First time at river concert this year (series started while we were in Iberia, then last week rained out). Mostly cloudy but with nice breeze off river, spectacular view, great music, great friends. We carried shrimp on a corn/cucumber salad, a caprese variation (tomato, burrata, radish leaf pesto), cheese, saucisson sec, melon.
2005 Prager Weissenkirchen Achleiten Stockkultur Gruner Veltliner
Deep gold color made me a little apprehensive, but plenty of life here. Rich peach fruit, a little pineapple and melon, if anything it’s a little too fruit driven for my tastes. Tiny hint of petrol and slate. But there’s good acidity and it works well with food. B/B+
2022 Gnarly Head Chardonnay
Canned pears, fig, with a subtle but not subtle enough edge of urinal cake. I immediately dumped but then felt guilty for what I had done to park lawn. D
2021 Rostaing Puech Noble (Languedoc)
Black raspberry, garrigue, pepper. Fresh, some moderate tannins. I think this is predominantly Syrah. A little riper/fuller than a Rhone from Rostaing, but this is a fun look at Southern France. B+/B
2022 Babil
Served cool. Cranberry, pepper, and pine needle, Fred says “a grape you don’t drink much” and social engineering gets me to Pineau d’Aunis on first guess (luck). Others like a lot, the pine needle thing detracts a bit for me. B-
2023 Tintero Rosato
Hint of spritz, very light, strawberries and lemon. Not a lot here, but actually a pretty nice backdrop to food. B-/B
Good times, despite the Chardonnay.
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.