No wine Mon (tacos) or Tuesday (grilled chicken
Wednesday we celebrated Mardi Gras a day late with shrimp etouffee,
2022 Leirana Albarino
Citrus,green apple, a little saline edge, nice bright wine but the etouffee had enough bite I should have opted for something with just a touch of RS, B
Thursday no wine with arctic char on soba noodles
Friday Flannery lamb riblets (za’aatar, meyer lemon), sweet potatoes, and kale
2017 Les Lunes Cabernet/Merlot Los Carneros
At a dinner a few months ago a guy who used to be a somm in Bay area named Les Lunes as his favorite new Cali producer, I’d never heard of before, but decided to try. Quite fresh, bright cassis and black raspberry fruit, light to mid bodied with good persistence. 12.5% from Sonoma. Fun B+
1999 Leoville Barton
Ripe and soft, black plum and blackberry jam, low acid, still a bit of apparent oak, this is still alive but it’s four square and a bit boring. B-
Saturday steamed lobster, farro salad, spinach
2006 Fichet “Les Chevalieres”Meursault
What a great showing for an almost 20 year old village wine. Pear, peach, almond paste, citrus zest, with good acids and long minerally/chalky finish. Fresh and holds well overnight. A-
Sunday Betsy played a pair of cello quintets (the familiar Schubert and a reworking of the Brahms Piano Quintet - which was originally written as a cello quintet). Really lovely show. Afterwards we had dinner with some friends who had attended, at Goosefeather in the old King Mansion in Tarrytown. This is Dale Talde, a Top Chef judge I think. Really fun menu, we had:
Salmon tartare bites on crisp rice
Beef wellington spring rolls (really the only mild disappointment)
Snow pea/pomelo/tamarind salad
Greens with goji berries,
Hen of the woods w/soy truffle butter
Wild mushroom rice noodle with tamarind black bean & hazelnut
Black pepper beef & broccoli
Walnut shrimp
Whole duck on top of Hong Kong toast (brioche French toast with ground duck)
We had brought a couple of wines, and ordered a bubbly off list. I tried the red before the Riesling, which was good because once you had the Auslese it really made the PN hard to taste.
NV Pato 3B Cava Rose
Lean strawberry, blood orange, very dry, good persistence . B
2006 Lafarge “Les Caillerets” Volnay 1er
Red cherries, coffee, a little high toned, good length on finish. Good with the duck and beef (at least before I got the RS from the Auslese on my tastebuds). B/B+
2001 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese
Light petrol, ripe honied fruit with ginger, very nice length. B+/A-
Fun night.
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.