Thursday we had Betsy’s sister and brother-in-law, nice and her boyfriends, and nephew and his girlfriend for dinner. 2 pescetarians, 2 mushroom haters, 2 olive avoiders, and one tomatosauce despiser. But most dishes worked for everyone. We started with 3 liver pate, guacamole, sour cream dip
NV Pierre Peters Cuvee de Reserve mag (2011 base, July 2015 disgorgement).
Snappy acids, apple and lemon zest, tarter style than some other PPs I’ve had recently (due to vintage I assume), but I still like. B/B+
We didn’t do the 7 fishes this Christmas, so Betsy made the NYT 7 Fishes Pie (mahi mahi, cod, shrimp, scallop, with salmon roe on top, they count the clam juice and anchovy in sauce as 7th) as well as shrimp risotto, sauteed spinach, and salad
2010 Boulay Clos de Beaujeu Sancerre
Lovely acids, citrus, apple and herb, wet rocks to close. B+/A-
2015 Thomas Morey “Dents de Chien” Chassagne-Montrachet 1er
Full, rich, pear and hazelnut, nice length, balanced. B+
There was a variety of desserts as well as some local cheeses, I thought a couple of harder cheeses would be ok with reds, and that I could open for BIL who is a ‘59 but missed Betsy’s party. But this bottle of 1959 C. Vienot Chateauneuf-du-Pape had a cork that had lost it’s pop- when I took off capsule no cork- floating in bottle- who knows for how long? Long enough to be undrinkable. D
1959 Parodi Barbaresco
And herein lies the lesson. This had been standing, but I popped and poured (it was cheap, no one knows producer). Jamie at CSW would be horrified. It was a bit dank, some cherry fruit, not totally dead but unappealing. But I double-decanted and stuck in fridge, and brought out next night in time to come to room temp. And I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a pretty nice old Nebbiolo there. Light, and not super-complex, but with dried cherry fruit, a little leather, and a lot of floral notes. Pretty, sweet and easy. It was still drinkable on night 3. Always give old Nebbiolo air! B-/C+ at best point night 1, B+/B on night 2, B- night 3.
Friday we had leftovers (duck as main), with the Barbaresco and the 1993 Faiveley “Clos du Roy” Mercurey 1er. High acids, tart, but with solid raspberry fruit, touch of clove-y spice, just a hint of brown sugar.B
Saturday was Japanese style mackerel, rice, sauteed amaranth (yin choi).
2018 Nigl Freiheit Gruner Veltliner
It’s a GV stereotype, but this was loaded with sweet green pea flavors/aromas, I wanted the mound of mashed potatoes that I plonked them in as a child. Touch of citrus, medium acids, fun. B/B+,
Another family dinner, this time at Sripraphai in Queens fried watercress salad with squid, both chicken and tofu kao soy, duck in green curry, Chinese broccoli with (and without) crispy pork, and fried snapper (I think I forgot a dish or two). Wine was the 1998 Huet “Le Mont” Vouvray Demi-Sec. Apples and wax, developed but not tired. Certainly not a great Huet, but a comfortable Vouvray. 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.