Had friends for thanksgiving dinner last evening:
Blue Mountain Brut (NV) - simple nose, good fizz, citric finish, equivalent to a decent Cava.
2003 De Wetshof Estate Lesca Chardonnay (S. Africa) - abundant fruit in nose, full and slightly sweet in the mouth, nice wine and recently on sale here.
With squash soup.
2002 Morgante Nero d'Avola (Sicily) - ripe hot nose with boysenberry and nutmeg, the wine slightly coarse but quite tasty nonetheless. For those days when you feel like a bit of rough trade....
With pasta with sage-butter sauce.
1989 Borgogno Barolo Riserva - some browning/fading at edges, mature nose without to much tar, still surprisingly tannic, ending well - juicy, and with some fruit that only appeared 4 hours after decanting.
With roast goose with baked pears and apple stuffing
1998 Brolo di Campofiorin - a selected batch of the regulat ripasso, actually lighter and drier than the Morgante had been, but decent cheese match. The typical ripasso nose, readily identifiable, was not heavy and the wine matched the cheese quite well.