Saturday night felt like a glass or two of red, opened the 1999 Catherine & Claude Maréchal Savigny-lès-Beaune “Les Lavières”. Nose of flowers and black cherry. In the mouth, bright red fruits, firm tannins and good acidity- lots of body for a Savigny. Hint of spice, a bit of mineral on the good finish. B+/A-
Sunday some friends came over, while we were preparing Betsy & I decided to have a glass of white. The NV Aveleda Vinho Verde ( 2003 on back stamp) had just a hint of spritz, with clean light citrus fruit. Nice for a $6 wine. B
When our friends arrived, they both were ready for a red. I decided this was as good a time as any to open a 1976 Ch. Pape-Clément. Now, I bought this knowing that Parker had declared it dead in mid-80s, but it was $6.99 at Premier Cru and I needed a casefiller. Crumbly cork not a good sign, and it had a definite note of brown as it was poured. Not much fruit, and a funky nose. I was about ready to dump it, but both Betsy and our friend Joe found it interesting. So I left it on table.
Meanwhile, I finished grilling the ribeyes (grilling in November, one of the main reasons I am mostly glad I switched to gas) which were served over a bed of greens with a horseradish/caper sauce, accompanied by an asparagus risotto (not as food unfriendly as you'd imagine, the asparagus is smoothed by the risotto). Opened the 1994 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie "La Viaillere". Slightly closed at first, then opened out with some red berry fruit, a little bacon, leather, and a pretty fair dose of oak still hanging around. Medium-bodied, pleasant enough, but not a blockbuster at all. And other than the bacon, not especially Côte-Rôtie-ish to my inexperienced palate. B
Came back to the Pape-Clement. OK, the fruit is thin. Real thin. But there are some nice cedar and tobacco aromas. Surprisingly, the color seems to have revived in the air- not nearly as brown. Strange (maybe I just turned down the dimmer on the chandelier of something, I've never seen color change like that). Certainly drinkable, if past it, and ok for $7. B-/C+
The Maréchal Savigny also made a return appearance, showed nicely on night two with good black cherry fruit to stand up to the meat.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre at best. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.
Dale
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