Salt and pepper squid, steamed cabbage, and the 2004 Huet Clos du Bourg Vouvray Sec.
A little bit of an oxidative note had me a little worried, but it stays faint. Quince and wool, some orange zest and honey. Good acids, good length. Holds up over couple of days. B+
With crab cakes, the 2021 Bzikot Bourgogne Blanc. Apple and pit fruits, a little almondy note, fresh acids. Fine value. B/B+
Betsy and her sister are in CA, so time to eat something she wouldn’t like. Picked up some lamb kidneys at farmers market, cooked with mushrooms in a red wine sauce. Served over wild rice with salad on the side, with the 2007 Camus-Bruchon Les Lavieres Savigny-les-Beaune 1er. What a lovely wine. Black cherry, coffee, campfire, with a citrus zest note on finish. Fresh, elegant, complex. Long earthy/stony finish. A- ($26 at release)
No wine Monday with excellent takeout Mexican at a board meeting. Tuesday friends invited me to dinner, fearing without Betsy I might starve. Excellent beef stew and salad:
2019 Ch. Malbec (Bordeaux)
I believe this had been opened night before. I told Jonathan I wouldn’t have guessed Malbec, the soft plummy fruit suggested more Merlot to me. Plums, mocha, a little vanillin oak, soft tannins. Vindicated when I researched, apparently named after Louis Malbec, 75% Merlot, lesser amounts CS, CF, and Malbec. Pleasant and easy to drink Bdx AC, B/B-
2020 Muller Catoir Herzog Spatburgunder
I heard good things about this bottling, and as an old MC fan wanted to like it. But I found it a bit too oak-spicy, but more importantly there was a green note that I call geranium or potted plant, that I sometimes get in gamay from the Loire, but never before in PN. Just not my thing. 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.
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