Betsy was taking Dave to airport Mon eve, so I was in charge of dinner. Slow cooker with lentils and tomato, trumpet/creminis, salad, and garlic bread. I used some of the 2007 Hugel Gewurztraminer (375 ml) for the mushrooms, and we had as an apertif. Floral, some lichee and peach fruit, a little minty note. Decent acidity for Gewurz, not exciting but good for a $9 half. B/B-
Dinner wine was the 2000 Calabretta Etna Rosso. At first I'm not a fan- there's a pruney note and some oxidation over a base of spicy red fruit. I like it better with air, where paradoxily (is that a word?) the oxidative notes fade a bit. Medium body, still a fair amount of tannin. Earth, spice, citrus zest. Not really what I expected (more tannic and rustic than the Biondi Etna I am used to) but nice wine. A pretty fair value in mid-$20s. 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.