Betsy's sister held her annual huge open house Easter party. We carried ove r a maple/mustard ham and some wine. Nice assortment of food- salmon, pulle d pork, chicken, numerous salads, deviled eggs, and more. Many wines were s ampled (out of Solo cups)
Reds
2011 Jadot " Aux Vergelesses" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Fresh acids, young, some firm tannins, this has nice cherry fruit and earth . B/B+
1997 Jadot "Clos des Couchereaux" Beaune 1er (mag) resolved tannin, black cherry fruit, a light hint of barnyard. Nice midbodi ed Burg, and despite being mag fastest wine emptied. B+
2012 Harmas Cotes du Rhone New producer to me, old style, redder fruit (I assume mostly Grenache), no apparent oak, not bad. B/B-
2013 Agua Ribay Malbec Generic Malbec, fleshy fruit, coarse tannins. B/C+
2013 Vicolo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (mag) Light, short, cherries, striving for inoffensive. C
2012 Bogle Essential Red Wow, this was a pour out. Apparent RS, short, a little chemical burn. C-
Whites
2012 Rollin Bourgogne Aligote This not Aligote trying to pretend to be Chardonnay. Very citrusy, with bri ght lemon acids over a chalky mineral base. Very good. B+
2008 von Hovel Scharzhofberger Kabinett. Moderate sweetness, lime and apple, decent finish. Some tartrate crystals. Good for cheap Riesling. B
2012 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier Midbodied, good acids, simple but tasty. B
2013 Bogle Sauvignon Blanc Better than the vile Essential Red. Touch of sweetness, a little grass and gooseberry, not very long. B-/C+
2012 Sacha Lichine Rose unsurprisingly tired, light bodied, short C/C+
There was also a vinho verde and another MdA that I sampled but didn't take a real pour of, and didn't note. But fun time.
Afterwards we headed home, and eventually had a simple late supper of shrim p and arugula over pasta. Too lazy to head to cellar for an Italian white, but not bad match with the 2013 Emrich-Schonleber "Mineral" Riesling Trocke n. Dry and firm, citrus (lime and grapefruit), a slatey mineral edge to fin ish. Nice length. B+/A-
Monday I made napoleons of grilled eggplant, tomato, basil and feta, plus g rilled leeks and a slightly spicy ground cauliflower/black bean dish. Wine was the 2009 Hiedler "Maximum" Gruner Veltliner. Lots of extract, body. 14% which you can sense, though it doesn't come across as hot. Ripe stone frui ts, a little pea. I think I'd like this a little more if it was a bit leane r. 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.