My little local tasting group was having trouble finding dates for September/October, between Jewish holidays and members having extended business trips to Australia and France. Then Thursday someone said "how about tomorrow", and by miracle we realized 5 of the 6 of us were free. Alex said he would host, and suggested Argentine Malbec. I didn't have any in cellar (though I wish I had some Acheval Ferrer), so was happy when Fred suggested broadening it to Malbec from anywhere.
We usually do charcuterie and cheese, but Alex chose to do a slow Argentinean style beef roast on the grill. Delicious stuff. On to the wines (we had a guest, and he and the host didn't blind their bottles, the first two):
2005 Norton Malbec Reserve Big and fruit forward, a good dose of toasty oak, blackberry and black cherry. I doubt in a double blind tasting I'd have any clue where this is from. B-
2005 Catena Malbec Similar, a tad less weighty and less oaky. Still fruit forward, but a little less exuberant and more balanced. B Turns out that one of the blind bottles was another bottle of this, and most of us thought it very similar to the first two. Surprise.
2000 Clos Roche Blanche Cot/Malbec Touraine Still showing some tannins when I double-decanted a couple hours before group met. Brighter acidity than previous bottles, nice depth for a $10 wine. Smoke, damp earth, and thyme intertwine with nice plummy fruit. Dark fruit flavors, very good for price. B+
2003 Luigi Bosca "Gala 1" Malbec Mostly Malbec with Petit Verdot and Tannat. This was served blind, I was assaulted with high alcohol, vanilla oak, and overripe fruit, and yelled "luxury cuvee, run for the hills!" Not my style at all. C+
2003 Lamartine "Cuvee Particuliere" Cahors A little oak, big ripe black fruit, an herby note that wasn't in any of the Argentine Malbecs. I guess Cahors (actually not as much tasting as social engineering, I know the French guys like to bring French wines), and even nail the vintage based on the ripe soft fruit. B
Nice cool night with the guys, and we sat out on patio till well after midnight. Alex brought out another bottle, the 2004 Picque-Caillou (Pessac-Leognan). I've reported on this before, this showed quite typically, a nicely balanced midweight claret.
Saturday was the day from hell. It was quite hot, and my little village was having it's annual "Festa" (street fair). Unfortunately my office is on Main St,. and with streets closed off I spend most of day moving stuff into local churches so groups could get the supplies they needed for the evening. By 3 I was exhausted, but took a quick shower and headed to the city. A quick stop at Chambers St Wines to pick up orders(I took along coolers), then up to Lincoln Center to meet Betsy between shows. We went to the new Landmarc in the Time-Warner center. Menu seems exactly the same as the Tribeca Landmarc (which we like), and wine list is well-priced with some safe choices, if not exactly exciting.
The white half-bottles had the better choices, but Betsy wanted a steak. She got French onion soup and a ribeye with Bordelaise sauce; I dropped my sweetbreads idea and went with marrow bones and boudin noir. Bordeaux choices looked better than PN or Rhone, I decided to try a wine I had never heard of, the 2003 La Croix Bonis, on the theory that St Estephe seemed to do especially well in 2003. This was ok, but could have used more backbone (acidic or tannic). A soft red- fruited wine, easy enough to drink but of no distinction. Label says that wine is "intimately connected to Phelan Segur" and from plots of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. Verbiage sounds like a weird way of saying second wine, but P-S's second is Frank Phelan. Could this be a third? Round red plum and cherry wine, light hint of cocoa, acceptable for $22/375 in a restaurant. B-
I headed back home, fed the dog, and then went over to friends' home by the river. July 4th fireworks were rained out this year, so they had after the festa. Great show- I guess no one was having fireworks in September, so we got the A Team. I had small pours of a couple of wines, though it was so hot even by river I mostly had seltzer. The wines I did try:
2005 Mabileau St. Nicolas-de-Bourgeuil Bright red fruit with an almost Rhonish olive/garrigue note, medium- bodied, pleasant. B
2006 Larmes du Paradis Rosé (Vallée d`Aoste) I really like this nebbiol/freisa blend, a pretty wine with juicy strawberry fruit over a ferric mineral backdrop. At least I like it while cold, it's less attractive as it warms on a hot night. B/B+
So a hard day ended up ok, a nice dinner with my wife and then a nice evening with good friends.
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.