ith lobster, corn with SE Asia compound butter, & salad
1985 Laville Haut Brion Great light color, crisp, plenty of ripe peach fruit and nice acidity. Not quite the length or richness of a recent '90, but nice mineral finish, and doing quite well at 35. B+/A-Some friends who are leaving for a month and a half joined us Sat (at opposite ends of patio). Canapes (beef saucisson, radish leaf pesto, hummus) scallop/daikon/shiso crudo Jonah crab claws with mustard sauce Grilled porterhouse, potato salad, green salad Peaches and sorbet
NV Seleque ?La Quintette? Champagne (doesn?t say Blanc de Blancs, but instead Chardonnay 5 Terroirs) Crisp, lively, pear and apple with nut/brioche richness. New producer to me but seriously impressed. Great length and presence, A-
2011 Ch. Montelena Chardonnay (Napa) Good acids (I think still non-malo), green apple, a little citrus, some vanillin oak notes. Still pretty young, if not compelling. B2005 Ch. Greysac (Medoc) I had started to open a classified Bordeaux, but then the idea of drinking outside on a very warm night didn?t seem like a good way to get best out of wine. So I opened this $11 wine, had stumbled across a couple of forgotten bottles. Red plum and black currant, surprisingly a pretty dominant tannic structure still, just a hint of cedar. A rising tide means this one can last, but never will be exciting. But fine with steak on patio. B-/B
2017 Filliatreau ?La Grande Vignolle? Saumur-Champigny This showed well cool, a riper style of Cab Franc, black plum and a little herb and tobacco. Could use a little more oomph on finish. BGrey sole, bok choy with maitake and trumpets, rice, first caprese of season
2018 Pernot Bourgogne Cote d?Or (blanc). Good acids, but little fruit and slightly clipped finish. I just had this recently and it showed much better. I don?t get discernible TCA here, but something is not right, either with me or the wine. C+Green puttanesca Monday, then weekly Zoom tasting, this time with the 2018 Jamet Cotes du Rhone blanc. I wasn?t really looking forward to this,I like Jamet, but am not usually a white Rhone fan. This is actually pretty good- floral nose, rich tropical and citrus on palate, but with surprising acidity for a white Rhone with ripe fruit. Good length. Mostly Marsanne but with a lot of Viognier, and smaller amounts of Roussanne and Grenache Blanc. B+/B
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. 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.