Betsy’s mom and cousin are joining us as we go to Scotland, they arrived in NY Sunday AM. My BiL Cal cooked Sunday dinner- calamari, followed by pasta with pesto, then a tilapia in red sauce dish. I carried over a couple of whites:
2010 Hart Cellars Pinot Gris
A nice gift from Howie, I thought the Californians might like to take a Niagara wine. Unusual copper-gold color that makes me assume a bit of skin time, definitely more “deep Alsace” than “insipid cheap Italian” in style. A hint of sweetness, deep baked apple and pit fruits, pretty good length, fun wine. B
2010 Benaza Godello (Monterrei)
Great with pesto, bright and minerally, medium bodied, fresh. B+
Monday we took a trip to Queens and ate at Sripraphai. Green papaya salad, crispy watercress with squid and shrimp (2 orders of this, my fave), drunken noodles, kao soy, Chinese broccoli with crispy pork, etc. I took along a bottle of the 2009 Schafer-Frohlich “Bockenaur Felseneck” Riesling Spatlese Goldkapsel. Powerful, rich, this needs time but is so tasty now it’s really hard to resist. Snappy acids for 2009 balance the sweetness, quite long. Great with the food, just beautiful. A-
Last night another family dinner, this time at our house. Rain kept me from grill, but the broiler sufficed for some porterhouses with hickory salt. Also shrimp in a white wine/chile marinade for the non-beef eaters, potato salad, melon salad, green salad.
Opening wine (with some tasty 1970s style olive/cheddar/curry canapes was the 2011 Brun (Terres Dorees) Rose d’Folie. Snappy cherry and raspberry, light, fun, tasty. B
The shrimp wine was the Brun (Terres Dorees) Beaujolais Blanc. I always like this wine, but this time it seemed flat and lifeless (but not oxidized)- no apparent fault, just not what the wine is supposed to be. This bottle, C+, but this is an off bottle
My SiL arrived a bit late from a birth (she’s probably the world’s premier Doula/Violist) but then we toasted their 25th anniversary with the steak wine, the 1987 Kenwood “Jack London” Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma). Can’t find an ABV (this has a printed bottle, no labels as such). Good dark fruit, still pretty lively, a little menthol and leather. Not especially complex, but drinking well. 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.