Absolutely smashingly beautiful weekend here, cool but with brilliant
sunshine. We had a (mostly) relaxing around the house with Lucy the
basset and Courtney the spaniel (visiting for a week while her people
are in China), interspersed with a little work, a walk with the local
mycological society (fun if not really productive), and a lawn party.
A good meal Saturday (duck, succotash, and green beans), and a nice
assortment of leftovers tonight. The wines:

2005 Chidaine "Les Argiles" Vouvray
Opened as an apertif Saturday, revisited today. I had read this has 3
g/l RS, but it struck me as sweeter than I expected (maybe not demi-
sec, but definitely sec-tendre plus). A lovely round style of Vouvray,
rich apple fruit accented with lemon zest and that Chenin beewax note,
lots of mineral especially on finish- chalk, wet rocks. The minerality
is even more apparent on night 2, with the fruit showing more
grapefruit/lemon. I like this a lot. A-/B+

2006 Stringtown Pinot Noir (Oregon)
This was the cooking wine for a pinot noir sauce to go with duck legs.
Betsy needed 3 cups, I substituted a couple ounces of BV Tapestry for
some to get a taste. Mistake (not for the sauce, but for drinking). In
the immortal (revised) words of Ray Davies, "it tastes just like
cherry-cola C-o-l-a cola" I've associated cola tastes with rich/ripe
to overripe RRV pinots, not Oregon, but this is different and manages
to combine the cola tastes with a somewhat thin body and short finish.
C

2005 Drouhin Cotes du Beaune
This is a bit thin at first, picks up weight. High acid but not sharp.
Red cherry fruit takes on darker tones as night wears on, and on night
2. Little perceptible tannin, bright acids, clean fruit. This isn't
bad, and plays well with duck, but I keep hoping for something a
little more intriguing. I'll hold my others for a bit, but not
convinced this will ever be worth its $25+ tag. B-/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.
*