My friend Alex used to have a restaurant in Paris, he's no longer in the business but likes to cook for 100 now and again. So every year he does a dinner at a local church to raise money for the church's social outreach programs (including mine).The dinner is paired with a concert, this year the theme was Russian. Alex made a dinner centered on a beef stroganoff, with a salmon appetizer and "strawberries Romanoff." My brother-in-law arranged the music, his Manhattan String Quartet did Shostakovich's #4 in D Major, Betsy did the Rachmaninoff "Vocalize", plus some combinations of the musicians did parts of a Borodin quartet, a Tchaikovsky sextet, etc. Music was great, food very good, and wine pretty tasty.
There were 2 wines included in menu:
2006 Pepiere Muscadet Not much more to say about this that my mulitple notes before- fresh fruit, salinity/minerality, great length for a $10 wine. B+2006 Domaine Saint Vincent Les Trezellieres Saumur Champigny Bright and easy, cherry fruit and a little green herb, unassuming but a good basic food red. B
As I was sitting with some friend who like wine, I brought another Loire:
1990 Olga Raffault "Les Picasses" Chinon Black raspberry and cherry, ripe but no 1990 surmaturite. Sufficient acids, tannins mostly resolved, a pointe for my tastes. There espresso beans and woodstove notes, plus a bit of barnyard. Not overwhelming brett for my tastes, I like this, gets an A- from me, but if you went to UC-Davis you'd probably score lower.And, knowing that Chris (the other cellist) was a Bordeaux guy, I also brought a wine for when I joined the musicians as they had a late dinner:
1998 Le Bon Pasteur (Pomerol) Lots of oak, lots of tannins. Lush black plum fruit. Cocoa and tobacco. Some graphite on the nose. Needs time. A little bit more polish and oak than my preference, but still a very nice wine. If you don't like wines made by UC Davis grads you'd probably score lower. B+/ A-Sunday I had to do a little presentation at a local synagogue, then spent afternoon using an alcohol-based primer on David's old room (he was 14 when we bought house, painted room black and dark red). Tired when I finished, but had promised Betsy I'd do dinner. A quick trip to store netted a lively lobster and some shrimp. Soon the lobster was no longer lively, his meat and the shrimp joined some udon noodles in a dashi based stock, with broccoli and green beans on side. Wine was the
2004 Willi Schaefer Estate Riesling #1. Light and lively, apple and citrus. Clean slatey finish. Classic MSR. Beautiful balance of acid and sweetness. Yum, yum. Great for QbA. B+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