At a big holiday party a couple weeks ago, though I told folks we had plenty of wine, a lot still showed up. There were a few things given as gifts (some quite nice), and some others just added to the drink pile. Of course some didn't get opened, so for last week have tried to work my way through some of the less-familiar ones (though I did donate the white zinfandel to someone else's party!). A friend had a big 60th party on Sat, so I donated some decent wines I had bought that were also leftovers, plus one of these orphaned bottles, a 2002 Soldo (Veneto) Cabernet Sauvignon. I had to leave party early to go to airport, but did sample this bottle first. Repulsive. Weedy, funky, bell pepper and off-plum flavors. D. I apologized to the birthday boy, luckily the others (Borsao, Vina Alarba, Naia) were fine.
Sunday was a nice day with Betsy home, some friends offered to bring over dinner so she didn't need to cook with jetlag. While we were waiting, I opened ANOTHER orphaned party bottle. This white I had very low-expectations of - a
1998 Zlahtina Katunar, Island of Krk, Croatia. As our friends arrived, I said "how about some wine from Krk?", and was floored when one replied "oh, Croatia?". He's a ethno-musicologist who works at RILM, apparently Krk is a music center. Let's hope the music is better than the wine. Actually, that's not fair. My guess is this wine was intended to be consumed about 4-5 years ago, this was a mess of cooked apple aromas. An unfair D+ for a wine that had been cooked. Next orphaned bottle was the 2001 Rancho Zabaco Dancing Bull California Zinfandel. Jammy raspberry fruit, soft and easy, ok in the style. B
Tacos (not too spicy) and the fixings were ready, and some Saranac IPAs and Sierra Nevada PAs were opened. But I wanted to try something, and opened the Renedart-Fâche Vin du Bugey Cerdon (which I had bought myself, not an orphan) as a taco experiment, too. Actually, not a bad match. The gentle sweetness and light petillance made the most of a food that's hard to match. Good strawberry and cherry fruit, fun wine. B+
After dinner a little more red was consumed, including the 2000 Windsor Vineyards Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon. This is one of those bottles with the customized labels, that a neighbor's company gave out as holiday gifts. So I had very low expectations. Which kept me from being disappointed, you might even describe me as (very slightly) pleasantly surprised. Fat and soft, medium bodied, red fruit and vanilla oak. B-/C+
Ok, except for the Bugey not a very good couple of days for wine. But a good couple days nonetheless.
My usual disclaimer: I'm a pretty easy grader, basically A is a very good wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice
Dale
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