My wife had dinner ready when I returned from playing golf today and much to my surprise she actually used the grill! A nice starter of grilled gulf shrimp and mesclun greens I opened a bottle of 2005 Bricco del Sole Langhe Chardonnay ($10.99). Nice tropical flavors with a bit of peach and pear notes with just a faint touch of oak. The shrimp had a touch of heat and the chardonnay was nice and refreshing. (B-)
Next, black cherry glazed grilled pork tenderloin accompanied with southern style green beans and baby Yukon gold's. I opened a bottle of 1999 Kistler Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard RRV. Deep, black and thick. Loads of black cherry on the nose. Quite deep on the palate with a loads of sweet blackberry, black cherry, anise and asian spice (B+). We went through that one pretty quick so as a counterpoint I opened a 1999 Dugat-Py Gevrey Chambertain Premier Cru. I've had this lots of time and I thought it would be quite similar to the Kistler and it was in an Old World way. Quite dark in the glass more Kirsch than berry aromas. Powerful and muscular with a fair amount of black cherry and mineral components on the palate. A core of zingy acidity reminded me that it was French and a bit of tannic grip on the finish. (A-)
Disclaimer-the distributor that I'm associated with sells both the Bricco del Sole and the Dugat-Py.