Absolutely smashingly beautiful weekend here, cool but with brilliant sunshine. We had a (mostly) relaxing around the house with Lucy the basset and Courtney the spaniel (visiting for a week while her people are in China), interspersed with a little work, a walk with the local mycological society (fun if not really productive), and a lawn party. A good meal Saturday (duck, succotash, and green beans), and a nice assortment of leftovers tonight. The wines:
2005 Chidaine "Les Argiles" Vouvray Opened as an apertif Saturday, revisited today. I had read this has 3 g/l RS, but it struck me as sweeter than I expected (maybe not demi- sec, but definitely sec-tendre plus). A lovely round style of Vouvray, rich apple fruit accented with lemon zest and that Chenin beewax note, lots of mineral especially on finish- chalk, wet rocks. The minerality is even more apparent on night 2, with the fruit showing more grapefruit/lemon. I like this a lot. A-/B+
2006 Stringtown Pinot Noir (Oregon) This was the cooking wine for a pinot noir sauce to go with duck legs. Betsy needed 3 cups, I substituted a couple ounces of BV Tapestry for some to get a taste. Mistake (not for the sauce, but for drinking). In the immortal (revised) words of Ray Davies, "it tastes just like cherry-cola C-o-l-a cola" I've associated cola tastes with rich/ripe to overripe RRV pinots, not Oregon, but this is different and manages to combine the cola tastes with a somewhat thin body and short finish. C
2005 Drouhin Cotes du Beaune This is a bit thin at first, picks up weight. High acid but not sharp. Red cherry fruit takes on darker tones as night wears on, and on night
- Little perceptible tannin, bright acids, clean fruit. This isn't bad, and plays well with duck, but I keep hoping for something a little more intriguing. I'll hold my others for a bit, but not convinced this will ever be worth its + tag. B-/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.