Thursday was wine-less as I had a board meeting and ate at office. Friday w e went to Betsy's sister's for dinner with a nice group, with a Spanish the me. Tapas to start- mushrooms stuffed with cheese, torta, thyme-accented al monds, cheeses, and more. Then at table a nice seafood paella.
2013 La Cana Albarino Tropical fruit with a hint of grass, good acids, fresh.; B2012 Raventos i Nlanc "de Nit" Cava Rosado Sweet strawberries, citrus zest, a slately note on finish. Not the most del icate mousse, but fun and about as good as your going to get in $20 pink fi zz. B+ \
2003 Lopez de Heredia "Gravonia" Rioja blanco No 2003 heat here, citrus and pit fruit, hint of coconut. A little nutty, g ood acids. B+2013 Morales Tempranillo A bit grapey, cherry fruit, straightforward and simple but easy enough. B-/ C+
Saturday was scallops with a chive/wine sauce, braised leeks, Israeli cousc ous, and salad
2014 Pepiere Muscadet Ah, my laziness comes back to strike me. I always just list the "regular" P epiere Muscadet-sur-Lie-de-Sevre-et-Maine as "Pepiere Muscadet." And then I run across this, which actually IS just labelled Muscadet. My guess is thi s is an early release that doesn't spend enough time on lees to qualify for the more prestigious appellation. That said, it's actually pretty deliciou s- lemon & wet rocks. Not as long or as full as the "regular" but tasty and fresh, quite saline. B+/B2011 Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet First bottle corked. Second shows good citrus and apple fruit, but at momen t is surprisingly dominated by oak. Sure this will intergrate, but for curr ent drinking B-/C+
Sunday pasta with green puttanesca (olives, green garlic, spinach) and gril led asparagus. the 2014 Collestefano Verdicchio di Matelica shows quite we ll again. Flowers and nuts on nose, citrus fruits on palate. Lively, food-f riendly, quite the bargain. 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 p arty where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivi ty, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.