Wednesday I cooked, chicken breast with a lemon/caper/wine sauce, roast kohlrabi, and salad (plus Betsy made barley). Cooking wine was the 2004 Guyon Corton-Charlemagne. Yes, Grand Cru cooking wine. But there's an explanation. I was at a store to pick up some closeout basic Bordeaux, and noticed a cart full of Corton Charlemagne marked down to $8. Sign explained wine had been badly stored, and was "highly variable" with usual caveat emptor stuff. Hey, I thought I'd try for the hell of it. It was fine for cooking! Bottle had spinning capsule and good color. When I popped and poured, color darkened and I thought I was going to get the equivalent of a PremOxed bottle (but with an explanation). But actually the oxidative notes were pretty faint. That doesn't mean this drank like a Grand Cru, or even a good Bourgogne. Fat, low acid, baked apple character, but the defining characteristic of this damaged wine was the finish- VERY short and clipped. It didn't however had truly off flavors. C+/C
The actual dinner wine was the 2009 Drouhin Laforet, perfectly acceptable white Burg, fat pear fruit over a little hint of hazelnut, just needed more acidic zip. B-
Last night Betsy made Jacque Pepin's halibut with red pepper oil over "fresh polenta" (really more a corn puree), asparagus,and salad. Dinner wine was the 2008 Colle Stefano Verdicchio di Matelica. Once again, this wine is a winner. Canteloupe, lime, and almond, good acidity, rich body, clean and crisp. B+
Dave's back post-exams for a couple weeks, he and Mary Kate had joined us for dinner. Dave prefers red, so I opened a 2005 Christian Moueix "Encore" Merlot, a Bordeaux AC I paid a princely $4.50 for. This is not going to make you think it's Magdelaine or even Canon de Brem, but at it's original $12-15 it was a fair deal, and at this price I need to go back for more (I split a case at $5.50 a bottle, and then this one at $4.50). Just a bit of tannin, black plums and a little mocha edge, not especially long but clean and tasted like Bordeaux (albeit satellite Bdx). 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.