WTN: Gevrey, Sancerre, Saar

Friday's local flooding was a mess, yet I found myself just thankful that I was dealing with a lot of closed roads, as the horror of Japan tsunami was coming out. I eventually made it home to grill steaks, asparagus, and squash, and open the 2002 Sylvie Esmonin Gevrey-Chambertin VV. Pretty open, some tannin, black cherry fruit with a little vanilla. With time, some earth and fall leaves. Maybe a little young, but pleasant midbodied Burg. B
 
Saturday Betsy made scallops stuffed with basil on mushroom rice, wine was the 2007 Francois Cotat "Culs de Beaujeau" Sancerre. Certainly nice, pleasant full bodied Sancerre, but lacking a bit of the vivacity I remember. But today while watching my 'Heels get slaugthered, much more impressive and expressive. Think I better leave these alone. With dinner B, today A-

Tomorrow we're going to a blind dinner (or I am, Betsy is one of the cooks/planners) that includes meat, so Meatless Monday was moved up to Sunday. I made grilled tofu in a kecap manis based marinade, grilled Japanese eggplant with peanut sauce, baby bok choy, and baked chickpeas. Wine was the 2001 Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett. Lemon, slightly unripe peaches, a little petrol, on the drier side. Good zippy acidity, but without the rich fruit I think of as 2001 hallmark. A slight disappointment for the vintage, though I really don't know producer (I seem to have a '99 Auslese though) and have no idea if this is typical. 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. 

2001 Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett.without the rich fruit I think of as 2001 hallmark. A slight disappointment for the vintage...

Given what came afterwards, I think our measuring stick for rich fruit has gotten warped.

Sorry to see the Tar Heels with another bad start. I think they're primed to overcome the lousy starts during the Tournament.
Thanks for the 2007 Cotat update. I was planning to follow-through on my last 2007 Francois LMD, but will now hold.

Go Duke!
When I lived in Germany several decades ago, Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein was my favorite go-to wine. The proprietor died at a young age and his widow kept the vineyard and winemaking going but I think the results were not the same. I recently purchased three bottles of the 2009 St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling which I liked when tasted from a wine dispenser. (I speculate that maybe climate warming has also had an effect on the Saar wines and the grapes aren't as cold-climate as they once were--David Bueker's thoughts on this?)
I had to leave the Duke-UNC game about 30 minutes in because I had a ticket for a matinee performance of Neil Simon's "Rumors" at Cape Fear Regional Theater. It was a well-acted and directed performance with one or more equity actors from New York in the cast. To make the farce even funnier, one of the doors on the set came off the hinges and you could see one of the actors trying to get it back in place so that they could burst through it and slam it as needed. During the intermission, stagehands worked on it with a drill. It wasn't until after the play and some grocery shopping that I turned on the tv to see who had won the ACC championship. Duke was ahead by 14 points when I turned it off but with UNC's recent comeback victories I wasn't overly confident that Duke would hold on.
I feel that Virginia Tech should have been selected for NCAA tournament along with Clemson and Florida State. ESPN analysts say that Colorado should have been selected also but maybe they will both have a chance at an NIT title.