Busy Sunday, I had a speech at a Bedford church before Lucy the Hound's Birthday tea (the dogs ranged from an 8 lb Havanese to a 130 lb Newfie).
I had a bottle of ESJ Bassetti on hand since I was out of Mulderbosch Faithful Hound, but we ended up sticking to tea and seltzer, so the Bassetti lived another day. For dinner Betsy went cross cultural, with chicken schnitzel over herb salad and fried rice. Wine was the 2004 Schafer-Frohlich Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese. Rich style, mango and other tropical fruit, some balancing acidity. OK, but softer than I expected- I think of 04 as having good though not electric acidity. Not as fun as the '07. B
Monday, with fried tofu with lemon and cilantro, leftover fried rice, and stirfried vegetables, the NV Castellroig Cava Brut. Light, dry, crisp. A bit of a yeasty note on nose. Not a big cava drinker but thought this a good value. B
Last night was pork chops with a sage butter, barley, and roasted veggies (Brussels sprouts, beets, onions, garlic). Wine was the 2008 Indian Creek Pinot Noir (Mendocino). This is the second label of Navarro, but they bottled the entire run under label due to smoke taint issues. Fairly bright red fruit, lighter body, good acidity. I think I get a bit of char/smoke, but how much is there and how much is my knowledge? In any case it's not really problematic. With about 2 hours of air what was a hint is now more evident. It doesn't really bother me, and since this was somewhere south of $10 I'm happy with it. B/B-
Tonight pasta with mushrooms and spinach, and the 2008 Vincent Dampt Chablis (quick replacement for a corked 04 Jadot Meursault). New producer to me. Good acids, green apple and citrus, snappy, bright. I'd like a little more mineral/chalk on finish, but nice. B/B+
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.