ToddT was in town, and Jay rallied a small group to greet him at Grand Sich uan on St. Marks. We had a nice assortment of dishes: soup dumplings, cucum ber with scallion sauce, tea smoked duck, qui zhou chicken,lamb with cumin , pork with chestnuts,ginger spinach.
We also had some wine:
Non Riesling whites
2014 Pinon “Trois Argiles” Vouvray I’ve had the ‘14 Silex and Deronnieres, my first 3 argiles. Nice showing- pear and wax, lively acids, just offdry. Long. B++2001 Brundlmayer Ried Kaferberg Gruner Veltliner Initially I was a little put off by a cheesey/lactic note. But this paired beautifully with the spinach, and either the food or air blew off the lacti c note (or my palate adjusted). Peas, tropical fruits, pepper. B+
1991 Donnhoff Grauburgunder Eiswein Sweet, dark, exotic, others liked much more than I - thrilled to have it as a curiosity, but despite the good acids it seemed soft to me, a little fru it salady. B-Rieslings
2001 Prager “Achleiten” Riesling Big but on its toes, rich pit fruits and citrus with a steely/mineral under tone. A-/B+1996 Kruger-Rumpf Munsterer Dautenpflanzer Auslese Rich, petrol over applesauce, moderate acids (I thought ‘96 was ver y high acid but this didn’t come across that way). B
1998 Maximin Grunhauser (von Schubert) Herrenberg Kabinett Better on nose than palate, but palate is fine! Floral nose with citrus zes t and ginger, on palate very light but very precise. Flavorful, bright, rea l Kabinett. B+/A-2002 Emrich-Schonleber Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Rutsch Spatlese (auction bottling) Rich, Auslese+ like, honied fruit notes with slate and smoke, mature. B+
1990 Diel Dorsheimer Pittermannchen Auslese My palate was shot by time I got to this one, had trouble getting enthused, felt comparatively sweet and simple. B-/C+Reds
2008 Marimar Estate “Don Miguel Vineyard- Stony Block” Pin ot Noir This was actually first wine I tried, and at that point it was too cold to appreciate. Apparently this is the Torres family of Gran Coronas fame. On r evisit with the duck it seemed young and bright, black cherry and earth, ni ce except for a light cola note. B2009 de Montille “Taillepieds “ Volnay I think maybe a bit shutdown. Quite ripe, big fruit, but a bit hollow. I th ink this will be fine but for this night a B-
2007 Roty “Fontenys” Gevrey-Chambertin At first I found this hard, more Roty than 2007. But with air and food it r eally bloomed. Lovely meaty/smoke dark fruited Gevrey. A-/B+1978 Lucien Geoffroy “Clos Prieur” Gevrey-Chambertin Corked. Damn.
2005 Vissoux (Chermette) “Poncie” Fleurie Lovely texture, black cherries with smoke and coffee topnotes. As it airs d evelops more earthy/meaty notes. B+/A- Fun night, fun people.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.