Our unconventional Thanksgiving-for-two this year involved brisket braised in red wine, a black olive aioli, roasted mixed root vegetables with herbs, and pan-charred brussels sprout leaves.
While I was doing the final prep, we had a couple of glasses of Petra Unger 2015 Kremstal Riesling "Steinterrassen," which a merchant had offered as a replacement for an out-of-stock bottle of something I'd ordered; at $17.25, it's excellent VFM. The aromatics are broad enough -- stone fruit, spices, even ripe melon? -- that I wonder at first if it's really a Riesling; but then it comes into focus on the midpalate, as if gathering itself for the long finish. Hovers right on the edge of dry. A nice surprise.
With the meal, we had a Elio Grasso 1999 Barolo Gavarini, Vigna Chiniera. Nose dominated by VA on opening, but I decanted about an hour in advance, and the volatility had blown off completely in the tasting pours within 15 minutes anyway. The underlying wine was outstanding: very deep tarry and balsamic-laced black fruit accented with something bright that suggested orange zest, and then a long, complex development in the mouth, which I can't describe except to say it was sort of like the vinous equivalent of a starling murmuration. (We were watching a flock of starlings bank and sweep around our city vista yesterday, too.) Tannins aren't obtrusive. Terrific wine; I wish its descendants could still be had for the $40 I paid for this in 2002.
I've been too distracted to post notes on other bottles recently but I can say that a Desvignes 2006 Morgon Côte du Py was a dried-out disappointment, dump 'em if you've got 'em (well, no, your bottle might be great); and that a Field Recordings 2015 Paso Robles Cabernet Franc was a delightful surprise: not at all Loire-like but also not overbearing, a tasty, fresh expression of ripe, unabashedly Californian, but unwooded Cab Franc for $20.