Friday dinner was a "spicy Latin pork loin" (in honor of Cinco de Mayo) with roasted squash. Wine was the 2004 Hexamer "Quartzit" QbA. Intriguingly spicy-sweet nose, with moderate sweetness and firm acids upon tasting. Lime fruit with a hint of peach, zippy acid but with very good balance. Good with the pork, but even better with a spicy Szechuan stirfry with Napa cabbage and snow peas on the following day. Buy again. B+
The next day Betsy was playing the Vox opera showcase at NYU, I ended up doing the dinner prep for the shrimp stirfry. I thought the Quartzit would be good with the shrimp, but felt like a red while chopping. Opened a 1999 La Fleur du Bouard (Lalande de Pomerol), put half in a tightly sealed 375 for later in the week. One glass during prep, two others following dinner. Lush texture, plenty of ripe blackberry and black plum fruit, some light hints of vanilla. The after dinner glasses showed a bit more complexity- the vanilla was gone, replaced by coffee and leadpencil notes. Modern but not over the top, identifiably Bordeaux. Pretty much all one could ask for in an under $20 Pomerol satellite. A-/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.