Wednesday both Betsy and I had busy days, but she managed to stop by a large Chinese supermarket in White Plains, where she picked up some fun stuff for the future, plus some scallops for our dinner and some prepared side/starters- ribs, eggplant, cabbage/black mushrooms. The scallops were roasted with garden tomatoes, and wine was the 2009 Keller Riesling Trocken QbA. I don't alway love Keller, but this is quite nice sweet white fruit while obviously dry, bright, good length, minerally. B+/B
Thursday was the day I had sadly doublebooked. I was doing a speech/forum at a local college, while my tasting group was having Beaunes from the 40s, a horizontal of '90 DRC from Ech to La Tache, 94 ZH, 70s Phelps, 71 TBAs, etc). I just tried to put it out my mind. But Betsy at least made sure I had a good late dinner when I arrived- Gang Tay Po, a pork belly/red curry stew with water spinach, kaffir lime, and noodles. Wine was the 2007 Willi SchaeferGraacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett #9. Green apples, nectarine, lemon. Nice acids, good length, snappy and makes me happy. A-/B+
Tonight we started with caprese salad (our tomatoes came late, but are lovely) then a skirt steak with salsa verde and an assortment of leftover veggies. Apertif/tomato wine was a 375 ml of the NV Godme Brut Rose Champagne. Quite nice, cherries and apple, baking biscuits, a little slatey note. Medium bodied, toasty/yeasty, good length. B++
Meat wine was the 2001 Damilano Barolo. I've generally liked the Damilano wines considering their low pricetags, solid mid-modern Barolos. But this just seemed a little dull, despite the good vintage. Black cherry, light tannins, moderate to high acids. But a bit short, and lacking in gravity/complexity. As a basic red, B-/B, as a Barolo, C+
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.