Traveled to Atlanta for a wedding this weekend. We got in late Th, grabbed some dinner at a tavern next to hotel in Buckhead, I thought about wine but couldn’t face La Crema PN and the like. The next night Betsy and I had a really excellent dinner at Aria in Buckhead. We started with chickpea fritters with harissa & pickled cucumbers, then Betsy had crsb cakes on a Vietnames salad (fennel, carrots, cilantro, etc with nuoc cham dressing), I had yellowtail hamachi sashimi with apple, avocado, radish, & ponzu. Mains were halibut with asparagus & peas (snow and green), leeks, green garlic; plus Georgia trout on spinach, shiitake, & mashed potatoes with frisee in vinaigrette. We were going to a party later, so limited ourselves to s half bottle of 2017 Do Ferreiro Albarino (regular, not the Cepas Vellas). Really quite enjoyable,.citrus, pear and apple, minty herbs. Balanced and vibrant. B+
The party was at a South African themed place, lots of passed plates and later some hot food. I tried a couple of SA whites, but didn’t get vintage or take notes. Babylon Chardonnay was ok, Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc was more lively.
The actual (beautiful) wedding was at the Cherokee Country Club. I bit of a delay due to rain threat, but plenty of wine provided on veranda. After lovely ceremony a reception under big tent with good dinner (burrata salad , chicken with salsa verde, etc), followed by a fireworks display.
2020 Whispering Angel rose
This is huge production, super-trendy, and my expectations were low, but it really wasn’t bad. Blood orange and strawberry, moderate acids, nice herbal edge to finish. B/B-
2018 Girard Chardonnay
Wow, there’s a lot of oak there. Pear, vanilla, peach, toast, oak, modest acids. C+
2017 Ferrari Carano Cabernet Sauvignon
Fruit forward, but really not bad- cassis and black cherry, light hints of oak, some tannin but pretty easy, decent finish. B
I think the Champagne was V-C but never saw bottles and just had a small sip.
Really glad we could be there.
After flight home Betsy was ready to cook. Steak in a spice rub, kale/panko/feta salad topped with sousvide eggs, corn with Old Bay. Wine was the 1985 Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino (not great match, but had out for Memorial Day and never opened). Leather, black cherry, some ashtray, this is a pretty tired, but interesting. B-/C+
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.