Sunday I spent morning at office, then afternoon alternating between raking and painting- ah, the joys of home ownership! When I escaped from the alcohol-based primer fumes, I felt like some wine. While dinner was cooking, I opened a 375 of the 2004 Pierre Matrot Meursault. Crisp and citrusy, a little oak in background. Good length, concentration. I thought this was pretty decent Chardonnay, but not very Meursault-esque. All about lemon and slightly underripe pear fruit, not the fatness I associate with Meursault. Ok -nay, good- Burg, but I like the good to excellent 2004 Meursault Bourgogne AC at least as much as this Meursault. B
Dinner was a pork and bean stew with orange zest , served with brown rice and broccoli. The recipe was from NYT :
2005 Borsao (Campo De Borja, this is the one with dark label with beige/yellow accents) as cooking wine. We served the remaining couple of glasses with dinner. A winner again, at $7. Medium-bodied, cherry and red plum fruit, a hint of tobacco and earth. Not a lot of length, but tasty for price. B
Monday Betsy made another recent NYT recipe, a broccoli rabe strata :
Today Betsy made a rack of lamb with a mustard/herb crust, accompanied by green beans and manakish (flatbread with za'atar, Betsy had gone with a friend to a Syrian market Monday). I concentrated on the lamb, and went with Bordeaux. The wine was the 1997 Ch. Lagrange (St. Julien). I recently split a case of this with a friend for $195. I'm very happy with the deal. Is this great Bordeaux? No, not by a long stretch. But at $16 a bottle this is a steal, lovely midweight claret. Red plum and blackcurrant fruit, resolved tannins, hints of vanilla, cigarbox, and damp earth. Doesn't have the length or concentration of a great Bordeaux, but this is more than a mere "luncheon claret. " I'd call it a solid journeyman of a Bordeaux, a nice wine at a nice price. This would probably sink into oblivion in a lineup with more "serious" Bordeaux, but I'm happy to have 5 more for Tuesday dinners with my wife (actually, maybe I should contemplate telling Marc it never came in- he hasn't paid me for his six yet- nah, no deal is worth being an #$%hole). 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