Lamb chops, farro (with lamb broth), broccoli with olives and shallots
1987 La Rioja Alta 890 Rioja Gran Reserva
Sweet cherry and red plum, saddle leather, a hint of dilly American oak, bright acids, long finish. A-
Betsy had gotten me the Goldbelly Oink Package from Kings BBQ for Christmas, finally chose to have it delivered, had some friends over for lunch Sat.
2018 Capensis Chardonnay and smoked bay scallops to start.
Excellent match. Clean pear and citrus, balanced oak, nice acidic structure. B+
Then eastern NC styled pulled pork, ribs, Brunswick stew, potato salad, cole slaw, and hushpuppies. Plus Betsy had made an additional cole slaw (pickleback) and biscuits.
2015 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett #3
Peach and apple., orange blossoms, floral, good slatey finish. As it warms it comes off as a bit round. But I rechilled the remnants and that night it didn’t seem to be at all acid deficient. Long racy finish. When cold, B+/A-
2004 Bonneau “Reserve de Celestins” Chateauneuf-du-Pape
In the world of big CdP this is wellmade and balanced, with ripe red fruits and a little anise. 14% isn’t bad for modern CdP, but I still feel the heat on finish. A good CdP, I just don’t love big Grenache. B-/B
The blind wine. I wasn’t paying close attention and mistakenly gave Mark wrong answer when he guessed Medoc, once we recovered he got DDC on second guess. And he got late 70s. But no one expects 1976 (or the Spanish Inquisition). Overall he did very well! 1976 Domaine de Chevalier. Red currant fruit, tobacco/cigarbox, iron filings, a touch of green pepper, more acid than tannin. Quite nice if not super long. After some time in the decanter, the ferric notes got stronger and the acid seemed to be disjointed, Mark said it was a torrid vintage and he thinks they acidified. B/B+ to start, crashed with too much air.
Oven fried catfish, spinach, leftover farro for a late supper that night, with leftover Capensis and Schaefer.
Herbed roast chicken, radicchio/parmesan Cuscinetti in a sage butter, Brussels sprouts, and salad.
2001 La Grave a Pomerol
Medium bodied, soft texture, black plum and coffee, good length. B+/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.