Last night we finally got around to doing our taxes (we filled our extension, and then accountant's wife had a medical issue when we tried in June). Afterwards we thanked our patient accountant and his lovely wife with dinner, as is our custom. Lovely night on the patio,with great food, and good value wines.
Dana arrived while Jim was stilling documenting concert expenses with Betsy. She and I retired outside, and had a glass of the 2005 Vrac Macon-Villages. $4 bottle (normally $9ish). No oak, a little citrus, but mostly clean pear/apple fruit. Not exciting, but certainly acceptable at $4! B-
When Betsy was done, she brought out the tofu/spinach/miso napoleans she had prepared as a starter. Ming Tsai suggests sparkling Chenin for this, and it's a great match. But the only ones I have on hand are some Huet 2000s, and I don't feel like infanticide (especially knowing there will be leftovers). So I go with still Chenin, the 2002 Deletang "Les Baltisses" Montlouis Sec. I liked this better than a demi-sec last year. I actually thought it might be a bit off at first- I thought I got some applepeel oxidative notes. But those quickly floated off into the ether, leaving a fairly classic CB profile. Marked sec, I'd call this more sec-tendre- just a hint of sweet apple juice, over a body of fresh apples, lemon peel, and wax. Good. B
Main course was another Ming recipe, 5 peppercorn steak with a butter/red wine/shallot sauce, topped with thin fried onions. Side was rice noodles with bok choy and mushrooms. A couple of reds:
1996 Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf-du-Pape
OK, let's see, "off" vintage, good producer. What'll happen? Light and tart at first, not very CdPish, not very appealing. It sits awhile as we have the Chenin with the first course. With the steaks, its quite bit better. Cherry, with a lightly (pleasant ) bitter note. Lighter, somewhat Burgundian. Puts on some weight during the night, with red fruit and herbal notes that are more what one would expect from CdP. Good acidity (for my tastes, some CdP lovers might find high), resolved tannins. Last glass of the night is probably my favorite- raspberry and black cherry fruit accented with underbrush and cigar tobacco (unusual for CdP in my view). Not a great or typical CdP, but a very good deal at the $15 I think I paid. B+
2005 Grand Veneur Cotes du Rhone Reserve
We also pass this (opened as cooking wine for the red wine sauce) around with the steaks. Sweet red fruit, little tannin, a little peppery spice. Round forward easy drinking style, light, but pleasant. B/B-
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. 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