It never bothers me if folks' take on a wine differ, as we all have our own tastes. A friend recently posted a "drink up they're fading" note on the 1998 Dalem on a Bdx wineboard. I've tasted with Arv a lot, and respect his palate, but don't expect our palates to totally match up- we're usually on same page re Bordeaux, but in different paragraphs. He's a bit more fruit-centric than I am, I like a bit more acid than he does, etc. But I opened a 375 of this Tuesday night and surprisingly found what I thought of as a wine that Arv would really like:
1998 Ch. Dalem (Fronsac)from 375ml. Takes a little while to open up. Rich cassis and blackberry fruit, smooth tannins, rather low-acid but not flabby. Some cedar and leadpencil by the end of the second glass. Consumed over 3 hours without fading. This isn't especially complex, but for my tastes a fine example of a modern Right Bank satellite. This was $9 (I think I paid $15 or 16 for 750s); I would have been happy with this performance from a $25(750) St. Emilion. B+I have 1 375 & 1 750 left, no hurry for my palate to open. I'll need to get Arv to bring his dog up for a Basset playdate, we can open one to see if my bottles remind him of his.
Wednesday we got some unexpected snow. Betsy said we were having chicken with pomegranite, but when I got home for an early dinner it was lemon chicken with potatoes (greengrocer had no pomegranites). I went with a modest white Burg, the 2002 Stephane Aladame Montagny 1er Cru . Sweet pear fruit, a touch of oak. OK match. Betsy went to work, I went to a speech, returned for glass #2. Lots of body for a Montagny. I like better by itself than with dinner. Actually the rather round and almost off-dry flavors remind me more of a concentrated mid-sized California Chardonnay than a Burgundy. Unsure what I paid for this (no importer sticker or store barcode- where did this come from?) but good quality if not my stylistic favorite. Assuming under $20 (I'd certainly remember spending more than that for a Montagny), a good alternative for a CalChard drinker (though not really oaky). 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