WTN: 4 decent to vg values- Loire, Rhone, & NZ

Saturday Betsy made these little individual shrimp-garlic casseroles; while at Eastchester Seafood she had gotten us a half-dozen Kumamoto oysters as an appetizer.I confess that I was only able to open 4 with a knife, 2 of the little bastards looked like rocks and I couldn't find a hinge for the life of me, so we ended up with 2 raw and 1 steamed each.

Wine was the 2001 Laffourcade Savennieres. Not a stellar vintage, not a producer I know anything about, but how wrong are you going to go with a $7 Savennieres? Good acidity (if maybe a little lower than I expect for Savennieres), waxy/wooly Chenin notes, warm apple fruit. Enjoyable if not exciting. Unusually for Chenin it doesn't hold up well overnight, next evening lots of oxidative notes. But good value. B

Sunday we went to a pre-Valentines Day party. Big bash, the primary wines out were mags of Yellowtail (and probably no one but me cared). I did sample a couple nicer wines:

2005 Discovery Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough)Gooseberry and citrus, a bit of flinty minerality, someone cut the NZ SB with a bit of Sancerre. Good. B

2005 Clos Roche Blanche CabernetRipe sappy/juicy red fruit but with an acidic spine, a little green pepper and uncured tobacco. Fun yet serious little wine, B+

We went home earlier than we would have liked, Betsy had 2 big dutch ovens of "chicken bouillabaisse" (kind of a Provencal fricasee with
fennel, garlic, and a finishing dash of Pernod, with an aioli accompaniment, from an Eric Ripert recipe). Betsy delivered one dutch oven to a family with an ailing chef, then we had a nice family dinner. In past I've found rosé is a good choice with this dish, but apparently my still rosé supply is zero (I buy mostly in summer). So I grabbed a white, the 2005 La Vieille Ferme Cotes du Rhone (am I crazy, or isn't this usually labelled Cotes du Luberon?). Nice simple white, maybe a touch dilute, with bright apple fruit, sufficient acidity, clean finish. Some floral notes. Not complex but at $6.xx certainly a fair value (and I seldom say that about Rhone whites). 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.

Dale, Cote du Luberon Blanc is what I have here. Never seen the CdR Blanc.

That's what I remembered- red and rose Cotes du Ventoux, white Cotes
du Luberon. But the 2005 white is Cotes du Rhone AC (I got out
bottle when I got home last night to confirm). 50% Grenache Blanc, 20% Viognier, 15% each Marsanne & Rousanne, if anyone cares.

Dale, I wonder if they have set up a negioant business on the side? Anything on back label?

I checked my database and found that I purchased a bottle of 2000 Domaines Perrin Reserve Blanc Cotes-du-Rhone back in 2002 for $9.50. The notes indicated it was a blend of Grenache Blanc (50%), Bourboulene (20%), Marsanne (10%), Roussanne (10%) and Viognier (10%). A golden-hued, peach-scented dry white wine that I apparently enjoyed quite a bit.

-- Clark

Thanks Clark, me being a white wine slut, now you see why I am a big S France white wine fan!!! That one sounds terrific.