WTN: assorted wine

With pasta with a spinach/mushroom/lemon sauce, the 2009 Loosen "Dr L" Riesling. A bit sweeter and softer than I remembered, but still a pleasant food friendly wine. B-/B

Dave and Mary Kate go back to Scotland next week, Wednesday we had her parents join us for dinner. Yakitori chicken, rice with furikake, broccoli with sesame, herb salad. A couple of cold roses (it was hot by that grill) and a red

NV Pascal Pibaleau "La Perlette"
Interesting stuff - sparkling Grolleau. Dry, raspberry fruit, an earthy note. Betsy likes a lot and I'll get more. B

2010 JM Raffault Chinon rose
Cranberry juice! Bold red fruit, sweet fruit but a dry wine, a little citrus peel. This isn't bad at all, in fact quite tasty, but it's not the Baudry. B

2007 Tabalí Reserva Especial (Limarí Valley, Chile)
Syrah with some CS and Merlot. Big, fairly prominent oak, popular at table. This is extremely well made in a modern/internationalist style. I enjoyed more by itself than with the food. B/B-

Fun night with nice people.

With a crispy duck breast salad over haricots verts, the 2006 Dominique Laurent "Beaumonts" Vosne-Romanee 1er VV. This was a recent gift from an extraordinarily generous friend. This had big rich fruit, some spice notes, smoke and to me loads of oak (my friend felt it was less oaky than most DL wines, but my standards this is oaky). Rich and extracted, interesting, but to me B+ as "pinot noir", B- as Vosne 1er.

With skate in marjoram brown butter (me) and pasta with green puttanesca (Betsy, a NYT recipe that used green garlic, spinach, basil, and green olives as well as anchovies and capers) a couple of wines:

2007 Deux Montille "Boucheres" Meursault 1er
Little oak, but some Meursault fat, ripe pear and apple, a hint of herb and mineral. Really nice length, has that fatness but some balancing acidity, just a hint of oak, frsh, quite a nice white Burg. A-/B+

2009 Ulacia  Txakolina
a little spritz, bright green apple and citrus with a clean finish, good value. 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.

Great notes Dale. I concur that the Dr. Loosen, 'L.', it's soft, sweet and I might add overrated but well-priced, and if served cold enough perhaps a good combo for some Tai or Seshuan Chinese fast food.

I have two questions for you or anyone who feels like chiming in:

Have you had any of the reds by Deux Montille? I recently purchased a regular Bourgogne red blend (2008), which I was told by the importer is made primarily by the brother, whereas the sister has more say in the white wines. I don't know if that's true for certain or if the guy was just giving me a nice story, but I'm looking forward to trying it.

Secondly, do you have any recommendations for the sort of dishes that might go with hot weather and a 12.5%, feminine, elegant, balanced and acidic, Burgundy rouge, such as the above mentioned? I don't know if you need more descriptors, but those are what I've got for this wine before trying it.

best,

Joel

I don't recall having any of the reds, though I've heard good things. I've also heard that the brother (Etienne) does the reds primarily, with the sister (Alix) doing the whites. Etienne has been the primary winemaker at the Domaine de Montille for several years, so well qualified.

I'd think my first thoughts for food matching with classically styled red Burgundy in summer would just be lighter versions of the dishes I gravitate towards in winter with Burgundy (mushrooms, duck, beef, roast chicken), things like duck breast or skirt steak on a salad or
grilled salmon fillets. Squab could be great. Really to me that style of Burgundy is so food friendly that you just need to think about avoiding clashes rather than choosing certain foods, though some things like morels (if not too late)or chanterelles are especially magical.