The 2008 St. Cosme "Deux Albion" Cotes du Rhone is certainly a well made wine, but the fleshy/jammy red fruit style doesn't do it for me. Big, fleshy, some apparent tannin, maybe food would have helped. Others like more than I. B-/C+
With a gorgonzola, arugula, and walnut pizza, the NV Jo Landron "Atmospheres" Vin Mousseux. Lemon and granny smith, dry to almost austerity, good food match, but simple compared to some other Loire bubbles. B-
Betsy made a pressure cooker dish of ham hocks, potatoes, and endive, served with the 2010 Pepiere "La Pepie" Cot. I have to say that despite haven't drunk 100+ Cot/Malbecs if you asked me to describe grape best I could come up with is "very dark." This one has none of the gravitas of say the CRB Cot, but it's a fun little wine in its way. Good fruit, juicy, easy drinking, simple- kind of a Beaujolais Villages style. B/B-
The wine with my shrimp risotto was the 2010 Castellroig "Vi de Terrer" Xarel-lo. Vivid acids, straw, chalk, salt, lemon. Lively and fun. B
The 2006 Domaine Dujac Morey-St-Denis was the choice to go with salmon, haiga (branless brown) rice w/furikake, roasted asparagus with red peppers, and arugula salad.Nice fullbodied wine, not shut down, good acids for 2006, moderate tannins. This can use some time but pleasant now. Red cherries when opened, more of a black cherry meets smoke profile when it's had an hour or two of air. Classy and long, very good for village wine. A-/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.
