Friday Betsy made mussels & rigatoni in a saffron-infused broth, I served the 2005 Domaine de L'Ecu "Expression de Gneiss" Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie. Soft chalky minerality, Golden Delicious fruit edged with lime. This is a tasty Muscadet, but a little softer on the acids than my preference. I've liked the Expression de Granite more (though haven't had the 2005). B
Saturday with slow-baked king salmon and barley-mushroom risotto, the
2002 Pavelot "Aux Guettes" Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru. A bit hard and shrill at first, opened to show black cherry and raspberry fruit over a solid backbone of tannins and acidity. Nice wine, but needs time. It's a bit more friendly sampled the next day, but still tannic. I'm going to revisit remaining bottles post-2010. B+Betsy needed some white wine for the risotto, so I opened a 375 of the
2005 Ch. Lamothe de Haux (Bordeaux AC). Good acdity, grassy notes, some light citric fruit. Maybe just a tad dilute, but who's complaining at $5 a half? B-/BSunday started the year of the pig, Betsy is (in a Chinese astrological sense, only) a pig, and wanted to celebrate with pork. Might as well add duck and sausage, so she made cassoulet, with a leek.chevre starter and accompanied by beet salad and garlic bread. Recently I opined that Cahors or Madiran should be the cassoulet wines of choice, but I own 1 bottle of the former and 2 of the latter, and none are stored at home. I was too lazy to go to office (offsite storage), so went with a young Rhone, the
2004 Domaine de Marcoux Cotes du Rhone. Somewhat floral nose, rather broad on the palate with big kirsch and red cherry fruit. Moderate tannins. Could easily pass for a Grenache-driven CdP. I'm not a huge Grenache fan, and most of my favorite Rhones are Syrah or Mouvedre dominated, but this is nice. B+/BOver the space of 5 days, the 2005 J. Leitz Rudesheimer Klosterlay Riesling Kabinett held up nicely. Pretty bright acidity, sweet peach and apricot fruit with a hint of lime. Slate on finish is more noticable after daty 2. Nice wine, probably my last bottle (I bought a case for under $12 a bottle, they shipped the 3 bottle they had and charged for them, rest are backordered, but doubt they ever materialize at that price). Great value at that price. 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.