Saturday I went with my sister-in-law to a fondue dinner at our local crepe rie. Some nice appetizers- endive with a chestnut spread, good liver pate, and a fresh potato chips with tapenade. The greeting wine was the Ste. Hil aire Cremant de Limoux- decent acids, a touch sweet, a bit appley, simple b ut inoffensive. B-/C+
Cheese fondue, charcuterie, pickled onions and other accrouements, then a s hrimp & avocado salad, with strawberries in a chocolate mousse for those th at eat dessert. Some wines I brought, others were poured for the table
2010 Giachino Primitif (Savoie) Very light, very crisp, with an interesting herbal/ginger quality, I like, very different. B/B+2011 Les Rocailles Apremont (Savoie) Medium bodied, nice white fruits, hint of herbs, a bit soft. B
2010 Chanson Bourgogne Good acids, raspberry fruit, not very long. B-2010 La Grange Tiphaine "clef de Sol" A CF/Cot blend, raspberry and black fruit, quite herbal, touch of green pep per, all comes together in a pretty nice package. B+/B
1984 Heitz Bella Oaks I don't think of '84 as a cool vintage, but there's a definite green accent here. It's within my tolerance level coming across as mostly herbal, but n ot for everyone (though table seems to enjoy). Medium-bodied, tannins mostl y resolved. Good not great. BSunday Betsy drove back from Boston and started cooking, we had a dinner pa rty for 10. The guests of honor (old friends now living in Asheville) were a bit late, as after watching "Twelfth Night" night the parking garage took 80 minutes to retrieve their car. Gave us plenty of time to mingle with th e other guests, with some canapes of smoked salmon, salami, and tapenade (I was inspired by the tapenade the night before).
NV Ayala "Brut Majeur" Champagne Medium bodied, good acids, pear and bread, nice if not especially complex. B/B+
2011 Raventos i Blanc "de Nit" Cava Rosado - much more noticably rose than earlier vintages. Cherries, rose petals, biscuit, good crispness, I like. B +Main course was capon basted in Champagne, a warm salad of kabocha squash and chickpeas with a tahini dressing, a mushroom/barley "risotto", and sala d
1979 La Lagune I love variety and seldom serve same bottle in same month much less same we ek, but had my backup bottle from Friday standing up so what the heck. Cass is, black plums, leather, tobacco, moderate acids, popular around table. B+ /A-1989 Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone Reserve Sweet blackberries, smoke, bacon, medium bodied, could be longer but pretty darn good. B+
2005 Solaria "123" Brunello di Montalcino Ripe, tannic, clumsy. I sometimes get lured (by myself) into buying compara tively cheap BdM, when I should have my money and get Soldera- 10X as good at thrice the price. B-/C+Tuesday was my night to cook: cauliflower/chickpea gratin (with feta & tom ato), leftover barley with mushrooms, bok choy. Wine was 2011 Michelot Bour gogne Blanc. Crisp, tart, citrusy. B
Last night was Sicilian tuna steaks (topped with a spicy caponata) and an arugula/pear salad. Wine was the 2012 Defino Frappato. This doesn't really remind me of say the Occhipinti Frappato, but taken on its own merits it's a pretty nice wine. Fresh, light, minerally with crisp raspberry/cranberry fruit. At $11-12 a buy again. 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 pa rty where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivit y, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.