For our weekly Zoom tasting (in my case with a Singapore style dish of fresh rice noodles, Chinese sausage, shrimp, and greens), 2 half bottles of Auslese
2007 JJ Prum Graacher Himmelreich GKA Powerful but sprightly, rich pit fruit with honey, nuts, and wax, some light petrol notes on super-long finish. A-/A2005 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Auslese This seemed heavy and plodding in comparison, and I gave it a B- . But took this with me to Maine, and it showed much better, I think just in awkward stage.
We headed to Maine ahead of Isaias, though I spent much of vacation dealing with power outage at office, loaning my generator, etc). 3 nights on Drake?s Island in Wells, lovely house looking out on marsh.
With waygu burgers, the 2012 Bachelet Bourgogne rouge. Drinking quite well now, vibrant black cherry, some earth and smoke, good balance. B/B+
With lobsters, lobster risotto, corn, and burrata caprese
2010 F. Carillon ?Perrieres? Puligny-Montrachet 1er takes a while to really open up, oak is integrating but still quite notices, balanced acids, pear and almond flavors. Nice sturdier style of Puligny. B+/A-Thursday we drove to Falmouth (near Portland) for dinner on deck with a friend/colleague of Betsy?s. Lily?s family put out a nice spread - lobster/kimchi dumplings, seafood paella, fennel salad, blackberry granita NV La Marca Prosecco Just offdry, light, hint of canned fruit. B-/C+
2018 Collestefano Verdicchio di Matelica Crisp, seashell, lemon, good food match. B+/B(I left a ?74 Barolo with strict instructions about standing up for a while)
Back to NY, a little time at (dark) office, then home to dinner- Betsy steamed and then roasted a duck, with Swiss chard and rice
2008 Aurelien Verdet Nuits st. George Hmm, found a couple of these in a box of Burgs, no memory of buying. In Burgundy I almost never buy outside a set of producers I know I like, and I don?t recognize this producer. But it?s actually pretty good- light color, snappy raspberry and cranberry fruit, good acids, light tannin, floral. It?s actually quite ?feminine?, not something I?d expect from NSG, but I like. B+Saturday some oysters, grey sole, broccoli, and pasta with tomatoes.
2018 Pepiere ?Gras Moutons? Muscadet Full and rich style of Muscadet, pear and Granny Smith over wet rocks. B++Some friends came for dinner (spaced, of course) Canapes (smoked steelhead on cuke, hummus on beet, white bean/garlic scape on radish) caprese Pickles, corn, potato salad, pork chops
2019 Bauer Rose (Niederosterreich) Very light, cherry meets Jolly Rancher, ok. B-/C+2018 Keller Riesling Trocken Citrus and ginger, nervy, but didn?t appeal to me like earlier bottles. B/B-
2016 Roillete/Coudert ?Griffe Marquis? Fleurie Black cherries, cherry blossom, earth and coffee. Lovely balance, rich for Fleurie, long. A-/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.