July 4th was warm but with low humidity, and a nice crew got together in our back yard. Food included
Grilled sweet potato/scallion salad
Chicken wings
Chips and crudites with herb dip, guacamole, mango salsa, baba ganoush with pomegranate
Napa slaw
Confit carrots
Poat dot (Cambodian style corn)
Clams with garlic
Flank steak (marinated)
Hot dogs and brats
Lamb merguez, wild boar sausage, pork and venison sausage
Peter Luger bacon
2 different potato salads
Sesame noodles with chicken
Assorted desserts
Lots of beer, seltzer, and juice consumed. Wine too!
2013 Perelada “Stars” Cava Brut Nature.
Very dry, crisp lemon and Granny smith, refreshing if simple. B/B-
2015 Keller “von der Fels” Riesling
Racy, zippy, lithe. Citrus and chalky minerals, dry but not at all austere. A-/B+
2014 Fournier Sauvignon Blanc
Surprising color (fairly dark gold) but doesn’t taste oxidized, light simple grassy wine. B-/C+
2014 Bailly-Reverdy Sancerre. Lemon, apple, a little catpee, typical and easy. B
2015 Morisfarms Mandriolo Rosato
Cherry fruit, quite floral, light bodied, popular. B
2013 Clos du Caillou “Bouquet des Garrigues” Cotes du Rhone
Ripe and kirschy, crowdpleaser if not necessarily a Dalepleaser. B-
1980 Mt. Eden Cabernet Sauvignon
I again liked this a lot, showing much more bell pepper than it had Friday night. Midweight, earthy, perfumed/ A-/B+
1979 Ch. Villemaurine (St Emilion)
Still some red plum fruit, some bright '79 acid, but there's an ashtray element that dominates and it is a bit clipped. B-
1979 Ch. Pichon Lalande (Pauillac)
Lovely showing, black fruit accented with cigarbox and mint. Elegant, midbodied, tasty. A-/B+
2015 Fresche Anjou Rouge
Crackling black raspberry, some herb and green tobacco leaf, lean and refreshing. B+/B
At 7 we shooed everyone away, and went down to friends’ home overlooking the river to enjoy the fireworks. I tried a Puglian red, the 2012 Tormaresca Neprica. Plummy, ripe, forward. B/B-
So for a small village the fireworks were pretty spectacular (plus we could watch the Nyack show up and across the river). The big finale came, everyone in park (we were on a porch above the park) was applauding, when all of the sudden the cheers turned to “eeks”, as the skies opened up. Sometimes it’s good to be on a porch.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.