Cleaning out a cluttered TN closet....
2004 Chermette/Vissoux Fleurie Les Galants (Beaujolais) One of those life affirming wines. This has lots of vibrancy with dark fruit, mixed dried herbs, earthiness, solid minerality, and coarse tannins which soften after a couple of hours. Very nice, great with a burger, and sure makes business travel easier to take.
2005 Chateau de Montfort Vouvray (Loire) A bit flabby at first but tasty and rich. Given some air, the wine shows better structure but overall it’s just an average chenin compared to some of the great '05's out there.
NV Roederer Anderson Valley Brut (CA) One of the few wines on the restaurant menu that I cared to drink. A bit aggressive at first but when it softens it’s a decent match for the assorted lobster dishes. Worked better with creamy lobster risotto than with the lobster roll. Clean crisp ripe fruit with the slightest hint of smokiness, very cleansing acidity, and a lengthy finish. It isn’t as deep as the L'Ermitage Brut but it’s pretty refreshing sitting by the ocean.
2000 Chateau Brown (Pessac-Léognan) Starting to show some secondary characteristics of menthol, cedar, and tobacco with the dark, ripe fruit. Flavor is very Bordeaux. Solidly concentrated fruit, scorched earth, integrating tannins and surprisingly rich ripe tannins. Really nice match with the med-rare ribeye and a good value at $20.
2006 Jean-Paul Brun Rosé d'folie (Beaujolais) Sweet strawberry and red cherry fruit with a solid mineral core and zippy, lingering bitter citrus finish. Very very refreshing with an asparagus/feta quiche and dijon vinaigrette salad.
Mumm Napa XXVth Anniversary Reserve Brut (Napa) 48% pinot noir, 45% chard plus pinot gris and pinot meunier. Good starter. Lots of red fruit, toasty-leesy nose, and a zingy finish. My fave from Mumm Napa.
2005 Domaine Richou Anjou Chauvigné (Loire) Opened for 6 hrs prior to dinner. The softly sweet entry, lush fruit, and very crisply acidic finish turned out to be an excellent match with lobster rolls (touch of mayo, celery, and tarragon w/Bibb lettuce on toasted finger rolls). I still think this needs time to integrate and have some of the baby fat front end soften a bit. Very enjoyable wine.
1993 Giussepe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate-LeCoste (Piedmont) Uncorked at 10am to “audouze” for the day. Most of the day it was aromatically closed but at 8pm when we poured this it was extremely open w/dried violets, dried orange peel, and anise/licorice. The flavors didn’t quite live up to the nose though. Lots of sour red frut and highly tannic with somewhat thinner midpalate than I would have expected. It did go very well with the sangiovese-braised beef over orzo primavera though. Good, not great, classically styled barolo.
1998 Maculan Torcolato (Breganze) I love this stuff. Wonderfully honeyed, floral nose, great balance, dessert level sweetness w/plenty of acid, and a satisfyingly long caramel, butterscotch finish. Fun as a dip for biscotti too.