Last night was shoulder lamb chops braised in tomatoes and white beans, with roasted cauliflower and a Boston lettuce salad. There's been a bottle of 1971 Tronquoy-Lalande (St Estephe) sitting around irritating Betsy since holidays. A longshot bottle, was in assortment I brought up for big parties, never opened. Left it upstairs as it was upright, but never wanted a longshot Bordeaux for dinner. So finally opened. Good fill, nice condition of cork, great color when decanted. However.....still a bit of cassis fruit, but flat, still a bit of tannin, rather clipped finish. Not totally dead, but no reason to drink when I have plenty of other wine. Win some, lose some. I figure on old cheap Bordeaux I go 10% really nice wine that I'm excited about, 35% good mature claret, 20% decent claret than cracks up fast, 20% like this - not totally dead, but not interesting, 10% abysmally flawed. As long as I'm not paying much, worth trying. This bottle, C
So actual dinner wine was the 2008 Zuazo Gaston "Vendemia Seleccionada" Rioja. Medium bodied, fresh red fruits, a little herby edge. Fresh and food friendly. Revisited 2.5 hours later (after watching "Crazy Heart", excellent film) it exhibited more of a spicy edge. Not much oak, clean and fresh. Good value at under $10. 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.