Betsy started rehearsals Tuesday, asked me to take care of dinner. I picked up some loin lamb chops, but mostly depended on vegetables from a co-op share: Chops (broiled in a cast iron pan, it was raining and cold) mashed potatoes (realized we were out of butter AND cream, used ricotta) broccoli quick Asian pickles sauteed mushrooms. The mushrooms tilted me towards Burgundy, but eventually the chops screamed "Bordeaux" too loudly.
Opened the 2004 Ch. Picque Caillou (Pessac-Leognan). Light but not fragile or short, a clean red and black currant nose with a little cedar. Palate is more cassis, with a lead pencil note and some earth on the finish. Not thrilling or attention-grabbing, but a solid and classical Graves. . Best $8.75 Bordeaux I've had in a long while (during a huge April storm Zachys had a flood in a warehouse that damaged labels on a bunch of wine, had a special sale. They guaranteed wine, plus I knew it was cool water-50s during storm. When I went to pick up, they had sold out of the label-damaged wine, gave me a case of the pristine for $105/cs, great customer service). They've periodically had it on sale from $12-18 dollars, it's worth that. B/B+
Wednesday we were planning to go to river to see a jazz ensemble called the Either/Orchestra (great name), but it got moved inside due to threat of rain. No desire to sit in community center, so cancelled our picnic and sauteed some chicken breast (with the salad and cheese from the intended picnic). Wine was the 2005 Belle Pente Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley). I've enjoyed BP Pinot Noir before, but this is my first white. Pretty nice effort, white peach fruit with that sharp edge that some peaches have (not really underripeness, just a tanginess). There actually might be a tad of RS here, but finish is dry and spicy, and this is a nice wine that I'd buy again. As good as any Alsatian under-$20 PG I remember. 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