Last night friends dropped by on their way to the Homeowners Association Annual Meeting.
"You're not going?"
"Nope, we're staying right here. I'm about to put a roast chicken in the oven. You can join us."
"Well, we promised Lynette and Jeff we'd go. But thanks."
Fifteen minutes later they called from town, "What were we thinking? We're coming back!"
With our salad of fresh garden greens tossed with fresh sourdough croutons lightly crusted with olive oil and fresh garlic, we started with a very pale coral pink non-vintage rose of sangiovese from Washington state's Claar Cellars called Busty Blush. They named it that because the proceeds are donated to breast cancer research at Seattle's Fred Hutchsinson Center, and I served it to Candy because she is particularly well endowed and prefers white, or whitish, wines to red. I thought this wine was absolutely lovely when I bought it a year ago--taut, not too fruity, really a lot more serious than usual--but it's improved in the bottle, developing a haunting orange blossom-like floral character on the nose tempting one to just smell, not drink. In the mouth a little sweeter first impression than before, possibly triggered by the nose, with a yellow plum and nougat on the midpalate and a clean dry finish. Though it's marketed toward women and non-vintage, so possibly a one-off and unduplicatable, here's a rose of substantial quality that could probably hold it's own with serious roses like Tavel and Tempier, and I wouldn't send Chinook's cab franc rose, this state's cultiest rose wine, to do that job.
With the chicken, which I served with mashed potatoes with arugula pesto and goat cheese, I set out the following three wines. I didn't think we'd drink them all, but dinner turned into cribbage and alas, we emptied every bottle in the following order.
1998 Les Magnans, Vacqueyras
All the '98 CdP talk here had me thinking it was time to pull one of my very few 98 southern Rhones. Lavendar-hued rusty red color, cherry and raspberry in flavor with ample spice. No sign of the overripeness that mars some 98's, and it drinks beautifully now. Has enough tannins to hold here for a few years, though. Was the perfect choice for our meal.
Thackeray Pleiades XIII, California
A marked contrast to the first wine because of the California-sweet cherry fruit. Redder than the first wine, it's joined by a little cinnamon on the nose and some pumpkin pie flavors in the finish. Bob mistook it for a pinot noir, and that's understandable. This wine's initial brash tannins have resolved more than I'd have expected them to this quickly, and the wine's slipped nicely into middle age and Pleiades-ness. Bill B, Jim D, David B or anyone else who is still holding this wine, it's ready.
1995 Jose Maria de Fonseca Periquita Classico, Portugal
Per the label: Periquita Classico is a limited production, special reserve edition of Periquita made only in outstanding years. It is a landmark red wine from Portugal that has commanded a cult following among wine lovers worldwide for over 150 years. With a compelling aroma of wild blueberries, red berries, chocolate, vanilla and spice, Periquita delivers a full, velvety smooth well-balanced flavor and long, sustained finish."
After twelve years, the blueberries and the spice are gone and what's left is red berries, white chocolate, and "velvety smooth". Our friends are not wine-savvy, but we're trying to train them. Candy, who is never won over by tannins, liked this wine the best of the three. Bill preferred the Pleiades, and thought this was probably the youngest of the night's three wines. That's probably a neophyte's associating 'smooth' with the kind of young fruit-forward, made for today, wines he's used to drinking. Me, I found the wine a bit simple and past-peak, but I was impressed that it had hung on this well.