On Saturday, we repaid our friend Chris a favor for having watched
Andrew while we attended Purdue's last victorious football game vs.
Notre Dame by cooking her a dinner of paella, as she requested. So,
with a meal of paella Valenciana, preceded by an appetizer of smoked
salmon and salami* served with a baguette, we had the following wines:

2004 Knoll Grüner Veltliner Federspiel
nose: intense minerality, white pepper
palate: light body, good acidity, strong mineral streak

Chosen to pair with the smoked salmon (it did), it also went well with
the salami. Now showing its age as the fruit has mostly faded, leaving
an interesting wine that isn't to everyone's taste.

With the paella we opened:

1994 Remelluri Rioja
nose: intense cherry fruit, a hint of tar
palate: medium-full body, deep cherry fruit, not much complexity (or Brett)

2006 Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay
n: stones, melons
p: medium body, good acidity, melon and minerals

Chris had requested a Rioja with the paella, so I chose to open the
Remelluri because: a) the La Rioja Alta 910 wasn't the ideal match with
a seafood-laden paella and b) Chris's tastes run more to "modern" big,
fruit-driven wines. However, I was a bit concerned about this bottle,
as I had read reports of Bretty Remelluris; fortunately, this wasn't one
of them and was a big hit. It also was a passable match with the paella.

The Kim Crawford Chardonnay was brought by our other guest, who drinks
only white wine (although he did sample a bit of the Remelluri). I was
struck by how much like the Sauvignon Blanc their Chardonnay tasted. It
lacked a bit of the richness that I expect in Chardonnay and had a
little tail-end bitterness. Not a wine that I would seek out.

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

Mark Lipton wrote:

Chris had requested a Rioja with the paella, so I chose to open the
Remelluri because: a) the La Rioja Alta 910 wasn't the ideal match with
a seafood-laden paella and b) Chris's tastes run more to "modern" big,
fruit-driven wines. However, I was a bit concerned about this bottle,
as I had read reports of Bretty Remelluris; fortunately, this wasn't one
of them and was a big hit. It also was a passable match with the paella.

Errr... make that the La Rioja Alta 904 GR. Also, it was a systemic TCA
problem at Remelluri that was supposed to be the problem. No TCA
problem here, though.

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

"Mark Lipton" skrev i melding
...
Mark Lipton wrote:

... Also, it was a systemic TCA
problem at Remelluri that was supposed to be the problem. No TCA
problem here, though.

Funny thing is, I was in Barcelona last weekend, with old friends. We hit
upon a 'vinateria' and enjoyed good tapas and wine. The WOTN was Remelluri
:-) Don't recall vintage, think it was 2003 - but everyone except one, our
tee-totaller :-), found this a very attractive wine. The nine of us cleared
the place for Remelluri...

Anders