Betsy and her friend Nancy have been working on a piece for a while, and some of their collaborators were in town. Ron and Nancy hosted a dinner. I brought scallop ceviche and smoked salmon on cucumber, plus watermelon pickles for color, while hosts had some duck sausage they’d (accidentally) smuggled from France.
So I opened a NV Gosset “Excellence” Brut Champagne. This is only second time I’ve ever had this happen in 30 years of wine drinking- : as I removed cage, no pressure. So I twist the cork, and it turns. I pull out- no noise. The weird thing wasn’t that this was almost totally non-sparkling, but that it then didn’t taste oxidized. Dosage was apparent, tasted like a just off dry white wine. For Champagne, D
There was a 2011 J. Lohr Chardonnay that didn’t leave much of an impression, some oak, fat, fairly typical. C+/B-
Dinner was salad, lamb shanks with white beans, and asparagus. Some reds rotated:
2007 LAN Rioja Reserva
Red fruits, spice, some vanilla/mocha oak notes. Modest tannins, soft on the acid scale. ok. B-
2011 d’Orsaria Cabernet Franc
Cab Franc was in big letters, Friuli was in fine print on back. Who ever heard of Fruilian CF? This actually wasn’t bad at all- sharp raspberry fruit, a little herbal edge, no apparent oak, clean and bright. B/B-
2000 La Magia Brunello di Montalcino
Mid-bodied, black cherry with a bit of leather, fully mature. No flaws, but not much exciting here. Middle of the road Brunello. B-
2007 Rotie Southern Rhone blend (Washington)
Soft, fleshy, redder fruits, some wildflower. This is supposed to remind one of CdP, and it does to an extent (but not of my favorite CdPs!). B
berries, lemon pie,
2008 Quady Elysium (sp?)
Sweet and to me simple to me despite heavy perfume notes, some acid but not enough, just not my style. C+
OK, so better night for food and company than for wine.
Monday I threw together a stirfry of tofu, sprouts, tatsoi, & mushrooms, with an arugula salad on the side. Wine was the 2007 R. Haart Piesporter Goldtropchen Riesling Kabinett. Nectarine, citrus, and orange blossoms. Sweet but with some zesty acids. I’m drinking these too young, but awful tasty now. B+/A-
Tonight we had a narrow window for dinner, as Betsy finished a rehearsal in city and then was leading a meditation circle tonight. I promised to have dinner ready when she arrived, but little time for cooking (turns out I had more leeway than imagined as she was stuck in traffic). Fast choice was pasta with littlenecks, along with salad, sauteed arugula/tatsoi, and garlic bread. Wine was the 2011 Guimaro “Joven” Godello. This was a replacement for the Benaza that was out of stock, an obviously more “serious” wine, but I thought less appealing (during dinner).Somewhat stolid, some stony/citrus flavors, nice length, but I’d have preferred the cheaper Benaza. But wait- revisited later in the evening, this is some pretty good stuff. A bit like Granite de Clisson meets Do Ferrieiro. Long, very good. B+/A-
(of course, if a dinner party, the first and second tastes would have been only, and I probably would have given a B/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.