No wine Monday - dinner in office before a board member, then headed to cit y to lead a group around midtown. Tuesday Betsy made lobster with corn and tomato, with pea shoot salad and the 2014Girard “ La Garenne? ? Sancerre. Lemon with just a hint of gooseberry, full, good acids, nice with the dish. B/B+
Wednesday was first jazz concert of summer, back at our redesigned waterfro nt park. Talented band, perfect weather, sunset over Hudson and the Palisad es, and good friends made for a good night. We had brought lobster salad, s oba salad (peppers, daikon, cuke, etc), soppressata and cheeses. Others sha re shrimp/pasta salad with pesto and assorted munchies. We had wine as well :
2015 Pecina Rioja rosado Fuller riper style of rose, though with good acids. Cherries and a little s tony note. I like Pecina a lot, and this is fine, but not especially looki ng to reload. B2014 Piuze “Terroir de Chichee” Chablis. Citrus and green apple, chalky Chablis note, fine value. B+
NV Brochet Brut Loire, I think. Apple/applesauce, light, crisp, a bit thin. B-
2014 Thivin Cote de Brouilly Lovely served with a slight chill, tart raspberry with some floral notes. Crisp and tasty. B+/BThursday was spaghetti with clams, tomatoes, and basil. Doesn’t exa ctly scream Riesling, but that’s what was in fridge- 2015 Keller Ri esling Trocken. Snapcrackelly good, really nice for level. Citrus with a hi nt of sweet mango, some ginger and a little petrol. Full for level with goo d acids, nice showing. I look forward to trying more 2015s. B+
Friday we threw a chicken in oven (lower heat than our norm) and went for f irst set at a local cafe where we knew one of the singers. Pretty dull list (no vintages listed), but we ordered a charcuterie plate and a couple of g lasses to hit minimum.
Sella and Mosca Vermentino Apple fruit, slightly honied, hint of nuts, ok. B-
Jean Luc Colombo Cotes du Rhone I actually ordered the Cannonau, but she brought a CdR and it wasn’ t worth sending back. Of course, the CdR wasn’t worth drinking- rou nd red fruit, slightly stewed edge, touch hot. This seems to be fading, not sure if storage, open a while, or just poor wine. This glass C
Back with our chicken, kale salad with peanut dressing, and soba salad, the 1983 L’Evangile. Less fruit than I expected, thought decanting was going to help. But what started off as a few puzzled sniff (cardboard, no cardboard?) clearly became TCA by end of dinner. Luckily there was still so me Keller.
With tuna steak, leftover pasta, and salad, the 2013 Foillard Cote du Py M orgon. Raspberries and cherry, a little spicy edge, juicy. 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.