A few days with me in charge of kitchen.
Sunday I made a chicken curry, sauteed spinach, and Indian-styled cauliflow er. dinner was served with some leftover mixed grains and the 2012 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett. Limeade and Granny Smiths, slatey fin ish, this is big with definite sweetness but zippy acids keep it as a tight package. What I'm looking for in Spatlese (well, Kabinett these days). B+/ A-
Monday we had spaghetti squash with capers and tomato, blackeyed peas with smoked turkey, and broccoli, but no wine as I was taking a group into city later. Tuesday I made Sicilian tuna (tomato/caper/olive sauce), Brussels sp routs, and brown rice, with the 2003 Calabretta Etna Rosso. You'd think a S icilian wine from 2003 might show hot or roasted, but this is a nice midwei ght, red cherries over spice and mushrooms, tannins and acids both nicely i ntegrated. B+
Cooking wine was 2010 Chalone "Limited Release" Chardonnay (Chalone appella tion). Midbodied, pretty obvious oak, fig and melon, decent acidity for Cal Chard. B-/C+
Wednesday Betsy was back at the stove, with a stirfry of pork, Chinese broc coli, oyster mushrooms, sprouts, etc. Wine was the 2010 Karthauserhof Alte Reben Riesling. Big, dry, powerful, good. Nice rocky minerality over a cor e of white peach and apple fruit. Drinks like a top Wachau or Kremstal Ries ling. Could probably age, but I enjoyed nowt. A-
Thursday was mostly about shoveling snow, so I was glad Betsy was doing din ner. Braised chicken with artichokes and mushrooms, and the 2010 CVNE "Cune " Rioja Crianza. Cherry fruit, a little dill-y herb note, soft and friendly . Easy to drink, nothing complex, fine for $10. 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.