Wednesday Betsy was playing principal cello for "Tosca" ( which
probably has the best solo cello passages of any opera I can think of)
for the first time. She went in early, and I fixed a quick dinner for
those of us who were going to the performance. Cheese tortellini in a
marinara sauce, with the 2004 Gaujal de St. Bon "Cuvée des Dames"
Picpoul de Pinet (Coteaux de Languedoc). Floral and citrus notes on
the nose, clean bright orange and lemon fruit on the palate. A little
hint of grass and oregano, a very nice light-bodied wine. The food was
a bit much of it, though the bright acidity helped with the tomatoes in
the sauce. The following night it showed credibly with lemon chicken.
Very good QPR for $8ish. B (Betsy gets a solid A for her performance).

Friday Betsy was off, and it was supposed to be "date night". But David
was sick, so a little less intimate than planned. Luckily he chose to
have soup by TV while we ate in dining room. I grilled some dry-aged
Porterhouses, Betsy made potatoes, a watercress salad, and red cabbage.
I chose a recent acquisition, the 1990 Ch. Mazeris (Canon-Fronsac). In
general I think of satellite Bdx and petit chateaux from 1990 as a
group of overachievers, but this showed the faults of the vintage a bit
more than most. I had this wine a few years ago, at the time it was a
nice ripe mid-bodied Merlot that still needed to shed some tannins.
Well, it had shed almost all of its tannins, and with very low acidity
that left the fruit just standing by itself. Ripe/overripe blackberry
and black raspberry fruit, with just a hint of roasted plum. A little
bit of earth and forest floor, but the overripe (dare I say
surmaturite?) notes dominate. B-/C+

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.