WTN: 2 Reds, 2 whites

Sunday afternoon we went over to Betsy's sister's home, a little gathering to remember their grandmother who had died recently (David had been in Scotland, and Cal and I hadn't been able to go to CA for memorial service). Nice afternoon remembering a special person, they had some cheeses and spinach lasagna (Eve's specialty) and Cal opened a couple of wines:

2010 Ca' Rugate "San Michele" Soave Classico
A bit grassy, hint of almonds, clean if not compelling bottle of Soave. B-

2000 La Louviere (Pessac-Leognan)
the rouge. Not sure how long it had been opened. Black cherry and plum, pencil shavings, some vanilla. Pretty open, soft tannins, I have some of these and looks like time to think about opening. B

That evening, Betsy made angel hair pasta with mussels and squid, wine was the 2010 G. Lombardo "Vigne di San Martino" Gavi. Sweet yellow plum and lemon flavors, a hint of residual sugar, could use a bit more acid verve. B-

Tonight was skirt steak salad, with a farro/asparagus/edamane salad. Wine was the 2009 Prebende Beaujolais. Red Gamay fruit, a little tobacco leaf, earth. Good wine for a warm evening on patio. Some earth. 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.

Wine was the 2009 Prebende Beaujolais. Red Gamay fruit, a little tobacco leaf, earth. Good wine for a warm evening on patio. Some earth..

Nice to see more and more Beaujolais names. Google tells me that this is a new KLWM wine. Keep em comin'!

I like the 2000 Louviere, Dale. Good QPR. I think it's got plenty of miles ahead of it, especially if the 1990 I had recently is any indication...

Just for fun, here's my note from 7/1/10:
Louviere 2000
Biggest, richest wine of the three (the others being the 2000 Chauvin and 2000 d'Armailhac) with the darkest color. Classy, expressive nose of plums, creosote and Graves-y tobacco. Round, plush and mouth-coating on the palate but without any heaviness. Nicely balanced between sweet dark fruit and good acidic grip, the tannins are now very svelte. This is in late adolescence, a bit chunky with some primary nuances to outgrow; it improved with over 4 hours of air. I enjoyed this a lot and think it will be even better in another 5 years, but totally drinkable now with some time in the decanter. 92 pts

Yes, it's a Kermit wine.

Patrick, I loved the 1990, drinking my last (still young) bottle last year. But not sure one can extrapolate- my memory was that was a more structured/austere wine at 10 than this was. I liked the '98 too, but it seems totally ready. We had a discussion about wine styles last week at 2001 horizontal, Matt made the point it seemed that many (most?) wines made a transition in the '95-2000 window. That said, my brother in law's cellar is just a basement, I'd expect his wines to be a bit more advanced than a 55 degree cellar.