Sunday night I was relieved to have Betsy back at the stove. She made a fricot de canard (pieces of duck with turnips, carrots, etc.). Delicious dinner, and a good accompaniment for a bottle of 1997 Michel Lafarge Volnay. Slightly muted nose, though underneath there seemed to be some nice earth and violet notes on the cherry fruit. Time brought out more earth/damp forest floor aromas, and on the palate there was rather full kirsch fruit- not one of your light fruit '97s here. Pleasant wine, a little lower in acid than I'd like, and seemingly fully mature (a bit left in bottle was history by next day). A good match with the duck, and a good but not attention-grabbing wine. I have one more, will drink within the year. B/B+
Even with Betsy home, sometimes I have to cook. She was playing an opera showcase yesterday, I said I'd take care of dinner. Time ran short, and I made a quick run into a HayDay/Balducci's while taking David to an appointment. Nice (intermittingly) sunny day, decided to go with a chicken mixed grill. So I grilled chicken breast in a citrus marinade, chicken sausage (basil/tomato and broccoli rape), squash, eggplant, and asparagus. We were eating outside, I grabbed the first cold white I saw. Only my second NZ Riesling, the 2003 Giesen Canterbury Marlborough Riesling. Based on my one other NZ Riesling, and an assortment of Aussie Rieslings, I thought I'd have a fairly dry wine. Wrong! After the shocking first taste, I looked at back label - 20 g/l RS. Ok, not what I expected, let's adjust expectations. I really have trouble with this wine. Surprising (to me, based on NZ SBs ) lack of acidity. Tastes like low-acid grapefruit (I know, oxymoron) and pineapple. This is Riesling? There's a little honey/botrytis edge to it. This is the perfect wine if you want something w/o identifiable grape, in the not-quite-dessert sweetish flabby wine category. Unfortunately, not a category I often reach for. A generous C+
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. 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. Dale
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