a wine to savor and enjoy with friends.
After much savoring and enjoyment the meat course was brought to the table. This included lamb sausage and lamb tenderloins! Yum! My note taking gets a little sketchier at this point, but I note the wine as 2001 Masia Carreras Costa Brava Emporada. I really liked this wine, but it was really still an infant. This was a deep dark red, almost purple. The taste was grilled meats and red fruits. It was almost like a Spanish version of CDP! This should not be surprising as the blend is basically the same with some Tempernillo thrown in for good measure. We drained this bottle.
We pushed ourselves back from the tables like little hobbits satisfied and content, but not quite finished. Along came a parfait dessert that my wife prepared from the failure of a lemon cake the day before. I dare say this was better. With it we had 1993 Tokaji Aszy 6 puttunayos. This is the wine that provoked the most dissent of the evening. Our host declared it dead. It's dark brown color and molasses flavor did not appeal to him. I caught the ends of hazel nut and pistachios with a nice lemony zipp. I also thought it was okay although it obviously had advanced further than it should have. Disappointing, but I enjoyed it as I don't have much experience with Tokaji.
It was a wonderful day that lasted well into the night. We got home tired and refreshed and ready to do battle with the demons of the week ahead. Weekends are made for this stuff. May you all enjoy an afternoon like this!