Friday we went to friends so dinner, when we got there Betsy borrowed the broiler to make her appetizers, great shrimpballs with ginger & shallot. Opened with the NV Duval-Leroy Brut Reserve Champagne- crisp apples, bread dough, touch of lemon zest. Fresh and easy, not especially long, but at $25 wish I had bought more. B+/B
Dinner was lamb tagine with couscous and an excellent spicy cauliflower/almond salad.
2012 CVNE “Cune” Rioja
Cherry, strawberry, hint of vanilla, easy and fruity. B/B-
2007 Donkey & Goat “Recluse” Syrah
Full black fruits, a meaty overtone, really tasty except there seemed to be a little metallic twang to the last couple sips. Brett, food match, or my imagination? I had B+ up till then
2014 Jadot ( Gagey) “ Clou d`Orge” Ladoix
Oak is sticking out a little, but this had nice pear/apple fruit, nice balance of acidity to fruit, good length. Good for $25 white Burg. B/B+
Saturday I did clams with linguine, with the 2013 Guiberteau “Clos de Guichaux” Saumur Blanc.
I’ve heard a lot about Guiberteau and was looking forward to this. This had decent acidity but was much more fruit forward than I expect in Chenin Blanc. Yellow plum, juicy. B-
1994 Vissoux Moulin-a-Vent still had fruit, but there was an oxidative note and a good dose of ashtray. Hey it was cheap. C+
Sunday was flounder in a lemon-curry sauce, broccoli, fennel. The 2015 Lauer “Senior- Fass 6” Riesling was just lovely- lemons and green apple, spicy anise meets ginger overtones, zippy acids, just a touch of RS (think halbtrocken). A-/B+
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.