WTN: Oregon, Loire, Chablis, Champagne, Brunello, Bdx

Wednesday was roast chicken with chayote, squash, and carrots, lettuce/sorrel salad
2014 Pinon “Les Deronnieres”Vouvray. Sec-tendre, apple and lemon with floral and wool notes. Vibrant and fun. B++

Friday we had friends over, first time in a year around same table.

Charcuterie (coppa, Genoa, prosciutto) on Betsy’s sourdough, Ron’s home smoked salmon, and Nancy’s radish-butter on celery, Sorrel soup
NV J-M Seleque “Les Solistes” Extra Brut Rose Champagne
I loosed the muselet and the cork popped out on its own, startling me! Red fruits and citrus zest, bread dough, lovely. A-

Pork chops with sage, sweet potatoes, broccoli rabe
1995 Foris “Maple Ranch” Pinot Noir (Rogue Valley)
Bought as a casefiller for a few dollars (Betsy is distantly related to owner). No expectations, but this was actually quite alive. Black cherry fruit, a touch of tar, not real complex but fun. B

1977 Col D’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
Fruit is pretty quiet, but it's lovely in an elegant aging dowager kind of way. More mushroom and saddle leather than anything else, but a nice sweetness and elegant texture. I quite enjoyed. B+/B

2001 Ch. Potensac
I'm usually a Potensac fan (and a 2001 fan), but not this night. Some black plum fruit, a little cedar, not a lot of tannin but what is there is drying. Rather clipped finish. Representative bottle? C+/B-


Saturday oysters, scallops with sorrel butter, rice, with the 2011 Fevre Les Clos Chablis.
Lovely, pear and lemon, citrus blossom, saline and oyster shell. Hurray for Diam. 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.

[Jenise]

I'm very impressed with that '95 Foris. Living where I do and them priced lower than average they show up often at non-geek households, and while always on the simpler side and as you say "fun", I've never seen the kind of structure that would suggest aging them for five years, let alone 25.

Deleted.

I'm very impressed with that '95 Foris. Living where I do and them priced lower than average they show up often at non-geek households, and while always on the simpler side and as you say "fun", I've never seen the kind of structure that would suggest aging them for five years, let alone 25.

Yes, I had zero expectations of these. Only their base PN and PG before. Paid $4 each for the '95 and '98 (plus vig, so almost $5). But family connection, and I was just bidding as I had some other wines at Benchmark/Brentwood, and not much shipping difference between 4 and 12 bottles. So a couple bottles that were "whatthehell" ('10 Le Moulin Pomerol, CalChards). But '93 Ducster, some Jadot Griottes make it worthwhile