No wine Tuesday (salmon in curry), Wednesday was mustard pork tenderloin, with beet greens, Wine was the 2020 Bagordi Rioja Rosado. Soft, simple,sweet, empty, insipid. C
Thursday Roast Chicken with parsnips and carrots, golden beets, salad
2019 Roulot Bourgogne Blanc Honeycrisp, pear, and lime blossom on nose. Good acids, big mouthfeel, long. White fruits, mint, and lime on palate. Great for Bourgogne AC. B++Friday lobster, king trumpet mushrooms, shanghai tips, and shisitos
2014 Chandon de Briailles ile des Vergelesses Pernand Vergelesses 1er (blanc) I’ve been buying CdB reds for years, love them, but beginning to think whites is where the action is! Pear, orange/tangerine, with just a hint of hazelnut. Vibrant acids, long finish. B+/.A-As Betsy was away last week for my birthday, she had invited some friends for a delayed dinner Saturday. Then it turned out my brother was in NYC and so joined us.
As we gathered in the back with starters (beet cured gravlax, oysters) we did a comparison of 2005 bubbles.Mark said fun to taste totally different takes on Champagne (though maybe we should have had something in the Krug-ilk for the 3rd view)
2005 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Nice complex nose., with seed breads and peach blossoms. Apparent dosage, countering acids, nice length. B+/A-2005 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses Rich, fuller, apple pie, brioche, and brown sugar. An almond nuttiness, but adding complexity, no hurry here. A-/B+
Inside to table for first course, octopus salad
2009 Piuze “Bougros” Chablis Grand Cru (magnum) Fairly classic Chablis nose of flint, citrus zest, and green apple, on the palate the ripeness of the vintage shows. While it might be more like a warm vintage Meursault, it was a lovely warm vintage Meursault! B+ Beef tenderloin (I should have retied/cut it, using thermometer on fat end left too much overdone), party potatoes (mashed potatoes with sour cream, butter,and cream cheese, rebaked), ratatouilleI figured a rather young mag to make sure everyone had plenty of wine, a ‘61 (my brother’s birthyear) and a ‘59 (Betsy’s) would equal out to a 1960 (mine)
1996 Ch. Lagrange (St Julien) (magnum) Rich cassis, black plum, vanilla,mocha. Nicely structured with forgiving tannins, some people’s favorite. B+1961 Oddero Barolo Lovely nose of rose petals, raspberry, and truffles, but fairly thin on palate. But wait……..a glass I had while cleaning up had put on weight, showed lovely fruit, while still maintaining that floral-fungal complexity. B+/B at first go round, A- at end (decanted about 4:30 PM, served about 7:30)
1960 Gemello Cabernet Sauvignon (Santa Cruz) Turns out I didn’t need to do averaging, Mark showed up with this. 35th anniversary bottling- so started in Prohibition? Very little sediment (redwood barrels, almost certainly fined and filtered). Solid black fruit, campfire, tobacco, and spice. If anything gets livelier in glass. I think this edges BV GdlT as best dry birthyear wine I’ve had! B+1959 Ch. Pichon Lalande Blackcurrant spiked with crunchy cranberry, nice acidic balance, resolved tannins. Mature but not tired, elegant, with mushroom, herbal, and cigarbox notes. Above my high expectations. A-
Finished with a cheese plate, and Lenore’s panna cotta with berries. A good night of wine and people. If I’d done a better job with beef I’d have called perfect.
Sunday roast halibut, with leftover sides from night before.
2017 Zarate Tras da Vina Albarino Nice acid balance, tangerine, apple, a light pleasant mowed grass note. B+Last night teriyaki salmon, shanghai tips, rice, beets
2006 David Duband Clos de la Roche Rich candied cherry, hint of incense, but a little short. Doesn’t say Grand Cru to me. Maybe shut down, but not regretting it was my only bottle. B-/BGrade 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 party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.