Met some friends and drove to Greenwich Village for dinner at Silver Apricot. We really enjoyed the meal; scallion puffs deviled tea eggs with pickled mustard seed and chili-garlic aioli chicken liver mousse on 5 Spiced Pistachio,Toast mogwa (Asian quince)salad with a Szechuan sesame vinaigrette scallop crudo in cucumber ginger broth with pickled white currants cumin lamb tartare with amazing seeded crispbreads cashew graffiti eggplant (I enjoyed, but only dish I’d probably not order again, just not as exciting as others) prawn green ingot dumplings in dashi with hakurei turnips & sorrel charred Baby Romaine Peking grilled cheese (duck confit,apricot duck sauce,in a pancake) grilled wild striped bass on roasted yellow cherry tomatoes grilled pork collar with fermented Chinese broccoli
I had brought my last bottle of 1989 Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile VT, it paired well with most of the early dishes. Smoky and honied (though pretty dry), some petrol with air, nectarine and herbs. Very long. Really nice showing of a wine I’ve loved for many years. A-
With the grilled cheese and pork our friends got glasses of Idlewild and Stolpman reds, I opted for the 2022 Arnot Robert Rose. Pale, dry cherry, some mineral, pretty versatile. B
Friday heat was relentless - I poached salmon sous vide outside, grilled eggplant with peanut sauce, served with cold, soba noodles with dashi/soy sauce and Asian slaw . Wine was the 2022 Pigoudet Premiere Rose (Coteaux d'Aix en Provence). Well it was cold. Strawberry and canned peach flavors, rather short finish, I don’t need complexity in a rose but this still falls short of being desirable. C+/B-
Up to Ossining/Scarborough for dinner- friends made guacamole, pasta with tomato, basil and manchego, salad, and finished with berries- other than avocados basically all summer market bounty.
2000 Ch. de Pez Rich lush fruit shows it’s 2000-ness, though I have to say nothing about this said St Estephe to me. Soft black plums, a hint of berries and tobacco, much more like a Merlot driven southern Medoc. Still quite pleasant, and host who loves big round wines was very happy. B2020 Pepiere Briords Muscadet Saline, citrus and a little green apple, but more rock than fruit, as I love. B++
2010 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Rioja Reserva Leather, sour cherry, a little hint of dill and coconut. Lots of material here, but this could use time. B for drinking nowWeather broke and Sunday was lovely, we picked up Betsy’s mom and had dinner on our patio. Oysters (shrimp for her mom who doesn’t do raw bar), flounder, potatoes, corn, salad
2020 Boulay Clos de Beaujeu Sancerre A little tight, but vervy acids, some lime and grass notes, gets a bit more floral with air. 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.