I had a speech at a local synagogue Friday, and we were going for a late sushi
dinner afterwards. Decided to have a glass of wine before heading to the
temple, we had the 2002 Pieropan Soave Classico. White fruit with a slight hint
of sweetness, some citrus, and nut notes. Clean, fresh, with cream, mineral and
toasted almond on the finish. Very nice. This is really a food wine, but pretty
tasty by itself. B+

Saturday night Betsy was working, and I went to friends' for a belated St.
Patricks Day dinner. Some good friends I hadn't seen in a while were there, and
I was cleverly not driving. So I sampled an assortment of reds as we noshed
waiting for the brisket:

1994 Ch. Talbot (St.Julien)
(decanted a couple hours)Perfumed floral nose with cedar and cassis, decent
blackcurrant fruit on the palate. Fairly soft acidity, there are still some
hard tannins there. Probably enough fruit to last a couple more years. Don't
think this will ever be a great Bordeaux, and those tannins mean it'll always
be more a steak wine than a roast chicken wine, but a decent buy at $19.95 at
Sherry-Lehmann. B/B+

2000 Le Vieux Moulin Arte (Bordeaux) (it also says Mähler-Besse on label)
Fat, with ripe plum fruit. But the tannins (though not oppressive) seem a bit
unripe and tough, and the whole thing seems to lack cohesion. Some new oak,
short finish. C+

2001 Estancia Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles)
Not especially oaky for a CalCab, though there's definitely some wood-driven
vanilla there. Ripe upfront blackberry fruit, soft tannins, moderate acidity.
I've never generally found Estancia products worth even their modest price
tags, but if this is in the $-teens like the others, ok qpr. B

2002 Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Kabinett
Somewhat tropical fruit and peaches , well-balanced sweetness and acidity,
light body. Too delicate to match with the corned beef, but a nice wine. B/B+

Sunday a friend was over, we grilled lamb chops. The 1999 Haut-Bages Averous
seemed somewhat simple and primary- modest blackcurrant fruit, low acidity,
more Bordeaux Supérieur than Pauillac. I probably wasn't in the best tasting
mode, wasn't feeling well. After a couple days of not having wine due to
illness, tried another glass last night. Still a little flabby, a bit of earth
peeking out, not especially impressive for the second of Lynch-Bages. This does
not favor the "buy seconds in good not great vintages" theory. B/B-

Actually dinner last night was scallops in a thyme-accented cream sauce, and
mushroom risotto. Betsy was heading to work, so I just had the last glass of
the bottle she had used for cooking, the 2002 Domaine Octavie Sauvignon
(Touraine). Hey, finally a good candidate for my under-$8 house white.
Herby/grassy nose, green apple and gooseberry fruit, flinty finish. Maybe a
little softer in the acidity department than my ideal, but that just might be
from bottle sitting in a warm kitchen while she was cooking. Will pick up more,
if at a little cooler temp we have more zip (like the 2001), we have a very
good QPR white. B+?

Also, spread over several nights, a bottle of 2002 Dönnhoff Riesling QBA (Nahe)
- a glass while waiting for Bets to come home, a glass shared while she cooks,
etc. What a nice uncomplicated bottle of wine. Peach fruit with a hint of
something red (cherry or berry), lightly sweet, delicate without being fragile,
rock/mineral finish. Buy more. 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

Dale

Dale Williams
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Dale Williams wrote:


2001 Estancia Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles)
Not especially oaky for a CalCab, though there's definitely some wood-driven
vanilla there. Ripe upfront blackberry fruit, soft tannins, moderate acidity.
I've never generally found Estancia products worth even their modest price
tags, but if this is in the $-teens like the others, ok qpr. B

Most useful, Dale. At present, there's a bottle of this (a gift)
sitting on the floor of the kitchen awaiting its disposition. Do you
think it'll improve any with cellaring, or should I put it into the
"near term drinking" bin?

Mark Lipton

In article , Mark Lipton
writes:

2001 Estancia Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles)

Most useful, Dale. At present, there's a bottle of this (a gift)
sitting on the floor of the kitchen awaiting its disposition. Do you
think it'll improve any with cellaring, or should I put it into the
"near term drinking" bin?

I'd say best drink it now for what it is, a pleasant burger wine. It shouldn't
fall apart, but tannins are fairly soft/ripe, and don't think it'd gain much in
cellar.
Dale

Dale Williams
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