Wednesday we had grilled sockeye (in a roughly teriyaki marinade- kecap man is, ginger, ponzu), corn, and a green salad, with the 2009 Desvignes "Javer nieres" Morgon. Takes a little while to open, red fruits, cocoa, balanced and long, just the thing on a nice night on patio. B+
Thursday was quinoa and wild rice topped with napa and turnip kimchees and splcy Chinese broccoli, and the 2004 JJ Prum Graccher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese. Just a bit of Prum matchstick, blows off, what is below is drinki ng well now. Balanced acids, fresh, citrus and peach fruit, just a hint of petrol, slatey/minerally finish. Yum. A-/B+
Friday after work we headed north, where we met old friends at Boscobel in Garrison. Hard to describe how perfect weather was- 70s, low humidity, ligh t breeze,cloudless skies. Incredible setting, and we looked out at river an d West Point on far side- and a succession of parachutists apparently pract icing for ball delivery to the stadium. Betsy had made a great lobster sala d; Rachel brought a delicious black rice and vegetable salad, watermelon & feta, & green salad. And the wines:
NV Bremont "Cuvee Prestige" Grand Cru Brut Champagne New release. Full, rich, young, with herb, dough, and citrus zest notes. Se riously good NV Champagne. A-
2007 Pinson "le Clos" Chablis GC Full, good acids, goes well with the food, I enjoy yet find it not especial ly exciting. More good Chardonnay than great Chablis. B/B+ ' 2010 Concha y Toro Castillero Del Diablo Carmenere Medium bodied, some rather drying tannins, low acid, red fruit and green pe pper. B-/C+We were spending the night at our friends' place in Beacon, when we got the re Joe offered the 2011 Chronic "Dead Nuts" Zinfandel. You know, if I'm g oing to drink ripe/jammy Zin, it might as well be in place of late night po rt. This is jammy and sweet, but there is an interesting herb/spice note, a nd I like it more than expected. B/B-
We picked up squid and maitakes at Garrison farmers market before returning home Sat, once again Betsy made fried calamari/shrooms/lemon over arugala. While she was cooking we had a glass of the 2013 Kir-Yianni " Akakies" ros e. Candied red fruits, modest acids, a little burn on finish, this isn't m y style of rose. C+
Luckily, the white was better. The 2010 Pepiere "Ch.Thebaud - Clos des Mor ines" Muscadet is a stunner- vibrant acids, full and long, saline and miner al, crisp. A- Sunday Betsy roasted a turkey breast (mostly for freezing for lunches), ser ved with spaghetti with tomatoes and maitake, caprese, and a kale/arugula s alad. Wine was the
2001 Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling. On the one hand I quite enjoye d this- dry yet with sweet pit fruit flavors, citrus, a touch of petrol. Bu t this was more advanced than I expected, and this particular bottle I'd ca ll fully mature- scary. 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.